Don't listen to the idiots complaining about a pay wall for online. There isn't one.

XBL is free on Windows and always has been. You don't need XBL Gold to play online on Windows.

If you already have a Microsoft account, you just need to make an XBL user name. If you have Outlook, Onedrive, or Office, you already have a Microsoft account.

Obsidian is owned my Microsoft and the game is published by Microsoft. Of course it uses XBL, and complaining about it is like asking ActiBlizz, EA, and Ubisoft to get rid of Battle.net, Uplay, and Origin. It's not going to happen.

If you buy and play games through Steam for any of them, you still have to log in to their respective online services for MP. XBL is no different.

The same could be said of the many, many other games that require an account login, like say, pretty much any major MMO, Elite Dangerous, or whatever else requires a game specific login.

The game is decent for what it is, and is a perfectly fine Early Access survival game with an interesting premise. It's clearly unfinished and not balanced well, but it's early access and that's what early access is for fixing.

Obsidian has a good track record and the game has a lot of potential. Really no chance of this being abandoned in eternal early access, and the chances of it turning out badly are lower than most early access titles.

Don't listen to the idiots complaining about a pay wall for online. There isn't one. XBL is free on Windows and always has been. You don't need XBL Gold to play online on Windows. If you already have a Microsoft account, you just need to make an XBL user name. If you have Outlook, Onedrive, or Office, you already have a Microsoft account. Obsidian is owned my Microsoft and the game is published by Microsoft. Of course it uses XBL, and complaining about it is like asking ActiBlizz, EA, and Ubisoft to get rid of Battle.net, Uplay, and Origin. It's not going to happen. If you buy and play games through Steam for any of them, you still have to log in to their respective online services for MP. XBL is no different. The same could be said of the many, many other games that require an account login, like say, pretty much any major MMO, Elite Dangerous, or whatever else requires a game specific login. The game is decent for what it is, and is a perfectly fine Early Access survival game with an interesting premise. It's clearly unfinished and not balanced well, but it's early access and that's what early access is for fixing. Obsidian has a good track record and the game has a lot of potential. Really no chance of this being abandoned in eternal early access, and the chances of it turning out badly are lower than most early access titles.