Another great Activision game comes to Xbox Game Pass this month

By Tomas Franzese Published 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.

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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.

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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

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Gaming Staff Writer

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

Gaming

These Activision Blizzard games need to come to Xbox Game Pass this year

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In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and by the end of the year, the latter company's CEO had departed. Now, this will be the year where we’ll see how Activision Blizzard functions when fully integrated into Microsoft. The most immediate change for those who play games will likely be Activision Blizzard titles coming to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

Microsoft and Activision have explained that because of the tribulations the acquisition encountered, it was impossible to have Xbox Game Pass additions prepared almost immediately after the acquisition, as it did with ZeniMax Media. In the coming months, I expect we’ll finally start to see Activision Blizzard games trickle onto the service, even if we shouldn't expect it from this week's Developer_Direct. As Activision Blizzard is one of the oldest game publishers out there, having released hundreds of games, there are plenty of titles to choose from. I’ve cherry-picked the ones I want to see most.
Diablo IV

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

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