Here's what's coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC at launch next year
Starfield, Redfall, Slime Rancher 2, and loads more
Oh Xbox Game Pass, that subscription service I constantly forget that I have. It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised by new games I didn't expect to play (or had no plans to buy outright). Microsoft have detailed a bunch more games I'll likely be surprised by coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC when they launch over the next year or so - from epic space RPG Starfield, to Arkane's vampire hunting adventure Redfall. It looks like they're revealing more later this week too.
They posted the list on Twitter, along with the hint that they'll be revealing four new games coming to the service at The Game Awards tomorrow night. Their post contains a load of games we already knew would come to Game Pass at launch, like Starfield and Total War: Warhammer 3, but hey, it's nice to have a full list. Here's what's coming:
Total War: Warhammer 3 - February 17th, 2022
Creative Assembly's next strategy wargame brings tower defence, boss fights, giant magical bears and more. Nate played some earlier this year, and said it was "bloody wonderful" and "frankly, looks bonkers".
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart Of Chernobyl - April 28th, 2022
The long-awaited sequel to the post-apocalyptic RPG-FPS made by GSC Game World. The devs called it their "most immersive world yet", with players roaming an irradiated, mutant-filled wasteland. Cheery stuff.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising - Spring 2022
Set in the same world as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Rising is an action RPG that'll have you collecting treasure and resources, battling monsters and building towns. It's designed to be a little pre-game for Hundred Heroes, before that comes out sometime in 2023.
Redfall - Summer 2022
This is the co-op vampire-hunting shooter from Deathloop and Dishonored devs Arkane, and it just looks so cool. Magic powers! Cool tech! Things that Arkane do so well, and I'm super excited to play it. I'm praying to the video game gods that this one doesn't get pushed back like so many other games over the last year or so.
Starfield - November 11th, 2022
Bethesda's next RPG extravaganza will send us off in spaceships to travel to various colonies and investigate new worlds. We've seen a fair few snippets of this one already, from big sci-fi cities, to pirate factions. Director Todd Howard says we'll see more of it this summer too.
Atomic Heart - 2022
If you fancy some supernatural shooting in a post-apocalyptic Russia, then Mundfish's Atomic Heart might be the Game Pass addition for you. I don't know what to make of this one. It has robo bees (robees?), music by Mick Gordon, and some absolutely terrifying clown robots.
Slime Rancher 2 - 2022
A big, squishy, colourful follow-up to Monomi Park's Slime Rancher - except this time around you're swapping the dusty ranch for a pretty conservatory. I'm a huge fan of the first game, so I'm very excited to gather more cute blobs in this one. My favourites are the bat slimes, which director Nick Popovich told me you can breed with other slimes to give them teeny tiny bat wings!
A Plague Tale: Requiem - 2022
Developed by Asobo Studio, this is a direct sequel to action adventure stealth 'em up, A Plague Tale: Innocence. Requiem will once again feature medieval French siblings Hugo and Amicia, and absolutely tons of rats. Innocence is on Game Pass already if you've yet to play it too.
Replaced - 2022
Katharine was very excited by this one when it was revealed at E3 this year. It's a 2.5D sci-fi action platformer set in a dark, yet gorgeous, pixely dystopian world. You play as an AI trapped in a human body in an alternate 1980s America. It looks and sounds moody as heck, and I'm here for it.
Somerville - 2022
Made by developers Jumpship, a studio co-founded by Inside's co-creator, this one is a gloomy sci-fi adventure that definitely reminds me of both Inside and Limbo. There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Somerville, but Brendy tried to solve a few of those when he interviewed producer Dino Patti a couple of years ago.
Scorn - 2022
A grisly-looking Giger-esque FPS that was first shown way back in 2014. It was recently delayed into 2022, and developers Ebb Software plan on revealing an actual new release date this Friday, on December 10th, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Pupperazzi - woof bark bark
No, really, that's what the scheduled release date is on Steam. Developed by Sundae Month and published by Kitfox Games, Pupperazzi looks like Pokémon Snap meets Nintendogs. It's a game about taking photos of dogs, and it looks absolutely adorable. I've had it on my watchlist since the devs showed it at the Media Indie Exchange Game Dev Direct earlier this year.
At the moment the game's release date is still TBD, though all the rest of these Game Pass additions are set to come out in 2022, so it seems likely Pupperazzi will follow suit.
If you're after some Xbox Game Pass stuff to play a little sooner than that, the service has a sizeable lineup for December. The most notable game coming is probably Halo Infinite though. The campaign comes out today!
