Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Adds Day-One Game With Zelda, Monster Hunter DNA

Summary

Eternal Strandshas been in the works since 2020, with Yellow Brick officially revealing it in April 2024. The Unreal Engine 5-powered title stars Brynn, a magic “weaver” looking to reclaim her people’s homeland.Eternal Strandswas confirmed as a day-one Xbox Game Pass Ultimate titleback in October 2024, before it even had a release date.

Three months later, Yellow Brick’s debut project made its way to Microsoft’s subscription service, launching at 11am ET on January 28.Eternal Strandsarrived just a few hours after Xbox Game Pass Ultimate also addedOrcs Must Die! Deathtrap, another day-one title and the fifth entry in the long-running series ofaction-tower defense games.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

In terms of overall critical acclaim,Eternal Strandsis currently faring a bit better than the newOrcs Must Diegame. It holds a “Fair” rating on OpenCritic, based on an average score of 74 and a 62% recommendation rate. Meanwhile,Orcs Must Die! Deathtraphas an average rating of 70 and a 45% recommendation rate on the platform.Reviewers praisedOrcs Must Die! Deathtrapfor its hectic gameplay loop, great performance, and excellent co-op, while lambasting its underbaked roguelike elements and combat repetitiveness. As forEternal Strands, it has received widespread praise for itsTears of the Kingdom-like emergent gameplay, epic boss battles, and excellent art direction, among other qualities. However, the game has also faced criticism for its rudimentary story and slow progression, which heavily revolves around resource gathering.

Day-one release.

When Will Eternal Strands and Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap Reach Xbox Game Pass Standard?

Day-one Xbox Game Pass Ultimate titles have so far reached the Standard tier of the service after a roughly six-month delay. Assuming Microsoft continues this practice,Eternal StrandsandOrcs Must Die! Deathtrapmay find their way to XGP Standard as early as late July 2025. In the meantime, a few more titles arecoming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in January 2025, starting withShady Part of Meon the 29th.Sniper Elite: Resistanceis then scheduled to arrive on January 30, followed byCitizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vectora day later.Shady Part of Mewill also be available on XGP Standard, while the other two will be exclusive to PC Game Pass and the Ultimate tier of the service, on account of being day-one titles.

In between those launches, Microsoft’s subscription service will lose six games on January 30, includingSerious Sam: Siberian Mayhem,Darkest Dungeon, andAnuchard.Far Cry New Dawnis then set to join the XGP content catalog on February 4, the same day Microsoft is expected to announce the entire first wave of February 2025 Xbox Game Pass additions. As for Wave 2, its roster is already confirmed to includeAvowed, Obsidian’s next big-budget RPG that will hit the market on February 18.