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Deep Silver
Now that 2025 has begun, new games are slowly trickling onto Xbox Game Pass. While heavy hitters like Avowed and South of Midnight aren’t here just yet, Microsoft is kicking off the new year by bringing back two amazing indie titles to its gaming subscription service and bringing some entertaining survival games down to the Game Pass Standard tier on console. If you’re looking for something to play this weekend, these are the games that I’d recommend.
Road 96
Road 96 is a narrative adventure game about teenagers attempting to escape a fictional country called Petria, which is run by an authoritarian machine. It couples the choice-driven structure of Telltale adventure games with a roguelike structure, as each run technically follows a different teenager trying to get to the border. Some are more successful than others, and players can even die if they make the wrong decisions. It makes your individual experience as a player feel more special compared to other choice-based games. As Road 96‘s themes will only continue to become more relevant this year, it’s perfect to kick off 2025 by playing Road 96 on Xbox Game Pass.
The PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions of Road 96 are now available through PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard, and Game Pass Ultimate. It’s also on PS4 and PS5 via the PlayStation Plus Extra game catalog and Nintendo Switch.
Carrion
Carrion - Official Gameplay Trailer
Like Road 96, Devolver Digital and Phobia Game Studios’ Carrion also returned to Xbox Game Pass this month. The idea behind Carrion is that it’s a reverse-horror game where players control the grotesque monster that’s killing people rather than being the one running and hiding from it. The result is a game with a 2D Metroidvania-like structure where players slowly become a more powerful mass and annihilate anyone who gets in their way. It’s a testament to how there will always be creative ways for game developers to recontextualize preexisting gaming cliches, and it’s worth playing if you’ve never tried it before.
The PC and Xbox One versions of Carrion are available across Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Standard, and PC Game Pass. It’s also part of the PS Plus Extra subscription on PS4 and PS5 and available on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
My Time at Sandrock
My Time at Sandrock Announcement Trailer
If you’re the kind of person who has lost countless hours to games like Stardew Valley or Fields of Mistira, then you’ll enjoy My Time at Sandrock. In My Time at Sandrock, players slowly build up a desert town by gathering resources, farming, constructing buildings, and fighting any threats to the town. The fact that My Time at Sandrock is a more ambitious 3D open-world game also sets it apart from similar titles.
While the PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions of My Time at Sandrock have been available as part of the Game Pass Ultimate catalog since the summer of 2025, Microsoft made it available to Game Pass Standard subscribers earlier this week. It’s also on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
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2024 was a year of metamorphosis for Xbox. The long-gestating acquisition of Activision Blizzard finally finished toward the end of last year, and in 2024, we saw the fallout of the biggest gaming company acquisition of all time. A year of high peaks and low valleys for Microsoft's gaming brand followed.
Microsoft laid off thousands of game developers at different points this year. It shut down studios like Arkane Austin, Mighty Dog, and Roundhouse Studios, and sold off Hi-Fi Rush and its developer, Tango Gameworks, after attempting to shut them down. Xbox Game Pass confusingly split into several tiers, getting more expensive for those who want to play new games on the service day one. Xbox Game Studios Publishing's Ara: History Untold and Towerborne were PC exclusives at launch this year, which alludes to a significant shift in Xbox's strategy.
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Xbox Game Pass has had a wild year of ups and downs. While the introduction of new tiers with different game offerings has made subscribing a more confusing process, lots of fantastic games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 have still come to the service the day they released. Over the past couple of weeks, we saw the launch of the last few of 2024's day one Xbox Game Pass titles. These range from early access indies to a new Indiana Jones game from the developer of the Wolfenstein series. If you're wondering what you should be playing on Xbox Game Pass this weekend, look to these titles.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Gamescom Date Reveal Trailer - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | gamescom 2024
The last major Xbox exclusive release of the year, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, is a first-person action-adventure game based on the iconic Lucasfilm series. Wolfenstein: The New Order and The New Colossus developer MachineGames managed to create a licensed game that still retains a unique gameplay identity, infusing puzzle game and immersive sim gameplay elements into what easily could've been an Uncharted knockoff. If you've ever enjoyed an Indiana Jones film and are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, then Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a game you should definitely check out.
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3 new PS Plus games you should play this weekend (December 6-8)
This is a good week to be subscribed to PlayStation Plus. Three new PS Plus Essential games just became available, one of which should be a must-play for subscribers this weekend. And with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered poised to launch next week, PS Plus Premium subscribers can prepare for it by playing the two other Legacy of Kain games that are new additions to PS Plus Premium's Classic Catalog this weekend.
It Takes Two
It Takes Two – Official Gameplay Trailer
Josef Fares' Hazelight Studios is known for making story-driven co-op games that thematically lean into the fact that they need to be played with someone else. The studio's latest game is It Takes Two, a 3D platformer that follows a married couple with relationship problems who get trapped inside dolls' bodies. Their journey to repair their relationship is equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and engaging as both a story-driven game and co-op experience. It Takes Two won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021 for a reason, so you should check it out if you haven't already. Playing It Takes Two will also hype you up for whatever Fares is making next.
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