We've got a fairly big week ahead of us in terms of Xbox Game Pass, dominated by the release of Hades on Xbox for the very first time, along with five Codemasters racers joining the EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate libraries.

In the middle of all that, though, is Art of Rally - a minimalist indie racer which might not have captured your attention so far, but holds a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam and a highly respectable '80' rating on Metacritic (for PC).

Assuming the Xbox version is as good as the PC version, then, here's what we can expect:

God Is A Geek

"We’ve been absolutely spoiled by 2020’s sky-high quality within the racing genre. Funselektor’s art of rally is easily among the best of the year’s offerings, and one that I see myself returning to again and again. Do yourself a favour and do not sleep on this game."

Eurogamer

"It's not so much about how much art of rally does but rather how it does it. It's as graceful and poised as Michèle Mouton holding a Quattro S2 at an impossible angle, and as stylish as any driving game I've played. There might be more complex takes than art of rally on the discipline out there, but none of them is as quick to get to the appeal of off-roading as this."

Polygon

"Rally driving, for me anyway, is about plowing headlong into the unknown, understanding the risk of fast driving in a way you can’t on an oval or a well-known circuit. That makes taking a square left perfectly, or drifting through the full 180 degrees of a switchback, seem even more high-five-myself awesome.

And I got exactly that in Art of Rally. If that’s the experience you want, too, Art of Rally will serve it as much as it will an escape from the present day, for a delightful joyride through a beautiful countryside."

Art of Rally will be available with Xbox Game Pass on Thursday, August 12, and will be arriving for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming on that date. You'll be able to experience the golden era of rally in Career mode, travelling across 72 stages from Finland to Sardinia, Norway, Japan, Germany and Africa.

We can't wait!

Looking forward to Art of Rally? Have you played it on PC before? Let us know down in the comments below.