It’s a Game Pass obituary today, as four titles depart Game Pass, never to be seen again (except a lot of them come back, and they’re still available for purchase).
Clutch your hat to your chest, wipe the tears from your eye, and say goodbye to Nier: Automata Become As Gods Edition (Cloud, Console and PC), PHOGS! (Cloud, Console and PC), Torchlight III (Cloud, Console and PC) and The Surge 2 (Cloud, Console and PC).
The big miss is seminal hack-and-slash RPG Nier: Automata Become As Gods Edition. For the soundtrack alone this is worth a play, although you will have to get used to some reasonably arch storytelling and lots of people in creepy masks. We gave this a 3.5/5, saying “the world is beautiful, and the soundtrack is phenomenal which is standard for a JRPG, but I’m disappointed that I wasn’t bogged down in story, another JRPG staple”.
If you were enjoying Nier: Automata: Become As Gods Edition, take note that – as with all Game Pass leavers – the game is reduced for a period, softening the blow for those Game Pass subscribers.
We’re also sad to say goodbye to PHOGS!, which got a glowing review when it launched last year. It was a good boy that we gave 4/5 to, saying “should you be in the market for a fun puzzler that never takes itself seriously, PHOGS! on Xbox is the game for you”.
Other than these two, we have perennial Xbox Sale favourite, The Surge 2 (has there been a period when it hasn’t had 50% off?), and critical disappointment Torchlight III, both leaving the service today. For those of you midway through these games, we wish you the best.
Enough of the games leaving the service: what are the games that are arriving? We’re glad you asked. It has been previously announced that we would get Shredders on March 17th, A Memoir Blue on March 24th, Crusader Kings 3 on March 29th and Weird West on March 31st. But Microsoft has a habit of announcing the back-end of the month on the 15th, so we should be getting news very, very soon. We will keep you posted!
Are you lamenting the loss of a loved game? Let us know in the comments below, pressing F for Respect. Or you can do the same on our social channels.
