Xbox Game Pass is closing out July 2026 strong. Microsoft confirmed the Wave 2 lineup on July 21, and it’s headlined by one of the most significant Xbox releases in years: Halo: Campaign Evolved arrives day one on Game Pass on July 28, the same day it launches on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. That’s a ground-up Unreal Engine 5 remake of Halo: Combat Evolved going straight into the subscription library at no extra cost — which tells you exactly where Microsoft’s current strategy is pointing.
Beyond Halo, the wave also brings a critically praised 2025 action-adventure, a viral co-op horror game that’s been delayed twice, a dark fantasy extraction RPG, and a PC-only pirate city builder. Seven games in total, five of them landing before the month ends. Here’s the full breakdown.
Full Xbox Game Pass July 2026 Wave 2 Schedule
- July 21 — The Planet Crafter (Ultimate, Premium, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one Series X|S release
- July 22 — Shift at Midnight (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- July 23 — Hell Is Us (Ultimate, Premium, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC)
- July 28 — Halo: Campaign Evolved (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Console, Handheld, PC) — Day-one release
- July 30 — Mistfall Hunter (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- July 31 — Corsair Cove (Ultimate, PC | PC only)
Halo: Campaign Evolved — The Headliner
This is the big one. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a ground-up Unreal Engine 5 remake of Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign, built by Halo Studios in collaboration with Abstraction (part of Virtuos). It launches July 28 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC simultaneously — making it the first mainline Halo campaign ever to release on a PlayStation platform. It lands on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on day one.
This isn’t just the original ten missions with better lighting. The remake adds three brand-new prequel missions under the banner Operation: METEORITE, following the Master Chief and Sergeant Avery Johnson in a story arc set before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. The new missions introduce new environments, enemies, and story details that haven’t appeared in any prior Halo release. The original ten missions have also been rebuilt with enhanced level design and improved wayfinding — “The Library” in particular has been reworked significantly, given that it’s historically the mission fans skip as fast as possible.
Beyond the new content, the remake introduces four-player online co-op with full crossplay and cross-progression across Xbox, PC, and PS5, plus two-player split-screen co-op on consoles. The original Halo: Combat Evolved supported two-player split-screen but no online co-op at all — so this is the first time the original campaign can be played with a full squad. The expanded arsenal adds nine new weapons, new enemy types, and more gameplay-modifying Skulls than any previous Halo release.
Pricing is deliberately accessible for a first-party Microsoft title: Standard Edition at $49.99, Premium Edition at $69.99 with five days of early access starting July 23 plus cosmetic packs and a digital artbook, and a Collector’s Edition at $199.99. The early access window means Premium Edition buyers and Game Pass subscribers who choose to pay for early entry can play from July 23 — five days before the July 28 general launch.
Hell Is Us — July 23
Hell Is Us is a 2025 action-adventure from Rogue Factor that launched to strong critical and community reception on PC, and is now coming to Xbox Game Pass across Ultimate, Premium, and PC tiers on July 23. The game follows Remy, a man searching for his missing parents in Hadea — a nation simultaneously torn apart by civil war and cursed by a supernatural calamity that’s turned the landscape into something more nightmare than country.
The game’s defining design choice is its deliberate refusal to hold your hand. There are no quest markers. No waypoints. No minimap icons telling you where to go. You explore, observe, and piece together what’s happening through the environment and the characters you meet. It’s a game that trusts you to engage with the world rather than follow a GPS. The melee combat is brutal and physical, requiring timing and commitment rather than button mashing, and the mystery at the heart of Hadea unfolds through genuine exploration rather than cutscene delivery.
For Game Pass subscribers who missed it on PC last year, this is a straightforward pickup. Hell Is Us was one of the better-received single-player action-adventures of 2025 and it’s coming in at no additional cost.
Shift at Midnight — July 22
Shift at Midnight is a co-op detective horror game for up to three players that’s been through a rough road to launch. Originally announced as coming to Xbox Game Pass on May 29, it was delayed for last-minute polish — not the first time the game had moved its release date in 2026. Publisher Kwalee acknowledged the situation bluntly in a June 9 Steam update: “Look guys, we ****** it alright, but it’ll be OK.” The message confirmed the delay would ensure the game arrives in its best possible state.
The gameplay loop puts players in randomly generated shifts where you investigate customers at what appears to be a normal establishment. Some of them are not what they seem. Successfully identify the threat through deduction and you survive the shift. Make a mistake and the game shifts into survival mode — boarding up the location, setting traps, and hiding from whatever you failed to identify before it finds you. The three-player co-op and random generation are designed for replayability, with each shift playing differently enough to keep the tension fresh.
