Celeste and Toem join Game Pass soon, while Marvel's Avengers leaves
Microsoft have announced the next batch of comings and goings
We’ve just passed the middle of the month (and the year?), which means it’s time for another wave of Game Pass games to come. For starters, we have a tasty indie trio coming to the service today. Then to cap off July, one of the best platformers in recent memory Celeste rejoins the fun, while Marvel's Avengers waves goodbye.
Here’s the complete list of games coming to Game Pass over the next fortnight:
- Techtonica - today, still in early access
- Toem - today
- The Cave - today
- Maquette - July 19th
- Figment 2: Creed Valley - July 20th
- The Wandering Village - July 20th, still in early access
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem - July 25th
- Venba - July 31st
- Celeste - August 1st
Not an exhaustive selection but definitely a loveable one. Techtonica is the ‘Satisfactory but in bioluminescent underground caves’ game that just hit early access today, which I hear had a very cool demo late last year. Monochrome photography puzzler Toem came out a few years ago but is still worth a go as well.
Musical action-platformer Figment 2 launched a few months back, although you don’t need to play the first one to jump in and enjoy the sequel’s sing-songs. Maquette is the perspective puzzler that makes certain items smaller or larger depending on what you do with them. Those oooooh-inducing puzzles are nicely wrapped up in a love story, too.
The Wandering Village is the city-builder set atop a lumbering creature’s back, and despite still being in early access, our review said it was “pretty much at its destination.” Standalone expansion Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem takes the shootouts to Russia and, interestingly, it started off as a mod.
And the month closes out with Venba, the upcoming cooking game about an Indian mother who migrates to Canada and uses food to stay in touch with her culture. That’s followed by Celeste, the pixel-perfect platformer that’s both overwhelmingly tough and really sweet at the same time. A lovely double bill for the end of the month.
As always, newcomers mean new leavers. So here’s what’s leaving Game Pass on July 31st:
I’m sad to see Two Point Campus’ wacky student management go. That aside, two weeks might be enough time to get through The Ascent, the top-down cyberpunk shooter, and Dreamscaper, the roguelike that’s apparently quite good too. The not-so-good Marvel’s Avengers also made “nearly all” cosmetics free for everyone, since the game’s being removed from sale on September 30th. So you can dress up some heroes and maybe punch some villains if you’re in the mood.