The game release calendar is getting busy, but the list of the best games on Xbox Game Pass keeps growing right along with it. The Xbox team has worked small miracles to bring players some day-one releases like The Ascent, Last Stop, and Omno, while major first-party games like Flight Sim and Psychonauts 2 continue to be the lifeblood of gaming's best subscription package. If you need more suggestions for the best games to play on Game Pass, here are more than two dozen of our current favorites.
25. Red Dead Online
The Red Dead Online world was always going to be more niche than GTA 5, but for the right player, it's well worth saddling up. Red Dead Online recently split from the main game and became its own download in the store, and it's this that players can now access with their Game Pass subscription. Included in the experience is a lot more story than what you might expect, and after you make your character, you'll see just how your lively Red Dead Online world ties into the main story of Arthur Morgan in interesting ways.
24. Dishonored 2
We give this stealth-action sequel the edge over its predecessor because it offers two campaigns with two unique protagonists, but really you can't go wrong starting from the beginning. Dishonored is a game drenched in style with the gameplay variety and world-building to match. It's the game that put developer Arkane on the map for so many fans, and it's why everything the team does these days has such high expectations.
23. The Ascent
If, like me, you enjoy elements of Diablo but don't much care for its dark fantasy world, The Ascent may be the game for you. Set in a cyberpunk dystopia where the megacorporation that once loomed over everyone is suddenly defunct, The Ascent is about what happens next. Of course, you won't have to go it alone, as the co-op system means every combat scenario in this tough game is made better with friends. It's yet another day-one indie in XGP, and it's a great game to dive into while the release calendar prepares for the usual autumn onslaught.
22. Peggle 2
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on earth who doesn't like Peggle. The satisfying pinball-meets-Plinko mechanics have sometimes earned this PopCap classic comparisons to Tetris. It may not have left its mark on the industry like that seminal puzzler, but Peggle is still an all-timer among all who have played it. Both the original game and the sequel are in Game Pass and they each deserve high praise. Peggle 2 gets the nod here because it's newly available in the Xbox Cloud library, included with your Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which makes it the best Peggle game available on mobile.
21. Omno
Without a word spoken, Omno tells a lovely story of a character exploring nature in a fantastical world. Each of the game's clay-like levels teaches Omno (is their name Omno? We're gonna guess their name is Omno) new abilities and offers plenty of side activities even for a short-but-sweet game like this. It comes from just a single developer too, who has expressed just how thankful they are to have their game played by so many people thanks to Game Pass. It's one of the best success stories to emerge from the still-young service.
20. Last Stop
Variable State's follow-up to 2016's Virginia proves to be worth the wait. With a story that is one part Crash, one part The Outer Limits, with a bit of Indiana Jones sprinkled in, Last Stop is a unique story-driven adventure that marvelously weaves through three interlocking stories to tell a sci-fi story that doesn't lose sight of its humanity at the center. Each protagonist feels very different from the others, and the story both toys with tropes and goes to daring new places you can't predict. Play it in place of a movie night and you won't be disappointed.
19. Microsoft Flight Simulator
For the first time ever, Microsoft Flight Sim has landed on consoles, and it's stunning. Using cloud data, the game simulates the entire globe in real-time, giving players the ability to explore marvels like the Giza Pyramids and Mount Everest, or simple pleasures such as their school or childhood home. With tons of accessibility options, it's a game that goes as deep as you want it to, or you can simply set a destination and enjoy the ride with plenty of legroom for once.
18. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
While several Bethesda games are already in Game Pass and many more are expected to trickle in now that Microsoft has purchased the publisher/studio's parent company (and seven other studios in the process), few of the team's games can elicit the excitement of Skyrim. Whether it's your first time arriving in the chillier region of Tamriel or you're loading up a saved game with hundreds of hours poured in, it's interesting to revisit the game, now almost a decade old, and see how it still holds up in most ways.
