While questions still surround Xbox’s multiplatform strategy as we head into 2025, we know it at least has a healthy number of first-party exclusives on the way. Classic series like Doom and Fable will be coming back with new games, while Obsidian Entertainment will deliver two choice-driven RPGs before the year ends. As we’re in a bit of a lull when it comes to new Xbox Game Pass games right now, I’ll recommend that subscribers to Microsoft’s gaming subscription service check out games related to Xbox’s biggest 2025 games this weekend.
Doom: The Dark Ages will be released sometime this year, continuing the modern Doom series with a new first-person shooter full of medieval flair. As such, it makes sense to check out the other Doom titles on Game Pass. While every game in the series (except the VR one) is available through Game Pass, I’d recommend Doom Eternal, the most recent new game in the series. Released in 2020, Doom Eternal continues to build on the foundation established by the 2016 reboot. It features hardcore action, but also makes each shootout feel like a puzzle that needs to be solved, as players must find the best ways to shoot enemies, execute them to get some ammo back, and stay healthy. It’s one of my favorite FPS games in recent memory, and it will get you hyped for the series’ return later this year.
Doom Eternal is available to Game Pass Ultimate and Standard subscribers across Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It’s also on PlayStation 4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
Playground Games’ long-awaited revival of the Fable RPG series currently has a 2025 release window. While we’ve yet to see much of the reboot in action, its impending release still makes this year a great time to revisit the original Fable trilogy through Xbox Game Pass. If you’re doing that, starting with the first game in the series makes the most sense. Fable Anniversary was an Xbox 360 and PC remaster of the game that launched in early 2014. Although Fable Anniversary feels a bit dated by modern standards, Albion still feels like a charming place to hang out in. Revisiting this game will make you even more excited to find out how Playground Games will reinterpret this world in its new Fable game.
The Xbox 360 version of Fable Anniversary is available to Game Pass Ultimate and Standard subscribers on Xbox One and Xbox Series X. It’s also on PC.
Obsidian Entertainment plans to release two RPGs in 2025. The first is Avowed, a first-person RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe that launches on February 18. The other game is The Outer Worlds 2, a sci-fi RPG that will come out sometime later in the year. The prior Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds games are all available through Game Pass, but of them, The Outer Worlds feels the most approachable. While The Outer Worlds might feel quaint in scope when compared to something like Starfield, its satirical universe captivated me. It also truly accounts for and adapts the galaxy and story to the player’s choices more than other modern RPGs. The Outer Worlds is a personal favorite of mine, so I highly recommend you revisit it before its sequel launches later in the year.
The Outer Worlds is available to Game Pass Ultimate and Standard subscribers across Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It’s also on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.