Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Persona 3 Reload leads a surprisingly strong batch of Xbox Game Pass additions

A character uses a bow and arrow in Persona 3 Reload.
Atlus

Microsoft unveiled the next batch of new Xbox Game Pass titles, which are dropping between January 18 and February 8. Of the seven new titles coming to the video game subscription service over that time span, four are new games being added on the day of their release. The most noteworthy of those games is Persona 3 Reload, Atlus’ highly anticipated remake of an RPG classic.

Persona 3 was first released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2006 and came to North America just a year later. While its sequels would go on to garner a bit more immediate acclaim, Persona 3 provided the solid foundation that they all built on. It is darker than those future entries, though, as you’ll go from living your life as a Japanese teenager to shooting a gun at your own head to summon a Persona in stylish turn-based battles. Persona 3 is considered one of the best RPGs of its generation, and this remake brings the experience to modern platforms with a visual overhaul that makes it look more like Persona 5.

Digital Trends’ Giovanni Colantonio recently went hands-on with the remake and said it was a “solid way to revisit a classic RPG with a modern sheen.” It’s one of the highest-profile game releases of the first half of 2024, so it’s a significant day-one addition to the Xbox Game Pass catalog. This is the full list of games coming to the service, including strong indies like Brotato, over the next couple of weeks.

  • Turnip Boy Robs a Bank – January 18
  • F1 23 – January 18
  • Palworld – January 19
  • Go Mecha Ball – January 25
  • Brotato – January 30
  • Persona 3 Reload – February 2
  • Anuchard – February 6
The second batch of January 2024 Xbox Game Pass games
Microsoft

Microsoft also used this blog post to confirm that the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy will leave Xbox Game Pass on January 31. These are some of the best modern stealth action games, so definitely check those three games out before they leave the service’s catalog at the end of the month.

Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
The best games on Xbox Game Pass right now (June 2024)
Cal wielding his blue lightsaber and walking with BD-1 in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor key art.

As the Xbox Game Pass program has grown, so has our list of the best games on Xbox Game Pass. After the launch of the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has doubled down on Game Pass, now offering well over 350 games on the console alone. To help you through option paralysis, we rounded up the top games on Microsoft's subscription platform.

Many titles are available on Xbox and PC, and some even have cross-save support. Most of the games are available for streaming on mobile, too, as long as you have Game Pass Ultimate. The Game Pass library is also constantly changing, so check out our monthly guide for addition and removal announcements.

Read more
Will Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 be on Xbox Game Pass?
Key art for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War season 2.

Activision Blizzard, which is now owned by Microsoft, has just confirmed that the next Call of Duty game is titled Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. There's been one major point of contention ahead of this year's Call of Duty: Will it be on Xbox Game Pass at launch? A new report from The Wall Street Journal suggests that is the case.

Historically, Microsoft has added all its first-party games from Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda to Game Pass the day they launched. That applies to big AAA releases like Starfield, as well as more experimental titles like 2022's Pentiment and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, which came out this week. Microsoft's public messaging thus far has teased that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will come to the Xbox Game Pass. That said, Microsoft has not officially confirmed it, so there have been conflicting reports on this actually being the case.

Read more
3 Xbox Game Pass games you should play this weekend (May 17-19)
Bayek in Assassin's Creed Origins.

As the weekend approaches, you're probably happy that you'll soon have more time to check out some video games. And if you're an Xbox Game Pass subscriber and aren't sure what to play, you have a lot to choose from. That's where I come in. I've looked through the Xbox Game Pass lineup and found three games that I think all kinds of players can have a good time with this weekend.

The first game reimagined what Assassin's Creed could be and is worth a revisit following the announcement of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Next up, we have a standout indie from 2023 that's all about deciphering different languages and exploring how people communicate on an intrinsic level. Finally, there's an underrated magical first-person shooter from EA that just came to the subscription service this week and is worth a look.
Assassin's Creed Origins

Read more