Even though Microsoft has yet to announce its wave 1 additions for Xbox Game Pass, it has continued to add games for early January 2023 including one today, January 5: Mortal Shell. Notably, Xbox Game Pass announcements don't necessarily follow a set pattern, but are usually announced by the Tuesday of the associated week. A time or two, these announcements have taken place on Thursday, and they usually happen in the mid-morning.
Without any official announcement, today's addition is a surprise, but it's not the only game to have been added so far this month. A couple of days ago, Xbox Game Pass added Stranded Deep - a survival game where players are trapped, alone, out in the Pacific Ocean.
Beyond the fact that it wasn't previously announced, what's surprising about Mortal Shell's addition today is the fact that it previously left Xbox Game Pass in November 2022. This time, it is the Enhanced addition with 4K visuals, 60 FPS gameplay, and high-quality textures. It coming back is a good sign for previous games that were removed and probably speaks to how beneficial being on Xbox Game Pass is. Mortal Shell, for those who are unaware, is a Soulslike game where players adapt different shells for different styles of gameplay. There are plenty of soulslike games out there, with varying degrees of success, but Mortal Shell is definitely one worth checking out, especially on Xbox Game Pass.
Usually at this point, fans would know what to expect across the next couple of days, but not at the moment. It seems Xbox Game Pass is marching forward normally, but fans have no announcement of what to expect from the next few days. Surely, that Xbox Game Pass announcement will happen soon, but for now, fans have a couple of new games to check out and know what to expect later this month.
For example, the Xbox App has confirmed five games that are leaving on January 15: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition, Nobody Saves the World, Pupperazi, The Anacrusis, and Windjammers 2. Meanwhile, there are a couple of previously announced games coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month. Per last year's announcement, fans can expect Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden on January 19, Monster Hunter Rise on January 20, and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and Inkulinati on January 31. More will certainly come before then, and some may be in the mix with those, but fans can only sit and wait to see what else is happening in January 2023.
Xbox Game Pass users get a handful of games every month.
Source: Pure Xbox