Mistfall Hunter — July 30
Mistfall Hunter is a dark fantasy extraction action-RPG developed by the team behind the original Mistfall tabletop game. It’s a day-one Game Pass release on July 30 across Ultimate and PC tiers. Players choose from multiple classes and combine skills, talents, and gear in a build-crafting system designed around each run into the misty frontier of the game’s world.
The extraction element means what you carry out matters. Head into a zone, fight your way through enemies, manage your build in real time, and survive long enough to extract with your haul. Death means losing what you carried in. The game supports both solo play and co-op, with the risk-reward loop scaling differently depending on how many people you bring.
Corsair Cove — July 31
Corsair Cove is the most niche addition in the wave but likely to find a dedicated audience. It’s a pirate-themed city builder launching July 31 as a PC-only Game Pass title — no cloud, no console. You build a sprawling pirate haven from scratch, manage complex production chains to keep your crew supplied and your fleet operational, raise ships to explore the seas and engage in naval combat, and take on the crown to keep the age of piracy alive. It’s in the vein of Anno or Tropico applied to a buccaneering setting, with ale, flintlock pistols, and a rowdy crew demanding constant management.
The Planet Crafter — July 21
The Planet Crafter is already live on Game Pass as of July 21, making it the first of the Wave 2 additions to arrive. It’s a sci-fi survival and terraforming game where you transform a barren alien planet into a habitable world by mining resources, building infrastructure, and managing an increasingly complex terraforming chain. The Xbox Series X|S version is a day-one launch alongside the Game Pass addition. It also lands on Ultimate, Premium, and PC tiers — one of the wave’s wider tier distributions.
Games Leaving Xbox Game Pass on July 31
The Wave 2 announcement also confirmed the final list of games departing Game Pass at the end of the month. One new title — the indie cat-and-mouse city builder Whiskerwood — was added to the departure list beyond what the Xbox app had previewed on July 19. The full list of games leaving July 31:
- Back to the Dawn
- Celeste
- Crusader Kings 3
- Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord
- Rain World
- Sniper Elite: Resistance
- Whiskerwood
Celeste and Crusader Kings 3 are the most notable departures — both are widely played catalog staples that have been on the service for significant stretches. If you haven’t finished either, July 31 is your deadline.
What’s Coming to Xbox Game Pass in August and Beyond
The Wave 2 announcement also confirmed several upcoming Game Pass additions for the months ahead. Here’s the confirmed calendar:
- August 4 — Beast of Reincarnation (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release from Game Freak (Pokemon developer)
- August 4 — Heretic + Hexen (Premium | Cloud, Console, Handheld, PC) — Expanding to Premium tier after a year on Ultimate
- August 14 — Grave Seasons (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- August 27 — Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- September 25 — Valor Mortis (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- September 29 — Minecraft Dungeons 2 (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- October 6 — Gears of War: E-Day (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- October 8 — Forever Ago (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- February 18 — Persona 4 Revival (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
- February 23 — Fable (Ultimate, PC | Cloud, Series X|S, PC) — Day-one release
Beast of Reincarnation on August 4 is the next major headline — it’s a brand-new action-RPG from Game Freak, the developer behind the mainline Pokemon series, and it’s their first game outside the Pokemon universe in years. The confirmed Fable release date of February 23, 2027 also ends years of speculation about when the long-awaited Playground Games RPG will finally launch.
TL;DR — Xbox Game Pass July 2026 Wave 2 Quick Reference
- July 21: The Planet Crafter (Ultimate, Premium, PC)
- July 22: Shift at Midnight — Day One (Ultimate, PC)
- July 23: Hell Is Us (Ultimate, Premium, PC)
- July 28: Halo: Campaign Evolved — Day One (Ultimate, PC) — UE5 remake, 3 new missions, 4-player co-op, also on PS5
- July 30: Mistfall Hunter — Day One (Ultimate, PC)
- July 31: Corsair Cove (Ultimate, PC — PC only)
- Leaving July 31: Celeste, Crusader Kings 3, Bannerlord, Sniper Elite: Resistance, Rain World, Back to the Dawn, Whiskerwood
- Next big date: August 4 — Beast of Reincarnation (Game Freak) day one
- Confirmed further out: Gears of War: E-Day (Oct 6), Fable (Feb 23, 2027)
For more on what’s happening with Xbox and Game Pass right now, check out our coverage of the Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition now bundled with Meta Horizon+ and the new Obsidian Fallout game officially confirmed by Bethesda — two of the bigger Xbox ecosystem stories this month.
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