Xbox Game Pass August 2026 Wave 2: Every Game Coming and Leaving the Service
- Sagar Mankar
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Xbox Game Pass has announced its August 2026 Wave 2 lineup, adding 9 more games to the service.
The clear headliner is Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, Asobo Studio's prequel to the award-winning Plague Tale series, arriving as a day-one Game Pass title on August 27. Blood Dungeon, the new game from Nidhogg creator Messhof, is another day-one addition worth watching. Three of the nine games in this wave launch on Game Pass day one.
On the departures side, 5 titles are leaving on August 31, and the biggest loss is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Edition.
Here is everything you need to know.
Games Coming to Xbox Game Pass: August 2026 Wave 2
August 19
Vapor World: Over the Mind, Game Preview (Cloud, Console, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass (Day One)
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass
Relooted (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass
August 20
Starsand Island (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass
August 25
Aerial Knight's DropShot (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass
Blood Dungeon (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass (Day One)
August 27
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass (Day One)
August 31
Young Suns (Cloud, Console, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass
September 1
Shelldiver (Cloud, Console, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass
Key Highlights
Vapor World: Over the Mind is a narrative-driven soulslike action platformer from ALIVE Inc., arriving in Early Access on August 19 as a day-one Game Pass title. You play as a boy trapped in a twisted dream world shaped by sorrow and regret, navigating a seamless mindscape with deflection and parry-based combat inspired by Sekiro and Bloodborne. The Early Access build includes a prologue and early episodes running around five hours, with the full game targeting around 12 hours.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is a 2D roguelite action game from 91Act, published by Astrolabe Games in collaboration with Arc System Works. Set in the BlazBlue universe, it brings a large roster of characters into a roguelite structure where you dive into the Sea of Possibility, clear rooms, build ability combinations, and face bosses while uncovering a new original story. It launched in early 2026 to a generally favorable reception with an OpenCritic score around 83.
Relooted is a 2.5D heist action platformer from Nyamakop with a genuinely unique premise. You lead a crew of everyday Africans on missions to reclaim real-world looted cultural artifacts from Western museums, with heists broken into three phases: scouting and planning with puzzle-based team placement, infiltration, and a high-speed parkour escape once the alarm triggers. It launched in early 2026 to very positive Steam reviews at around 87% approval, with strong praise for its cultural significance, satisfying heist loop, characters, and soundtrack.
Starsand Island is a cozy anime-inspired life and farming simulation from Seed Sparkle Lab, arriving on August 20 following its full 1.0 release. You return to your childhood island to farm, craft, ranch, fish, explore, build, and form friendships and romances with a cast of NPCs while working through career progression and story quests. The 1.0 release added multiplayer for up to 4 players and expanded relationship content.
Aerial Knight's DropShot is a high-speed first-person shooter and racing hybrid from solo developer Aerial Knight. You play as Smoke Wallace, who has been bitten by a radioactive dragon and now possesses purple skin and finger-gun powers. Each round runs between 30 and 90 seconds as you freefall from planes, race rivals to the ground, and shoot limited-ammo finger-gun bullets while using slipstreams to stay competitive. It launched in early 2026 to a mixed to positive reception with an OpenCritic score around 69, praised for its stylish concept and fast-paced thrills but noted for its short overall length and some uneven execution in places.
Blood Dungeon is the latest game from Messhof, the studio behind the beloved Nidhogg series, arriving on August 25 as a day-one Game Pass title. It is a 2D platforming roguelite autoshooter where you parkour through dungeon arenas while your character automatically attacks waves of enemies. You collect blood to level up mid-run and bones for permanent upgrades in the Bone Shop, and unlock nine characters each with unique weapons and traits alongside new arenas and weapons. A dynamic drum-and-bass soundtrack ties the whole thing together.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is Asobo Studio's prequel to the critically acclaimed Plague Tale series, published by Focus Entertainment and arriving on August 27 as a day-one Game Pass title. Set 15 years before the events of Requiem, you play as Sophia, the smuggler introduced in the previous game, in a story that spans dual timelines switching between the Middle Ages and the ancient Minoan period on the island of Crete. The game takes a more combat-forward approach than its predecessors, with parries, counters, and fluid melee combat.
Young Suns is a one to four player co-op narrative life simulation from KO_OP, the studio behind Goodbye Volcano High, arriving on August 31. Set on Jupiter in an optimistic alternate future following a revolution against corporations, you customize your character and spaceship, explore planetoids, ruins, and stations, take on quests, harvest resources, and build relationships with a cast of 30 characters through extensive daily dialogue.
Shelldiver is a cozy incremental arcade game from Gagonfe, arriving on September 1. You play as a senior turtle piloting a submarine, using a bubble gun to catch various types of jellyfish including electric, mutant, and explosive varieties, selling them at a shop, and using the proceeds to upgrade your equipment and explore deeper oceanic biomes. Managing oxygen, expanding your skills, and helping the local turtle village give the simple dive, catch, sell, and upgrade loop a surprising amount of texture. It launched on PC in late 2025 and currently holds an overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam at above 98% approval, praised as a charming, polished, and addictive short indie experience.
Games Leaving Xbox Game Pass on August 31
Five titles are heading out at the end of the month, so make sure you wrap them up before they go:
Another Crab's Treasure (Cloud, Console, and PC)
I Am Your Beast (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Neon Abyss (Cloud, Console, and PC)
One Lonely Outpost (Cloud, Console, and PC)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Edition (Cloud and Console)
The standout departure is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Edition. CD Projekt Red's open-world action RPG holds a Metacritic score in the 90s and is widely regarded as one of the greatest games ever made, with storytelling, world-building, and quest design that few games have matched in the decade since its original release. The remastered version adds ray tracing, improved visuals, and quality-of-life features alongside the base game and both major expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. With a new expansion on the way, now is also a good time to get caught up on the story. If you have not played it, August 31 is as good a deadline as any.
Another Crab's Treasure is also worth highlighting. Developed by Aggro Crab, it is a charming underwater soulslike praised for its humor, creative shell mechanics, and accessible difficulty options.
I Am Your Beast is similarly worth your time if you enjoy tight, high-speed first-person action, holding a Metacritic score of around 79 and near-universal praise for its brisk, adrenaline-fueled design.
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