Xbox has just announced the new games arriving on Game Pass in the second half of August, and it contains a couple of enormous names. We already knew that Gears of War: Reloaded was going to be a day-one release on Microsoft’s subscription service, but we’ve now learned that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be joining it two days later. Along with a bunch of others.
Added today for PC is Balatro publisher Playstack’s Void/Breaker, developed by Stubby Games. Another game launching directly onto Game Pass, this is from the same team that created 2022’s extremely good FPS puzzler The Entropy Center. Void/Breaker is a roguelite FPS in which you’re trapped in endless loops by an evil AI, and is all about lightning-fast action.
Also arriving on PC is an early access build of Blacksmith Master, a game that’s proven to be well-liked on Steam in which you…well, you already guessed from the title. It’s a blacksmith management sim.
Arriving tomorrow, August 20, on consoles and PC is Goat Simulator Remastered, the recent remake of the original GTA-like spoof, and Persona 4 Golden, the 2012 update to one of the most beloved entries in the murderous coming-of-age series. Then on August 21 there’s Herdling, the big-beast herding adventure first announced at Gamescom last year.
Come August 26, the big hitter arrives. Stretch your crouching muscles because it’s Gears of War: Reloaded, the anticipated remastering of the original Gears of War from 2006. Being published by Xbox Games Studios, it’s coming straight to Game Pass Ultimate, but in our new, strange future, it’s also being released for sale on PlayStation as well.
Then there’s the big surprise for this month, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While the game has developed some manner of infamy for allegedly being poorly treated by both BioWare and EA, and was then caught in the tiresome culture wars, it remains a solid RPG and a great piece of storytelling in a well-loved universe. It already faced the ignominy of being free on PS Plus just a month after it was released, but perhaps makes more sense to arrive on Game Pass now that it’s six months old.
Here’s the full list of releases for August, and the various tiers of Game Pass on which they appear:
Aug 19: Blacksmith Master – PC (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass)
Aug 19: Void/Breaker – PC (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass)
Aug 20: Goat Simulator Remastered – Xbox Series X|S (Game Pass Standard)
Aug 20: Persona 4 Golden – Cloud, Console, PC (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard)
Aug 21: Herdling – Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass)
Aug 26: Gears of War: Reloaded – Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass)
Aug 28: Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass)
Then, because the universe must be balanced, a bunch of games are leaving. On August 31 you’ll no longer have:
- Ben 10 Power Trip (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Borderlands 3 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Paw Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Sea of Stars (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- This War of Mine: Final Cut (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Presumably Borderlands 3 is being removed to entice you to pay for Borderlands 4 when it comes out in September.