Xbox Game Pass Adds AAA Horror Game and Artsy Day-One Title

Xbox Game Pass has added Resident Evil Village and MIO: Memories in Orbit to its content catalog. These are the sixth and seventh new titles to reach the subscription service in January 2026, pushing Xbox Game Pass back to a net gain for the month following earlier removals.

Originally released in May 2021, Resident Evil Village—commonly referred to as Resident Evil 8 by fans—has never before been available on Xbox Game Pass. The fact that its long-awaited debut on the service is happening today is no coincidence: Capcom has deliberately timed it to drum up interest for the upcoming launch of Resident Evil Requiem, scheduled for February 27.

Xbox Game Pass Is Losing 7 Games at the End of January

Xbox Game Pass is losing seven titles at the end of the month, thus more than doubling the number of its January 2026 departures.

Xbox Game Pass Now Has 3 Resident Evil Games

Resident Evil Village has thus finally made its way to Microsoft’s subscription service, joining its catalog on January 20. With its arrival, Xbox Game Pass now offers three Resident Evil titles. The two older entries are the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, which were added to Xbox Game Pass in early 2024 and have remained available ever since. Since it is not a day-one release, Resident Evil Village is available across every non-Essential tier of Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox Game Pass Adds Its First Day-One Game of 2026

In addition to Resident Evil Village, the January 20 library update also added MIO: Memories in Orbit to Xbox Game Pass. This day-one title from Shady Part of Me developer Douze Dixièmes is an artsy metroidvania set aboard the Vessel, a colossal starship packed with numerous vivid biomes, tucked-away secrets, and aggressive machines. Players are cast as the titular MIO, a tiny robot navigating overgrown corridors and malfunctioning machinery as it works to revive the ship’s memories and avert an imminent shutdown, all the while uncovering a melancholic story about identity and the true nature of the soul. With its environmental storytelling, soulslike-inspired gameplay mechanics, and hand-drawn art style, MIO: Memories in Orbit has clear Hollow Knight vibes.

The indie metroidvania marks the first day-one title added to Xbox Game Pass in 2026. Like most other such releases, MIO: Memories in Orbit is only available to PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Given that most day-one additions take at least six months to reach the Premium tier, MIO: Memories in Orbit is expected to become available to XGP Premium users no earlier than July 2026. In the meantime, Douze Dixièmes’ latest title will serve to strengthen the already sizable selection of metroidvanias available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members.

New and Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Games

Date	Game	Game Pass Tier(s)	Platform(s)	Notes
Jan 20	MIO: Memories in Orbit	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, Handheld, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.
Jan 20	Resident Evil Village	Ultimate, PC, Premium	Cloud, Console, PC
Jan 22	Nova Roma	Ultimate, PC	PC	Day-one release.
Feb 5	Menace	Ultimate, PC	PC	Game Preview; day-one release.
Feb 13	High on Life 2	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.
Feb 26	Towerborne	Premium	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one 1.0 release. Available in Game Preview on XGP Ultimate and PC GP since April 2025.
Mar 12	Replaced	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.

MIO: Memories in Orbit and Resident Evil Village round off the Xbox Game Pass Wave 1 lineup for January 2026. The Wave 2 roster is headlined by Nova Roma, a Lion Shield-developed, Hooded Horse-published city builder set in the Roman Empire and scheduled to launch on January 22. Looking further ahead, the Xbox Game Pass library is planned to lose seven titles on January 31, followed by the addition of at least four day-one titles in February 2026.