If you’ve hung onto your Xbox Game Pass subscription after the recent changes, October has a lot of ninja action on the docket for you. Additionally, indie darling Keeper is also out today, and The Outer Worlds 2 is on the way later this month. Still, the current Game Pass lineup may not be enough for some subscribers (especially with Game Pass Ultimate being $30 a month). If that’s your case, see our guide on how to change or cancel your Game Pass subscription.
While new releases are great, we’re mostly dipping into the backlog with this week’s recommendations. They include a literally chill survival sim, a nearly decade-old anime fighter, and a popular 2025 RPG one Polygon staffer should seriously feel shame for not having finished by now.
Frostpunk 2
Fall has finally come to my neck of the woods, and the weather is getting colder. I know that both because my apartment turned the heat on, and because I made the mistake of going out with a light jacket last night. It was chilly out there! So maybe that’s why I’m thinking about Frostpunk 2 right about now. Released last fall, the strategy game has players managing a civilization in a freezing tundra. It’s your job to build a thriving city, of course, but also to keep it warm. That description makes it sound cozy, but the Frostpunk series is known for its pitch black tone that has players making impossible choices to survive. Ethics go out the window as you weigh the benefits of child labor or tossing the dead in a mass grave. That sounds like the perfect game for the approaching wave of cold weather, doesn’t it? —Giovanni Colantonio
Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2
Dragon Ball Sparking Zero may have just celebrated its first birthday, but this weekend I want to wade in the backlog waters with 2016’s Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. Like in its predecessor, you create your own custom character to take on time-traveling adventures to correct distortions throughout Dragon Ball’s history. These missions make Dragon Ball’s story feel fresh in new ways, like fighting Great Ape Nappa during the Saiyan Saga or Frieza and Cooler together on Namek. The gameplay may not be as deep as Sparking Zero or Dragon Ball FighterZ, but the novelty of having a unique character fighting alongside your Dragon Ball favorites never wears off. —Austin Manchester
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I know, I know. But I’ve gotta come clean — I still haven’t finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! I dodged and parried my way to Act 3 (through not just that twist but also that other twist), and then just… stopped playing. Don’t get me wrong, Sandfall Interactive’s debut is as stunning as it is inventive. The mix of real-time parrying with turn-based combat challenges is a test of both reflexes and tactical thinking. And the ensemble cast turns in some of the best video game acting this side of Troy Baker, all in service of a story that I did genuinely care about. But the guided structure of the first two acts gave way to a third act that was a little too freeform for my tastes, and the minute this tightly plotted game started wasting my time, I bounced. That said, Game of the Year season is coming up, and I’ve heard the ending to Expedition 33 is b-a-n-a-n-a-s. I should really see how this thing plays out. —Ari Notis
