Here are the games joining and leaving PC Game Pass in August

It looks like Death Stranding is coming to PC Game Pass.

The addition hasn't been announced officially, but the PC Game Pass account on Twitter changed its avatar to an image of a Death Stranding vista and posted a tweet that says "sometimes we just like a good landscape picture." Oh you guys.

There's some doubt in the tweet's replies as to whether the screenshot was from Death Stranding or another game, but then someone found the rock pictured in the PC Game Pass avatar and posted a screenshot of Norman Reedus pissing on it. So, yeah, I think Death Stranding is coming to PC Game Pass at some point.

A related but superfluous thought: Last year, Microsoft renamed the PC version of Game Pass, which used to be called "Xbox Game Pass for PC." The old name was bad, but now I'm wondering if this scenario was a consideration, too. Game Pass has always offered certain games on PC only, but Death Stranding is a special case: Microsoft can't offer it on the Xbox version of Game Pass because the console version was published by Sony exclusively for PlayStation consoles. (The PC version was published by 505 Games.)

Neither Sony nor Microsoft would benefit from causing confusion by putting the words "Death Stranding" next to "Xbox"—they'd both have to field questions about a non-existent Xbox version of Death Stranding. Hence the PC Game Pass name change, maybe?

I'm speculating. The console wars have gotten awfully complicated, though, eh? It used to be simple: Mario vs Sonic, Halo vs Killzone. Now the PC has become a weird central territory where the divisions between console factions are blurred. We've benefitted as PC gamers, but I'm a little nostalgic for an old-fashioned motion controller arms race.

Aside from the Death Stranding tease, Xbox recently announced the games coming to PC Game Pass this month, and the games leaving it. A highlight in the coming-soon category is Her Story creator Sam Barlow's new FMV game, Immortality. Bethesda also added some games in conjunction with QuakeCon 2022, like Quake 4, Wolfenstein 3D, and early Elder Scrolls games like Battlespire and Redguard. Some bad news is that Hades is leaving Game Pass at the end of August, along with some other well-liked games. 

Here's the full list of August PC Game Pass arrivals and departures:

Games coming to Game Pass in August

Available now

• Coffee Talk (PC, console, and cloud)
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein  
• Quake 4 
• Wolfenstein 3D  
• An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire 
• The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard 

August 23

• Midnight Fight Express (PC, console, and cloud)

August 25

• Exapunks (PC)
• Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition (PC and console)

August 30

• Commandos 3 HD Remaster (PC, console, and cloud)
• Immortals Fenyx Rising (PC, console, and cloud)
• Tinykin (PC and console)
• Immortality (PC, Xbox Series X/S, and cloud)

????

• Death Stranding (PC, not officially announced)

Games leaving Game Pass on August 31

• Elite Dangerous (Console and cloud)
• Hades (PC, console, and cloud)
• Myst (PC, console, and cloud)
• NBA 2K22 (Console and cloud)
• Signs of the Sojourner (PC, console, and cloud)
• Spiritfarer (PC, console, and cloud)
• Twelve Minutes (PC, console, and cloud)
• Two Point Hospital (PC, console, and cloud)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (PC, console, and cloud)
• World War Z (PC, console, and cloud)