The Medium, Outer Wilds, Yakuza, and more join Xbox Game Pass in January

Xbox Game Pass January 2021
Xbox Game Pass January 2021 (Image credit: Xbox)

What you need to know

  • Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft's gaming subscription that bundles in dozens of high quality games under one monthly cost.
  • Games come and go from Xbox Game Pass every month, and Microsoft reveals the newcomers and departees every few weeks.
  • The second half of January picks things back up a little bit after a slow start in the new year.
  • The arrivals to Xbox Game Pass in the second half of January include gems like the Medium, Outer Wilds, Yakuza 3, 4, and 5, and more.

We're already over halfway through the first month of 2021, and it's time for Microsoft to update its Xbox Game Pass games offering with a list of all the games coming and going from Xbox Game Pass in January. Things are picking up in the second half of the month, with some truly great games (and one highly anticipated title) coming to players on Xbox, PC, and Xbox Game Streaming (Project xCloud), including the powerful Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

If you're interested in what's already available on Xbox Game Pass, you can check out our list of Best Games on Xbox Game Pass. Make sure you have plenty of space for all these fantastic games, too, with one of the Best SSDs for Xbox Series X|S.

Coming soon

You can check out all the titles coming soon to Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud gaming below:

Control (PC) - January 21

After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the Director struggling to regain control. This third-person, action-adventure game will challenge you to master a combination of supernatural abilities that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Desperados III (Cloud, Xbox, & PC) - January 21

Desperados III is the long-awaited prequel to Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive. A story-driven, tactical stealth game featuring a colorful cast of characters that epitomize the Wild West, Desperados III takes players on an adventure through rural towns, swamps, and riverbanks, to their ultimate, gun-slinging showdown!

Donut County (Cloud, Xbox, & PC) - January 21

Donut County is a story-based, physics puzzle game where you play as an ever-growing hole in the ground. Meet cute characters, steal their trash, and throw them in a hole.

Outer Wilds (Cloud) - January 21

Explore for the sake of your curiosity with a hand-crafted solar system filled with secrets to discover and perils to avoid while exploring space. Players are given a variety of tools to aid in their space-backpacking adventure: their very own spaceship and jetpack, a surveyor probe for scouting and taking pictures, and a signal scope to track down audio signals as well as view landmarks from afar.

Cyber Shadow (Cloud, Xbox, & PC) - January 26

The world has been taken over by synthetic lifeforms. A desperate plea for help sets Shadow on a journey to uncover what started the path to perpetual ruin. Slash through the techno hordes, leap past traps, and nimbly navigate the ruins of Mekacity. Only you can unlock the secrets to your clan's ancient powers in Cyber Shadow, the quintessential Ninja Action game.

The Medium (Xbox Series X|S & PC) - January 28

Available with Xbox Game Pass on day one! Discover a dark mystery only a medium can solve. Travel to an abandoned hotel resort and use your unique psychic abilities to uncover its deeply disturbing secrets, solve dual-reality puzzles, survive encounters with sinister spirits, and explore two realities at the same time.

Yakuza 3 Remastered (Cloud, Xbox, & PC) - January 28

In a quest to abandon their bloody past, Kazuma Kiryu and adoptive daughter Haruka Sawamura leave the unforgiving streets of Kamurocho for the island of Okinawa to run the Morning Glory Orphanage. Despite his efforts, trouble shadows Kiryu and the oorphanage is soon entangled in a deadly power struggle. Can Kiryu rescue the children's home and escape his past for good?

Yakuza 4 Remastered (Cloud, Xbox, & PC) - January 28

A murder in Tojo Clan territory soon sets off an investigation by a small Tojo branch consisting of Kazuma Kiryu, Masayoshi Tanimura, Shun Akiyama, and Taiga Saejima. Follow the four playable protagonists as they unravel a hidden battle over money, power, status, and honor and a mysterious woman at the center of it all. With underground forces readily willing to kill to protect their secrets, the search seems to lead to more questions than answers.

Yakuza 5 Remastered (Cloud, Xbox, & PC) - January 28

Kazuma Kiryu's newfound calm as an unassuming cab driver comes to a sudden end as the standing peace between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance disintegrates. Forced to reckon with his past once more, the Dragon of Dojima returns to the criminal underworld to protect those he holds dear. With five playable protagonists across five major cities, follow Kiryu and his allies in their quest to navigate the corrupt underbelly and prevent an all-out turf war..

Leaving soon

You can check out all the titles leaving soon from Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming below:

January 29

  • Death Squared (Xbox)
  • Death's Gambit (PC)
  • Final Fantasy XV (Xbox & PC)
  • Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour (Xbox & PC)
  • Gris (PC)
  • Indivisible (Xbox & PC)
  • Reigns: Game of Thrones (PC)
  • Sea Salt (Xbox & PC)

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Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.