Best Xbox Game Pass Games to Play Right Now (September 2026)

Updated September 27, 2026. The best Xbox Game Pass games to play right now are Forza Horizon 6, Doom: The Dark Ages, Ninja Gaiden 4, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, with Dune: Awakening, Subnautica 2 and RuneScape: Dragonwilds leading the co-op and survival picks. Every game below is in the catalog today, and we list the exact tier you need for each, because in 2026 that matters more than ever.

How the Game Pass tiers work in 2026

Game Pass now has four plans, and which one you pay for decides what you get from this list. Here is how Xbox's official Game Pass page describes them:

• Essential: 50+ games, online console multiplayer and a small monthly allowance of cloud playtime.
• Premium: 200+ games, including new Xbox-published games within one year of launch. This tier does not get day-one releases.
• Ultimate: 500+ games, new games on day one, plus EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics, on console, PC and cloud.
• PC Game Pass: 300+ games on PC only, with day-one releases and EA Play.

The upshot is that Ultimate and PC Game Pass get almost everything on this list. Premium members get most of it, but not the newest first-party releases such as Forza Horizon 6. Prices vary by region and change from time to time, so check the plan page on xbox.com before you subscribe. If you're still deciding between services, our Xbox Game Pass vs PlayStation Plus comparison goes through the value question in detail.

The best Game Pass games right now at a glance

Every game in this table is live in the catalog as of September 27, 2026. "PC" means PC Game Pass.

The big-budget headliners

Forza Horizon 6

Playground Games' open-world racer launched on May 19, 2026, and takes the series to Japan, with Tokyo as its main city. Wikipedia lists that city as five times larger than the urban areas in earlier Horizon games. It has more than 550 cars at launch, seasonal weather that includes cherry blossom and snowy winters, and a customizable mountainside property called the Estate.

It is also the best-reviewed game on this list, scoring 90 on PC and 91 on Xbox Series X|S on Metacritic. As an Xbox Game Studios release under a year old, it's in Ultimate and PC Game Pass but not Premium yet.

Doom: The Dark Ages

id Software's medieval prequel to Doom (2016) swaps Doom Eternal's acrobatics for grounded combat built around the Shield Saw, which blocks, parries and attacks, plus melee weapons like the flail and mace. You also get segments piloting a cybernetic dragon and a giant mech. It holds an 85 on Metacritic for Xbox Series X|S and PC. It joined Premium in May, so every paid tier except Essential can play it.

Ninja Gaiden 4

Team Ninja and PlatinumGames co-developed this Xbox-published return of the series. You play mostly as new lead Yakumo, with Ryu Hayabusa also playable, in a rain-soaked near-future Tokyo. It scored 82 on Metacritic for Xbox and PC. It was day one on Ultimate in October 2025 and joined Premium on September 17. If you're a Premium member who skipped it, now is the time.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy

Asobo Studio's prequel launched on August 27 and is set in 1334 on Crete, 15 years before A Plague Tale: Innocence. It moves the series toward action: lead character Sophia can parry and finish enemies, and the story switches between the Middle Ages and the ancient Minoan era. It's in Ultimate and PC Game Pass. OpenCritic lists 84% of critics recommending it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Treyarch and Raven's 2024 shooter is set in the early 1990s and introduced omnimovement, which lets you sprint, dive and slide in any direction. It has an 11-mission campaign, multiplayer and round-based Zombies. It was already on Ultimate and PC Game Pass and joined Premium on September 25. For more recent Call of Duty news, see our Modern Warfare 4 guide. Black Ops Cold War also joined the catalog on September 8 if you want an older entry.

Best for co-op and survival

Dune: Awakening

Funcom's open-world survival MMO launched on PC in June 2025 and arrived on Xbox Series X|S on September 22, 2026, joining Game Pass in all three main tiers. You manage thirst and your stillsuit, harvest spice, dodge sandworms that permanently eat your gear, and fly ornithopters. Late game, guilds compete in the PvP Deep Desert. The PC version scored 78 on Metacritic. It's best if you have a group to play with.

