January is the month that, where I live, in the south of England, everyone gets serious again. All the paraphernalia of Christmas - all the merriment and cheer and colourful lighting - is cleared away in favour of sobering goals for the year ahead. It's never something that's appealed strongly to me, making goals, but I do feel the allure of wiping a slate clean and starting again. It's like a run in a roguelike game, I like to think. Time for a new me.
The annual inventory dump (until 8th of January 2026) on the Epic Games Store is less about holiday cheer and more about the cold mathematics of moving digital units. For those of us tracking the daily Mystery Games, which recently tossed out heavy-hitters like Hogwarts Legacy and Disco Elysium, the current sale is the final mathematical correction of the year. The mystery continues, but the storefront has effectively become a high-stakes clearance rack where the raw percentages finally favor the consumer.
Star-Wars-Outlaws-Speeder-ride
The AAA Market Correction
High-profile releases from the 2024 and 2025 cycles are seeing early price collapses as publishers scramble to meet end-of-year targets. We see titles like Alan Wake 2 and Dying Light 2 Stay Human – Reloaded Edition sitting at 70%, a significant drop for software that still carries a high level of technical polish. Even the much-discussed Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Mirage have hit that same 70% floor, signaling a desperate need to inflate player numbers before the next fiscal quarter begins.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage – Medieval Baghdad
Meanwhile, the latest entries in perennial franchises like EA SPORTS FC 26 and EA SPORTS Madden NFL 26 have already reached a 60% discount, proving that the annual sports cycle is a race to the bottom once the initial launch window closes. For those looking at the newest bets, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, ARC Raiders, and Borderlands 4 are holding steady at 20%, offering a minor reprieve for early adopters who missed the initial window.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human – Reloaded Edition Epic Sale Holidaz
Seeing software like Suicide Squad hit a 95% discount is a grim autopsy of a failed project, essentially offering the title for the price of a coffee. However, the real value for a cautious buyer lies in the 60-80% brackets where polished experiences like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 are sitting at price points that actually respect your bank account. Take the 20% rewards and run, but don’t expect the industry to stay this vulnerable forever.
Sony has officially launched its massive holiday sale, and it is a complete blowout. For those who skipped the release-day prices, the PlayStation Store has slashed costs on some of the biggest games of the year, alongside a mountain of older classics. Most discounts are sitting comfortably between 50% and 75%, with a few standout titles dropping as low as 85% off.
This is a deep sale that covers hundreds of titles, so whether you are looking for a massive RPG to sink your winter break into or a quick indie hit, the value here is hard to ignore.
The Big 2024 Newcomers
The most notable part of this sale is the aggressive pricing on very recent releases. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which has been praised for its immersive realism and full Czech dubbing, is already at 50% off. You can find that same 50% discount on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, making it a great time to jump into feudal Japan.
The discounts keep climbing from there. Cyberpunk 2077, which has become a masterpiece after its recent updates, is 55% off. For horror fans, Alan Wake 2 is a steal at 70% off. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly pick Hogwarts Legacy is available for a fraction of its original prices.
The sale is far from limited to these headlines. Deep discounts are also live for Astro Bot, Baldur’s Gate 3, Space Marine 2, and Star Wars Outlaws. Whether you’re hunting for a 100-hour epic or a casual co-op game, this is likely the best time to buy before the new year.
Coming to Xbox Game Pass: Star Wars Outlaws, Resident Evil Village, and More
Megan Spurr, Senior Community Lead, Xbox Game Pass
Welcome to the new year, friends! Happy to be back with more games and more fun. Let’s get to it!
Available Today
Brews & Bastards(Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Brews & Bastards is an intoxicating, twin-stick shooter, overflowing with action-packed combat, potent brews and outlandish bosses. Select from a group of inebriated heroes and descend, drink, and destroy your way through hordes of drunken demons in search of the stolen Brew Stone.
Rediscover the dark whimsical tale of Little Nightmares, now enhanced in stunning 4K and 60 FPS. Play as Six, a lone child trapped in The Maw, a massive vessel inhabited by monstrous, distorted versions of adults. Sneak, hide, and survive in a world where your childhood fears come to life.
Coming Soon
Atomfall(Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – January 7 Now with Game Pass Premium
A survival-action game inspired by real-life events, Atomfall is set five years after the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England. Explore the fictional quarantine zone, scavenge, craft, barter, fight and talk your way through a British countryside setting filled with bizarre characters, mysticism, cults, and rogue government agencies.
Lost in Random: The Eternal Die blends dynamic real-time action, tactical combat, and risk-reward dice mechanics for thrilling second-to-second battles. Unravel an original stand-alone story as Queen Aleksandra, the once great ruler of Random on a mission for vengeance and redemption.
