Xbox Game Pass is full of surprises Following the first day of Outriders on Game Pass, Microsoft announced that another Square Enix title is coming to the subscription service: Octopath Traveler This game will be available on March 25 What is particularly interesting about Octopath Traveler is that it started as a Nintendo Switch exclusive title

The information comes from the official Xbox Wire blog, where community lead Megan Spurr cites a second Xbox Game Pass release in March (Some games have already been confirmed for release, including "Star Wars: Squadrons," "Yakuza 6: The Song of Life," and "Undertale However, "Octopath Traveler" was a surprise of sorts, especially since it has never been released on an Xbox console before

For those who have not played it, "Octopath Traveler" is a Japanese RPG by Square Enix Players take on the role of eight adventurers who pursue their own story goals and later team up to fight a greater evil The game debuted on the Nintendo Switch in 2018, but moved to PC in 2019 and to stadia in April 2020 This isn't the first time "Octopath Traveler" has been released outside of the Nintendoswitch, but it is the first time it has been released on another console (Three consoles, to be exact: playable on Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X)

Octopath Traveler has never been released on the Xbox by itself before, so its inclusion in Game Pass raises some interesting questions Will players be able to purchase the game a la carte? Will it also be available on the PlayStation system? And perhaps most importantly, between "Outriders" and "Octopath Traveler," will Microsoft and Square Enix work more closely together in the future? Square Enix games have come and gone on Xbox Game Pass in the past (especially Final Fantasy XV), but two big Game Pass announcements in a matter of days is an interesting move

In any case, if "Octopath Traveler" is not to your liking, there are 11 other games that will be available on Xbox Game Pass between now and April 1 In addition to the games listed above, these include "Empire of Sin," "Nier: Automata," "Torchlight III," "Genesis Noir," "Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire," "Supraland" and "Narita Boy (Some of these titles were already available on Xbox, but will now also be available on PC)

As you may have guessed, this means that Microsoft will be removing several Xbox Game Pass titles: on March 31, players will lose access to "Hyperdot," "Journey to the Savage Planet," and "Machinarium" Machinarium Still, with a net increase of nine titles, players can expect to find new titles to their liking