Oh Xbox Game Pass, that subscription service I keep forgetting I have. It’s nice to be pleasantly surprised by new games that I don’t expect to play (or don’t plan on buying right away). Microsoft has detailed a bunch of other games I’ll probably be surprised to see coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC when they launch in the next year or so – from the epic space RPG Starfield, to the adventure Arkane Redfall’s Vampire Hunt. Looks like they’re also revealing more this weekend.
They posted the list on Twitter, along with the hint that they will reveal four new games coming out at The Game Awards tomorrow night. Their post contains a lot of the games we already know will be on Game Pass at launch, like Starfield and Total War: Warhammer 3, but hey, it would be nice to have a full list. Here’s what’s about to happen:
Total War: Warhammer 3 – February 17, 2022
Creative Assembly’s next strategy war game brings tower defense, boss fights, giant magic bears and more. Nate played some earlier this year, and said that it was “awesome bloody” and “to be honest, looks lovely”.
STALKER 2: The Heart of Chernobyl – April 28, 2022
The long-awaited sequel to the post-apocalyptic RPG-FPS made by GSC Game World. The developers called it their “most immersive world ever”, with players roaming a mutant, irradiated wasteland. Fun stuff.
Eiyuden Chronicles: Rise – Spring 2022
Set in the same world as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Rising is an action RPG that lets you collect treasure and resources, battle monsters, and build towns. It is designed to be a pre-small game for Hundred Heroes, ahead of its 2023 launch.
Redfall – Summer 2022
This is a co-op vampire hunter shooter from Deathloop and Dishonored devs Arkane, and it looks great. Magical power! Great technology! The stuff that Arkane does is really good and I’m super excited to play it. I’m praying to the video game gods that this game isn’t pushed back like many have been in the last year or so.
Starfield – November 11, 2022
Bethesda’s next RPG will take us on board a spaceship to travel to different colonies and investigate new worlds. We’ve seen a few reasonable excerpts of this passage, from big sci-fi city, arrive pirate faction. Director Todd Howard says we will see more this summer too.
Atomic heart – 2022
If you like some supernatural shooting in post-apocalyptic Russia, then Mundfish’s Atomic Heart could be the Game Pass add-on for you. I don’t know what to do for this one. It has robo bees (cloak?), music by Mick Gordon, and some extremely scary clown robots.
Slime Rancher 2 – 2022
Another big, small, colorful event next Slime Farmer in Monomi Park – except this time you’re trading the dusty farmhouse for a pretty greenhouse. I’m a big fan of the first game, so I’m excited to collect more cute blobs in this one. My favorite is bat slime, director Nick Popovich told me You can breed with other slimes to give them tiny bat wings!
A Plague Tale: Requiem – 2022
Developed by Asobo Studio, it is the direct sequel to the stealth action adventure, A Plague Tale: Innocence. Requiem will again introduce medieval French siblings Hugo and Amicia, and absolutely tons of rats. Innocence is on Game Pass if you haven’t played it yet.
Replaced – 2022
Katharine was so excited about this when it was revealed at this year’s E3. It’s a 2.5D sci-fi action platformer set in a dark but beautiful freaky world. You play as an AI trapped in a human body in another 1980s America. It looks and sounds moody, and I’m here for it.
Somerville – 2022
Made by the developers of Jumpship, a studio co-founded by Inside, this is a dark sci-fi adventure that reminds me of both Inside and Limbo. There are still a lot of mysteries surrounding Somerville, but Brendy managed to solve a few of them when he interviewed producer Dino Patti a few years ago.
Scornful – 2022
A creepy-looking Giger-esque FPS game that was first shown in 2014. It was was recently delayed to 2022and developers Ebb Software plan to reveal the new actual release date this Friday, December 10th, so stay tuned for that.
Pupperazzi – woof bark
No, really, that’s the scheduled release date On steam. Developed by Sundae Month and published by Kitfox Games, Pupperazzi looks like Pokémon Snap meets Nintendo. It’s a game about taking pictures of dogs, and it looks absolutely adorable. I’ve had it on my watchlist since the developers showed it at Direct developer media indie exchange game this early year.
For now, the game’s release date remains TBD, although all of the rest of these Game Pass add-ons are due out in 2022, so it looks like Pupperazzi will follow suit.
If you’re after some Xbox Game Pass content to play a little earlier, the service has a pretty big lineup for December. The most notable upcoming game is probably Halo Infinite. Campaign launched today!
