If you’re not too busy taking off for the skies in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 today, may we interrupt your flight with these games? We have a selection of day one games, game benefits, indies, and more. What can we get started for you (aka: what will you put in your download queue first)?

Available Today

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 19
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

Available on day one! From Xbox Game Studios and Asobo Studios, pursue your aviation career with dynamically generated missions, compete against other pilots, and explore the most detailed digital twin of the world to date. Set out on your global adventure with our largest fleet of aircraft as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes simulation to new heights of authenticity and realism.

Coming Soon

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 20
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

Available on day one! Discover the vast Chornobyl Exclusion Zone full of dangerous enemies, deadly anomalies, and powerful artifacts. Unveil your own epic story as you make your way to the Heart of Chornobyl. Choose your paths wisely, as they will determine your fate and shape the future of humankind in the end.

Little Kitty, Big City (Console) – November 20
Now with Game Pass Standard

Available with Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and now coming to Game Pass Standard members. In this open-world playground, you’re a curious little kitty with a big personality on an adventure to find your way back home. Explore the city, make new friends with stray animals, wear delightful hats, and leave more than a little chaos in your wake. After all, isn’t that what cats do best?

PlateUp! (Console) – November 20
Now with Game Pass Standard

Coming soon to Game Pass Standard, PlateUp! brings classic cooking action with permanent rogue-lite progression. Cook and serve your dishes, design and decorate your restaurants, and expand your culinary kingdom with unlocks, abilities and dishes in procedurally generated layouts. Take on the challenge solo or hire up to 3 friends.

Nine Sols (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 26
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

Nine Sols is a lore-rich, hand-drawn 2D action-platformer with Sekiro-inspired, deflection-based combat. Embark on a journey through an Asia-inspired fantasy world, explore a land once ruled by an ancient alien race, and follow a vengeful hero on a quest to slay the 9 Sols—the powerful rulers of this forsaken realm.

Aliens: Dark Descent (Cloud, Console, and PC) – November 27
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard

In Aliens: Dark Descent, command a squad of hardened Colonial Marines to stop a terrifying Xenomorph outbreak on Moon Lethe. Lead your soldiers in real-time combat against iconic Xenomorphs, rogue operatives from the insatiable Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and a host of horrifying creatures new to the Alien franchise.

Genshin Impact Benefits Coming to Game Pass Ultimate on November 20

Go on an adventure in the fantasy world of Teyvat in this free-to-play open-world adventure RPG on Xbox Series X|S. Game Pass Ultimate members will receive recurring rewards via their in-game mailbox, starting off with 2 Intertwined Fate, 1 Northlander Billet Trove, 10 Hero’s Wit, 100,000 Mora, and 15 Mystic Enhancement Ore in-game to celebrate the release on November 20!

In Case You Missed It

Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available now
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard

The original roast master is now on Game Pass! Same sick burns, same smoldering attitude, now all scaled up in stunning HD! Rekindle the fire with the original three games, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, all in fully-remastered glory.

DLC / Game Updates

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone Season 01 – Available now

Ready to wreak havoc? The Black Ops 6 era is here with Season 01. Prepare for a vast new season of content with six Multiplayer maps including a festive Nuketown variant, seven new weapons, a brand-new Zombies map, and full Call of Duty: Warzoneintegration alongside the debut of Area 99 in the new Resurgence map.

New League of Legends Champion: Ambessa, the Matriarch of War – Available now

From Arcane to the Rift, Ambessa is ready to dominate all in her path. Unlock League of Legends’ newest top laner instantly with Xbox Game Pass.

Celebrate Arcane Season 2 in Valorant – Available until December 5

Celebrate the release of Arcane’s second season on Netflix by putting on Vi’s Atlas Gauntlets or causing some chaos with Jinx’s Fishbones-themed Vandal skin.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks

The Elder Scrolls Online: 10-Year Anniversary Pack #4 – Available Now
Celebrate 10 years of ESO with the 10-Year Anniversary Pack #4! This bundle includes 2 Grand Gold Coast Experience Scrolls, 1 Major Instant All Research Scroll, and 500 Seals of Endeavor. Claim your Perk today!

