The decision-makers at Microsoft responsible for picking what titles should be available on Game Pass this August were on top of their game this time around.  It’s no secret that the month’s full of distractions, both in terms of real world back-to-school prep and football season revving up and in terms of Madden being the big video game of the season. Instead of resting on their laurels, the Game Pass folks have made available some rather desirable action titles aimed to fill another, different void with whimsical escapism and step-by-step upgrade management.

Are these heavy-hitting AAA titles? Debatable, but not really, and that’s perfectly fine considering the substance of what’s being offered.  From a hotly-anticipated console port of a PC darling to a pair of long-awaited sequels with substantial cult fanbasres, there’s plenty to unpack and enjoy throughout the month. Let’s take a closer look, but before doing so, be sure to head over and Grab a 3-Month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Subscription at Amazon to enjoy all the titles here.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – New and Upcoming

Hades

As mentioned in our new video game release coverage for August (click here to read!), Hades has up until now enjoyed a healthy degree of exclusivity for the PC crowd, only moving over to the Switch after leaving early access. The roguelike dungeon crawler has become one of many envies of the big console owners, with them unable to take on what’s been proclaimed as one of the best of the genre, though naturally the difficulty of the title will vary depending on the level of player you’re asking.  Some find it quite difficult and others with genre experience find it more manageable, but both camps agree upon the quality of the storytelling, atmosphere, and addictive repetition gameplay.

Now, the rest of the console crowd will be able to gain control of the Prince of the Underworld as he battles his way through the realm in an escape to Mount Olympus, who utilizes gifts from other godly observers to get through the randomized sequence of rooms and obstacles. Due to the upgrade systems, the revolving nature of the rooms, interactions with characters both in the Underworld and beyond, and the purge-and-try-again nature of the upgrades, Hades delivers a consistent rush of fresh experiences for each beautifully rendered isometric hack-‘n-slash run.

Dodgeball Academia

Dodgeball video games aren’t very common, yet despite the existence of the National Dodgeball League and the memories of countless people who played the game in their youth, there hasn’t been much of a push for it. That’s likely because the mechanics can end up being similar to other sports titles – passing, tossing, or volleying a ball to connect with a target – or even old-school arcade ball-shooting games. Therefore, the dodgeball premise needs an extra hook to make it appealing, like robots on wheels that explode upon ball impact or outlandish obstacles cruising through a circular arena instead of a rectangle.  

Dodgeball Academia goes deeper with its ambitions. While it stays true to the rectangular arena of the sport, the game that exists around it makes the experience something that’s both unique and familiar, incorporating social and role-playing aspects of Pokemon and Rockstar’s Bully alongside the elevated version of dodgeball being played. In the arena, generous powerups and delightfully flashy animations add zest to what’s otherwise a sidescrolling dodgeball experience that’s trying to be as normal as possible under those circumstances. Both critics and players young and old alike have raved about Dodgeball Academia, hinged on a charming RPG storytelling design and sharp arcade gameplay.

Psychonauts 2

As Tim Schafer’s reputation for quirky writing and vibrant, open-audience designs has strengthened through his efforts with the likes of Costume Quest and Broken Age, the demand for a return to Psychonauts has also continued to mount among its fanbase. It’s not on the same mythical level as, say, Half-Life 3 or a FFVII remaster, but this sequel has established a similarly meme-worthy demand among its niche audience that sparked every time the folks at Double Fine would succeed with another project. At long last, folks get to regain control of Raz as the psychokinetic action-puzzle gameplay again delves into themes of anxiety and mental health, embarking on a mission to get the Psychonauts back on track.

Even though it only lasted about two months, the exclusivity window for the original Psychonauts often ties people’s thoughts to it being an “Xbox title”. Because of this, something feels inherently right about the sequel emerging as a day-one offering through Xbox’s Game Pass program, though naturally Xbox Game Studios has plenty of control over that as the game’s publisher. Other consoles won’t be getting the optimized version of Double Fine’s long-awaited return to the Psychonauts universe, though, as that’ll be an exclusive Xbox Series X offering. Psychonauts 2 will be released and available for download through Game Pass on August 25.

