Xbox Game Pass Adds Highly Replayable Day One Game Yesterday

Xbox Game Pass adds an extremely replayable and utterly hectic day-one title, while another one of its games leaves early access.

The January 25 Xbox Game Pass update is adding a new day-one title in the form of Go Mecha Ball. This hectic indie release promises to add to the already sizable collection of high-quality roguelike games on Xbox Game Pass.

January has been an amazing month for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, with Microsoft’s subscription library already adding 11 titles since the turn of the year. Two of those—Turnip Boy Robs a Bank and the massively successful survival game Palworld—have been day-one releases, with Go Mecha Bell now being on the verge of joining that group.

Developed by Whale Peak Games, the twin-stick shooter still hasn’t been added to Xbox Game Pass as of this writing, circa 7am ET / 4am PT. That’s hardly out of the ordinary for day-one games, whose debuts on Microsoft’s subscription service often coincide with their launch times on other platforms. In this particular instance, Go Mecha Ball is scheduled to hit Steam circa 11am ET / 8am PT, so that’s plausibly the time when Xbox Game Pass members will be able to start playing it as well.

New Xbox Game Pass Games for January 2024 List

• Close to the Sun – January 3
• Hell Let Loose – January 4
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – January 9
• Figment – January 9
• Super Mega Baseball 4 – January 11
  • Available via EA Play for PC Game Pass and Ultimate members
• We Happy Few – January 11
• Resident Evil 2 – January 16
• Those Who Remain – January 16
• F1 23 – January 18
  • Available via EA Play for PC Game Pass and Ultimate members
• Turnip Boy Robs a Bank – January 18
  • Day-one release
• Palworld – January 19
  • Day-one release
• Go Mecha Ball – January 25
  • Day-one release
• Brotato – January 30

What Is Go Mecha Ball?

The game itself promises an adrenaline-fueled experience starring a mech suit user who can curl up into a ball, hence the name. And while Go Mecha Ball is a twin-stick shooter at its core, its level design and progression come straight from roguelikes, allowing it to offer high replayability. The game also takes a page from the book of the recent Doom titles in that it features an interactive, dynamically generated soundtrack that matches whatever is happening on the screen.

Another Xbox Game Pass Roguelike Leaves Early Access Today

Aside from Go Mecha Ball, Xbox Game Pass is today also receiving the full version of Phantom Abyss, another roguelike that combines first-person action with an Aztec setting and asynchronous multiplayer features. This particular title has already been part of Microsoft’s subscription catalog since June 2021, when it entered early access. Compared to that version, the 1.0 build of Phantom Abyss adds a new Abyss Mode and overhauls the game’s Adventure Mode, on top of introducing some gameplay tweaks geared toward making the overall experience more accessible.

Go Mecha Ball won’t be the last replayable shoot-em-up to reach Xbox Game Pass this month, as Blobfish’s acclaimed roguelite—not to be confused with roguelike—shooter Brotato is also scheduled to do so on January 30. Beyond that, Xbox Game Pass has already confirmed multiple games for February, with the biggest name on that list being Atlus’s highly anticipated remake of Persona 3.

Special Thanks to Game Rant

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