These Six Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (August 1-15)

For a long time, I got Airborn Kingdom and Wandering Village confused. I still may. I'm not complaining about them both coming to gamepass within a few weeks of each other. I'm just saying, I'm going to get them confused even more

Very happy with these!
Celeste, Limbo, and A Short Hike are all games I've wanted to play for a long time!

Indie game after indie game gamepass is the new netflix quantity before quality

All well-reviewed quality indies… Can’t wait to finally try Everspace 2 in particular!

@Dan1283 I know right? Having all these awesome indie games all in one place for a small monthly fee is infuriating.

@Wyatt006 I can't speak for A Short Hike, but Celeste and Limbo are two top quality games. Celeste in particular is one of my favourite platformers of all time, up there with Super Meat Boy and Rayman Legends for me.

A Short Hike is a superb game. Really enjoyed it on Switch. Can’t disagree more strongly with the quantity over quality view, there’s some superb games being added.

@Moonglow it's a narrow minded and outdated viewpoint that many gamers still cling to, that if it's indie it's not worth our time. I couldn't imagine only playing AAA releases, Game Pass or not. They consistently come out broken or contain predatory monetisation practises or they're bloated and boring to the point where playing them is a chore. I'll take "indie trash" over that any day.

EVERSPACE 2!! HYPE

@AJM59 I heard great things about A Short Hike. The DS-looking visuals seem intriguing and I heard it’s a nice quick play through. I’ll probably knock it out this weekend!

@Altaria_97 I can’t honestly say why it’s a great game, just that I thought it was great. Really addictive and not too long so one to start and finish over a weekend definitely

@Moonglow my problem isn't with indie gmaes I like indie games but the amount of indie games on the service Is getting ridiculous a mixture of indie and aaa would be nice

I'm glad that Limbo is back. I didn't have the time to play when it left the last time.

I played both a short hike and Celeste on switch, recommend you guys giving it a try, they're both quite good.

Kinda want to try everspace 2, playing 1 and mixed feelings, but worth a try.

@Moonglow overall though I think the future is going be amazing for gamepass that's for sure

@Kaloudz It is interesting the examples you give, as I would not consider CD Project Red an indie studio. Goes to show that there is no standard definition of indie.

That said, these are some good games although I have most already on other platforms. Limbo was great, A Short Hike was very pleasant. I have but still have never played Celeste. Maybe now is the time....

@Moonglow But several indie games cannot make up for a lack of AAA games, regardless of the quality. I would get 100s more hours out of a great AAA game that I can really sink my teeth into then a few indie games that last a combined 10 hours, even if they critics like them. They really don't provide enough quality playtime, easily Gamepass' biggest flaw

@Kaloudz Thanks for letting me know about the assist feature, makes it a bit less intimidating, as that game has a rep for difficulty.
Team17 - I'm currently playing Dredge so I see that logo a bunch. Great game, I hope it comes to Gamepass and gets more attention 😀

Indie is kind of like the label craft beer. Seems like a definition should be simple, but it's just so complex

Broforce Forever was a game I was literally ready to buy that since I loved Broforce on my Switch. Thankfully it's coming to gamepass awesome news

@Kaloudz The issue isn't that Indies are somehow lesser games - I love Indies and have already played and enjoyed most of these (completing Celeste without assist was a real labour of love) - the problem is that Indies tend to be smaller and cheaper. In fact you can easily pick up most of these games and own them forever on other systems for less money combined than the cost of one month of Game Pass Ultimate. Indies absolutely belong on Game Pass and are a brilliant addition to it, but they need to be accompanied by larger titles as well to keep the value there.

@Ooccoo_Jr @BobDuncan not all indie games are short, just as not all AAA games are hundreds of hours long. I have ~120 hours logged in Slay the Spire; a game I played on Game Pass.

Saying that one doesn't have a problem with indie games and then stating that they're short and don't add value to a service like Game Pass is a complete contradiction and is still displaying a bias and a preconceived idea that indie games are lesser games, even if it's not intentional.

I would love, one day, for labels like indie or AAA to just disappear and games be judged on their own merits, regardless of budget or whether they were developed by one person or a thousand people.

@Markatron84 Please don't let the fact that I never once said Indies were shorter anywhere in my comment detract from your diatribe. Nor the fact that I explicitly said they were not lesser games, in complete contrast to your assertion.

My point was about the value of Game Pass, not the value of Indies. One of my favourite games of the past 10 years was Hollow Knight. It cost me £6 to own and I played it for months. By contrast Game Pass Ultimate is £13 for just one month. Can you see now the reason some folk have a problem with Indies forming the mainstay of new Game Pass content? It's because Indies alone will struggle to justify the cost of the subscription for many people.

@Ooccoo_Jr i lumped the replies to you and another user into the same reply to avoid posting multiple comments. I hoped maybe you and others would be able to ascertain what parts were meant for who. 🤷

Ok, so you spent £6 on Hollow Knight and GPU is £13 a month. It's probably for the best then that Hollow Knight isn't the only game on the service then, isn't it?

Whilst these are great titles, these should be permanent residents on GP - we could do with some more recent games added as I suspect quite a few people have played these already.

Weak month for my tatses, I am waiting for the AAA games like Starfield and Forza. That is what 90% on gamepass subscribers want. Sea of Stars on the 29th looks decent.

I'lll play A Short Hike. Already played Limbo and Celeste.

Just jumping in on the indies vs AAA games debate - the divide used to be much more apparent in the past.
There was a time when a big AAA game from a big publisher was likely to be a much more polished product than what an indie studio could produce. Not only from a QA testing point of view, but from the software tools they could make and use to bring the product to market.
In this last decade this is no longer the case and many AAA studios simply haven't bothered with QA as they believe in the 'release on time and patch later' philosophy that comes with consoles always being on line now, and we've all seen AAA's release with terrible quality.
Its also true that many more 'off the shelf' tools are used to create titles, which mean that much smaller studios can have access to excellent tools for content creation and are not limited by their own dev budget like has been the case in the past.
Having worked for several AAA studios in the past, and also for many smaller indie studios, I was privileged to have seen that difference in the past first hand. But its become clear in the last decade that things have changed and you cannot make assumptions based on the industries past any longer. Trying to still class games as AAA vs indie in this age is more difficult to defend when they often use the same toolsets and many indies release games of a quality that should make some of the larger publishers blush.
I'm an old guy with too many systems and I still look for games that 'push the envelope', partially because of my background and such a sustained long interest in the medium. But I can certainly appreciate that many smaller games these days are made to exacting quality, and often take chances on great game ideas that simply would not be given a green light by a big publisher. It may not always be what I'm looking for, but thank god for indies..

@Ooccoo_Jr I know exactly qnd Microsoft have put the price of gamepass up so they need start improving gamepass which it looks like they are no excuses for bad months anymore