Xbox Games With Gold

Xbox One

Surprisingly, Games With Gold shows a bit of a pulse for the month of August, including a significant recent sequel to a popular action franchise.  On the Xbox One side of the coin, Darksiders III (August 1-31) returns to the mythical open-world ambitions of the first two games after a lengthy hiatus, with publisher THQ Nordic passing the baton to the developers responsible for the successful “Deathinitive” remastering of the second installment, Gunfire Games. While Darksiders received heaps of praise for being a one of the best non-Zelda Zelda action games ever created and Darksiders II expanded the concept into a fantastic open-world design, Darksiders III and the introduction of protagonist Fury didn’t strike the same chord, enduring technical glitches and clumsily borrowing from the Souls brand of tough dungeon crawling. The second half of the month gets Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (August 16-September 15), a side-scrolling puzzle platformer featuring an animal duo that’ll stir up some nostalgia for a few classic Nintendo titles.

Over on the legacy console offerings, there’s Lost Planet 3 (August 1-15), the divisive conclusion to EA’s third-person shooter franchise. Critics and players were warm enough to the improvements in shooting and atmosphere that resulted in decent enough action, but were left in the cold by other clunky, repetitive aspects of the gameplay and questionable storytelling choices. Rounding out the month is Garou: Mark of the Wolves (August 16-31), also known as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves and the last installment in the 2D fighting franchise. Originally released to arcades in 1999, this marks one of many ports across consoles over the past 2 decades, and mostly remains a title for the die-hard fans of the genre and Fatal Fury itself.

August’s Xbox Game Pass and Gold Titles Go Through Hades to Deliver Action

As the world painstakingly claws its way back to a state of normalcy amid the pandemic, there are a few constants involved with the month of August that’ll make things feel a little more normal: the beginning of school, the approach of football season, and of course the release of the latest Madden video game. For many years now regardless of the reputation of the previous year’s installment, it’s been one of the beacons for all gamers that transcends whatever other interests they may have, gaming or otherwise.

With funds being reserved for that title, sometimes the rest of the month of August can be underwhelming in terms of new games, yet there are some pretty exciting new ones this time around. From the joyous return to two of the biggest cult classics from several console generations back to the hotly anticipated console port of a popular, challenging action platformer, it’s a month to get fired up over with or without the big game. Let’s take a closer look at the titles.

Hades (PS4/5; Xbox O/S/X) — August 13

Plenty of heated discussions continue to go on about the differences between playing on PC and consoles, but there’s one position that tends to be more objective than the others when discussing the superiority of PCs: they usually get better dungeon crawlers, either permanently or as timed exclusives. For a while, the early access period of being able to play Hades offered such an experience, and for the better part of 2020 it became a wildly popular, addictive experience title that could only be taken on by the PC Master Race.  

With its reputation established, Hades eventually moved out of early release onto the Switch and now carries over to the PlayStation and Xbox consoles with rejuvenation anticipation behind it. It embraces the depth of Grecian mythology as it tells the story of Zagreus, the prince of the underworld who hopes to escape its clutches and reach Mount Olympus. Naturally, escaping hell isn’t an easy task, realized in this isometric hack-‘n-slash action puzzle game by adopting the roguelike mantra of randomizing the maze structure of Hades and the relentless enemies within.

Click Here to Order Hades on Amazon

Madden NFL 22 (PS4,5; Xbox O/S/X; PC; Stadia) — August 20

Look, it would takes some pretty aggressive and continuous negative energy for EA’s tentpole annual football game to suffer much in terms of sales and yearly anticipation. That said, this latest installment of Madden is following one of the more aggressively bashed entries in its three-generation history, even spurring a high-profile Twitter hashtag — “#FixMaddenFranchise”— when it looked like little had been done to the previous year’s game aside from updating the players. Despite ratings bombs and calls for the NFL to ditch EA, sales turned out just fine – up, even — a testament to Madden’s enduring presence.

Madden NFL 22 could benefit from a year of satisfying players, though, especially with this arriving on the newest generation of consoles, and it looks as if EA has actively listened to feedback and will be improving on key areas for this year’s iteration. Notably, franchise mode has been overhauled to allow for more freedom through “detailed staff management and skill tree progression systems”, while they’ve also added new live adjustment to stats and capabilities through the “Dynamic Gameday” integration of real-world data and new tech. If those things are coupled with the gameplay tightness that critics celebrated from last year’s title, Madden NFL 22 could end up being a needed return to form.

