The Best Xbox Game Pass Games (September 2024)

Game Pass offers a library of hundreds of games across Xbox and PC. With so many to choose from, it can be difficult finding the very best Xbox Game Pass games to spend your limited gaming hours on. New games arrive on the service just about every week, and old games leave the service, too. To help you navigate the ever-shifting landscape, we've rounded up the best Game Pass games available now. We'll continue to update this list as the Game Pass library rotates.

To be clear, there are plenty more excellent games on Xbox Game Pass than the ones we’ve listed below--the service is loaded with worthy games. These are just the games we think every Xbox owner should play, and we regularly review this list to make sure we stand by our choices and rotate in newer releases.

More Xbox best lists

• Best Xbox Series X games
• Biggest upcoming Xbox games
• Best Xbox controllers
• Best Xbox headsets

Keep in mind, though, that Xbox Game Pass comes in various tiers at different pricing levels. Xbox Game Pass Core offers a smaller selection of games along with the online play functionality that used to be Xbox Live Gold for $10 per month. Xbox Game Pass for just the Xbox library is $11 per month, while Xbox Game Pass for PC is $10 per month. The best value by far is Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes both the Xbox and PC libraries, along with cloud gaming functionality to play the Game Pass selections on your mobile device.

Here are the best games to sample on Game Pass right now. Microsoft surely has more Game Pass inclusions on the horizon throughout the rest of the year, so keep an eye here for more of our favorite picks.

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The first Plague Tale was an unexpected hit from a relatively small developer punching above its weight. The sequel could have expanded its scope, but instead, Asobo Studio kept its narrative tightly focused on telling a human story set in an alternative French history. Though the rat-controlling mechanics have been expanded, the story is still concerned primarily with the family dynamics between Hugo and his protective older sister, Amicia. It's also a downright beautiful game, with lush environments that rival those from the biggest AAA studios.

Read our A Plague Tale: Requiem review.

Arcade Paradise is an inventive blend of management sim and retro-styled compilation. As the manager of a laundromat with some arcade machines buried in the back, you'll slowly build up your collection of arcade machines, transforming the business into a successful arcade. But you also get to play the arcade machines yourself, unlocking achievements and getting high scores that help the machines generate more money for your business. The result is a compelling gameplay loop that also has a surprisingly resonant story at its core.

A logic puzzle game wrapped in a mind-twisting mystery, The Case of the Golden Idol has you solving a series of British murders by carefully inspecting dossiers and the environment to find inconsistencies. The inventive puzzle mechanic has you filling in missing words to solve the riddles. Xbox Game Pass has the full base game, but if you're itching for even more mysteries to solve there are extra Golden Idol Mysteries you can purchase as DLC.

Lots of games revolve around learning about strange creatures, but more often than not you're either beating them up or capturing them to have them beat each other up. That's not the case with Creatures of Ava, a story-rich adventure game that takes your role as a scientist and protector seriously. As you explore the alien landscape you'll have to protect yourself from aggressive fauna, but you do it with a creative take on combat that makes it family-friendly and humane. The world is rich with diverse biomes to explore and creatures to discover, and it's an easy recommendation for parents to enjoy with their kids.

An impeccably crafted indie platformer, Celeste is known for its tough-but-fair difficulty and surprisingly emotionally engaging story. As you climb the mountain you'll come face to face with devilish platforming challenges that will test your skill, all while discovering a subtle story of self-discovery and overcoming depression. It has a stellar 94 score on Metacritic, so don't sleep on this one. And don't worry if you aren't a platforming pro, as Celeste has a full suite of difficulty modifiers that let you experience the climb on your own terms.

Read our Celeste review.

A puzzle game built around communication, Chants of Sennaar approximates the feeling of slowly learning a new language while immersed in a strange new culture. As you solve puzzles to unlock new parts of these fictitious languages, you start to recognize snippets of meaning in speech and writing, and it meticulously unlocks new avenues to learn even more and venture further. The whole experience is built around the mythical Tower of Babel, as you make your way through a massive structure with various peoples speaking different languages along the way.

When Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it seemed like only a matter of time before the studio's massive library started to come to Game Pass. We're still waiting on a lot of the catalog, but it started with a big one. The latest in the beloved dungeon-crawling RPG series Diablo, Diablo IV, lets you delve into the deep and macabre world of Sanctuary to protect it from Lillith, the demon mother. With deep and immersive character building and a regular cadence of seasonal content to let you further expand your characters with new abilities, Diablo IV is not to be missed.

Read our Diablo IV review.

Bigger, bolder, and more brutal than ever, Id Software unleashed hell on Earth with Doom Eternal, much to the delight of everyone who played this sequel. Pure action from start to finish and unrelenting when the armies of the damned were thrown at you, Doom Eternal is a metal journey through the apocalypse that takes no prisoners.

Read our Doom Eternal review.

A spiritual successor to the beloved PS1-era Suikoden series, Eiyuden Chronicles was the latest in a long line of game creators using crowd-funding to revive their most famous works. In this case, it was Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama and the newly founded Rabbit & Bear Studios promising a new RPG with tons of characters to recruit and a high fantasy story of intrigue and warring kingdoms. The result is a real treat for Suikoden fans and RPG lovers more generally, with beautiful 2D artwork, a compelling story, and a neat base-building wrinkle. Sadly Murayama passed away shortly before release, making this his swan song.

