Since its inception over five years ago, it's been very rare that Xbox Game Pass subscribers have had the rough end of the deal. Xbox Game Pass continuously refreshes its library to ensure subscribers have access to many high-quality titles, including the Halo and Gears of War catalogs, and Forza Horizon 5 just to name a few. This month, however, gamers are losing 11 games from the service, while only getting eight new titles in return. Even more eye-opening than the number of titles leaving the service though, is what this equates to in terms of hours of gameplay.
Titles leaving the service this month include Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling and Final Fantasy 13, both of which offer hours of content for gamers, especially completionists seeking all the games' side content and extra challenges. For gamers who simply want to see the credits roll, the total amount of content they'll be losing across the 11 titles is approximately 155 hours' worth. For those who strive to see everything games have to offer, players can expect to lose just shy of 300 hours of content on September 15 when the games bid farewell to Xbox Game Pass.
Breaking Down the Games Leaving Xbox Game Pass This Month
In terms of gaming hours, the biggest loss by far is the sprawling JRPG Final Fantasy 13. Final Fantasy titles are usually huge, and this one is no exception. Players will spend roughly 50 hours getting through the base game, and that's without taking into account any of the side content. Usually, Final Fantasy's side content contains some of its best challenges, and gamers will rarely want to miss out on that. When getting through all the game's side content, players can expect to spend over 100 hours with Final Fantasy 13. That is an incredible amount of gameplay which will soon be lost, not to mention the fact that this was the last mainline Final Fantasy game that was available on Xbox Game Pass.
The next largest game to be leaving is Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling. With a main campaign lasting 25 hours, the turn-based indie RPG proved to be a sleeper hit with critics and fans thanks to its eye-catching art style and simple gameplay. For those looking to explore the game further, there are roughly 50 hours of content altogether, which is not too shabby for an indie game.
The headline game to be leaving the service is the action stealth game A Plague Tale: Innocence. The game has built up a cult following since release, with gamers now heavily anticipating the sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, which is confirmed to be a day one release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers when it releases next month. In terms of gaming hours though, the game is a little on the shorter side, with the campaign only taking approximately 10-15 hours to complete, including all optional content.
Aragami 2 is also among those that are departing. The stealth sequel to Aragami is a much longer game than its predecessor, clocking in at approximately 15 hours to complete the campaign, but it can easily reach double that if gamers seek out the optional extras. The subscription service is also losing Craftopia, the popular online survival crafting game has roughly 25 hours worth of content in terms of achieving all of its objectives. Its worth noting though, as a largely multiplayer game, the actual hours a player could spend with it could be significantly more than this.
Rounding out the list of departures is a slew of smaller indie titles. Flynn: Son of Crimson and I Am Fish contain a combined 20 hours or so of content should gamers wish to explore them fully. Lost Words: Beyond The Page and Skatebird clock in at roughly 15 hours combined. The two smallest titles to leave, The Artful Escape and Mighty Goose, should take gamers less than 10 hours to beat them both in their entirety.
It's not all bad news though. Xbox Game Pass subscribers are receiving eight new titles this month, including five day one releases. Despite this, gamers can still expect to lose more games on September 30, not to mention the coming months as the Xbox Game Pass service continues to rotate its offerings.