I hope you like Ninja Gaiden. If not…
At the start of October, Microsoft announced a litany of changes to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, with the most notable being that the Ultimate tier, which offers access to the most games, would increase to $30 a month. The “best deal in gaming” era is over, and the newest additions to the service are going to leave something to be desired.
Ninja Gaiden 4 arrives day one Oct. 21, but only for the Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers. The ninja action game follows new protagonist Yakumo, though series staple Ryu Hayabusa will be playable in some levels. Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a 2025 remaster of the second game in the series, is now available via Game Pass Premium, which is *checks notes* the new name for Game Pass Standard. (Its price has remained $15 a month.)
Dead by Daylight spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone arrives on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass on Oct. 14. Supermassive Games developed this choose-your-own horror adventure, so fans of Until Dawn and The Quarry might want to check it out, even if they’ve never played Dead by Daylight.
Here’s everything hitting Game Pass in the first half of October:
- Supermarket Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC) (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass)
- Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Editions (PC) (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 9
- The Casting of Frank Stone (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X) (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 14
- Ball x Pit (Cloud, Console, and PC) (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 15
- The Grinch: Christmas Adventures (Cloud, Console, and PC) (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 15
- Eternal Strands (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X) (Now with Game Pass Premium) — Oct. 15
- He Is Coming (Game Preview) (PC) (Now with Game Pass Premium) — Oct. 15
- Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X) (Now with Game Pass Premium) — Oct. 15
- Pax Dei (PC) (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 16
- Keeper (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X) (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 17
- Evil West (Cloud, Console, and PC) (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 21
- Ninja Gaiden 4 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X) (Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass) — Oct. 21
A few titles are leaving Xbox Game Pass on Oct. 15. Any puzzle game fans who haven’t yet checked out Cocoon: play it before it leaves the service in a week. It’s easily one of the best puzzlers of this generation. Here’s everything leaving Game Pass in the first half of October:
- Cocoon (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Core Keeper (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutants Unleashed (Cloud, Console, and PC)
This latest wave of Game Pass changes follows September’s, which was headlined by Hades returning to the service.
