5 Essential Games Coming to Xbox Game Pass This Summer

Xbox Game Pass continues to prove its worth by enlisting some of the greatest indie titles ever crafted for the market. The good news is, it's also made up of triple-A exclusives and the likes, many of which find sanctuary on the platform the moment they release. And so, for a pretty generous price of $9.99 a month, you're pretty much always getting your money's worth.

Anyway, the summer is here, and Xbox has plenty to share with its Game Pass subscribers. From a library of curious indies, to a booming catalog of top-shelf exclusives, there's essentially an entire world of content that urges to be explored over the coming weeks. So, if you're a returning subscriber and wish to know the absolute essentials coming to Game Pass over July and August, then see here. These are, in our opinion, the five best games coming to the platform over the next eight weeks.

5. Two Point Campus

The latest leg of the Two Point journey comes in the form of a city-building university builder. Similar to its preceding chapter, Two Point Hospital, players will have full control over the resources needed to establish a thriving educational institution. Also, like its sandbox sibling, creators will have the option to destroy at will, using a flurry of natural disasters to dismantle everything in sight.

The Two Point anthology is the brainchild of former Bullfrog Productions' staff, a firm that built countless award-winning park management titles such as Theme Park World, Theme Aquarium, and Theme Hospital. So, you can expect all the goodies, gadgets and gizmos that helped conjure some of the best sandbox games of the last generation. The question is, will you be able to inflate the students' heads? Well, it's Bullfrog pulling the strings, so yeah, probably.

Two Point Campus comes to Game Pass on August 9, 2022.

4. As Dusk Falls

As Dusk Falls is an interactive drama game that falls from the newfound studio INTERIOR/NIGHT. Led by the creative minds that helped develop games such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, the upcoming story-driven game will incorporate player choice to help tailor its pathways and conclusions. At its heart, though, it's a theatrical experience with a flip book art style.

Of course, players will have more than enough opportunities to change the outcome of each tale that is told. By watching over two families engage in a mystery based over several years, you will be able to curate a nexus of interweaving story arcs, each of which can affect not only the ending, but the characters involved. So, best get your thinking cap on; this mystery isn't going to solve itself.

As Dusk Falls comes to Game Pass on July 19, 2022.

3. Immortality

Immortality is the third segment to release under British developer Sam Barlow's story-driven portfolio. After bathing in the successes that came from 2015's Her Story, as well as the lesser-known Telling Lies, the narrative-loving creator will breathe life into an entirely fresh concept, one that sees players piecing together the remnants of a potential murder case.

Immortality revolves around the disappearance of Marissa Marcel, a wannabe actress who starred in three unreleased movie pilots. As an investigator, you must assemble the footage taken from the movies, as well as from behind the scenes, and establish an idea of what happened leading up to the sudden vanishing. By forming a timeline of events, you will soon learn the fate of the failed actress, which will then open the floodgates to a number of questions and answers. Think Telling Lies, but with double the twists.

Immortality comes to Game Pass on July 26, 2022.

2. Midnight Fight Express

Midnight Fight Express is a beat 'em up indie game that drools from the creative waterfall that is Jacob Dzwinel, a relatively new developer who's poured life and soul into crafting a fighting gem from the ground up. Come August 23rd, and the underdog title will have its reservation on the Xbox Game Pass table served on a silver platter, with thanks to Humble Games there to publish it, of course.

On the darkest night, ex-criminal Babyface is forced back into the underworld to help prevent a citywide takeover. From dusk til dawn, players will have to traverse the four corners of the metropolis, using a range of high-end attacks to dismantle the network and defy the odds that stack against you. Beat 'em up fans, this one's for you.

Midnight Fight Express comes to Game Pass on August 23, 2022.

1. Escape Academy

Escape Academy fuses a number of elements from real-life escape rooms and bundles them into one huge collection of co-operative experiences. Built in association with industry professionals and escape room veterans, this puzzle-solving experience will surely have you racking your brain for days, maybe even weeks on end in search of clues and answers. And that's just the co-op mode.

Of course, as with any puzzle game, players can also tear their hairs out in the unforgiving single-player mode. So, if you're interested in weaving between visually stunning artsy escape rooms, then you'll definitely enjoy spending some time enrolled as a fresh-faced student in Escape Academy. Just try not to lose your temper when the smallest clue winds up being under your nose the entire time. It's just a game…right?

Escape Academy comes to Game Pass on July 14, 2022.

So, what's your take? Do you agree with our top five? Are there any titles on Game Pass we should know about? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.