Sea of Thieves: Festive Fighter Pack – Available Now
For a limited time, claim the Festive Fighter Pack! Along with four weapons (blunderbuss, cutlass, pistol and Eye of Reach) themed around the Festival of Giving, you’ll also receive the Humble Gift and Mistletoe Emotes to express your holiday spirit.

Leaving November 30

Don’t let the following games leave without a proper farewell! Don’t forget to use your membership discount to save 20% on your purchase to keep them in your library.

• Conan Exiles (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Coral Island (PC)
• Hello Neighbor 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Remnant: From The Ashes (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Rollerdrome (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Soccer Story (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Spirit of the North (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Walking Dead: The Final Season (PC)
• While the Iron’s Hot (Cloud, Console, and PC)

As always, keep an eye on Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Xbox for reminders when these “coming soon” announcements turn into “play today”! In the meantime, enjoy your time in the skies and we’ll be back here soon. Cheers!

Attention, virtual pilots! As you prepare to embark within the enhanced world of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 tomorrow, consider performing some pre-flight checks on your flight systems. Whether you’re exploring Aviation Careers, competing in Challenge Mode, navigating aircraft systems, flying through turbulent weather, enjoying a sunset at 35,000 feet, or photographing the 27 new biomes at ground level, having the right equipment is crucial for completing your mission.  

Our Designed for Xbox partners at Thrustmaster and Turtle Beach have crafted a range of flight simulator peripherals perfect for your aerial journeys. Developed in collaboration with real-world pilots, these expertly designed peripherals bring unparalleled precision and realism to your flight sim adventures, making every takeoff, landing, and in-flight maneuver feel as genuine as the real thing. Ensure those tray tables are stowed, and your seats are in their full upright position because the Designed for Xbox flight peripherals are ready to take your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 adventures to new heights.  

Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas One Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition 

What better way to take your first flights than with the T.Flight Hotas One Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition? It’s the immersive, complete, and precise plug-and-play equipment you need to fly all types of aircraft, which connects seamlessly to your Xbox Series X|S or PC to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. 

T.Flight Hotas One Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition is designed to support you as you enhance your virtual piloting skills. As you jump into a new aircraft or learn about your preferred flight setup, you can customize the joystick’s resistance, throttle position, and control lever to suit your preferences. Featured with a 10-bit precision joystick, throttle, a total of 14 buttons, 1 rapid trigger, 1 multi-directional hat switch with 10-bit precision, and 5 axes (including the Z axis), you’ll be transported directly into the cockpit for an immersive flying experience.   

As your virtual aviation career advances, you can also add the compatible T.Flight Rudder Pedals or even try some of the more expert level flight equipment, like the TCA Yoke Pack Boeing Edition or TCA Captain Pack X Airbus Edition.  

Thanks to plug-and-play compatibility, T.Flight Hotas One Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition is ready to fly into thrilling new adventures in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on Xbox Series X|S or PC. The T.Flight Hotas One Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition is available starting November 19, 2024, for $99.99 USD ERP.  

Visit Thrustmaster for more information.  

Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick

To navigate the skies with immersive accuracy, let the Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick be your perfect co-pilot. This high-precision control stick is packed with features designed to make your virtual flights as realistic as possible. This isn’t just a joystick; it’s your gateway to the skies, whether you’re piloting a commercial airliner or a fighter jet. 

With its pro-aim focus mode, you can adjust the main stick sensitivity to nail those tricky landings with ease. For added customization, connect it to your smartphone or tablet using the Bluetooth Companion App to tweak everything from dead zone adjustments to lighting colors. Imagine setting the color, brightness, and response of multiple RGB LED zones to match the mood of your flight! And with 27 programmable buttons, an 8-way digital POV hat, and dual throttle lever detents, you’ll have all the controls you need for every flight right at your fingertips.  

