Another great Activision game comes to Xbox Game Pass this month

By Tomas Franzese August 6, 2024

Microsoft has revealed the first wave of Xbox Game Pass titles coming to the subscription service this August. While we already knew about Creatures of Ava and Mafia: Definitive Edition’s impending additions to Xbox Game Pass, we also learned that another Activision Blizzard game is coming: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

Originally a PlayStation 4 exclusive, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy revamped Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot games for what were then current-gen platforms. It toed the line between remaster and remake as the visuals got a complete overhaul, but it was extremely faithful when it came to gameplay and level design. Regardless, the first three Crash Bandicoot games are fantastic, so N. Sane Trilogy is as well.

Recommended Videos

It’s the third Activision game to come to the service, following Diablo IV and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. It appears to be the first Activision game to be playable through the cloud on Game Pass, according to its listing in the Xbox Wire article.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will be available on Xbox Game Pass on August 8. A day before that, Creatures of Ava will be a day one addition to the service. It’s an enjoyable sci-fi adventure in which players survey and collect creatures on an alien planet. Then, on August 13, 2K and Hanger 13’s crime game remake Mafia: Definitive Edition will be added to the service’s catalog.

While Xbox Game Pass will add these three great new games throughout the first half of this month, the following four games will leave Microsoft’s subscription service on August 15.

Airborne Kingdom
Offworld Trading Company
Shadow Warrior 3
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Topics

Gaming Staff Writer

As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass gains some great indies, but loses one of 2022’s best games

Marissa Marcel at a gala in Immortality.

Microsoft has announced the games that will join the Xbox Game Pass catalog during the back half of August and earliest days of September. That list includes four solid indie titles, two of which are day-one Xbox Game Pass releases. Unfortunately, the number of games leaving at the end of the month is greater than the number of games coming, and one of the games exiting the service is Immortality, one of Digital Trends' favorite games of 2023.
To start with the positive, all four games coming to the service during the rest of August are pretty solid. Campo Santo's Firewatch and Nomada Studios' Gris are both excellent, emotional indie adventures that garnered critical acclaim in the year since their release. Firewatch hits the service on August 17, while Gris won't be added until September 5. Then there's the day one Xbox Game Pass launches. First up is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game on August 18, which adapts the classic horror series into an asymmetrical multiplayer game, just like what happened to Evil Dead last year. Finally, there's Sea of Stars, a retro-inspired RPG coming out on August 29 that's also launching into the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog on the day it launches.

Sadly, six games will leave Xbox Game Pass on August 31, many of which are very good. The most notable for us is Immortality, a subversive and innovative game from Sam Barlow that has players scrubbing through the footage of three unreleased films to solve a mystery. The less you know about the game going into it, the better, but just know this was one of the best games to come out in 2022 and a must-play if you adore both film and video games.
Tinykin, Surgeon Simulator 2, and Nuclear Throne are all also great indie games that you won't have a bad time playing. Here's the full list of games leaving Xbox Game Pass on August 31:

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass adds one of 2022’s best racing games this month

A man leans against a car in Need for Speed Unbound.

Microsoft has revealed that games that will be coming to Xbox Game Pass throughout the rest of June and even into early July. While the list lacks any major exclusives or first-party games, a solid racing game from 2022 and some intriguing indies make it an interesting batch. Thankfully, the losses the service will suffer at the end of the month aren't too bad either.
The most notable game to hit Xbox Game Pass Ultimate during the back half of June will be Need for Speed Unbound. Coming to the service via its EA Play connection, this is a solid racing game that I gave a three-and-a-half-star review last year. At the time, I said it was "a surprisingly entertaining racer in a year that hasn’t seen much racing game excitement since Gran Turismo 7." On the indie side of things, The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales will be a day one Xbox Game Pass release on June 22. It's an isometric adventure game where the main gimmick is that players can enter the worlds of books they come across.
Former PlayStation console exclusive F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch will also come to Xbox Series X/S via Xbox Game Pass on June 27. This is the full list of titles you can expect to come to the subscription service between today and July 5.

Need for Speed Unbound -- June 22
The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales -- June 22
Bramble: The Mountain King -- June 27
F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch -- June 27
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town -- June 29
Arcade Paradise -- July 3
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever -- July 5

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass adds a little and loses a lot this month

persona 4 golden 500000 players all out attack

Microsoft revealed the games coming to and leaving Xbox Game Pass this month, and there's an odd imbalance. Only three new games are announced to be coming to the service throughout the rest of January. Still, we will lose six games on January 15, including last year's indie hidden gem Nobody Saves the World and We Happy Few, a title from first-party Xbox studio Compulsion Games.
As for what's coming to Xbox Game Pass throughout the rest of January, we have three highly anticipated Xbox ports that are day-one launches on the subscription service. Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will come to the service on January 19, while Monster Hunter Rise will be added on January 20. All three games will be available across the cloud, console, and PC versions of the service. Meanwhile, the what's leaving on January 15 list is double the length of what's being added:

We Happy Few
Nobody Saves the World
Windjammers 2
The Anacrusis
Pupperazzi
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc