Hades, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and more coming to Xbox Game Pass

By Andrew Zucosky June 13, 2021

During the Xbox conference at E3 2021, it was announced that Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be coming onto Xbox Game Pass today, along with the rest of the Yakuza games. Along with Like a Dragon, Age of Empires IV and Hades will be on the Xbox Game Pass on October 28 and August 13, respectively. Players who own the Xbox Game Pass subscription can download these games for no extra cost on their PCs and Xbox consoles.

During the conference, it was announced that Hades will be available on the Xbox Game Pass. Supergiant Games’ critically acclaimed hack-and-slash roguelike Greek fantasy takes you through the deepest parts of Hades all the way to the mortal realm. It will be released on Xbox Game Pass on August 13.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was released in early January of 2020 and was a huge departure for the game series. Instead of assaulting your enemies with a flurry of button-mashing blows, the gameplay slowed down to a strategic turn-based flow. Fortunately, the game kept its style and humor and even branched out into poking fun at classic turn-based RPGs.

The latest installment of the long-running RTS series Age of Empires IV got a new trailer along with a release date for the game. Age of Empires IV will be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass on October 28.

It would not have been a proper E3 without a Forza announcement. Forza Horizon 5 was announced during the Xbox conference, with a trailer showcasing many of the cars you will be driving, as well as a gorgeous rendering of Mexico, where the game will take place. Forza Horizon 5 is releasing on November 9 and will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one release.

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The entire Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series is available as part of the Xbox Game Pass catalog, so you might be scratching your head wondering where to start. With Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth launching in a couple of weeks and shaping up to be “the series’ ultimate climax," the pressure is on to get into the series soon. Although every Like a Dragon game is worth a playthrough at some point for those who love crime dramas and video games with wild narratives, if you can only play one this month before Infinite Wealth launches, make it Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.

This isn't the best game in the series; I gave it a three-star review when it launched in November. Despite that, I recognize that multiple factors make Like a Dragon Gaiden the perfect game in the series to get into before you play Infinite Wealth. And as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release, this two-month-old title cements itself as a must-play this month.

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The most notable gaming news stories of 2023 run the gamut from genuinely exciting to thoroughly disappointed. That speaks to a video game industry bound to head into an odd 2024 that lacks the known quantity bombshells of this year and continues to reel from layoffs. In last year's iteration of this article, my editor said that the 2020s are shaping up to be "the most pivotal decade in gaming history when all is said and done." If this year is anything to go by, that will almost certainly be true. These were the gaming stories that defined 2023, for better and much worse.
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Issac Clarke exploring ruins in Dead Space Remake.

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Dead Space came out in January and is a stunning remake of a 2008 horror classic. The game follows an engineer named Issac Clarke as he searches for his girlfriend Nicole on a gigantic spaceship called the USG Ishimura. It's overrun by disgusting creatures called Necromorphs, though, leading to plenty of horrific situations as Issacs looks for answers on the ship. The original was an atmospheric and tense horror game, and developer EA Motive only enhanced all of that with this remake that updates the game's visuals and makes some other tweaks to bring the experience more in line with future games in its series and other modern horror games.
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