Microsoft has confirmed the next set of games heading to Xbox Game Pass, and three of the titles are available today.
Five new games are set to be added to Xbox Game Pass across the rest of January and into early February, while three are will be available on January 18.
Xbox Game Pass January games
These early games are first-person psychological horror game Those Who Remain, the much cuter and breezier adventure Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, and racing title F1 23.
Of those three, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is the most notable, as it’s a day-one Xbox Game Pass launch. PC Gamer calls it a “a bitesize adventure” that’s “a helluva lot of fun", and gave it a solid 76 per cent rating.
Here’s the full list of titles announced in this latest Xbox Game Pass drop.
- January 16: Those Who Remain
- January 18: Turnip Boy Robs a Bank
- January 18: F1 23
- January 19: Palworld
- January 25: Go Mecha Ball
- January 30: Brotato
- February 2: Persona 3 Reload
- February 6: Anuchard
All titles are available on Xbox consoles, PC and via streaming except the non-streamable F1 23, because it’s part of EA Play rather than the main Game Pass service.
An additional three of the games coming in later January and February are also day-one releases.
First up is Palworld, a bizarre open-world game in which you collect creatures, create buildings and fight, with guns. So is it a mix of Pokémon, Fortnite, and a handful of other adventure titles, then?
Not quite, according to a preview by YouTuber Arekkz Gaming, who says it is more like a survival game at its core. In other words, Palworld is Minecraft meets Pokémon meets Fortnite, and so on. And you use the Pokémon-a-like creatures as unpaid workers who construct your buildings.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for reviews when Palworld drops tomorrow (January 19).
Go Mecha Ball is also a day-one Game Pass release, and from a glance at the trailer could be a Sonic the Hedgehog title. Except, rather than a 2D platformer, this is an isometric action game, a twin-stick shooter where you can also fling your “mecha ball” character around to defeat enemies. Take a look:
This is the first release from developer Whale Peak Games.
Persona 3 Reload is the last of this haul’s new day one releases, and for some it will be the most anticipated of the lot. It’s a remake of a role-playing game originally made for the PlayStation 2 in 2006.
“Go on an emotional journey and walk the delicate line between life and death,” is the tagline used alongside the game’s trailer. Expect melodrama. Expect turn-based battles. Expect it to eat up a whole heap of time as the original is pegged as an 82-hour game according to How Long to Beat.
This latest Xbox Game Pass announcement also brought bad news. One of the service’s best games, Hitman: World of Assassination, is leaving the service on January 31, alongside F1 2021.
