Xbox Game Pass August wave 2: Resonance: A Plague Tale is the only AAA — but only for Ultimate subscribers

By: Anton Kratiuk | today, 17:46

If you're on Xbox Game Pass Essential, the biggest game of August will cost you $59.99 at launch — or nothing, if you pay for Ultimate. Microsoft has confirmed the second wave of August Game Pass additions, and the headliner is Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, hitting Xbox Series X|S, PC, and ROG Xbox Ally on August 27 exclusively via Ultimate and PC Game Pass tiers on day one. Essential subscribers ($9.99/month) and console Premium subscribers are locked out at launch, per Xbox Wire (official).

The game

Resonance is a prequel set 15 years before A Plague Tale: Requiem (2022), developed by Asobo Studio and published by Focus Entertainment. It follows a young smuggler named Sophia, and unlike the stealth-puzzle-heavy tone of earlier entries, the new game leans into action combat. The game went gold on July 3, 2026, and is also available on PS5 as a standard purchase — $59.99 on consoles, $49.99 on PC via Steam. A preorder Heritage Pack DLC (Minoan Sword, Alec's Pendant, and a digital artbook) is included for early buyers.

This is the third consecutive Plague Tale title to launch day one on Game Pass. As TechTimes notes, August 2026 is the first month Game Pass Ultimate has to justify its $22.99/month price over the $9.99 Essential tier without Call of Duty as a draw. Resonance is doing the heavy lifting alone.

The rest of the wave

The remaining additions are mostly tier migrations — existing Game Pass games moving from Standard up to Premium. New releases alongside Resonance include a preview build of Vapor World: Over the Mind (available August 19 on Ultimate and PC Game Pass) and Blood Dungeon (August 25) and Shelldiver (September 1).

Five games leave August 31

Five titles exit the library on August 31: Another Crab's Treasure, I Am Your Beast, Neon Abyss, One Lonely Outpost, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered Edition (Xbox). NBA 2K26 follows on September 6. If any of those are on your backlog, the clock is ticking.