Award season for Xbox Game Pass highlights six standout games of 2025.
1. Doom: The Dark Ages - Introduces melee-centric combat with a battle axe, praised for its visceral gameplay, and received recognition for Innovation in Accessibility at the Game Awards.
2. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Features voice talent Troy Baker, who has received accolades for his portrayal of Indiana Jones, with the game being recognized as "MachineGames' best game to date."
3. No Man's Sky - Transformed through 35 updates, enhancing base building, space combat, and exploration, showcasing fluidity and creativity in gameplay.
4. Rematch - A five-on-five soccer game from the creators of Sifu, noted for its addictive arcade-style gameplay that is easy to learn yet challenging to master.
5. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 - Acclaimed RPG that won PC Gamer's Game of the Year, known for its intricate interactions and challenging difficulty, being hailed as a classic.
Wayfinder Studios has announced Wyldheart, a cooperative RPG developed by veterans from games like ARC Raiders, Minecraft, and Battlefield. In Wyldheart, players take on the role of a peasant imprisoned and seek an ancient relic to protect their town, with options to play solo or with up to three friends. The game features a semi-cartoonish visual style inspired by early Elder Scrolls games and the Fable series, focusing on social dynamics, NPC interactions, and exploration. Players can engage with local villagers, uncover quests, gather materials, craft items, and upgrade gear. The combat system offers 19 backgrounds and various skill trees, including magic, adventuring, and survival, along with a range of melee and ranged weapons. The co-op experience includes a drop-in and drop-out system with cloud-shared saves and group XP, designed for busy gamers with campaigns of approximately 10 hours of story content and an additional 15 hours of optional gameplay. Wyldheart is currently in alpha and will enter Early Access later this year, with players able to wishlist it on Steam.