KitGuru Games: Is Xbox Game Pass “The Best Deal in Gaming?”

2022 has been a big year for gaming. Equally, the year has served Xbox Game Pass well, with the game subscription service adding hundreds of titles over the course of the past 12 months. With the year coming to an end, let’s take a look back at some of the biggest titles of each month, and ultimately decide whether Xbox Game Pass in 2022 was worth the £131.88 annual asking price.

January

Kicking things off in January, Microsoft started the year strong, with a total of 12 games being added to the service. Quality over quantity is always appreciated, but January included both, with an exciting variety of titles old and new, indie and AAA, including but not limited to:

• Outer Wilds
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
• Spelunky 2
• Nobody Saves the World
• Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc – Anniversary Edition
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Extraction
• HITMAN Trilogy
• Death’s Door
• Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master
• Olija

Offering one of the more diverse line-ups of the year, Game Pass in January had you sorted no matter what, with the HITMAN Trilogy including arguably the franchise’s top stealth assassination titles in one seamless and (somewhat remastered) package. On the FPS front, Rainbow Six: Extraction offered players a co-op stealth-action survival shooter, borrowing many of its mechanics from Siege while twisting them to fit the theme. Though not the longest-lasting co-op experience (with interest dying down quite fast) Extraction served as a great inclusion – especially as it was a day-one release.

On the indie side, some of the year’s best games were added in January, including the unique and visually artistic Nobody Saves the World, and the ever-charming rhythm game Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master – being the first entry in the series to come to Xbox and PC – meaning everyone can now join in on the fun.

The month included plenty of older albeit still excellent titles, such at 2019’s Game of the Year contender Outer Wilds; the addictive and infinitely replayable Spelunky 2; the remastered Mass Effect: Legendary Edition; and for anime fans ‘Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc’ – the first entry in the critically acclaimed hit mystery visual novel franchise. All-in-all, January was a great month for Xbox Game Pass.

February

Following the excitement of January, Microsoft was unfortunately unable to keep the momentum going, with the second month of the year perhaps being the worst of all 2022 – with a total of 15 titles added though only one of note: CrossfireX.

Developed by Remedy Entertainment as an Xbox exclusive, CrossfireX took the internationally popular multiplayer first person shooter title and created a single player story. Unfortunately, the title was universally panned by both critics and fans alike, with the game in many ways feeling 10 years too late to the party.

As always, indie games will not let you down, with February dropping a decent variety of titles, including:

• Telling Lies
• Dreamscaper
• Skul: The Hero Slayer
• Besiege

With all that said, February’s saving grace was the day-one inclusion of the latest entry in the long-running and ever-popular Warhammer franchise with Total War: Warhammer III. While fans of the series were undoubtedly excited by its inclusion, the Warhammer franchise has always been rather intimidating from the outside, and so while a large niche, it serves a niche nonetheless.

March

Xbox Game Pass was once again back on track for March, adding 16 games; bringing players some excellent titles including:

• FAR: Changing Tides
• Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
• Tunic
• Paradise Killer
• Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
• Weird West
• Norco

The biggest title for the month was undoubtedly Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Originally released in October 2021, the game was largely overlooked at the time despite its agreed quality on all major fronts. While the game may not have sold enough copies to satisfy Square Enix, its inclusion on Game Pass helped the game reach a new level of awareness and appreciation.

One weird note, which is unfortunately simply the nature of subscription services, pertains to the addition of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – the 3rd entry in the FFXIII trilogy while not including the previous 2, meaning those new to the subseries would not be able to catch up on the story.

As with pretty much every month the real gems lie within the indie additions, with March including the highly stylised detective open-world adventure game ‘Paradise Killer’ and FAR: Changing Tides – a day-one Game Pass addition which features an engrossing and immersive soundtrack to match its unique concepts. Another day-one Game Pass add was Tunic, the cute yet complex Zelda-Like action-adventure title featuring a gorgeous aesthetic and art style.

April

With April’s games, it seems as though Game Pass had settled into a Tick-Tock like structure for its titles, meaning one month is great then the next less so – and so on and so forth. With that, some of the more notable of the 9 added titles include:

• MLB The Show 22
• Lost In Random
• Life Is Strange: True Colors
• Bugsnax
• Chinatown Detective Agency

First thing’s first: MLB The Show 22 coming to Game Pass day-one was huge. This is a first-party game developed by Sony releasing for ‘free’ on Xbox on its day of release. This is a major win, especially for Xbox baseball fans who have not had a decent game to play pretty much ever prior to this moment. All that said, as with Warhammer, MLB fans are a huge but highly specific niche of players, thus for general audiences its inclusion meant nothing.

MLB aside, though not an amazing month, April still had some games worth checking out, with the biggest being Life Is Strange: True Colors – the latest entry in the award-winning and much-loved choice-based narrative game series.