Between its amazing visuals, myriad gameplay options, and bevy of content, Forza Horizon 5 is a racing game that anyone can enjoy. From a technical standpoint, it’s remarkable what the team at Playground Games achieved--everything from the meticulously detailed vehicle models to the lush virtual recreations of Mexico’s landscapes are visually engrossing.. Better yet, the gameplay is some of the best in the racing genre. Unlike the simulation-heavy Forza Motorsport line, the Forza Horizon series lean towards arcade racing, emphasizing player freedom in vast open worlds. Forza Horizon 5 doubles down on the philosophy, letting players focus on the type of experience they want--be that tense races against other players, single-player challenges and story content, or just chilling out and cruising the open road.

Read our Forza Horizon 5 review.

Forza Motorsport goes back to the series' roots as a simulation track racer, with stunning recreations of high performance vehicles. Car progression and upgrades are streamlined enough for fans to understand, but with the ability to get your hands dirty under the hood with precise fine-tuning. It's a graphical showpiece for the Xbox, making it a great game to try on Game Pass regardless of whether you're a gear-head.

Read our Forza Motorsport review.

Gears Tactics cleverly applies the aesthetic and atmosphere of the franchise to a tactics game. Despite being a totally different genre, Gears Tactics still feels like a natural addition to the iconic franchise thanks to sound mechanics and great level design. Many of the notable Gears of War gameplay systems and quirks are adapted into the top-down tactical spin on the genre. With a meaningful progression system, deep but approachable tactical encounters, and a number of great boss battles, Gears Tactics is a can’t-miss experience for Gears aficionados and strategy game fans alike.

Read our Gears Tactics review.

If you’ve never played the Halo franchise before, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is the perfect place to start. The Master Chief Collection comes with six Halo games, including remastered versions of the first two original Xbox entries. Halo features some of the very best single-player campaigns in the genre as well as extremely solid online multiplayer, at least after years of fixes and improvements. Back when the collection was originally released, the online multiplayer was spotty to say the least, but it has come a long way. Halo: The Master Chief Collection offers the best way to play some of the most heralded first-person shooters ever created.

Read our Halo: The Master Chief Collection review.

Hi-Fi Rush is a bright, popcorn animated adventure from the studio that brought you… The Evil Within? As surprising as that is, what may be even more impressive is that this is an absolute gem of a rhythm-action game. The original IP follows Chai, a good-hearted doofus who signs up for free cybernetic surgery and ends up with a Zune grafted into his chest. He comes out of the other side with the power to defeat corporate ne'er-do-wells to the gyrating beat of the world. It's like Elite Beat Agents mashed together with Devil May Cry.

Read our Hi-Fi Rush review.

Enchanting and utterly engrossing, Hollow Knight is one of the best metroidvanias ever made. Team Cherry’s adventure stars a nameless knight armed with a nail who explores a labyrinthine world known as Hallownest. With a gorgeous art style and an incredible amount of variation in the environments, Hollow Knight’s expansive world is a constant joy to explore. Challenging combat rewards those with patience and perseverance. Hollow Knight truly stands out in a fairly crowded genre. If you haven’t waded through Hallownest yet, now’s a great time to slay some insect ahead of the sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Read our Hollow Knight review.

Though it's still in early access, Manor Lords has quickly gained a following as a deep and engrossing strategy game that encompasses several different types of strategy at once. You'll build a city with complex social and economic systems at play, as well as take part in huge tactical battles against rival lords. Building your civilization from almost nothing and helping it manage trials like an unforgiving winter is so satisfying, and the depth of the game is made even more impressive by it being the work of just one developer.

Baseball is an annual spring tradition, and recently, so is MLB The Show on Game Pass. The sports franchise game from Sony's San Diego Studio hits Game Pass on release day every year, letting you feel the crack of the bat right as the baseball season starts. This year's iteration, MLB The Show 24, brings back its Storylines mode with a new set of documentary-style tales regarding the Negro Leagues, and for the first time, Road to the Show features women as playable characters. Though parts are in need of a refresh at this point, the total package is still a satisfying way to play America's pastime.

Read our MLB The Show 24 review.

Monster Hunter World introduced loads of new fans to the Monster Hunter series, which up to that point had a niche but enthusiastic audience in the West. That game spent some time on Game Pass, but it's since been removed and you can play the more recent Monster Hunter iteration instead. Rise borrows several quality-of-life improvements that made World such a success, and adds another one: the Wirebug, a new tool that lets you easily and quickly traverse the map by swinging through the wilderness. Monster Hunter Rise is an ideal entry point for franchise newcomers.

Read our Monster Hunter Rise review.

A fast-paced first-person platformer, Neon White is a fresh take on competitive speedrunning. You'll have to master tight vertically-designed stages within a stylish afterlife setting, taking down enemies with panache along the way. The breakneck pace is unlike anything else, and it's easy to get lost for a long time promising yourself just one more run.

