The first wave of Game Pass games for July felt like the perfect way to celebrate summer. Specifically, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 let me relive those nostalgic summer days, and I can do it all again this weekend, only with a very different type of game. While that game is great, even if you have no nostalgia for one of the best ’80s films, I always love to highlight some unknown games making their way to the service. This weekend, you can take your pick from a delightful horror title and immersive sim-like prison escape RPG with a style you probably wouldn’t expect. If any of that sounds good, here are the 3 new Game Pass games I recommend for this weekend.
Robocop: Rogue City
Anyone who loves the Robocop films knows the series took a nosedive after the second entry. That was mainly due to the change in directors and dropping it from an R to PG-13 rating. Robocop: Rogue City is the true sequel we all wanted and pulls no punches despite its smaller scale. No game has fully captured the look, feel, and tone of Robocop like this game. You will uphold the law in a small but detailed section of Old Detroit, dishing out justice how you see fit through tons of main and side quests. The developers clearly had a love for the source material, as every familiar location is perfectly recreated and they even went os far as to bring back Peter Weller to voice Robocop. With the stand-alone expansion also out as of now, there’s no better time to go on patrol.
Robocop: Rogue City is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
My Friendly Neighborhood
Taking a page out of the Five Nights At Freddy’s handbook, My Friendly Neighborhood embraces just how creepy puppet shows are when looked at from the right (or wrong) angle. This isn’t a pure horror experience, though, as there is a nice bit of sillyness to relieve the tension between the frights and tons of ways to fight back. Filled with puzzles, offbeat weapons, tons of puzzles, and a grid-based inventory system, this has all the trappings you want from a horror game. We’re not quite into spooky season yet, but this is a great way to ease into the season with something more on the action side of horror that is great even for younger players.
My Friendly Neighborhood is available now on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Back to the Dawn
I admit that I never heard of Back to the Dawn before it hit Game Pass this month, but discovering games like this is exactly why I love this service. Don’t be turned off by the animal characters here; this is a deep and highly dynamic prison escape RPG that just so happens to feature personified animal characters. You pick between two protagonists who each have their own storyline, stats, and skills you will use to (hopefully) break out of prison. Every choice matters, and there are more than 100 quests that can lead to dozens of ways to get out of prison as you unravel a deeper mystery. This game is highly replayable and immensely rewarding if you enjoy seeing how far you can push a game’s systems.
Back to the Dawn is available now on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
