Microsoft has announced the games coming to Xbox Game Pass in January 2024, with Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Resident Evil 2 headlining this month's offerings.
Revealed on Xbox Wire, the mysterious adventure game Close to the Sun is available today, January 3. Set in the 1890s, players must board a mysterious ship complex created by Nikola Tesla in an alternative version of history. In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "Close to the Sun is a harrowing and thoughtfully designed first-person exploration adventure that shows a twisted world in which Nikola Tesla’s ideas came to life."
Xbox Game Pass Early January 2024 Games
- Close to the Sun | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 3
- Hell Let Loose | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 4
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 9
- Figment | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 9
- Super Mega Baseball 4 | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 11
- We Happy Few | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 11
- Resident Evil 2 | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 16
- Those Who Remain | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 16
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the 2020 entry in the long running and popular franchise in which players take on the role of Eivor, a Viking raider who does as much screaming and smashing as they do sneaking and stealth. Following on from the role-playing game style gameplay of Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey, Valhalla features England as its main map but also lets players visit the likes of Norway and North America.
In our 8/10 review, IGN said: "Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a massive, beautiful open world fuelled by brutal living and the dirty work of conquerors. It's a lot buggier than it should be but also impressive on multiple levels."
Resident Evil 2 is the other heavy hitter of early January, with the 2019 game completely recreating the beloved survival horror entry for a modern audience. Players take on the role of Leon S. Kennedy as he starts his first day as a police officer in Raccoon City in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, or Claire Redfield, who goes searching for her missing brother. These intertwining storylines see both characters forced to overcome one horrifying challenge after the other.
In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Now this is how you remake a classic. Resident Evil 2 expertly reanimates the horrifying atmosphere and moments of extreme tension that made the original so revered."
Sticking to the spooky atmosphere, We Happy Few is another horror title joining Xbox Game Pass in January. It sees a group of slightly terrible people try to escape from a prescribed cheerful lifestyle, having to force their way through some horrifying citizens to do so. In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "There's a great story lurking in We Happy Few, but you'll have to escape some repetitive levels to find it."
Games Leaving Xbox Game Pass in January 2024
- Grand Theft Auto 5 | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 5
- Garden Story | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 15
- MotoGP 22 | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 15
- Persona 4 Golden | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 15
- Persona 3 Portable | Cloud, Console, and PC - January 15
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article mistakenly mentioned that Jill Valentine was a playable character in Resident Evil 2 Remake. IGN regrets the error and we have updated the article to accurately point out that Claire Redfield is one of the two playable characters.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.