The Best Games On Xbox Game Pass (November 2024)

Microsoft’s Game Pass service is easily worth the price of admission. Many might balk at the concept of having their video game library locked behind a subscription service, but the fact is subscribers get access to an incredible selection of titles spanning from indie darlings to triple-A blockbusters for a surprisingly affordable monthly fee.

With such a dizzying array of fantastic titles on display, it can be a daunting task deciding which ones are worth a player’s time. Given that the cost of entry is taken care of with the subscription fee, the most pressing matter is determining the best use of your hard drive space. Thankfully, the diamonds of this collection are readily apparent. Here’s a look at the greatest games that Xbox Game Pass has to offer.

The selections listed here will include games available on EA Play, which is included with a subscription to Game Pass Ultimate.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

The adventures of the Master Chief have never been as accessible as they are in the Master Chief Collection. This gathering of Halo games is the definitive collection of 343 Industries’ endeavors to immortalize the series. Not only is every mainline Halo game (not counting Halo 5: Guardians) included, but the fantastic Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach were added as well.

From beloved campaign co-op to thrilling Firefight matches to iconic multiplayer modes, the Master Chief Collection has it all. Anyone who thinks of themselves as a Halo fan should consider it a must-play from Xbox Game Pass. And for those who have never completed the Master Chief’s saga, there is no better way to finish the fight.

Little Kitty, Big City

We all felt the hurt when Stray first launched on PlayStation 5 and not on Xbox; there was a noticeable absence of quality games where we could play as a cat on Xbox Game Pass to ameliorate that wound. But Little Kitty, Big City came along to save the day, and, if we may be so bold, it is a bit better than a certain PS5 game that has already been named. In Little Kitty, Big City, you go on numerous adventures around a city getting up to mischievous cat pranks on its denizens.

You have almost total freedom about where to go and what to do and who to mess with. You’re not stuck with a linear story; what kind of proper cat would you be if your tale was told on guardrails. Rather, like Untitled Goose Game, you’re given a loose objective and then the world is your oyster. The various catastrophes (pun intended) that you can cause are all at your fingertips. Or should we say, toebeans? Little Kitty, Big City might not be a soulful journey, but it very much captures the essence of what it means to be a cat.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Another year, another Call of Duty! In seriousness though, as the first of (likely) many flagship Call of Duty releases to hit Game Pass on day one, Black Ops 6 was something of a definitive step for the franchise post-acquisition — and it can be safely said that it dressed to impress.

The core Call of Duty staples are all there, so if you’re solidly an anti-CoD first-person shooter afficionado, Black Ops 6 won’t change that. It’s a streamlined CoD mil-sim through and through, but it does execute and iterate on that core formula in fine fashion. Particular gameplay accolades have gone to the refined movement system, and deservedly-so — Black Ops 6’s “omni-directional” movement system (along with some other bits and bobs) add a bit of fluid depth to the moment-to-moment that’s better experienced than explained.

Black Ops 6 comes with the expected (and expansive) multiplayer suite and zombie modes, but does what the series does best among its CoD brethren with the campaign. Woods, Adler, and more are back alongside a rogue’s gallery of characters in a cinematic, part stealthy spy, part action movie thrillride that doesn’t disappoint in regards to the series’ classic pedigree (if we ignore a few of the interim entries, naturally) for solidly written and executed single-player campaigns. If you’re a Game Pass subscribed CoD fan or just enjoy a good FPS romp, then Black Ops 6 is a solid treat with a lot to offer.

Donut County

Donut County is an oddly satisfying puzzle game in the vein of quirky puzzlers like Katamari Damacy. Its mechanic is simple: players control a small hole that can be moved underneath objects in the world — anything small enough will tumble into the abyss and be gone forever. It’s a simple premise but players young and old can enjoy gobbling up the world around them making the bottomless pit bigger and bigger.

Not only that, but Donut County has a colorful cast of characters, clever dialogue, and an altogether fun world to explore. It’s a short title that doesn’t overstay its welcome, making an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a unique novel game to spend an afternoon playing.

Inscryption

Inscryption is a delightfully dark indie adventure that’s difficult to put into a tidy little box — but really, that’s a big part of its charm. Plotwise, we’re following Luke Carder, essentially a YouTuber that finds some map coordinates on the back of some old, niche TCG cards that lead to him finding an old PC game. Yes, we’re going a little Inception-y here, as you’ll basically be playing a game within a game. Things just get weirder from that point and on, and are better experienced than explained. It’s a surreal, horror-adjacent experience that gets pretty cerebral, and the game does very little hand-holding in terms of figuring out the lore and narrative. We’ll leave it at that rather than unpacking a four paragraph synopsis and ruining the fun.

