February may be on its way out, but Xbox Game Pass is not letting the shortest month slide without some extra goodies for subscribers, adding Merge & Blade and Soul Hackers 2 to its extensive list of games. This follows the release of Atomic Heart on Xbox Game Pass, as well as other February games like Cities: Skylines and Shadow Warrior 3.
Xbox Game Pass is often considered the best value in gaming, and if anything, February proves it. While Xbox Game Pass has had an unusual spread of announcements so far this year, the fact is fans have received twelve games as part of this subscription somehow, with four Xbox Game Pass games confirmed for March 2023.
Either way, Soul Hackers 2 and Merge & Blade join the PC, Console, and Cloud versions of Xbox Game Pass today. Soul Hackers 2 is an RPG from Atlus, the beloved developer of Persona 5 and other connected franchises, and it sees players, in the shoes of Ringo and Figue, recruit people from rival groups to prevent an upcoming apocalypse. On OpenCritic, Soul Hackers 2 sits at a strong rating with a 75 Top Critic Average and 64% of critics recommending the title.
Meanwhile, Merge & Blade is a day-one release for Xbox Game Pass on consoles. It has been available on PC before, but it launches today for console users, technically making it a day-one title. Merge & Blade is a fantasy puzzle game where players face endless hordes of monsters to retake castles, by using merge mechanics with a squad, autobattler gameplay, and solving puzzles. It has just left early access on PC, so there are no reviews out for it from critics, but the Steam reviews for the game are very positive.
Xbox Game Pass Additions List: February and March 2023
- TODAY - Merge & Blade - PC, Console, and Cloud
- TODAY - Soul Hackers 2 - PC, Console, and Cloud
- March 2 - F1 22 - PC and Console
- March 3 - Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - PC, Console, and Cloud
- March 28 - MLB The Show 23 - Console and Cloud
- March - Way to the Woods - PC and Console
Of course, if neither suits Xbox Game Pass subscribers, it's not a long wait before F1 22 joins on March 22 or Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty hits Xbox Game Pass on March 3. There's still plenty of room in the month for more games to be confirmed as well. It's worth noting that Way to the Woods does not have a specific date yet, so that should be confirmed relatively soon, if not delayed.
Xbox Game Pass users get a handful of games every month.