May

The month of May made up for April’s relative lack of titles with double the previous month’s, adding 18 games to the service – including one of my favourite games of the year:

• Loot River
• Trek to Yomi
• Citizen Sleeper
• Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair – Anniversary Edition
• Little Witch in the Woods (Game Preview)
• Vampire Survivors
• Farming Simulator 22
• Sniper Elite 5
• Pac-Man Museum+

While May might not have a single standout title, the month was filled with so many quality games worth playing. Sniper Elite 5 is perhaps the ‘biggest’ game to be added, especially as it did launch day-one on Game Pass, but an argument can be made for many of the month’s inclusions such as the excellent Citizen Sleeper (the OST of which I am listening to right now as I type this), or the infinitely addictive Vampire Survivors. No matter your preferred genre, it seemed as though May had a game for you.

June

Marking six months into the year, June’s list of Game Pass titles expectedly saw a step down both in terms of quality and quantity when compared to May, with 13 games in total added, including:

• Assassin's Creed: Origins
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
• NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
• FIFA 22
• House Flipper
• NINJA GAIDEN: Master Collection

Indies undoubtedly saved June, especially the day-one inclusion of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge –  with the title successfully reviving the much-loved franchise, creating an arcade-like brawler which equally harkens back to days of old while simultaneously improving upon the genre’s formula.

Naraka Bladepoint is a woefully under looked title, taking the battle royale formula and adapting it to include flashy melee-focused combat, unique characters and abilities, and multiple different game modes depending on your mood. With premium battle royales typically underperforming due to the entrance fee, Naraka Bladepoint coming to Game Pass is certainly a boon to both the service and itself.

July

July started off the second half of the year with a decent set of 19 games. Though nothing crazy, the month did provide us with some brand new indies and a few familiar faces:

• Far Cry 5
• Yakuza 0, Kiwami + Kiwami 2
• PowerWash Simulator
• My Friend Peppa Pig
• Escape Academy
• As Dusk Falls
• MotoGP 22
• Watch_Dogs 2

In terms of new releases, the indie hits Escape Academy and As Dusk Falls both arrived day-one on Game Pass, continuing to prove that indie games rule this service. There were some rather big titles, just nothing too new, with Ubisoft adding some of its back catalogue in the form of Far Cry 5 and Watch_Dogs 2.

Fans of the Like a Dragon (Yakuza) franchise can now play the entire mainline series on Xbox Game Pass thanks to the addition of Yakuza 0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2. Interestingly, these three exact titles were previously available on Game Pass, before being removed at the end of 2021. It’s nice to have them back, but this does highlight some of the service’s drawbacks – the volatility of its library. This oddity aside, July was good.

August

August was another strong month for the platform, with 20 titles powered by multiple new indie releases and the addition of a personal favourite of mine:

• Two Point Campus
• Midnight Fight Express
• DEATH STRANDING
• Tinykin
• Immortals Fenyx Rising
• Immortality

For me, the headlining addition is without question Death Stranding. While yes, Game Pass in August saw multiple excellent new indie titles drop onto the service – including GOTY contender Immortality and the stylish Midnight Fight Express – Death Stranding managed to become one of my favourite games for the PS4 generation due to its wholly unique atmosphere; intriguing story; genuinely engaging gameplay and an 11/10 soundtrack. I even argued that Death Stranding is the best open-world game ever (you can read that HERE).

With almost two-dozen titles added in August, there was a little bit of something for everyone – and a lottabit of other things for some.

September

With just shy of two dozen games (half of which were day-one Game Pass releases), September was 2022’s biggest month yet, at least in terms of quantity. Luckily this was equally matched by its quality, with the likes of:

• Train Sim World 3
• Disney Dreamlight Valley: Founder's Edition
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – Remastered
• Metal: Hellsinger
• Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
• DEATHLOOP
• Slime Rancher 2 (Game Preview)
• Moonscars
• Valheim (Game Preview)

After spending a year exclusively on the PlayStation 5 (and PC), Arkane Studio’s latest and greatest DEATHLOOP finally broke away from its own deathloop of console exclusivity to come to Xbox (and PC Game Pass). DEATHLOOP’s release on PlayStation back in 2021 was somewhat awkward due to the fact that following the exclusivity agreement, Bethesda (and as a by-product, Arkane) was acquired by Microsoft, making the game technically a Microsoft title. As such, it coming to Game Pass was long-awaited.

As always, indies continued to kill it, with the likes of Moonscars; Slime Rancher 2; Train Sim World 3 and Disney Dreamlight Valley all being day-one Game Pass titles.