Octopath Traveler was a daring new RPG concept from Square Enix in which the story was told non-sequentially, as you could play as any of eight protagonists in any order, experiencing their own unique stories. Octopath Traveler 2 improves upon its predecessor in every way, taking to heart critiques from the first game and making a standout RPG experience. The new cast of eight characters are well differentiated with skills both inside and outside of combat, and their distinct abilities create interesting puzzle scenarios for completing missions and side quests. The combat system is rich with possibilities, letting you leverage their strengths in satisfying ways. And the story ties the eight hero narratives together into a cohesive whole. If the first game was an experiment, this one is the proof of concept.

Both games in Moon Studios’ incredible Ori series are worth playing. Ori and the Blind Forest and its 2020 sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps are two of the best platformers available on Xbox. Both have stunning visuals and tell emotionally gripping stories that feed off of the atmosphere and well-drawn characters. While they are similar in terms of aesthetic and feel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is more action-oriented, whereas the Blind Forest largely focuses on platforming and exploration. The Will of the Wisps gives Ori new abilities that help them square off against daunting bosses. Both games are brilliant in their own right, and are must-play platformers on Xbox. You should play them in order to get the full emotional weight of the story.

Read our Ori and Will of the Wisps review.

One of the most unusual games on Game Pass, or anywhere, Pentiment is an adventure game set in 16th century Bavaria. As a manuscript illustrator sent to an Abbey, you're caught up in a series of murders. The decades-spanning story explores the idea of historical narrative and how truth is recorded and remembered across generations. It's really unlike anything else.

Read our Pentiment review.

Persona 3 was the game to really set the mold for where the series would go, essentially splitting the game in half. It's part dungeon-crawling, turn-based RPG and part social sim where you manage the life of a high-schooler who teams up with other kids to secretly combat monsters at night. Reload improves on the original version of the game in numerous ways, introducing quality-of-life features and improved visuals that make this the best-playing version of Persona 3 (even if it does lack some portions of content from prior versions). This is a substantial experience that will keep you hooked over its dozens of hours, with a great story, terrific music, incredibly slick-looking menus, and fun combat.

See our Persona 3 Reload review.

The first Pillars of Eternity was a thrilling study in old school RPG gameplay with a modern makeover, but its sequel outdoes the original in almost every way possible. A more confident follow-up that doubles down on its strengths while further refining its formula, Obsidian Entertainment's sophomore effort is an entertaining game filled with rich writing and easily-accessible gameplay for newcomers to the genre.

Read our Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire review.

It's safe to say that there's no game like Psychonauts 2 on the market, as Double Fine's return to the cult-classic world of Razputin Aquato and the titular psychic peacekeeping agency is an absolute mind-blast of imaginative design. Fun to play and packing an emotional wallop with its exploration of several characters and a deep dive into their respective psyches, Psychonauts 2 is both a hilarious and heartfelt effort.

Read our Psychonauts 2 review.

A live-service game that's not all about the shooting, Sea of Thieves is Rare's quirky take on a pirate simulator. It's gone through a lot of iterations since it was first released in 2018, so nowadays it's a full-fledged pirate simulator. You can crew your ship and sail the high seas, plunder other ships, find hidden treasure, and even deal with otherworldly pirate ghosts.

Read our Sea of Thieves review.

Slay the Spire marries deck-building with roguelike systems to create one of the best indies in recent years. Throughout your journey up the Spire, you square off against monsters, uncover treasures, and expand your deck of cards. Slay the Spire's card-based combat is easy to get the hang of but requires trial and error to find success. While you have to start back at the beginning each time you die, you gradually earn new cards, which help you advance further the next time. It’s an intoxicating loop that makes it easy to want to try “one more time” before putting down the controller. Each of Slay the Spire’s four playable characters have unique decks, adding a ton of incentive to brave the Spire for subsequent runs after the credits roll.

Read our Slay the Spire review.

Tunic, the long-awaited adventure starring a fox with a sword, is more than just a great Zelda-like. While it harks back to old-school Zelda games in terms of not guiding players toward the objectives, Tunic has its own approach to creating mystery and intrigue. All throughout the world you'll find pages of an instruction manual--really does look like one that would've been packaged with a game in the early '90s--that you have to piece together to learn about the world around you. It does a wonderful job replicating the thrill of discovery found in early Zelda games. Tunic is much harder than Zelda games from a combat perspective, but overcoming each challenge feels like a great triumph. Plus, any combat pains you may have are made worthwhile by gorgeous world that is a joy to explore.

Read our Tunic review.

After years of busting heads with the Dragon of Dojima, Yakuza: Like a Dragon came along to chart a new course for the long-running Sega franchise. Replacing Kiryu Kazama was the newly-paroled Ichiban Kasuga, a thug with a heart of gold who soon found himself caught in the middle of a vast conspiracy in the Japanese underworld. One other big change that Yakuza: Like a Dragon made was to its combat, as the game pulled heavily from classic Dragon Quest adventures to create a fresh spin on the RPG genre.

Read our Yakuza: Like a Dragon review.