Vampire Survivors, Sniper Elite 5 heading to Xbox Game Pass this month

Game Pass is particularly ideal for two kinds of games: indie games you’re not sure you’ll like enough to commit to the upfront cost, and decent-not-great blockbusters you know almost certainly aren’t worth the cost but would quite like to play for at least a bit.

There are plenty of games that fit into both of these categories joining the subscription service before the end of May, including Vampire Survivors, Hardspace: Shipbreaker, Sniper Elite 5 and Jurassic World Evolution 2.

You can probably filter these games into the categories yourself, but let me help. In his Jurassic World Evolution 2 review, Nate found it filled with the same flawed design decisions as the original game, but noted that he’d “one hundred percent keep mooning over this game’s wonderful dinosaurs, right up to the point where my attention span is chewed to bits by micromanagement raptors.” Sounds perfect for a subscription service you’re maybe already paying for.

Likewise, Sniper Elite 5 is the new entry in the typically trashy-but-flashy first-person shooter series about blowing the bollocks off Nazis from 300 yards. No previous game in the series has held my attention for long, but it does have a grindhouse appeal. I’ll happily give the new one a go if it doesn’t cost any extra to do so.

I’m more confident in the quality of the smaller games joining the service. Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a fantastic first-person sim about slicing apart spaceships for salvage, although it’s possible I exhausted it in early access. Little Witch In The Woods is a charming todo list ’em up about making potions and completing wholesome quests, which enchanted Alice with its lovely Steam demo and only came out in full yesterday. Vampire Survivors, meanwhile, is my favorite game of the year so far. You can play a version of it for free in your browser already via Itch, however.

Below you’ll find the complete list of games coming to PC Game Pass before the end of the month, which you can also read more about in Xbox’s blog post:

• Her Story (available today)
• Jurassic World Evolution 2 (available today)
• Little Witch In The Woods (available today)
• Umurangi Generation Special Edition (available today)
• Farming Simulator 22 (May 19th)
• Vampire Survivors (May 19th)
• Floppy Knights (May 24th)
• Hardspace: Shipbreaker (May 24th)
• Sniper Elite 5 (May 26th)
• Cricket 22 (May 27th)
• Pac-Mac Museum+ (May 27th)

And here are the PC games that are leaving the service at the end of this month:

• Farming Simulator 19
• Knockout Cit
• Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
• Spellforce 3: Soul Harvest
• Superhot Mind Control Delete
• Yes Your Grace