Amazon's entry into game streaming with Luna officially launched earlier this month. I tried to play it as soon as it became available - Amazon Prime members get access to a monthly rotation of 4 free games - but I couldn't even play it on my Personal Computer nor my mobile devices because the service then required you to use Google Chrome and I have moved on from that browser for a while now. I was on Amazon several days ago just shopping away and without even realizing it, I started looking at the Luna page again. I clicked on one of the free games and was so surprised that the game stream actually started. Good for them for expanding the browser compatibility list.
I have tested out Observer: System Redux and Devil May Cry 5 and the verdict? It's pretty darn good. As expected, the in-game graphics are reduced because I am sure that the gaming servers are not running on the most top-notch hardware available. The first time I ran DMC5, I did notice some input lag but after testing it out again several days later, the lag was gone. The video for Observer was looking a little soft but perhaps this is to compensate for the busy visual distortions used in that game. Even with the grainy film filter dominating every inch of the screen, it does still look like you are running the game on actual hardware versus a video streaming service. Ray tracing is missing though from the Luna version of the game but if you have no gaming hardware to speak of, then this is still a great way to play Observer. I sure wish that Smite was made available to Prime members because I really do not want to have that game installed on my PC because it installs a third-party program that keeps running in the background and must be manually stopped. This is the reason why I have that game installed on my PlayStation 4 instead but of course the experience playing that on the console is not optimal. I have been waiting for Stadia to host that game and it looks like Amazon has beaten them to the punch. Still, Luna's completely subscription-based access to games - you cannot individually purchase permanent access to any of its games - ensures that Stadia is still the reigning king of game streaming services. If Amazon wants to take over that title, they need to offer permanent access to these games plus the keys for local download (Steam/etc.), which is something that Stadia should provide us in the first place to make game streaming more attractive.
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