Click Here to Order Madden NFL 2022 at Amazon

Aliens: Fireteam Elite (PS4,5; Xbox O/S/X; PC) — August 24

For the most part, you can split fans of the Alien franchise down the middle, with one half preferring Ridley Scott’s original horror-centric Alien film and the other feeling as if James Cameron’s action-oriented Aliens sequel improves upon the idea. It’s a lot easier to approach a video game adaptation of those concepts, but the horror side of Alien – and arguably the franchise itself – was properly done justice with the survival horror game Alien: Isolation. This, in essence, has become the proper “horror Alien game”, and it’s probably only a matter of time before it gets an Aliens-like action companion.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite hopes to at least get close to the bullseye there by delivering a multiplayer, third-person survivor shooter experience that both takes place some 20 years after the original Alien trilogy and borrows plot aspects from those films. Players gain control of a Colonial Marine that can belong to five different classes – from shooters and beaters to techies and healers – that can utilize a slew of weapons, mods and perks that take on aliens alongside a squad of either AI-assisted or online teammates. Positive comparisons to the zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead have already been drawn, and the promise of no loot boxes or non-cosmetic microtransaction certainly helps to get hyped.

Click Here to Order Aliens: Fireteam Elite at Amazon

Psychonauts 2 (PS4; Xbox O/S/X; PC; Mac; Lin) — August 25

Over the years, Double Fine Productions has built a reputation of joy and reliability with their efforts in the Costume Quest family-friendly RPGs, several novel action-puzzle games such as Brutal Legend and Stacking, and in remastering the games that founder Tim Schafer created over at LucasArts. However, even with a decade and a half of work under their belt, many if not most gamers will forever know them as the studio responsible for the quirky, energetic, meaningful and addictive action platformer Psychonauts. Because of its cult popularity, a sequel has remained high in demand yet seemingly out of reach.

Unlike other similar titles that get swept up in development hell – looking at you, Beyond Good and Evil 2 – it’s certainly looking like Double Fine will finally be delivering Psychonauts 2 to its fanbase at the end of August. Based on preview footage, the powers of Raz the Psychonaut seems to share things in common with other psionic object-movement action games currently available, only with Tim Schafer’s delightful sense of humor and an outlandish, surreal atmosphere in the vein of Tim Burton’s animated films. With an undercurrent of symbolism about mental health, supported by an expert in the field hired by Double Fine, it’s looking like Psychonauts might be showing up at the right time for everyone.

Click Here to Order Psychonauts 2 on Amazon

No More Heroes III (Switch) — August 27

While many players likely have their strongest original Nintendo Wii memories stemming from Twilight Princess, Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart or, heck, even Wii Bowling, others will fondly recall when they were introduced to the bizarre world of No More Heroes. Against cel-shade landscapes with 8-bit details, the game envelops its players in a streak of geekery that merely begins with the “otaku” lead character wielding a practical laser sword that occasionally needs a little jerking to power it back up. Generous portions of Grand Theft Auto gameplay philosophies are seasoned with anime and sci-fi culture in creating the exploits of Travis Touchdown and his climb up the ranks of an assassin guild.

Travis returns once again on the Switch in No More Heroes III, and this time he’s climbing the ranks of superheroism so that he may prove himself worthy enough to defeat an invading alien overlord. Players can traverse a series of five open-world zones with help of the hero’s new motorcycle, while the combat once again employs a mixture of hack-‘n-slashing with his beam katana and a hybrid of martial arts and professional wrestling maneuvers. Original series designer and writer Goichi Suda returns for this third entry in the No More Heroes saga, which should result in a raucous experience not unlike that first one on the OG Nintendo Wii.

Click Here to Order No More Heroes III on Amazon

The rest of the releases for August are generally pretty lowkey, with Ghost of Tsushima: Director Cut (August 20) and The Falconeer: Warrior Edition (August 5) offering some higher-profile PS5 ports throughout the month. The arthouse gaming wing of Annapurna Interactive will also be releasing a duo of indie titles this month, a survival mystery game called I Am Dead coming on August 9 and a time-constraint mystery experience entitled 12 Minutes coming on August 19. There’s also a pretty sweet looking Metroidvania platform action game entitled Recompile coming on August 19, and  a potentially interesting action-adventure experience called Foreclosed – which seems like a hybrid of Blade Runner and Cyberpunk – worth keeping an eye on when it comes out of the shadows on August 12.

August’s Video Games: Madden, Sure, But Also Psychonauts!