The official Xbox Game Pass January 2023 announcement has finally come, with Microsoft confirming three games that subscribers can check out next week. Typically, Microsoft announces the new Xbox Game Pass games at the beginning of the month, but there was a delay with the January 2023 announcement. This has led to some odd situations, like a couple of games being added to Xbox Game Pass with no prior announcement, and Microsoft including games coming beyond the 15th in its wrap-up, when typically it would keep its focus on the first half of the month.
January 2023 has already seen a couple of new additions to the Xbox Game Pass lineup. The first new game added to Xbox Game Pass in January 2023 was survival game Stranded Deep, which was followed by Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition a few days later. Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition is the more definitive version of Soulslike game Mortal Shell, which was once part of the Xbox Game Pass lineup before its removal. Microsoft has also pointed out how the Mistlands biome update for Valheim is available now, with that popular survival game a part of the PC Game Pass package.
As far as the new Xbox Game Pass games coming next week, Microsoft has three titles to highlight. On January 19, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can look forward to Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden. Then on January 20, Monster Hunter Rise will hit the Xbox Game Pass service. While all of these games have been available on other platforms before, this marks the first time any of them have been playable on Xbox, so one could still make the argument that they are day one games.
New Xbox Game Pass Games for January 2023
- Stranded Deep - Available now
- Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition - Available now
- Persona 3 Portable - January 19
- Persona 4 Golden - January 19
- Monster Hunter Rise - January 20
- Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition - January 31
- Inkulinati - January 31
- Roboquest - TBA
The Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden ports should be fairly similar to versions of those games on other systems, but Monster Hunter Rise will be quite different. This next-gen version of Monster Hunter Rise boasts improved graphics and performance compared to its previous release, so it should add up to be the definitive way to experience the game. The Sunbreak expansion will arrive a little later in the year, so Monster Hunter Rise has potential to keep Xbox Game Pass subscribers busy for quite some time.
And while Microsoft didn't highlight them specifically in its new Xbox Game Pass games for January 2023 announcement, previous release date announcements have let fans know of some other games they can look forward to this month. Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is joining the console version of Xbox Game Pass on January 31, along with day one game Inkulinati. Roboquest's console release is also expected to hit the console version of Xbox Game Pass at some point this month as well, but an official release date has not been announced at the time of this writing.