The VelocityOne Flightstick is also designed for comfort and versatility with an ambidextrous design and reversible wrist rest. Whether you’re right or left-handed, you can set it up to suit you perfectly. Plus, with Turtle Beach’s audio features, you can plug in any 3.5mm headset to enjoy functions like Superhuman Hearing and game/chat balance.  

Once you are ready to start piloting more advanced aircraft, look no further than the Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flight Universal Control System, and the compatible VelocityOne Rudder and VelocityOne Stand.  

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick is ready for departure on all of your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 journeys now for $129.99 USD ERP.  

Visit Turtle Beach for more information.  

You can visit xbox.com to see our full selection of Designed for Xbox licensed flight peripherals! We will continue to add more products to make your flights as smooth as possible. Gear up, happy flying, and may your skies always be clear! 

You know what’s fun? Time travel. It’s particularly useful when you’re making a game based on a huge franchise with 30 years of history – like, say, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. So, if you’re going to add to that rich lore, you’d better be prepared to consider three decades of worldbuilding across TV, movies, games, and comics. This is exactly what the team at Digital Eclipse took on during the making of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind.

Devoted fans know every episode, every battle, every line of dialogue. Rangers history means a lot to fans because it represents the hours of imagination and emotion they’ve invested in these characters and events that have brought them so much joy, and as such, crafting a new story worthy of that franchise and, by extension, the respect of its fans, is no small task.

Our springboard for the story of Rita’s Rewind was the 30th anniversary Netflix special, Once & Always. In the special, Robo Rita – a synthetic, 100 percent evil evolution of the franchise’s original villain, Rita Repulsa – creates a time portal and kidnaps Power Rangers from different eras.

Rather than simply retell that story, we thought up a “what if?” scenario – if you’re an evil sorceress with a time portal, wouldn’t you be tempted to go back in time and mock your earlier self for all those dumb mistakes? Imagine battling your greatest foes during their earliest, weakest days and using all your future knowledge to obliterate them in the past. It’s a dream team and a nightmare scenario at the same time. (And just to be clear, none of this is canon, so chill out and have fun.)

Our story team enjoyed digging deep into Rangers lore to come up with something that felt new, but remained aligned with everything fans know by heart. Once we decided on the core plot, we came to some realizations: If Robo Rita knows the same 30 years of history that fans know, she can start plucking enemies from other eras and dropping them where they don’t belong, which can both confuse and delight fans. The feathered Tenga Warriors, a staple of MMPR season 3, now appear early in our first episode, which takes place in season 1.

And which of Rita’s creepy champions could we borrow from other timelines in the name of interesting gameplay mechanics? Weaving elements from different periods of Power Rangers history makes every detail even more important to incorporate. It’s not something that writes itself — it can actually get kind of tricky. But like I said, it’s also fun.

We also worked hard to get the personalities of Jason, Kimberly, Billy, Trini, and Zack dialed in, and accurately reflect their characters from the early years of MMPR. For instance: Billy’s always going to use the most perplexing, erudite verbiage possible to explain science stuff to his teammates; otherwise, he wouldn’t sound like Billy. And when Kimberly doesn’t quite grasp what Billy’s talking about, Trini often steps in to put it in plainer terms. We think those types of elements make a project “feel right” as a Power Rangers adventure. Hopefully, fans who see those details will realize our dev team respects the franchise as much as they do. 

Throughout Rita’s Rewind, we’ve tried to balance Power Rangers authenticity with nostalgia, which often polishes memory into something more than it actually was. As a “what if” retelling of the first 20 or so episodes of the TV show, the story of Rita’s Rewind takes place in the mid-90s, so we wanted to make our gameplay an idealized version of the arcade games of that era, too.

In gameplay segments that recall some of arcade gaming’s greatest titles, Rita’s Rewind players will drive at high speed, fight giant monsters, blast hundreds of enemies, and punch anything that gets in their path. Brawlers are back in a big way lately, thanks to innovative development teams injecting new life into a long-abandoned genre. We’re honored to have the chance to contribute to this renaissance, and we think we’ve got a game that will feel very familiar yet ultimately fresh.

