Eight games leave Xbox Game Pass on July 31, including Crusader Kings III and Celeste
Xbox Game Pass subscribers are losing eight games on July 31, 2026, and this month's cuts are unusually painful. Two of the departing titles — Crusader Kings III and Celeste — rank at the 99th and 100th percentile respectively on OpenCritic, making them among the most critically acclaimed games the service has ever carried. If you haven't finished either, you have until the end of the month.
The departing games
The full list of titles leaving Game Pass on July 31:
1. My Friendly Neighborhood 2. Sniper Elite: Resistance 3. Crusader Kings III 4. Wisherwood 5. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord 6. Back to the Dawn 7. Rain World 8. Celeste
Eight games leave Xbox Game Pass on July 31, 2026.
All eight titles are available to buy at a minimum 20% discount through July 31, so if you want to keep playing after the cut-off, now is the cheapest moment to lock in a copy.
What stings most
Crusader Kings III is the headline loss. Paradox Interactive's dynasty simulator is one of the deepest strategy games available on any platform, and subscribers who have already bought DLC expansion packs — which can run to £25–40 per season pass in the UK — will now need to purchase the base game separately to keep playing with that content, per PC Gamer.
Celeste, the precision platformer about climbing a mountain, is equally beloved — a rare 100th-percentile critical score that still holds up years after release.
Also notable: Sniper Elite: Resistance joined Game Pass as a Day One title on January 30, 2025, meaning it's being removed in under 18 months. That's a relatively short shelf life for a new release, and it raises questions about how long subscribers can expect fresh AAA additions to stick around.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord's departure compounds things further — losing both it and Crusader Kings III in the same month strips Game Pass of its two strongest medieval strategy options simultaneously, notes GameRant.
What to do before July 31
Start or finish a Celeste run — it's completable in a weekend. Queue up Crusader Kings III if you've been putting it off. And check the Game Pass store for the leaving-soon discount on any title you want to keep permanently. The 20% discount is the floor; some titles may be cut deeper as part of Microsoft's concurrent summer sale.