But in terms of gameplay, the core elements revolve around playing the aforementioned found game, a roguelike deck-building card battler that evolves a bit with each of the game’s three “acts.” You’ll also play through brief interludes from a small hodgepodge of popular genres and niches — some puzzling, some light RPG bits, that sort of stuff. In summary, if you’re looking for a retro indie art house experience that’ll keep you thinking, there’s definitely a reason Inscryption made such a splash upon its 2021 release. If you’ve got an active Game Pass subscription, treat yourself and find out why.

Sifu

As soon as we heard that Sifu would be added to the Xbox Game Pass library, we knew immediately it would have a spot on our list of best games. This might be a bit of a controversial choice given the game’s notorious difficulty, but we can’t help it. Sifu is probably the only game that’s ever made us feel like a legit action star, like a living breathing John Wick, and that’s saying something. Plenty of action games in this vein attempt to make you feel like an amazing martial artist. However, Sifu accomplishes this not through fancy quick-time button presses or realistic graphics, but by sheer perseverance. As you play through each level, failing and aging your character too soon multiple times, you grow into the star of this gritty and nicely stylized kung fu movie. It’s an arduous process, believe you me. But there is nothing in the world quite like the feeling of nailing every punch, every dodge, every parry, perfectly, on that last final run of vengeance.

We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie

The best way to play a Katamari game is to play a remastered version, and thanks to We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie being added to Xbox Game Pass, we can do just that. For those of you who have never experienced the happiness of a Katamari game, allow us a brief moment to describe the gameplay. Your little character runs around collecting things (making a “katamari”) the way a kid would roll a snowball around in the snow to make a bigger snowball. Except in We Love Katamari, you’re not gathering snow. You’re gathering so much more.

From papers to flowers to animals to people to buildings to cities to planets, you just roll your katamari around and collect everything in sight. There’s a tad more to it than that, such as being able to play it in co-op and the added element of collecting-joy that brings, but this is the essential DNA of We Love Katamari. It’s a gosh-darned delight. Go play it.

Riders Republic

Cards on the table, sports games aren’t our jam.

You’ll note the lack of
Madden
and
FIFA
on this list despite the entire sports catalog of EA Play being available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

However, there are rare exceptions, and one of these is the highly underrated Riders Republic. No massive waves were made when this game first launched, but its chill vibes and supreme dedication to the kind of relaxing sports title it is aiming to be make it one of the greats.

In Riders Republic, you cruise around on a bike, board, what-have-you in what is essentially a giant, open-world playground. You do tricks, grind rails, gather speed, and launch yourself off the copious amounts of ramps provided. And that’s it. It is wildly relaxing and an absolutely perfect game if you’re looking to have some fun downtime with friends. Sports games are not typically our cup of tea. But Riders Republic most definitely is.

Age Of Mythology Retold

It’s almost as if we didn’t have enough classic RTS goodness finding its legs on consoles with Age of Empires 2 making the leap in fine fashion — but really, it’s hard to have too much of a very good thing.

Age of Mythology: Retold is an updated version of an early-aughts RTS classic. You’ll choose between a set of mythology-rich cultures (Norse, Greek, and the like) and select a god as your patron — each one grants unique bonuses, and given that you pick from additional minor gods as you progress through your civilization’s tech tree, the potential for build-order crafting is pretty thick. At that point, naturally, it’s just a matter of gathering enough resources to build an army and smash every other mythology-rich culture in play to ruined bits. As you do.

You’ll notice there are a lot of parallels to the standard Age of Empires gameplay formula here, and yes, you’re going to cover a lot of familiar territory in that vein. But if you always thought AOE 2 would’ve been a lot cooler if you could zap the opposing army with lightning bolts and unleash mythological bull monsters on them, then this should do the trick.

A Little To The Left

Sometimes, the size of a game feels like it’s indicative of how great it’s going to be. Elden Ring was a massive success, and it took the Soulsborne formula and molded it into a vast open world. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild set players loose onto a wondrous map after decades of linear experiences in the series. Baldur’s Gate 3 is ripe with impactful choices and numerous branching storylines, and it’s one of the greatest games of our generation.

But sometimes you don’t need all that. Sometimes, you just need to move something a little bit to the left.

Enter the appropriately named A Little to the Left, which is a small indie title that is all about adjusting things ever so slightly until they are just right. It’s technically a puzzle game where you “move” pieces until they’re ordered sensibly. But it provides this level of satisfaction that fans of PowerWash Simulator will recognize from cleaning a dirty item and hearing that click DING! afterwards.

