With the launch of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles quickly approaching, Microsoft’s biggest pitch for new adopters is its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Game Pass is affordable, accessible, and grants subscribers a ton of great games to play. With launch just a month away now, all Xbox has to do is show that Game Pass will be as great on next-gen consoles as it has been on Xbox One. The latest round of Game Pass additions, which includes Forza Motorsport 7, is a good start.
Forza Horizon 7 is a fitting choice to add to Game Pass in the lead-up to the Xbox Series X and S launch. For one, racing games are often hugely popular launch titles for new consoles. Now Xbox One, PC, and eventually Xbox Series X and S players will be able to check out Turn 10’s most-recent racing-focused game. It’s a shame that Turn 10’s in-development Forza Motorsport wasn’t finished in time for launch, but Forza Motorsport 7 should be a decent alternative for the time being.
But Forza Horizon 7 isn’t the only game that’s been released on Game Pass in recent days. Two other games that represent the breadth of content Game Pass has to offer were also released. Those games being newly launched indie RPG Ikenfell and the Double Fine classic action-adventure game Brutal Legend.
Ikenfell, for those unfamiliar, is a turn-based tactical RPG featuring timing mechanics not unlike Paper Mario games. It takes place in a fantasy world filled with magic and mystery, wherein a group of magical students tries to prevent this magical world from coming to an end. It’s part Earthbound, part Undertale, and makes for a great entry on Game Pass. Game Pass supports a wide variety of indie darlings that launch on the service and Ikenfell is just the most recent example.
Where Ikenfell represents new indie games coming to Game Pass, Brutal Legends represent classic games becoming available. This 2009 action-adventure game features a heavy metal world and a Jack Black-voiced protagonist. And it’s likely just the first of many Double Fine games to be added to the service since the studio’s acquisition.
Microsoft is holding its release schedule of future Game Pass releases tight to the chest for the time being. The rest of October is open. But that likely just means that Microsoft has some surprises in store leading up to the release of the Xbox Series X and S. Stay tuned for more Xbox Game Pass announcements in the relatively near future.
