This evening Microsoft hosted their latest “Partner Preview” event – basically a chance outside the hustle and bustle of gamescom, TGS or one of the “Geoff events” (as we are now calling them) for third parties to show some of their games or make announcements.
Usually we get relatively low level news from these events, and today was no exception. You’ll be able to find all the highlights in our news archive, but on this page we’ll just be looking at the Game Pass announcements that were made during the show. Often we’ll get a good number of games previously unannounced for Game Pass dropping in and we did indeed get a few today.
Firstly, probably the biggest news of the evening was that Remedy are bringing a multiplayer Control-adjacent experience to gamers in 2025:
FBC: Firebreak (PC/Console) – 2025
This is a three-player co-op shooter experience with all the weirdness you’d expect from a Remedy game. People got pretty excited by this coming to Game Pass, but it turns out it will also be on PS Plus – an interesting strategy for sure.
While FBC: Firebreak was the biggest announcement overall, the next game was (in my opinion) the biggest Game Pass-specific news of the night:
Subnautica 2 (PC/Console via Game Preview) – 2025
I love a Game Pass game in Game Preview and the first Subnautica gathered an enthusiastic community around its beautiful underwater world mixed with a battle for survival and crafting elements. Subnautica 2 will be co-op, putting it instantly on my radar for 2025.
We also heard about another previously unknown game coming to Game Pass in 2025:
Eternal Strands (PC/Console) – Early 2025
From a team of developers including Assassin’s Creed and Dragon Age veterans, this one is a magic-based action-RPG that draws inspiration from Breath of the Wild. It features crafting elements as well as huge bosses to climb and battle and is looking very polished already.
That was a new announcement, but a game we were already aware was coming to Game Pass got a rebrand and a new release date in 2025:
Wheel World (PC/Console) – Early 2025
Previously known as Ghost Bike (hard to know which name is worse here), Wheel World boasts lovely visuals and an interesting premise that mixes bike repairing and upgrading along with open world exploration and a great soundtrack.
Just four games (thanks Phil), but a good selection, with Subnautica 2 being my pick of the bunch. Be sure to keep an eye on our Game Pass release calendar for the latest on when these babies are coming out. For our impressions of the show in general, check out next week’s System Link podcast – but overall I think Wuchang continues to steal the limelight in terms of Xbox’s 3rd party Game Pass roadmap. It’s looking exceptional.