A Little to the Left is a small game, but sometimes, that’s all you need.

Core Keeper

Core Keeper looks like a pretty direct Stardew-like (we’ll call this a subgenre, why not?) at first blush — the stylistic presentation, the UI, it’s all pretty familiar. And while that can be sort-of an apt description for starters, it definitely does the entirety of the game a disservice.

Things start simply enough. The game casts you as an explorer that got a bit too curious with a discovered relic and then — presto — you’re deposited into a deep, dark cave and expected to craft your way to a sustainable subterranean lifestyle (alongside up to eight of your friends, if you please).

Where Stardew Valley has the cozy social sim elements polished to perfection, Core Keeper veers solidly into survival-crafting territory. There’s a pretty well-developed RPG-lite system at play alongside significant base-building elements more akin to Terraria — you’ll be fighting big bad bosses more often than you’ll be dating the locals, but if you’re up for a grindier experience, then Core Keeper’s going to be the ticket to satisfy your crafty retro kick.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

The Godfather is a masterpiece of cinema. It captured the nuance and customs of one Italian-American crime family, and sparked an interest in the mafioso lifestyle it portrayed. I wouldn’t have thought it possible for a video game to capture that same mesmerizing dynamic, full of vendettas, personal codes, and contracted hits, but the original Mafia game did a damn fine job. However, you can’t be expected to play a 2002-era game in this day and age.

Which is why Mafia: Definitive Edition is a godsend now available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You play as Tommy Angelo, a former cab driver who finds himself joining and rising in the ranks of the Salieri crime family. Tommy, and you as the player, prove your loyalty through various acts of service to the main mafia boss, Ennio Salieri. But, as you may expect, things start to unravel once loyalties are questioned and people try to extricate themselves from the crime-family life.

I know this all sounds like heavy stuff, but it’s an enjoyable as well as an engrossing time. The narrative is the key strength of the game, so if you’re looking for a story-driven title to occupy your time and scratch that Godfather itch you’ve now remembered you have, Mafia: Definitive Edition is the perfect cure.

Doom + Doom II

Doom + Doom II is essentially the definite classic Doom collection — if you’re at all attuned to gaming in general, you know what these games are about. So let’s get to the good stuff, because id Software really shot for the moon here.

Beyond tweaked and updated version of these definitive 90s FPS titans, Doom + Doom II serves as the definitive classic Doom collection by packing in a laundry list of level packs and expansions — TNT: Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment, the Master Levels, and even John Romero’s Sigil are all included. You’re also getting local and online multiplayer, plug-and-play mod support for community content, and, as a cherry on top, the option to enjoy the original MIDI soundtrack or a modernized and remastered version of the entire score by shredmeister Andrew Hulshult.

But wait, what’s that? It’s a cherry on top of the cherry! Doom + Doom II includes a brand-new episode entitled Legacy of Rust — designed by id Software in collaboration with Nightdive Studios and MachineGames — complete with new weapons and enemies. If you’ve been itching for some boomer shooter goodness, you really can’t ask for a better cure than this.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

With Microsoft’s acquisition of companies like Activision and Blizzard, we’re just beginning to see popular titles from these publishers make their way to Xbox Game Pass. And while getting Modern Warfare III on the service has been all well and good, nothing oozes such volatile levels of excitement the way Crash Bandicoot does. So thanks to the addition of the N. Sane Trilogy to Game Pass’ library, that excitement is ready to hop, spin, and dash its way into our hearts.

This trilogy of remastered platforming classics is the way to play through the nostalgia. Complete with the first game, Cortex Strikes Back, and Warped, this collection of Crash games has it all. If you’re fond of the platformers of yesteryear, not only are you among friends, you’re also in for a treat once you download and play the N. Sane Trilogy.

Valorant

Put Counter-Strike into a box with Overwatch then spend a few minutes shaking it around — you’ll have Valorant. That’s a definite oversimplification, but hey, it’s definitely not a lie. That’s what you’re getting on the tin.

Valorant is a competitive tactical shooter with heavy hero shooter elements — there are quite a few different game modes, but it typically boils down to a 5-on-5 with teams alternating attack and defense. It’s a familiar format for any Counter-Strike veteran, but the focus on high-octane mobility and character abilities will definitely take some getting used to.

That said, the game hosts a rabidly competitive playerbase. In addition to conventional “Competitive Matchmaking,” Valorant features a “Premier” queue and game mode specifically for players that are looking to go pro — so if you’re looking for an esports grind to get good at, this is the title to fill that void for you.

