Xbox's showcase just before the start of this year's Gamescom had quite a bit to show fans, but the showcase especially focused on new games coming to its subscription service Xbox Game Pass. The company has invested heavily into Xbox Game Pass in recent years by expanding it to PC and mobile devices, putting all of its first-party games on the services, and by investing heavily in attracting third-party titles to the service as well.
New games are added to the service every month, often in multiple batches, which can make it a bit hard for some players to keep track of what is all coming to the service and when. Games do also occasionally leave Xbox Game Pass as well, but the additions have so far been much more substantial than the departures. At Gamescom, however, a whopping 11 games were revealed to be coming to Xbox Game Pass, which should help bolster the service's already sizable library of game offerings.
An Xbox Console Port of Crusader Kings 3 is Launching on Xbox Game Pass
Perhaps the biggest of the revealed titles was a console port of the popular medieval strategy title Crusader Kings 3. The game's jump to consoles will be the first time for the series, but does follow the console port of developer Paradox's science-fiction strategy title Stellaris. Unfortunately, Crusader Kings 3 will only be releasing on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, but the release will still undoubtedly be a treat for strategy players on the consoles. Crusader Kings 3's PC release has been extremely favorable, with many critics and players alike calling it one of the strongest medieval strategy games to ever be released.
This is largely a result of the game's extremely deep systems that allow for emergent narratives to come up during each playthrough. Players have an incredible amount of freedom to approach the game however they wish, while the game's complexity and depth are joined by some truly hilarious crazy things that players can do in Crusader Kings 3. This includes having children with traits like scaly or giant, playing a ruler that refuses to wear clothes, or becoming the Pope.
The game has an incredible amount of variety for players to fool around with and explore, and it is great to see the series finally making the jump to consoles so that non-PC players can enjoy everything it has to offer as well. The series is also well known for having a bevy of DLCs to support the games after launch, so it will be interesting to see how those get ported in the future as well.
Xbox Unveiled Into The Pit Coming to Xbox Game Pass
Into The Pit is a new indie title that Xbox revealed at Gamescom, as well as announcing that it would be joining Xbox Game Pass the day it was released. The game features FPS gameplay and rogue-lite systems that see players fighting through procedurally generated fantasy dungeons in attempts to clear the entire course in one life. Rogue-lite games like Hades have become extremely popular lately, and it will be very interesting to see what Into The Pit brings to the genre. The game also boasts a great visual style that seems to be taking a lot of cues from classic FPS titles like the original DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein.
The game puts players in the shoes of a descendant of lore-hunting mystics, travelling to a strange town after hearing rumors of a demonic portal opening there. As players fight off the demonic invasion, they will be able to customize their loadout and upgrade the gear that they find scattered throughout. Into The Pit is also releasing on PC, but Xbox has confirmed that it will be included in Xbox Game Pass for PC as well as console. However, Xbox has not said whether or not Into The Pit will be featured in Xbox Cloud Gaming which allows mobile users to stream games and will soon let Xbox One gamers play Xbox Series X/S exclusives via streaming.
Xbox Revealed Multiple Humble Games Coming to Xbox Game Pass
Xbox also unveiled a partnership with popular game seller Humble Bundle, that will see 10 games published by the website coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one. The first game shown, Archvale is an RPG bullet hell game that tasks players with embarking on a journey to save a fantasy land. It also included Next Space Rebels which allows players to build amateur rockets out of scrap in a fashion similar to the popular Kerbal Space Program, which just finished development after a decade.
The list also includes Midnight Fight Express, which features brutal fast-paced combat from an isometric perspective complete with brutal motion-captured animations. Humble Games will also bring Dodgeball Academia to the service, which is a sports RPG with a fantastic cartoony art style. Bushiden will also come to the service and offers up a brand new sci-fi metroidvania experience that is infused with Japanese influences and mythology.
Xbox also revealed the game Flynn: Son of Crimson at the expo, which is a gorgeous hand-crafted 2D platformer that looks to be another great platformer on Xbox Game Pass. Another game unveiled was called Unpacking. The game lives up to its title and describes itself as a zen puzzle game that allows players to simply unpack rooms and organize them in whatever way they would like to. Signalis was also shown, which is a survival horror game that is filled with tense combat, puzzles, and resource management.
Xbox also showed Unsighted which is a 2D hack and slash game set in a futuristic dystopia that has a demo available for any interested PC players. Finally, Chinatown Detective Agency showed off its cyberpunk point and clink gameplay complete with beautiful pixel graphics. The game says it will require players to perform real-world research in order to solve mysteries and uncover a sprawling global conspiracy throughout its narrative.