Now that 2025 has begun, new games are slowly trickling onto Xbox Game Pass. While heavy hitters like Avowed and South of Midnight aren’t here just yet, Microsoft is kicking off the new year by bringing back two amazing indie titles to its gaming subscription service and bringing some entertaining survival games down to the Game Pass Standard tier on console. If you’re looking for something to play this weekend, these are the games that I’d recommend.
Road 96
Road 96 is a narrative adventure game about teenagers attempting to escape a fictional country called Petria, which is run by an authoritarian machine. It couples the choice-driven structure of Telltale adventure games with a roguelike structure, as each run technically follows a different teenager trying to get to the border. Some are more successful than others, and players can even die if they make the wrong decisions. It makes your individual experience as a player feel more special compared to other choice-based games. As Road 96‘s themes will only continue to become more relevant this year, it’s perfect to kick off 2025 by playing Road 96 on Xbox Game Pass.
The PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions of Road 96 are now available through PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard, and Game Pass Ultimate. It’s also on PS4 and PS5 via the PlayStation Plus Extra game catalog and Nintendo Switch.
Carrion
Like Road 96, Devolver Digital and Phobia Game Studios’ Carrion also returned to Xbox Game Pass this month. The idea behind Carrion is that it’s a reverse-horror game where players control the grotesque monster that’s killing people rather than being the one running and hiding from it. The result is a game with a 2D Metroidvania-like structure where players slowly become a more powerful mass and annihilate anyone who gets in their way. It’s a testament to how there will always be creative ways for game developers to recontextualize preexisting gaming cliches, and it’s worth playing if you’ve never tried it before.
The PC and Xbox One versions of Carrion are available across Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Standard, and PC Game Pass. It’s also part of the PS Plus Extra subscription on PS4 and PS5 and available on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
My Time at Sandrock
If you’re the kind of person who has lost countless hours to games like Stardew Valley or Fields of Mistira, then you’ll enjoy My Time at Sandrock. In My Time at Sandrock, players slowly build up a desert town by gathering resources, farming, constructing buildings, and fighting any threats to the town. The fact that My Time at Sandrock is a more ambitious 3D open-world game also sets it apart from similar titles.
While the PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions of My Time at Sandrock have been available as part of the Game Pass Ultimate catalog since the summer of 2025, Microsoft made it available to Game Pass Standard subscribers earlier this week. It’s also on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