Rematch(Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 7 Now with Game Pass Premium
Step onto the pitch in Rematch, a third-person, team-based football game where every pass, volley, and tackle matters. Designed for 5v5 online play, Rematch puts you in full control of one athlete, with no offsides, no fouls, and no downtime. Pass smart, play with purpose, and win together.
Step into the armor of a relentless Space Marine and use a combination of lethal weaponry to crush overwhelming Ork forces. Immerse yourself in an intense and brutally violent world based on the richest science fantasy ever created. Enhanced for a new generation, this edition brings quality of life and graphical improvements.
Final Fantasy– (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – January 8 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
“Earth, fire, water, wind… The light that once shone within the four Crystals was lost. Become the Warriors of Light, restore power to the Crystals and save the world.” A remodeled 2D take on the first game in the world-renowned Final Fantasy series! Enjoy the timeless story told through charming retro graphics. All the magic of the original, with improved ease of play.
Star Wars Outlaws(Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 13 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game, set between the events of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.” Explore distinct locations across the galaxy, both iconic and new. Risk it all as scoundrel Kay Vess, seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. Fight, steal, and outwit your way through the galaxy’s crime syndicates as you join the galaxy’s most wanted. If you’re willing to take the risk, the galaxy is full of opportunity.
Take the magic of friendship to new heights in a mystery adventure for one or two ponies. Playing as Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, Zipp, or Misty, use your special abilities to stop the unstable magic that’s sending Zephyr Heights out of control! And have tons of fun with hilarious minigames and countless pony customizations.
Resident Evil Village(Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 20 Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
Resident Evil Village is the eighth main entry in the Resident Evil series. Set years after Resident Evil 7 biohazard, players follow Ethan Winters into a haunting European village, fighting for survival against brutal enemies as danger and mystery lurk around every corner.
MIO: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – January 20 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! A hand-crafted metroidvania set within a vast, decaying world reclaimed by nature and robots. Play as Mio, a nimble android exploring labyrinthine environments, battling rogue machines, and uncovering lost memories in a richly atmospheric adventure filled with secrets and danger.
Leaving January 15
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon. Jump back in to tie up any loose ends, or save up to 20% off your purchase to keep the fun going!
Flintlock The Siege of Dawn (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series X|S)
Neon White (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
Road 96 (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
The Ascent (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
The Grinch Christmas Adventures (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC)
I hope your last year treated you well with lots of high scores, achievements unlocked, and GGs. We’ll be back soon with even more games so keep it tuned here, or with us on social for Xbox and Xbox Game Pass. Talk soon!
Note: Games with a ‘Handheld’ designation represent those that are optimized for handheld play.
It appears the internet is once again going down with no applause whatsoever. For the third time in about a month, global services are suffering outages, slowdowns, and general connectivity issues, including popular live-service games.
What couldn't have been said of the early 2000s, when everything you owned you could play offline, is now a grim reality. As per Downdetector, nearly every popular gaming and gaming-related service is suffering significant outages, slowdowns, and problems with connection, including games like ARC Raiders, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Palworld, but also Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Whereas the last major outage was caused by Cloudflare going down, and a previous one by massive AI-backed DDOS attacks, there does not seem to be a clear cause this time around.
I've even noticed that platforms like Reddit, WordPress, Trello, and others are loading forever, and that was after making sure it wasn't just my wi-fi being dumb.
And it's a crying shame that we live in a world where everything is always online. Sure, the games above are live service multiplayer experiences that could not be otherwise played without an internet connection, but so many other experiences that are broadly single-player are bound to be affected.
Always-online singleplayer games are our reality because publishers simply cannot let us enjoy things off the grid, and so even if a game has no online features, it still has to connect (and can, therefore, crash if stuff like this happens).
The timeline is only getting worse, but if you're among the affected, then check out some of our guides (like the one for ARC Raiders) in case the issues resolve, but you're still stuck in the dark. Literally.
Forget Red Dead Redemption; one of the earliest games to tackle a gritty Western storyline was 1997's Outlaws. That's not me saying it's a better gritty Western storyline than the one in Rockstar's beloved adventure, for the record, but it certainly started paving the way for it. Anyway, Outlaws was something of a cult hit - ambitious and featuring some gorgeous cartoon cutscenes, it was sadly drowned out by some of the best FPS games of its time. The likes of Doom 2, Quake, Hexen, Half-Life, and the original Turok all buried it in what was a highly competitive era. However, 28 years on, Outlaws is back, with a remaster that shines new light on its Wild West gunslinging. The studio behind this revival? You already know it's Nightdive.
