Xbox Game Pass Games Leaving in August: Keflings, Sky Force, Hue and More

By Sam Quirke,
It's the middle of the month, which means it's time to start preparing our farewells to a bunch of Xbox Game Pass games. This month's list is largely made up of simpler games from a simpler time, though a few recent curios are getting booted off of the service as well. All listed games are leaving Xbox Game Pass on August 31st.

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Which games are leaving Xbox Game Pass in August?

Are the Xbox Game Pass games leaving in August worth playing?

Pretty much every game leaving this month has its fan base — it's a list filled with curious and unusual gameplay styles and interesting graphical choices. Both Alien Hominid HD and BattleBlock Theater are the work of the mad geniuses at The Behemoth, who have also made Pit People and Castle Crashers. The Keflings games were cute and passable village management games from back when putting Xbox Avatars into the action was a thing everyone wanted to do. Mark of the Wolves is an old NeoGeo fighting game from SNK that generally is held in high regard, even though it never reached the household name status of its rivals at Capcom or Koei. Hue is a lovely puzzle game with a good story and a similar vibe to Thomas Was Alone, while InnerSpace is a clunky but reasonably interesting aerial adventure in a pastel alien world. Finally, there's Sky Force Reloaded, which is a very tight and addictive shmup with tons of replayability.

What are my chances of finishing these Xbox Game Pass games before the end of August?

Chances are pretty limited, and for several 360 games you won't be getting an awful lot of gamerscore for your time regardless. Alien Hominid, both Keflings titles and Garou are all only worth 200 gamerscore for the full completion. Alien Hominid has a pretty tough 3.82 ratio for the rarest achievement, while all three other titles have Xbox Live related achievements attached to them — a bit of a challenge when the player base has dried up dramatically.

Battleblock Theater may not even be completable at this point, with its servers due to close back in 2018 and several aspects of its completion being tied to the sharing of items between players. Hue is certainly your best bet, as this casual puzzle adventure only tops out at a 1.84 ratio achievements. Besides, Noodle Jr's Hue achievement walkthrough can guide you through the game nice and quickly, likely shaving a good portion of time off the estimated 6-8 hours completion. InnerSpace might be achievable, especially if you follow Messiah Muffin's InnerSpace collectibles guide to neatly polish off its toughest achievement.

That just leaves Manual Samuel and Sky Force Reloaded. The former has a tough time trial achievement that might take more practice than players have time in the next couple of weeks, while Sky Force Reloaded is a 40+ hour grind to get a heck of a lot of collectibles as well as gradually power up to the point where the game's most difficult challenges can be faced.

Will you be storming through any of these games for the completion, or just checking them out before they leave the Xbox Game Pass subscription? Let us know in the comments, and remember, if you fancy keeping any of these games on after they leave the Pass on the 31st, make sure to buy them up now and enjoy the additional 20% discount.
Sam Quirke
Written by Sam Quirke
Sam has been a Newshound since 2016. He loves gaming on all devices and in all genres. He remains a stubborn Assassin's Creed and Pokémon fan.
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