Play Sniper Elite: Resistance and More on Xbox Game Pass Soon

Sniper Elite is an award-winning stealth, tactical shooter series, and according to Forbes, it has sold over 30 million units worldwide. And on Jan. 30 some Xbox Game Pass subscribers can play the latest entry in the series, Sniper Elite: Resistance, on day one when it’s released.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick — offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Series S, Xbox One, PC and mobile device for $20 per month. A subscription provides access to a large library of games, with new titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 added every month, plus benefits such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.

Your Phone Might Soon Be All You Need to Game

Here are all the games Microsoft is adding to Game Pass in January. You can also check out the games Microsoft added to the service in December, like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. 

Flock (console)

Available: Jan. 22

Microsoft brought this lighthearted multiplayer game to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in July, and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play it soon too. This game is about the joys of flight and catching precious flying creatures with your friends. You start off with a small group of hover-sheep (are they birds, fish, snakes — who knows?), but as you explore and come across new and exotic critters, you can charm them into joining your flock.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition

Available: Jan. 22

Choose your character, team up with friends and battle it out with others in this 5v5 hero shooter game, like League of Legends or Overwatch. Use strategy and skill to take down the other team’s Guardian while protecting your own. This is the definitive and premium release of the hero shooter Gigantic, and it brings new heroes and maps to all players.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (console)

Available: Jan. 22

Game Pass Standard subscribers can play this game a few months after Microsoft brought it to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. A mountain has been covered in defilement, and it’s up to you to cleanse the land. This game is a unique Japanese-inspired action strategy game that follows two distinct day and night gameplay cycles. During the day, you purify the villages and prepare yourself for nightfall. Then, once the sun goes down, you must protect the Maiden from enemies known as the Seethe. It’s up to you to restore peace to the mountain and its villages.

Magical Delicacy (console)

Available: Jan. 22

Game Pass Ultimate subscribers have been able to play this game since July, and Game Pass Standard subscribers can get in on the fun soon too. Cook magical delicacies, explore a new town and deliver tasty treats to the locals in this wholesome pixel-art platformer. You play as Flora, who wants to become a proper witch, as she opens a shop in a harbor town full of whimsical characters and a few mischievous members of opposing covens. Don’t let them get in the way of cooking, shopping and befriending the locals.

Tchia (console)

Available: Jan. 22

Game Pass Standard subscribers should get ready to explore a tropical archipelago in this action-adventure game. Sail, climb and glide around the environment in a beautiful physics-driven sandbox experience. Oh, and did I mention you can take control of any animal or object you come across? That means if you want to swim as a turtle, roll around as a tire or float around as a beach ball, you can. 

The Case of the Golden Idol (console)

Available: Jan. 22

Game Pass Standard subscribers need to put their detective cap on because there’s been a murder — more like 12, actually. You play as an 18th-century detective investigating these murders, which span over five decades. You’ll have to investigate the crime scenes, deduce the motives behind the murders and unmask the killer or killers in this mystery game.

Starbound (cloud and console)

Available: Jan. 22

PC Game Pass subscribers can already play this intergalactic action game, and Microsoft is bringing it to Game Pass Standard and Xbox Cloud Gaming (beta). In this game, you decide how you want to play and what your end goal is. You can go off on an adventure across space to save the galaxy, you can explore dungeons and planets filled with exotic creatures and fauna or you can settle down and farm the land. The choice is yours, but growing some space produce and raising alien farm animals sounds pretty nice to me.

Eternal Strands

Available: Jan. 28

This debut fantasy game comes from studio Yellow Brick Games, an indie studio founded by industry veterans who worked on beloved games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs. You’ll fight giant monsters with an arsenal of powerful weapons and magic. And don’t be afraid to experiment with your magical abilities. You can light a tree on fire and hurl it at your enemies or erect a wall of ice to block an incoming attack. So you may not have a sword and shield in a fight, but you’re not out of options.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap

Available: Jan. 28

The orcs are back in the latest entry in this tower-defense series, but your goal remains the same: kill every last one of the orcs. Each hero in this game has their own unique playstyle so pick the one that’s most fun for you. And team up with others in four-player co-op to obliterate the chaotic hordes. 

Shady Part of Me

Available: Jan. 29

This unique game sends you an emotional journey through surreal landscapes filled with twists and surprises. You play as a little girl and her shadow as they learn to cooperate and evolve together in order to break out of your dream. You’ll solve puzzles using unique light and time mechanics, and you’ll use these same features to get out of tough situations. 

Sniper Elite: Resistance

Available: Jan. 30

The latest entry in this popular series drops you into Nazi-occupied France far from the front lines of World War II. You’ll work with the French Resistance to uncover and eliminate a weapon the Nazis hope will guarantee their victory. But you don’t have to take on this task alone. You can play the campaign with a friend in co-op, and then you can take on others in online multiplayer matches. If competition isn’t your style, mow down waves of Nazis and enemies with friends in Survival Mode. 

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

Available: Jan. 31

This sequel to one of 2022’s most popular RPGs launches on day one on Game Pass. You play as a sleeper, an emulated human mind in an artificial body, as you try to outrun the corporation that made you and the gang that wants to control you. You’ll commandeer a ship, recruit a crew and take on contracts as you try to build a better future for yourself in this sci-fi game. 

Far Cry New Dawn

Available: Feb. 4

Return to Hope County, Montana, in this game set 17 years after the events of Far Cry 5. The global nuclear catastrophe at the end of this game’s predecessor has maimed Hope County, mutating animals and plants alike. A group of people called the Highwaymen threaten to take over the last resources, and it’s up to you to stop the group and their leaders, the Twins. 

Games leaving Game Pass soon

While Game Pass subscribers will be able to play those games soon, Microsoft is removing six games from the service on Jan. 31. So you still have some time to finish campaigns and wrap up any side quests before you have to buy these games separately.

Anuchard
Broforce Forever
Darkest Dungeon
Death’s Door
Maquette
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem

For more on Xbox, check out other games available on Game Pass Ultimate now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you.