The mid-May catalog rotation is a big blow to role-playing game fans, as no fewer than five of the departing titles are RPGs.
Eight titles are set to leave Xbox Game Pass later today, May 15. The list of imminent Xbox Game Pass departures is headlined by Norco.
Norco has been getting rave reviews ever since debuting on Microsoft‘s subscription service in March 2022. Two years later, the point-and-click adventure taking place in a weird alternate version of South Louisiana boasts a Metacritic Metascore of 89. This makes it one of the highest-rated titles available to Microsoft’s subscribers.
Xbox Game Pass RPG Library Is Taking a Big Blow Today
But this availability is now nearing its end, with Norco being scheduled to leave Xbox Game Pass as part of its latest catalog rotation. The May 15 content update will also see the XGP library lose seven more titles: Eastern Exorcist, Eiyuden Chronicle Rising, Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2, Ghostlore, Just cause 4 Reloaded, SD Gundam Battle Alliance, and Supraland Six Inches Under. The move is a particularly big blow to the Xbox Game Pass RPG selection, with five of the outgoing titles falling into some subset of this popular genre.
Xbox Game Pass Games Leaving May 15
| Game | Genre | Metacritic PC/Xbox avg | Platform(s) | Added | How Long To Beat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Exorcist | ARPG | 73 | Cloud, Console, PC | May 2023 | 5–16 hours |
| Eiyuden Chronicle Rising | 68 | May 2022 | 12–20 hours | ||
| Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 | SRPG | 86 | May 2023 | 20–35 hours | |
| Ghostlore | ARPG | N/A | Nov 2022 | 8–18 hours | |
| Just Cause 4 Reloaded | Action Adventure | 69 | May 2021 | 16–54 hours | |
| Norco | PnC Adventure | 89 | Mar 2022 | 6–8 hours | |
| SD Gundam Battle Alliance | ARPG | 71 | February 2023 | 15–87 hours | |
| Supraland Six Inches Under | Metroidvania | N/A | May 2023 | 8–17 hours |
With eight titles about to leave the service, this catalog rotation marks the single biggest wave of Xbox Game Pass removals in 2024. Despite this uncharacteristically large library shrinkage, not a single game from this list of departures is feasibly beatable in a single sitting. It’s hence no longer realistic for achievement hunters to start any of these titles and hope to get much out of them before they are removed. As for those who are on the brink of completing some of the soon-to-be-departing games, there is no way of telling exactly how much time they have left to do so. While Xbox Game Pass titles are often removed around midnight, it’s also not unusual for them to disappear from the subscription library at an earlier point of their stated day of departure.
Six more games are planned to leave Xbox Game Pass two weeks from now, for a total of 14 monthly removals. Unless Microsoft has some surprise releases in the works, May 2024 will be the first month in a long time in which the subscription service lost more games than it added.
The XGP library has expanded to include five new titles since the turn of the month. Seven more are confirmed to be coming to Xbox Game Pass in the second half of May, starting with tomorrow’s release of Immortals of Aveum. May 16 will also see the service add the cloud version of EA Sports NHL 24, which has already been available to console owners with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription since April.
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