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We haven't had much to say about the lowest-priced Xbox Game Pass "Essential" tier since back in May when nine games were added to it in a surprise update, but now another five have also quietly joined in recent days.
Four of the new additions started appearing as part of Xbox Game Pass Essential on July 1st, with those being Costume Quest 2 and all three games in the Shadowrun Trilogy - Returns, Dragonfall and Hong Kong.
And, going back a little further, Full Throttle Remastered was added to the tier in the middle of June, marking five games that have joined Xbox Game Pass Essential over the past few weeks without any kind of announcement at all.
- Full Throttle Remastered
- Costume Quest 2
- Shadowrun: Returns
- Shadowrun: Dragonfall
- Shadowrun: Hong Kong
As for whether any of these are worth a play? Well, Full Throttle Remastered is a point-and-click classic from Double Fine, while Costume Quest 2 is a charming turn-based RPG that's arguably better than some people give it credit for.
The Shadowrun games could be described as "dated" in some ways, but remain a trio of fantastic tactical RPGs that we had great things to say about in our Shadowrun Trilogy review a few years ago:
"Shadowrun Trilogy is an excellent trio of tactical RPG titles that serve up wonderfully atmospheric worlds, well-written stories and entertaining turn-based combat to boot. With surprisingly breezy core mechanics and fairly short running times for all three entries it's a perfect series for newcomers to the genre and tactical RPG veterans alike, and another fantastic addition to Xbox Game Pass that we highly recommend you check out ASAP."
Why isn't Xbox making a song and dance about adding new games to its Xbox Game Pass Essential tier? We have no idea... but we'll keep monitoring for more additions in the weeks and months to come, just in case we get any others.