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Xbox Game Pass Wave 2: 9 New Games and What Each Tier Gets

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Microsoft just announced the second wave of October Game Pass additions: nine games from October 21 to November 3, headlined by Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. But which of them you can actually play depends on your tier — and the cheapest plan gets none of them.

In brief

  • The wave: 9 games join Xbox Game Pass between October 21 and November 3, 2026, announced via Xbox Wire on October 20.
  • The headline: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade arrives October 29 on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.
  • Day-one releases: Scramble Knights Online (Oct 26) and Terrible Lizards (Oct 29) launch straight into Game Pass.
  • Game Preview (early access): Sandustry (Oct 21) and Scramble Knights Online (Oct 26) arrive as in-development previews.
  • The tier catch: Game Pass Essential gets zero of the nine. Premium misses three. PC Game Pass gets all nine.
  • Also leaving: 9 games exit October 31 (including LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and Deep Rock Galactic) and Football Manager 26 leaves November 10.

Microsoft’s second October Game Pass wave is here, and the headline is a big one: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade — Square Enix’s expanded retelling of the Midgar chapter — lands on the service October 29. It is joined by eight more titles across the October 21 to November 3 window, including two day-one launches and a psychological horror game, Mouthwashing, that was added to the lineup after the initial announcement.

Every outlet covered this as a list. The list is not the useful part. What matters is the fine print Microsoft attaches to each title: the Game Pass tier it requires. Game Pass now has four tiers, and a game appearing in a wave announcement no longer guarantees it is included in the plan you pay for. So here is the wave, mapped to what you actually get.

The full wave: dates, games, and tiers

All dates and tier assignments below are from Microsoft’s Xbox Wire announcement (October 20, 2026), the primary source. Tiers: Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass. Game Pass Essential — the cheapest tier — is absent from every title in this wave.

October 21 — Sandustry (Game Preview), PC. A factory game set in fully destructible worlds where every pixel is a resource. Already available on Ultimate and PC Game Pass; this date marks its arrival on Game Pass Premium. Game Preview means it is still in development — expect rough edges and evolving content.

October 22 — Dodo Duckie, Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / PC. A puzzle platformer built around switching between 2D and 3D to rescue kidnapped chicken friends. Available on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.

October 26 — Scramble Knights Online (Game Preview), Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / PC. A cooperative MMO-lite action RPG launching day one on Game Pass. Available on Ultimate and PC Game Pass only — Premium subscribers do not get this one.

October 27 — The Séance of Blake Manor, Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / PC. A supernatural detective mystery set in 1897 Ireland, investigating a disappearance in a remote hotel. Available on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.

October 29 — Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / PC. The award-winning remake with its hybrid real-time/command battle system. Available on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass. This is the catch-up play: with the final entry in the remake trilogy approaching, it is the obvious prequel homework.

October 29 — Mouthwashing, Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / Handheld / PC. The critically acclaimed psychological horror from Wrong Organ and CRITICAL REFLEX, about five crew members stranded on a ship in perpetual sunset. Available on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass. Note: this one was not in the original announcement — Xbox Wire added it via an October 20 editor’s note after the ID@Xbox x IGN showcase, which is why some roundups still list only eight games.

October 29 — Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, Cloud / Console / PC. The HD remaster of the tower-defense classic with new levels, via EA Play. Available on Ultimate and PC Game Pass only — not on Premium.

October 29 — Terrible Lizards, Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / PC. A horror parkour game and the debut from WDR Studios, founded by the creators behind JTMusic. Launches day one on Game Pass. Available on Ultimate and PC Game Pass only — not on Premium.

November 3 — Pit of Goblin, Cloud / Xbox Series X|S / PC. An online co-op horror game where you play a goblin scavenging dungeons to feed the Goblin King-Queen. Available on Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass.

What each tier actually gets

This is the part the list-style coverage skips. Counted from the per-game tiers above:

  • Game Pass Ultimate: all 9. Cloud, console, and PC access to everything in the wave.
  • PC Game Pass: all 9. Every title in this wave has a PC version — the quiet winner of this announcement.
  • Game Pass Premium: 6 of 9. You get Sandustry, Dodo Duckie, The Séance of Blake Manor, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Mouthwashing, and Pit of Goblin. You miss Scramble Knights Online, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, and Terrible Lizards — two of which are day-one launches.
  • Game Pass Essential: 0 of 9. Nothing in this wave is on the entry tier.

If you are on Premium and want the two day-one launches, that is the gap to know about before November. And if you are on Essential wondering why the announcement excitement passed you by — this is why.

Day-one and Game Preview, explained

Two labels in the announcement deserve decoding. Day-one means the game launches directly into Game Pass the moment it releases — Scramble Knights Online (Oct 26) and Terrible Lizards (Oct 29). You are not waiting for a port; the subscription is the launch platform.

Game Preview is Xbox’s early-access program: the game is playable but unfinished. Sandustry and Scramble Knights Online both carry the label. Expect bugs, missing features, and content that changes under you. The trade-off is playing months before the finished release — worth it for genre fans, skippable if you only have time for polished games.

The rest of the announcement

The wave is not the whole Xbox Wire post. Also confirmed:

  • The Elder Scrolls Online: Season 2 update “Echoes of Skyrim” arrives October 21, with two solo dungeons and the Season Two Tamriel Tome running until January 27.
  • In-game benefits: The Finals gets a Welcome Pack (500 Multibucks, 25% XP boost, a cosmetic set) for Ultimate, Premium, Essential, and PC members; World of Tanks Modern Armor gets an XP Stock bundle November 3.
  • Leaving October 31: Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Dead Static Drive, Deep Rock Galactic, Full Throttle Remastered, Grim Fandango Remastered, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Wartales, and Wildgate. We covered which of the October 31 departures are worth your remaining time separately.
  • Leaving November 10: Football Manager 26 (PC) and Football Manager 26 Console Edition.

What this means for you

  • On Ultimate or PC Game Pass: you get everything. The must-plays are Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Oct 29) and, for horror fans, Mouthwashing the same day.
  • On Premium: you get 6 of 9. The two day-one launches you miss are Scramble Knights Online and Terrible Lizards — decide whether that matters before they release.
  • On Essential: this wave is not for you. None of the nine titles are on the entry tier.
  • Watch the clock: the October 31 departures overlap this wave. If your backlog is already full, the leaving games (LEGO Star Wars, Deep Rock Galactic, Wartales) deserve priority — the new arrivals will still be there in November.
  • Don’t trust third-party lists blindly: several roundups published before Xbox Wire’s editor’s note still show eight games. The official announcement is the source of truth, and it says nine.

More on this

Sources

Related reading: Game Pass Loses 8 Games on Oct 31: Which Are Worth Your Time · PS5 Games on Xbox: The PS5X Emulator, Explained

Sources: Xbox Wire (2026-10-20, updated 18:57 UTC — the full game list, dates, per-game tiers, ESO update, in-game benefits, leaving Oct 31 / Nov 10 lists; re-verified firsthand 2026-10-21: still 9 games, same tiers, no further updates); Pure Xbox (2026-10-20 — corroborating list and tier table); TrueAchievements (2026-10-20 — per-game tier listing); Neowin (2026-10-20 — corroborating list).

Shoaib Hassan

Shoaib Hassan is the founder and editor of AuTechWire, an independent technology publication covering broadband, mobile networks, privacy, startups, and consumer tech.

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