Subnautica 2

Unknown Worlds' sequel entered early access on May 14 and is in Game Pass as a Game Preview on Ultimate and PC. The headline change is co-op for up to four players, a first for the series. Expect early-access rough edges and ongoing updates. You're getting an unfinished game, but it's worth a look.

RuneScape: Dragonwilds

Jagex's co-op survival game for one to four players left early access and launched on consoles on September 15. It's set on the continent of Ashenfall in RuneScape's world of Gielinor. You level skills, craft gear and fight dragons, with a strong focus on magic. You don't need to know RuneScape to enjoy it.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion

Tribute Games' side-scrolling beat 'em up, published by Dotemu, supports up to four players in co-op and scored 84 on Metacritic for Xbox Series X|S. It joined Premium on September 16. It's quick to pick up, which makes it the best couch co-op game on the list.

Best indies and smaller gems

Planet of Lana II

Wishfully's 2D puzzle platformer, released in March 2026, builds on the original with a bigger, more ambitious adventure. It scored 81 on Metacritic for Xbox and joined Premium on September 16. It's low-stress and great for an evening or two.

Routine

Lunar Software's first-person survival horror game was announced back in 2012 and finally came out in December 2025. It's set in 1999 at Union Plaza, a tourist resort on the Moon. You investigate the base's decline with the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool, and procedurally generated elements change threats between playthroughs. It scored 79 on Metacritic and is now in Premium.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Leenzee's soulslike is set in an alternate late-Ming Dynasty Shu, ravaged by a supernatural plague called the Feathering. You play Bai Wuchang, a pirate trying to resurrect her sister. It launched with performance complaints, but player reviews improved significantly after patches. It's the pick if you want a hard-hitting challenge and have finished the big FromSoftware games.

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage

SEGA's expanded edition of Virtua Fighter 5 joined Game Pass on September 10. It adds rollback netcode, crossplay, a new World Stage single-player campaign and better training and replay tools. If you've ever wanted to learn a technical 3D fighter without paying up front, this is the easiest way to try one.

Mixtape

Beethoven & Dinosaur's Annapurna-published adventure follows three friends on their last day together in 1990s California, set to a licensed soundtrack. Be aware of how it plays: it runs roughly three to four hours with limited interactivity, and some players called it closer to an interactive film. Critics were mostly very positive. On Game Pass, where it costs you nothing extra, that makes it an easy one to try.

Coming in the next two weeks

These are officially dated but not playable yet, so they're not in our picks:

• Minecraft Dungeons II, September 29: day one on Ultimate and PC Game Pass (not Premium). It supports up to four players in online or couch co-op.
• Keeper, October 2: Double Fine's lighthouse adventure, already on Ultimate, joins Premium.
• Gears of War: E-Day, October 6: day one on Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The Coalition and People Can Fly's prequel is set 14 years before the first game, with young Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago.

For everything else launching next month, Game Pass or not, see our October 2026 release calendar.

Games leaving Game Pass soon

Xbox has confirmed these games leave on September 30, 2026. If you're partway through one, finish it or plan to buy it before then.

• Atomfall
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
• Little Nightmares II Enhanced Edition
• Little Rocket Lab
• Sifu
• SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato
• Sworn
• Terminull Brigade

The two biggest losses are Sifu and Atomfall. If either has been sitting in your backlog, the next few days are your last chance to play it on the service.

Rumor: a Game Pass tier shake-up in 2027

This is unconfirmed. On September 15–16, 2026, ResetEra user Slayven posted claims, reported by outlets including Club386, that Microsoft plans to change Game Pass between February and April 2027. The claims included removing day-one launches, splitting cloud streaming into its own paid add-on and adding new ad-supported and library-only plans.

Microsoft pushed back. In a statement quoted by Club386, it said it regularly tests different Game Pass offerings and does not "have any changes to announce today or plans that have been finalized." NME also reported Xbox saying there are "no changes to previously announced games coming to Game Pass Ultimate on day one." In other words, games already promised as day-one Ultimate releases, like Gears of War: E-Day, are still on track. Until Xbox announces something, treat the rest as rumor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources checked on September 27, 2026 against Xbox Wire's September 2026 Game Pass announcements, the official Xbox Game Pass plans page, Xbox and Minecraft.net game pages, and publisher release information.