After a rather dull (and ill-timed, given the layoffs) first wave, Xbox is stepping it up with some heavy hitters for the second half of July. Beyond The Planet Crafter, which arrives today for Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass, and Shift at Midnight tomorrow, subscribers can look forward to Hell is Us.
It premieres on July 23rd for all three tiers and follows Remy as he ventures into Hadea to search for his parents in the midst of a civil war. The presence of supernatural monsters spawning from the Calamity doesn’t help either. Despite story and combat consternation, it’s well worth playing if you’re into an action-adventure that won’t hold your hand.
Next up is Halo: Campaign Evolved, the much-anticipated remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, which arrives on July 28th for Ultimate and PC Game Pass. While it retains the story and structure of the original, Halo Studios has added four-player co-op, three new Prologue missions, dozens of new Skulls, Campaign Remix and much more.
Mistfall Hunter debuts on July 30th for the same tiers, offering a PvEvP Souls-like extraction loop for up to three players. Then there’s Corsair Cove, a city builder with a pirate twist from Limbic Entertainment debuting on July 31st.
As a small preview for next month, you can look forward to Heretic + Hexen on Premium and Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation on August 4th. The latter is a triple-A action RPG set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, where players control Emma and Koo in their journey to stop the Blight. Head here for more details.
Of course, as usual, there’s a selection of titles leaving the service on July 31st. Check them out below:
- Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Celeste (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Rain World (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Sniper Elite Resistance (Cloud, Console, and PC)
- Whiskerwood (PC)