17. The Evil Within 2
While this Tango Gameworks sequel never seemed to do the sales needed to get a third game, hopefully being under the Xbox Game Studios banner means the team will have the major backing it needs should it decide to revisit this world. The endlessly stylish and exhaustingly relentless Evil Within 2 borrows as much from The Last of Us as the first game borrows from Resident Evil 4. With a smallish open-world, side missions, and lots more stealth combat, this is a game that dares to do things differently and should be rewarded for it with your attention.
16. Fable Anniversary
Everyone has a favorite Fable, and maybe for many it will be the next one from PlayGround Games. But before we get there, catch up with the series starting with this remake of the classic original. Even Fable Anniversary is quite aged by now, but it still holds up as a fantasy RPG willing to poke fun at itself and its genre more than any other game like it. You can see so much of what drew Microsoft back to this unique world here in the first game. There's really nothing like Fable.
15. Knockout City
In a way, Knockout City is EA's overdue response to Rocket League, because it takes concepts we know and love and toys with them in a forever-replayable game. As a 3v3 multiplayer game, it cleverly reinvents the "shooter" by framing it all within the context of dodgeball, and to that end, it really shines. Velan Studios talked a lot about how hard it was to get the throw and catch mechanics to reliably work online, where latency dictates sometimes unapologetically, but because the team truly nails this aspect, Knockout City is fast becoming one of the breakout hits of the year. With a fun retro-futuristic world and tons of customization, this has a chance to be the next beloved EA Originals title and perhaps even the biggest game under that banner yet.
14. Outlast 2
Outlast 2 holds the remarkable distinction as being the scariest game I've ever played, and I think you'll get quite a fright from it too, especially if you haven't played the original. This sequel borrows a lot of the same scare tactics from the first game, which helped usher in the modern age of defenseless first-person horror, but the sequel goes bigger and more terrifying thanks to its central cult and unforgettable villains who relentlessly pursue you like a haunted hayride that follows you home. I nearly didn't finish my review in time because it was so challenging to get through, purely based on its scare factor.
13. Spiritfarer
What do you get when you combine the farm sim mechanics of Animal Crossing with the grief counseling storyline of Edith Finch? You get Spiritfarer, one of 2020's finest games in any format, so it's a real treasure to have it playable on Game Pass. Coming from indie team Thunder Lotus, Spiritfarer uses the same immaculate hand-drawn art as the studio's past games like Jotun, only it puts it all in a touching purgatorial plane where players guide loved ones to what lies beyond. Somber and heartfelt, Spiritfarer is totally one of a kind.
12. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
The progenitor of the battle royale craze, PUBG has since been taken over in popularity by numerous genre competitors, but for purists of the genre, PUBG still reigns supreme. Nothing else has since cared to give players such a realistic, unforgiving world the way PUBG has, and if you like the concept of last player standing games, but could do without the wacky power-ups, the sliding and double-jumping, and the base-building in the blink of an eye, PUBG is still the go-to. I'll see you in the final circle.
11. Psychonauts 2
No one really does it like Double Fine, and Psychonauts 2 is their doubly finest (sorry) game to date. Modernizing the game's jagged, almost Picasso-like visuals and pairing them with a wonderful story that is mental health-positive and just all around lovely to play, Psychonauts 2 is arguably the best Xbox first-party game of the year.
10. Hades
It takes all of five minutes to see and really feel what makes Hades special. With an incredibly diverse cabinet of weapons to unlock and try out, plus ample other upgrades that keep you moving upward to ultimate success ever so slightly, Hades is one of the hardest games to put down once you jump in.
9. Sunset Overdrive
Insomniac is now a PlayStation studio, and though the IP rights are up in the air, one thing we know for sure is the team will never make another Sunset Overdrive for Xbox, and that's too bad. As an early-gen exclusive, Sunset Overdrive delighted fans with a vibrant playground of parkour and punk rock. Insomniac's penchant for ridiculous weapons is on full display as well, and the writing breaks the fourth wall as much as Deadpool or Abed Nadir. It's almost a forgotten exclusive these days, but it doesn't deserve to be.
8. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
The sequel to Moon Studios' magnificent debut managed to take the little spirit animal to new heights - sometimes literally. With deeper metroidvania mechanics, more skills to unlock, and more ways for players to customize their builds, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the complete package for fans of the genre. With two great games under the team's belt, it's made the wait for the studio's next game, announced as an unnamed action-RPG, even more thrilling. Moon Studios has cemented itself as a team to watch for years to come.
7. Prey
Criminally underplayed, Prey is the forgotten sibling to Arkane's higher-profile Dishonored trilogy. With a dash of BioShock, 2017's Prey reminds us why the immersive sim genre is consistently one of the most revered in all of games. The possibilities are endless in this creepy space station, Talos-1, and the story you find there no matter the path you take with leave you questioning the world around you all before you dive in for another playthrough.
6. Control
Control is a video game for almost every kind of gamer. Do you want dazzling third-person shooter gameplay? It's got it. Do you want an intoxicating story rich with lore? IThis is Remedy we're talking about. Do you want DLC that alters what you think you know about the characters, the strange world they inhabit, and what may come next? Control plays out like a New Weird mystery box filled with style and substance in equal abundance. It should not be missed.
5. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
When Hellblade launched in 2017, it immediately received high praise for its focused, harrowing story of the Norse underworld. More than that, though, it's about living with mental illness, ostracization, and grief. Hellblade is a mature, nuanced, self-serious story that doesn't care to entertain as much as it wants to hit you right in the heart from every angle. It's also gorgeously directed, with some of the most realistic looking visuals ever put to games.
Its star, Senua, is played by a Melina Juergens, who worked at Ninja Theory simply as a video producer, but her role as stand-in for trailers and mocap and the like eventually led to her becoming the face of the franchise, and she does a remarkable job. Before Hellblade 2 arrives on Xbox Series X, play this memorable game where it all began.
4. Halo: The Master Chief Collection
What next? Oh, nothing, just every single game in one of the most iconic shooter series of all time. Whether you’re a Halo veteran who just wants to play some Blood Gulch or a newcomer excited to see what all the fuss is about, the remastered charm of Halo: The Master Chief Collection is hard to ignore when it’s at your fingertips with a Game Pass subscription.
Halo’s multiplayer combat is still the gold standard, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more thrilling co-op experience than any of the available campaigns on Legendary. You can even stick the game-modifying skulls on if you think you’re a tough cookie. Every facet of the Halo series holds up well in this console generation, and if you really can’t wait for Infinite, attempting to wrap up all the content in this ridiculous package will surely kill a good chunk of the time until launch.
3. State of Decay 2
State of Decay 2 has never turned any heads for its visuals or rich character work, but what it lacks in those areas, it makes up for in some of the deepest, most engaging systems the ever-popular zombie genre has ever seen. Everything from base-building to forming alliances with neighbors, to scavenging for supplies and more is on offer here, giving players the truest zombie event simulator there's ever been. If you want a game that invites you to live in its undead world for as long as you want, Undead Labs' State of Decay is the best in the business.
2. Sea of Thieves
If your last interaction with Sea of Thieves came during its lukewarm launch in 2018, it's time you find your sea legs again. Rare's pirate adventure has undergone a host of major changes and has worked closely with its community to make Sea of Thieves one of the best new Xbox properties of the generation.
Giant sharks, skeleton ship PvE battles, 15 new volcanic islands, a haunted fort, and so much more have turned Sea of Thieves' once shallow waters into something much deeper. Rare continues to support the game with a new content update and quality of life updates every single month too, and new systems like Doubloons, a second free in-game currency, has made chasing challenges extremely lucrative. Bring a crew or dare to sail solo, in any event Sea of Thieves is a live-service game done right.
1. Forza Horizon 4
Even as someone who doesn’t much care for realistic driving games, I absolutely understand the hype behind Forza Horizon 4. By threading the lines of realism with the festival narrative plus extremely cool Halo and Lego collaborations, Playground Games has crafted a near peerless toybox of unbridled joy for players and car fans of all creeds.
There’s nothing better than kicking back with some snacks, sticking on your favourite playlist and tearing through the countryside in a custom-painted F1 car. Leave and return as you wish. Genre sceptics with a Game Pass subscription, don’t sleep on this one.
