New to Xbox Game Pass – December 2022 Wave 1

We may be nearing the end of the year and coming off a strong second November wave, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have another packed set of titles coming to the Xbox Game Pass service. If the three-day-one releases aren’t enough, there are still seven other games to look forward to for this first half of the month.

Three games are available right now to start the month off. First and coming to cloud, console, and PC is Eastward. Set in a collapsing society that’s migrated underground, a miner named John and a mysterious girl named Sam trek together toward the surface. Along the way, they’ll find puzzles, dangers, and weird locations filled with quirky people.

Those that played through The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and have been patiently waiting for more since it was added last month will be happy to hear that the journey can be completed with The Walking Dead: The Final Season on cloud, console, and PC. This last season is still filled with as many tough emotional beats and story-changing decisions as its predecessors.

If you need to take a breather from stories of fallen societies, Totally Reliable Delivery Service on PC can be a great palette cleanser. Get together with up to three of your friends to ensure your deliveries are made, no matter what it takes in this wacky world based on ragdoll physics.

Nearly all the remaining games are coming in as pairs. The highly received LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga might have only been released eight months ago, but anyone that missed out will be able to enjoy it on cloud, console, and PC starting on December 6th. All three film trilogies can be experienced with a friend as well in local co-op mode. You can read Alexx’s review of the Nintendo Switch version here.

The next installment in the popular stealth horror Hello Neighbor series is here with Hello Neighbor 2. This day-one release will be available on cloud, console, and PC. Featuring a much larger scope, the entire town of Raven Brooks is now explorable with plenty of secretive neighbors driven by intelligent AIs.

Another day-one release will come out on December 8th with the turn-based 16-bit JRPG Chained Echoes for cloud, console, and PC. Magical creatures and mech suits alike inhabit this fantasy world that’s being torn apart by three warring kingdoms.

Joining it is the demon-slaying and Metal vocalist-backed rhythmic shooter, Metal: Hellsinger. It’s possible you may have played this already as it was previously added back in September for PC and Xbox Series X|S. Xbox One players will soon be able to play it as well.

December 13th will see the day-one release of the first-person shooter High On Life for cloud, console, and PC. In a world where an alien cartel has taken humanity with the sole purpose of using them as drugs, it’s all up to one bounty hunter and a group of sentient weapons to make things right. If you’re a fan of Justin Roiland’s comedies such as Rick & Morty and Solar Opposites, or Squanch Games’ previous work Trover Saves the Universe, there’s good reason to check this out.

Coming that same day for console and PC is Potion Craft. This alchemy simulator gives you full control of a shop and its processes: inventing recipes, presenting potion bottles, and selling them to your customers. The sandbox-style gameplay lets you decide how to tackle every task.

Ending this wave on December 15th is Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan. Mixing adventure with puzzles and platforming, it’s up to Rainbow Billy to bring color back to the world by collecting and teaming up with over 60 unique creatures. I’ll also note that Hot Wheels Unleashed – Game of the Year Edition was initially listed as another game coming out on the 15th, but the post was updated to take it off and left with an editor’s note that they’ll provide an update on a new date later.

With ten games coming in, it’s time to see eleven games leave. The following titles will be leaving the Xbox Game Pass library on December 15th: Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Breathedge, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Firewatch, Lake, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, Neoverse, Race with Ryan, Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, and Transformers: Battlegrounds.