Couch co-op, if you know what I mean.

Image credit: Eurogamer / Xbox / Sassy Chap

A beleaguered Xbox has revealed the next batch of games coming to the Game Pass subscription during the first few weeks of August, and there are a few eye-catching additions among them.

The big-ticket items for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers - the top tier - are brand-new action role-playing game Beast of Reincarnation from Pokémon studio Game Freak, which we reviewed yesterday, and the Gears of War: E-Day open beta, which starts tomorrow and will let you test the game's evolved, wave-based Horde mode.

Elsewhere, the surprisingly entertaining dating game Date Everything! arrives on Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass. This is the game made by Critical Role alumni Robbie Daymond's studio Sassy Chap, so it involves a lot of the Critical Role voice cast and their friends. The idea is brilliantly bizarre: you date items of furniture around a house that turn into people when you cast a kind of spell on them. It's thirsty, it's funny, it's well-put together, and it's very uplifting. It's well worth a try.

Beast of Reincarnation.Watch on YouTube

Otherwise, a lot of the activity is games arriving on Game Pass Premium that were already on Ultimate and PC Game Pass, including Grounded 2, which is about to welcome a big expansion; the incredibly compelling Ball x Pit, which I wholeheartedly endorse; PowerWash Simulator 2, which needs little explanation; and Metroidvania Mio: Memories of Orbit, which seems to have been well received.

Games leaving the service soon - on 15th August - include Aliens: Firewatch Elite, which is notable because there's a sequel coming soon, and Firewatch, an indie game that's taken on a legendary kind of status.

The full Xbox Game Pass list for the first chunk of August follows. It arrives against the backdrop of an Xbox division in flux, as drastic restructuring sweeps the company, resulting in 1600 people already losing their jobs and 1600 more to lose their jobs between now and next summer. Ailing Xbox console sales and Game Pass subscription numbers are among the myriad reasons why Microsoft has found itself in this position. It's one of the reasons new Xbox boss Asha Sharma significantly cut the price of Game Pass recently, in order to drive subscriber numbers up.

Available now

• Heretic + Hexen (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – August 4, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Beast of Reincarnation (Cloud, Xbox Series X/S, Handheld, and PC) – August 4, new on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

Coming soon

• Monsters are Coming! (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – August 6, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• PowerWash Simulator 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – August 6, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Bounty Star (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – August 11, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Date Everything! (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – August 11, new on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Grounded 2 (Game Preview) (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – August 11, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Ball x Pit (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – August 12, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Cricket 26 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 13, new on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Mio: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – August 13, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
• Sandustry (Game Preview) (PC) – August 13, new on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Egging On (Cloud Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – August 18, new on Game Pass Premium, already on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

Leaving August 15

• Menace (Game Preview) (PC)
• Atlas Fallen (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Firewatch (Cloud, Console, and PC)

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