Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was a monumental addition to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate last week, so no week of additions to the service will live up to that for a while. Still, that didn’t stop some more games from trickling onto Microsoft’s subscription service in the wake of the latest Call of Duty. In fact, the games that came to the service were quite good. If you’re wondering what you should be checking out next as a Game Pass subscriber after you’re done with Black Ops 6, consider trying one of these games.
In July, A44 released Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and it was part of Xbox Game Pass from day one. Now, the studio has brought its previous Soulslike to the subscription service. Originally released in 2018, Ashen stood out from the crowd at the time thanks to its distinct, grayish cel-shaded look and open-world design years before Elden Ring came out. Ashen still stands as one of the best indie Soulslikes ever released, so those who have never played it before should give it a shot now that it’s on Xbox Game Pass. It’ll also make for an enjoyable Game Pass Soulslike double-feature with Flintlock.
The PC and Xbox One versions of Ashen are available now with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It’s also available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Halloween may be over, but you should still check out this zombie game. Dead Island 2 is an action game infamous for switching developers multiple times and being released over seven years after its initial announcement. Despite that, Dead Island 2 is a surprisingly enjoyable game with visceral melee combat and one of the most impressive enemy dismemberment systems since Dead Space. If you’re not ready to let go of Halloween just yet, Dead Island 2 should be your de facto choice on Xbox Game Pass.
The PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions of Dead Island 2 are now part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate catalog. It’s also available on PS4 and PS5 via PlayStation Plus Extra.
Throne and Liberty is a free-to-play game released by Amazon Game Studios earlier this month. It’s a fantasy MMORPG sporting some truly massive battles and a fun mechanic where players can transform into many different fantasy creatures. It’s not a bad choice for those looking for a new live-service RPG to grind and kill some time playing. It’s a particularly good game for Xbox Game Pass subscribers to check out because they get the Clay and Mischievous Bundle for no additional cost, granting them a unique costume and Amitoi pet. Those are nice bonuses in a free-to-play game like this that you just won’t get elsewhere.
Throne and Liberty is free-to-play across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?
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.”