Xbox Game Pass Losing One of Its Highest-Rated Games on October 31

Xbox Game Pass is losing Return to Monkey Island—one of its highest-rated games—on October 31. Two more titles have already been marked as leaving on the same day, with the full list of upcoming Xbox Game Pass departures being expected to be officially announced on the week of October 20.

Xbox Game Pass removals are typically announced every couple of weeks, alongside the service’s two monthly release waves. Occasionally, however, Microsoft reveals them in advance through the “Leaving Soon” section of the Xbox app’s Game Pass tab. This is what happened on October 18, when the app was refreshed to list three titles that will be leaving at the end of the month.

Return to Monkey Island Departing from Xbox Game Pass Soon

The newly revealed October 31 removals consist of Return to Monkey Island, Jusant, and Metal Slug Tactics. In terms of critical acclaim, the latest Monkey Island adventure game is the biggest loss from the trio, as reflected by its near-perfect 97% reviewer recommendation rate on OpenCritic. The game also holds an average score of 87 on the aggregator platform, based on more than 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 Xbox Game Pass Games Leaving on October 31

Although Jusant failed to meet Don’t Nod’s sales expectations, it isn’t far behind Return to Monkey Island‘s level of critical acclaim, 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 lengthier experience, with crowdsourced data indicating that a completionist run of the strategy RPG could take over 40 hours.

Metal Slug Tactics was a day-one Xbox Game Pass release in November 2024 before joining the Standard (now called Premium) tier of the service in May 2025. Historically, the “Leaving Soon” section of the Xbox app’s Game Pass tab wasn’t always the most accurate indicator of imminent departures, with Microsoft occasionally both expanding and shortening its contents. The official Wave 2 removal lineup for this month is expected to be announced on or around October 21. That’s also the day when Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is set to receive Ninja Gaiden 4 and Evil West.