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Windows Central

Technology

Samuel Tolbert

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches in Xbox Game Pass soon, while an underrated co-op RPG returns to the service

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What you need to know

Another wave of games are headed to different tiers of Xbox Game Pass in the coming weeks.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is launching day one into Xbox Game Pass on October 25, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone will be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Other games coming to the service include A44's co-op RPG Ashen and Ubisoft's South Park: The Fractured But Whole.
A handful of games are also leaving the service soon, including Inkulinati.

The halfway mark of the month means it's time for more games to arrive in Microsoft's gaming subscription service.

A number of titles are coming to Xbox Game Pass in the new couple of weeks, as shared via Xbox Wire on Tuesday. These additions include the return of Ashen, a 2018 co-op focused role-playing game developed by A44 and published by Annapurna Interactive.

Of course, the big addition for the second half of October 2024 is the already-announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which is being joined at launch by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) and Call of Duty: Warzone, with the latter two titles being added to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

You can find the full list of games coming to Xbox Game Pass soon below, with the dates each title arrives and the game tiers or services the game is being added to.

October 16

South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows PC) - Ultimate, Standard, PC

October 17

Donut County (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows PC) - Ultimate, Standard, PC
MechWarrior 5: Clans (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows PC) - Ultimate, PC

October 25

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows PC) - Ultimate, PC
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Ultimate
Call of Duty: Warzone (Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Ultimate

October 29

Ashen (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows PC) - Ultimate, Standard, PC

October 31

Dead Island 2 (Windows PC) - Ultimate, PC

November 5

StarCraft: Remastered (Windows PC) - Ultimate, PC
StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection (Windows PC) - Ultimate, PC

What games are leaving on October 31?

There's always a batch of games that are exiting the service for now, and that's again the case here. If you want to keep playing these games, you'll need to buy them, and if you buy them before they leave, you'll get a discount. Here's what's leaving Xbox Game Pass soon:

Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery
Headbangers
Inkulinati
Lonely Mountain’s Downhill
Mineko’s Night Market

A busy few weeks for Activision Blizzard on Xbox

Blizzard's StarCraft games are joining PC Game Pass at the start of November. (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

While Microsoft has been slow to add many titles from the Activision Blizzard King library into Xbox Game Pass, there's a bevy of games hitting this month.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the highlight for sure, a critical test of Microsoft's first-party efforts, but it's also really nice to see StarCraft getting a bit of attention after years of quiet.

Outside of the first-party lineup, I really recommend checking out Ashen if you've never played it before. There are obvious comparisons to make to FromSoftware's titles, but the focus on slow exploration and co-op mechanics really do help set it apart, and it's awesome to see villages slowly come to life as you complete quests in an area. If you're looking for something slightly scary but also strangely cozy, grab a friend and give it a whirl.