In fact, when we showed Rita’s Rewind at PAX West this year, we heard some people walk by our brand-new game and shout “Oh yeah, I remember playing that back in the day!” Uh, no, you don’t – but thank you, because that’s exactly our goal.

The current resurgence of 90’s nostalgia isn’t limited to games; bands like Oasis and Blur are back on stage, and the celebrated X-Men animated series has returned as X-Men ’97. As a result, we were thrilled when we were able to leverage the talents of three actors who worked on that series, as well as several other professionals. Here’s a quick cast rundown:

• Red Ranger: A.J. LoCascio (“Gambit,” X-Men 97 and “Han Solo,” LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga)
• Yellow Ranger: Holly Chou (“Jubilee,”  X-Men 97 and “Chiki,” Blue Eye Samurai)
• Black Ranger: Isaac Robinson-Smith (“Bishop,” X-Men ’97 and “CO Cunningham,” Batman: Arkham Shadow)
• Pink Ranger: Christina Vee (“Shantae,” Shantae and “Noel Vermillion,”BlazBlue)
• Green Ranger: James Willems (“Dolph,” Camp Camp and “Rich Dad,” Psychonauts 2)
• Robo Rita: Ally Dixon (“Eep,” The Croods: Family Tree and “Nikki Narwhal,” Thelma the Unicorn)

That leaves the Blue Ranger, which is where things get personal. I’ve been a SAG/AFTRA actor for several years before joining the team at Digital Eclipse (that’s me singing in The Sims: Bustin’ Out for the original Xbox!), so I was honored to be able to perform the role of Billy. I’m proud to add my voice to a professional cast that delivers dialogue with intensity and energy, offering a perfect match to the game’s frenetic arcade action.

From super-scaler gameplay segments that feel like they came straight from a vintage arcade to a story filled with chronological impossibilities, every critical element of Rita’s Rewind revolves around time. There’s just one more critical date: December 10, 2024, which is when you’ll be able to play the game on Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. We hope you’ll enjoy spending time with Rita’s Rewind!

If you want to give a game to a friend or family member this holiday season, gifting a digital game is a great and convenient option. With the Microsoft Store on Xbox, Microsoft Store on Windows, the Xbox App on PC, or the Microsoft Store online experience, it’s never been easier to send someone a near-instantaneous gift on Xbox or PC.

To see how easy it is to gift a game on console, you can watch our tutorial video below, or read on for a step-by-step guide.

Gifting Through Console

• To send a digital game as a gift on your console just go to the Microsoft Store, find the game you’d like to gift, locate the gift wrap icon, and click on it.

• This will open the “Buy as gift” options, where you can either choose someone from your friends list or type in an email. Note: Make sure the person receiving the gift is in the same country as you.

• From here, just choose your payment option and buy as a gift.
• Your friend will receive a message both on their Xbox console and the email associated with their Xbox account. From there they only need to click on “Redeem code” and they are ready to play!
• You can also send add-ons and subscriptions as gifts, such as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate!

Gifting Through the Xbox App on PC

This is the same process as buying a gift on console – simply search for the game you want to send, then hit the “…” button and pick “Buy as Gift” in the dropdown menu. You can choose to send this to an Xbox friend, or send to an email address.

Gifting Through Web Browser

On the web your experience will be quite similar, though you will only have the email option. Visit the Microsoft Store Online, find the game, add-on, or subscription you wish to send as a gift and click on “Buy as a Gift,” in the “…” dropdown menu beside the buy button, be it on your desktop or mobile device. After you log in to your Microsoft Account, choose your payment method, and you are ready to go.

Gifting Through the Microsoft Store on Windows

On the Microsoft Store on Windows experience, you will only have the email option. Visit the Microsoft Store on Windows, find the game, add-on, or subscription you wish to send as a gift and click on “Buy as a Gift”, icon  below the buy button. After you log in to your Microsoft Account, choose your payment method, and you are ready to go.

For all the details on gifting digital games, visit our support page.

This article has been updated for 2024. The original version of the article was written by Daniel Martins.