October

The month of Halloween was a scary one for Xbox Game Pass; scary good that is. With 17 games added – most of which were thematically linked to the month – October offered hundreds of hours of quality gaming thanks to the likes of:

• Chivalry II
• Scorn
• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• SOMA
• Amnesia (Collection + Rebirth)
• Signalis
• Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery
• Persona 5: Royal

Those wanting to immerse themselves in pure horror grossness need look no further than the H.R. Giger inspired Scorn. Though not the most well-received title, its vibes and atmosphere are undeniable. A Plague Tale: Requiem manages to strike an excellent balance of tone, gameplay, story, music, visuals – and pretty much everything else. The first game was an excellent title (if a bit jank), but the success of A Plague Tale: Innocence allowed for Requiem to come out swinging day-one on Game Pass.

2022 saw many previously PlayStation-exclusive titles come to Xbox Game Pass (as already mentioned), but October may have been the best month yet in this regard, with the critically acclaimed and universally praised Persona 5: Royal dropping ‘day-one’ on Game Pass, letting subscribers get their hands on arguably one of the greatest JRPGs of all time. It was a long time coming, but Persona 5: Royal was more than worth the wait. P5 was one of my favourite games of the past generation (click HERE to find out why) and so its inclusion automatically makes October one of the best months of 2022.

November

The penultimate month of the year was certainly not the strongest for the service, though it was the only month to include a Microsoft first-party title – though we’ll get to that in a sec. November saw the addition of 13 games, including:

• Ghost Song
• Return to Monkey Island
• Football Manager 2023
• Pentiment
• Battlefield 2042
• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

For PC players, the biggest game of the month was undoubtedly Warhammer 40,000: Darktide – a day-one Game Pass title. Though I previously mentioned the relative inaccessibility of the Warhammer franchise, the “__tide” series has been the exception to this rule, with the Left4Dead styled co-op gameplay matching beautifully with the dark and oppressive aesthetic of the Warhammer universe.

Pentiment represents the only first-party Xbox game to be added to the service, and while critics agree that the game is quality, general fan reception was more mixed due to the game being a very particular type of experience featuring point-and-click mechanics, no voice overs and LOTS of reading. Still, though not enough to make up for a year bereft of any first-party Xbox titles, Pentiment was certainly a welcome addition.

December

And just like that, we have reached the final month of the year. Though in no way the most bountiful line-up, Microsoft gifted the 12th month of 2022 with 12 games, including:

• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
• Hello Neighbor 2
• Potion Craft
• High on Life

For many, High on Life was the standout game of the month, with Justin Roiland (of Rick and Morty fame) tackling Squanch Games’ most ambitious title yet: A comedic first-person shooter. Not often a common combination, High on Life surprised me with its fun gunplay, fast-paced movement mechanics, interesting upgrades and weapons – and of course, the comedy. Though definitely not for everyone, High on Life manages to maintain its humour throughout the experience making for an excellent day-one addition to the service.

One constant which has remained throughout every single month in 2022 is the sheer quality and quantity of indie titles added to Xbox Game Pass – and December does not deviate from this, with day-one releases for the sequel to the viral hit Hello Neighbor, as well as the unique and highly-stylised Potion Craft, an alchemist simulator “where you physically interact with your tools and ingredients to brew potions”. Also for some reason Microsoft added a bunch of free-to-play Riot titles to Game Pass including League of Legends and Valorant.

Conclusion

Xbox Game Pass has in the past been dubbed the “best deal in gaming”. What does this mean exactly? In one way, this fact is undeniable, and if you were to take the RRPs of all 189 games added in 2022, it would dwarf the annual asking price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (which as a reminder is currently £131.88). This, of course, is a terrible way to judge value, as no one will ever play every single game added to the service.

The best way to look at Xbox Game Pass in 2022 is that the service managed to include at least one (and sometimes two) relatively big and exciting games each month; a solid selection of older AAA games; with the rest of the monthly line-up being filled with quality indie titles both old and new. Disappointingly, there were hardly any Xbox-created games in 2022 for a service called Xbox Game Pass. Of course, this is nothing new, with the discourse surrounding Xbox being that their best games are somehow always one year away. That said, 2023 will hopefully be a bigger and better period for first-party titles. Even without, however, the year is looking promising, with a few games already having been announced for Game Pass in 2023, including:

• Monster Hunter: Rise (January)
• Persona 3: Portable (January)
• Persona 4: Golden (January)
• Atomic Heart (February)
• Amnesia: The Bunker (March)
• Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (March)

In summation, Xbox Game Pass in 2022 offered an excellent line-up of games, and while its biggest selling point (being day-one first-party releases on the service) barely came into play this year, the pure bombardment of quality indie titles added on a monthly basis is likely worth the price of admission alone. It will be interesting to see if (and how) this changes in 2023.

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KitGuru says: What did you think of Game Pass’ 2022? Were you subscribed to the service? How do you think it compared to PS Plus in 2022? Let us know down below.

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