Xbox Game Pass is losing Return to Monkey Island—one of the highest rated games — October 31st. Two other titles have already been marked as leaving on the same day, with the full list of upcoming Xbox Game Pass departures expected to be officially announced the week of October 20.
Xbox Game Pass subscription withdrawals are usually announced every few weeks along with the service's two monthly release waves. However, occasionally Microsoft reveals them ahead of time through the “Leaving Soon” section of the Xbox app's Game Pass tab. This happened on October 18th, when the app was updated to list three titles that will be leaving at the end of the month.
Return to Monkey Island Departing Soon from Xbox Game Pass
The newly revealed October 31 removals consist of Return to Monkey Island, Justinand Metal Slug Tactics. In terms of critical acclaim, the latest Monkey Island the adventure game is the biggest loser of the three, as reflected by its near-perfect 97% reviewer recommendation rate on OpenCritic. The game also has an average score of 87 on the aggregator platform based on over 100 reviews, placing it in the 98th percentile of all titles in the OpenCritic database and among the highest-rated games currently available on Xbox Game Pass.
All confirmed games leave Xbox Game Pass on October 31st
|
Game |
Added |
Avg. OpenCritic Score |
Referral rate |
How long to beat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Metal Slug Tactics |
November 2024 |
76 |
64% |
6-44 hours |
|
Return to Monkey Island |
November 2022 |
87 |
97% |
10 a.m. to 5 p.m |
|
Justin |
October 2023 |
84 |
91% |
4-8 hours |
Although Justin failed to meet the sales expectations of Don't Nod, it is not far behind Return to Monkey IslandCritical acclaim level with an average score of 84 and a 91% reviewer recommendation rate on OpenCritic, placing it in the 91st percentile of all titles on the platform. Both of these titles can be comfortably beaten before they leave Xbox Game Pass at the end of October 2025. Conversely, Metal Slug Tactics is a slightly longer experience, with crowdsourced data suggesting that a complete run of the strategy RPG can take over 40 hours.
Metal Slug Tactics was the release of Xbox Game Pass in November 2024, before joining the standard (now called Premium) tier of the service in May 2025. Historically, the “Departing Soon” section of the Xbox app's Game Pass tab hasn't always been the most accurate indicator of impending departures, with Microsoft occasionally expanding and shortening its content. The official Wave 2 elimination lineup for this month is expected to be announced around October 21st. This is also the day to get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Ninja Gaiden 4 and Bad West.
