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3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (January 31 – February 2)

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A sniper on a bridge overloopking a burning town.
Rebellion

Xbox isn’t giving Game Pass players a moment to breathe in 2025 with all the upcoming Xbox Series X games on the horizon. Even before we get to new titles like Avowed or Civilization 7 next month, we have more than enough new games to play on Game Pass to keep us busy, including big day-one releases. This weekend in particular is full of amazing options no matter what mood you’re in or genre you like. No doubt you’ve been trying to plan out how you will divide up your time once the big February games come along, but we can take care of recommending you the best 3 new Game Pass games to keep you entertained this weekend.

Eternal Strands

Eternal Strands - 101 Gameplay Trailer | PS5 Games

You wouldn’t guess it from looking at the footage, but Eternal Strands is the first project from a new indie studio that just arrived on Game Pass as a day-one release. You play as a Weaver named Brynn who has the power to manipulate both the environment and temperature to face off against larger-than-life creatures. This game is all about dynamic interactions and emergent gameplay as every element and object behaves as it would in the natural world. Fire will spread, ice will slow enemies, and rocks will shatter as you launch them with your telekinetic powers. Your creativity will be rewarded both in combat and exploration. There’s a heavy Shadow of the Colossus vibe with the giant enemies here that you can scale to get a better angle of attack. If you love experimenting with systems in a third-person action RPG with a cool art style, this is the perfect sandbox to play in.

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Eternal Strands is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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Sniper Elite: Resistance

Sniper Elite: Resistance | Official Gameplay Overview Trailer

The Sniper Elite series is best known for its dramatic slow-mo X-ray shots that show you in excruciatingly gore detail exactly what it looks like when a bullet rips through a Nazi’s brainstem. There wasn’t as much hype in the lead-up to Sniper Elite: Resistance, which was just released yesterday, but it already has favorable reviews. This is also the perfect entry to start with if you’re new since it features a new protagonist in a story that runs parallel to the ones in Sniper Elite 5. The entire franchise shares a lot of elements with the immersive sim genre, with large maps to infiltrate and explore however you wish to complete your objective. It also doesn’t hurt that watching your bullet soar across the map and into your target’s heart never gets old.

Sniper Elite: Resistance is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - Animated Narrative Reveal Trailer

Whether or not you played the first game, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is one of the first must-play indies of 2025. This is a dice-based narrative RPG where you play as an android with an emulation of a human consciousness called a sleeper. On the run from the corporation that made your body, you will travel the system in a ship to take on various jobs to try and survive. This is a game about tough choices with no right answers, managing resources, and a touching story about overcoming impossible odds. All you have are your dice to determine what few actions you can take in a day, but each choice needs to be carefully weighed.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (January 24-26)
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There are an overwhelming number of upcoming video games in February that will be competing for your time between the heavy hitters of Civilization 7, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Like a Dragon: Yakuza Pirate in Hawaii just to name a few. Before the deluge of games hits, Xbox Game Pass has a suite of games coming out to hold you over. Rather than give you a ton of giant experiences that you won't be able to finish before February's games hit, we've found a nice selection of games that you can easily finish before the month is up. While not especially long, these games all offer something special and shouldn't be missed. If you need something to play this weekend, you can't go wrong with any of these picks.

And don't forget that Xbox Game Pass just got a surprising new game on Thursday: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. We'll be digging into that this weekend ourselves to let you know if it's worth your attention.
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Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess - Launch Trailer

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Flock — January 22

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Karl Fairburne in Sniper Elite 5.

We're at the tail end of a particularly long gap between new PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra game catalog drops. As such, I don't have new games coming to the service to recommend. Instead, I want to spotlight the games you should check out to prepare for some of the first high-profile releases of the year. New games in the Dynasty Warriors, Sniper Elite, and Monster Hunter series will be launching over the next couple of months, and prior entries in each of those franchises are available as part of Sony's gaming subscription service. That's why PS Plus subscribers who are looking forward to these games should use this weekend to play catch-up (if you aren't already checking out Dynasty Warriors: Origins).
Sniper Elite 5
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Sniper Elite: Resistance launches on January 30 and serves as a spinoff of Sniper Elite 5. It follows a Special Operations Executive agent helping the French Resistance fight off the encroaching Nazi threat. While it's meant to be standalone, some of the narrative context might not make sense unless you've played Sniper Elite 5. Thankfully, that game is part of the PS Plus game catalog and it's a substantially entertaining game in its own right. There are few things more satisfying in gaming than this series' slow-mo sniper kills. Sniper Elite 5, in particular, excels in making each level feel like a large sandbox with lots of options for completing objectives.

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