Xbox Game Pass Adds Open-World Game With 83 Critic Score

Death Stranding Director's Cut is now available on Xbox Game Pass, having launched across most of its tiers on January 21. Two more titles have also joined the subscription service earlier today, bringing the total number of January Xbox Game Pass releases to 11.

Designed by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, Death Stranding is one of the most unusual big-budget games in recent memory, offering a gameplay loop largely focused on making deliveries in a harsh post-apocalyptic wasteland. It was originally released in November 2019 as a timed PlayStation exclusive before making its way to PC the following July. While somewhat polarizing at launch, its premise resonated with many a reviewer, as underlined by the game's "Strong" rating on OpenCritic, based on a 79% recommendation rate and an 83 average score. The original edition of Death Stranding was already offered to Xbox Game Pass subscribers over a year-long period starting in August 2022, but only on PC.

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Xbox Game Pass Marks Its First Triple Release Day of 2026

Kojima's post-apocalyptic title has returned to Xbox Game Pass on January 21 in new and improved form. It is no longer limited to PC Game Pass and can instead also be played via the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Death Stranding Director's Cut has joined Xbox Game Pass alongside Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and another version of RoadCraft, marking the platform's first triple release day of 2026. RoadCraft has technically been available on Xbox Game Pass since September 2025, but only on cloud and the Series X/S consoles. Now, like an inverse Death Stranding, it has also joined the PC Game Pass content catalog.

OpenCritic Ratings of January 21 Xbox Game Pass Arrivals

• Death Stranding Director's Cut: 83 score, 79% recommendation rate
• Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound: 86 score, 93% recommended
• RoadCraft:81 score, 78% recommended

All of the January 21 arrivals have received high scores from players and critics alike. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is the highest-rated of the group, with an average score of 86 on OpenCritic. The 2025 retro action platformer is the only title among the trio to earn a "Mighty" rating from the aggregator. It ranks in the top 4% of the highest-rated games in OpenCritic’s database, which dates back to 2015. Ragebound has reached Microsoft's subscription service just two days shy of the first anniversary of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black joining Xbox Game Pass.

Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Titles with Confirmed Release Dates

At least five more titles are set to join Xbox Game Pass over the final ten days of January 2026, starting with The Talos Principle 2 on the 22nd. Additional shadow drops are possible tomorrow, as that's when Microsoft's annual Xbox Developer Direct is scheduled to take place. Looking further ahead, January 28 is planned to see a dual release, with the deck-building roguelite Drop Duchy and cyberpunk side-scrolling RPG Anno: Mutationem both arriving on the service.

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4 /10

Death Stranding

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OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 79%

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Released

November 8, 2019

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language

Developer(s)

Kojima Productions

Publisher(s)

Sony, 505 Games

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