Xbox Game Pass Closes Out December 2021 With A Very Big Thursday

After a big year for the Xbox brand, we've arrived at the final update of 2021 for Xbox Game Pass. The subscription service is getting a bunch of games to close out December and the year as a whole. While there may not be any major games on the same level as Halo Infinite – which was added earlier this month – or November's star Forza Horizon 5, there are still some titles joining the roster that are worth checking out. Just as well, ten more games are getting Xbox Touch Controls before the end of the year.

Microsoft is wasting little time in rolling out these new titles, as they begin landing tomorrow, December 15th, with the addition of Among Us to Xbox Cloud Gaming. Of course, Among Us is already available through the console and PC versions of Xbox Game Pass, so with this addition, Microsoft is tying up loose ends associated with one of the most popular party games to come out of the pandemic.

While the 15th is a quiet day for Xbox Game Pass, the 16th most certainly is not. In fact, December 16th is when all of the rest of December's games will join the service. This Thursday, we'll see Ben 10: Power Trip, Broken Age, Firewatch, The Gunk, Lake, Mortal Kombat 11, PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay, Race With Ryan, Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, and Transformers: Battlegrounds all added to Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft says that and every one of those games will be joining the console, cloud, and PC iterations of Game Pass, so you'll be able to play all of them regardless of the subscription you have. It's worth noting, too, that The Gunk is a day-one release for Xbox Game Pass, while the latter half of December will also be adding a few games for kids between the Ben 10, PAW Patrol, and Ryan's World titles.

In addition to these new arrivals, Microsoft has also confirmed that 10 more games will be getting Xbox Touch Controls. These games are available through Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The games set to receive touch controls are Astria Ascending, Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, Dicey Dungeons, Fae Tactics, I Am Fish, One Step From Eden, Ring of Pain, Sable, and The Gunk (after it's added on December 16th).

Credit: Xbox/Microsoft

Xbox Touch Controls are fairly self-explanatory in that they allow you to play games through Xbox Cloud Gaming with touchscreen controls rather than connecting a wireless controller to your smartphone. There are a lot of games that support Xbox Touch Controls these days, and that list seems to grow with each Xbox Game Pass update.

Finally, we come to the departures lined up for December, and Yakuza fans will definitely want to take note of them. On December 31st, Pro Evolution Soccer 2021 (cloud and console), The Little Acre (cloud and console), Yakuza 0 (cloud, console, and PC), Yakuza Kiwami 1 (cloud, console, and PC), and Yakuza Kiwami 2 (cloud, console, and PC) are all leaving the service, so you've got a little over two weeks to finish them up before they vanish.