The Case Of The Golden Idol

The Case of the Golden Idol is an exceedingly clever murder mystery game that stages a series of horrible events players need to unspool bit-by-bit. The premise is simple: players are presented with an image of some ghastly event and a block of text where crucial information is missing that they need to fill in.

By poking and prodding at the image like a good detective, players start to uncover the names of people and places, as well as potential murder weapons and actions, that explain everything that transpired the day or night of the incident. It’s clever, satisfying, and its twisted world and events are so inventive, it’s impossible to put down.

Neon White

If you’re someone who is tired of FPS games frequently leaning toward the photorealistic and wish there were more that embraced a striking visual art style but still played phenomenally, have you met my friend Neon White? Neon White is a must-play FPS game if you’re at all a fan of the genre. We know that’s a phrase that’s used a lot (we’ve probably used it ubiquitously in several entries here), but the flash and polish of Neon White makes it more than worthy to be labeled as such.

In a dizzying blend of Mirror’s Edge and Doom Eternal, Neon White pirouettes its way into the genre as a platforming shooter that has you racing as the main protagonist across levels, exterminating heaven-invading demons as you go. For each run, you must shoot all enemies as quickly as possible using the abilities at your disposal, and what follows is a dance of gunplay and traversal that makes you feel like a veritable badass.

The story (a former denizen of Hell trying to earn a spot in Heaven) is fun, and getting to hear Steve Blum’s dulcet tones is always a plus. But the cream of the crop is the gameplay, which, as we said earlier, is a must-play phenomenon.

Ryse: Son Of Rome

Though it originally surfaced as a launch title for the Xbox One some ten years ago, this fairly straightforward third-person brawler wears its age fairly admirably — though that isn’t to say that it doesn’t wear it at all. It’s definitely an Xbox One game, but it’s a solid one.

Ryse: Son of Rome slips you into the hobnailed sandals of Roman general Marius Titus, and… well, without spoiling too much, proceeds to unspool a plot more than vaguely reminiscent of the Y2K film Gladiator. In terms of story, it does the job, but it’s far from the game’s selling point — the meaty, visceral, highly stylized combat.

On the tin, it’s a simple enough affair of timed prompts and quick-time events. It never gets too complex, but will certainly offer a challenge and manages to provide some depth with a series of unlockable “perks” that provide different bonuses upon defeating enemies.

The real kicker, however, is the sheer amount of visual flair that it manages to pack in and the fluidity with which it implements its systems into the visual effects. If you missed this one upon the Xbox One’s 2013 launch, it’s well worth the seven or eight hour spin to beat.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2

It’s not often that a game comes close to matching the arena brawl perfection that is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate; that title has long been the bar that similar games strive to reach. Quite honestly, the first Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was an absolute failure and didn’t come within miles of that standard. However, with this second entry, the unbelievable has occurred: we’ve gotten a brawler that feels unique, has fantastic, nostalgia-driven fighters, and comes leagues closer to that Smash Bros. mark.

There is twice the polish here than there was before, and the inclusion of Slime-fueled ultimate attacks lends the game an extra bit of identity. And being frank once again, it’s just freakin’ cool to be Squidward slapping the heck out of Jimmy Neutron. We grew up on these cartoons, so getting the chance to play as them with such a silly fun concept is a blast. Plus, there aren’t many fighting games available on Xbox Game Pass, so this makes for a great addition to the library.

Still Wakes The Deep

The walking-simulator style of horror games we’ve gotten in recent years have been superb. And one of the most exemplary titles of this genre is Still Wakes the Deep. This game places you in one of the most unique settings we’ve been to in a video game, and a ripe one for scare potential. You play as Caz, an electrician aboard the Beira, an oil rig way out in the North Sea. Everyone working on the rig is pretty much isolated from the rest of the world save for some shoddy radio equipment, aged lifeboats, and one lone chopper.

This isolation, as you could probably guess, comes into play when the workers drill into something they should not have drilled into. As Caz, you have to navigate the crumbling rig and bypass these otherworldly horrors that begin enmeshing themselves within the infrastructure of the rig and your human coworkers. The performances in Still Wakes the Deep are absolutely phenomenal. No fake screaming here. As the people begin undergoing grotesque transformations, their howls, moans, and shrieks all feel terrifyingly legitimate.

And while the minimal gameplay is not going to win any awards, it’s an enjoyable, albeit spine-tingling walk through what it would feel like if a Cthulhu-inspired infection/monstrosity broke out in your place of work.