New Xbox Games This Week: October 12–16 Release Calendar and Game Pass Picks

News · Updated October 12, 2026

The new Xbox games for October 12–16 are led by Planet Zoo 2, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2, The Jackbox Party Pack 12, Tales of Eternia Remastered, and several day-one Game Pass releases. Modern Warfare 4 also begins digital-preorder Campaign early access on Friday, October 16, although the full game does not launch until October 23.

Xbox’s official schedule covers Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on PC, and Game Pass, but platform support varies by game. Check the individual store page before buying—especially if you use Xbox One rather than a current-generation console.

Xbox releases for October 12–16 at a glance

Date	Notable release	Access note
October 12	Alpha Nomos, Colorbound	Both listed with Xbox Play Anywhere
October 13	Planet Zoo 2, Deep Dish Dungeon, Valor Mortis, Just Dance: Decades of Hits	Deep Dish Dungeon and Valor Mortis join Game Pass
October 14	Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea, Boltgun 2, Ratatan	Genres range from farming RPG to retro FPS and rhythm action
October 15	Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, Jackbox Party Pack 12, Bluey’s Happy Snaps, Chained Beasts	Bluey and Chained Beasts are listed for Game Pass
October 16	Beyond These Stars, Tales of Eternia Remastered, Tenebris Somnia	Beyond These Stars joins Game Pass
October 16	Modern Warfare 4 Campaign early access	Requires an eligible digital preorder or prepurchase

Release dates remain subject to change. The official Xbox Wire calendar includes individual store links and a longer selection of smaller releases.

Planet Zoo 2 builds beyond traditional habitats

Planet Zoo 2 arrives Tuesday, October 13, with Xbox Play Anywhere support listed by Xbox. Frontier’s sequel adds fully aquatic animals, customizable freshwater and saltwater aquariums, fully flying birds, aviaries, and Wildlife Reserves.

This is one of the week’s clearest current-generation releases for management players. Its appeal is not simply a larger animal roster: aquariums and aviaries expand the kinds of spaces players can build, while reserves give zoo-bred animals a more visible conservation destination.

Our Planet Zoo 2 vs. Planet Zoo comparison covers the confirmed changes, game modes, construction systems, and PC requirements. It also explains why the original remains useful for lower-spec PCs and players invested in its mature DLC library.

Game Pass gets several day-one additions

Xbox’s schedule identifies multiple new releases as Game Pass titles this week:

• Deep Dish Dungeon — October 13: an exploration-focused dungeon crawler for solo play or groups of up to three, with crafting, cooking, and camp improvement.
• Valor Mortis — October 13: a first-person action game about a resurrected soldier in a plague-altered Napoleonic Europe, built around parries, dashes, weapons, and supernatural abilities.
• Bluey’s Happy Snaps — October 15: a photo-driven adventure around Brisbane featuring Bluey and Bingo, playable alone or beside a second player.
• Chained Beasts — October 15: a gladiator roguelike for one to four players whose fighters are physically chained together.
• Beyond These Stars — October 16: a city builder in which a society develops on the back of a traveling Space Whale.

“Game Pass” does not always mean every membership tier or every device provides identical access. Check the game’s store listing and your plan before counting on console, PC, or cloud availability.

Battlefield 6 is also scheduled to enter qualifying Game Pass plans on October 13. That is an existing-game catalog addition rather than a new release, so it sits outside the weekly launch list. Our Battlefield 6 Game Pass guide explains the listed plans and PC setup.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse arrives October 15

Konami’s Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, with Xbox Play Anywhere. Its story begins in Paris in 1499 and follows Trevor Belmont and his daughter Rose as monsters emerge from a looming castle.

The Xbox listing centers the familiar Vampire Killer whip and a conspiracy surrounding the attack. The release is listed at $29.99 on the US Xbox Wire page at the time of publication, though regional pricing and discounts can differ.

Play Anywhere is valuable for players who split time between Xbox console and Windows PC, but it does not mean the game is included with Game Pass. It identifies compatible cross-device ownership and save features for a digital Xbox purchase under Microsoft’s current terms.

Boltgun 2 and Harvest Moon lead October 14

Wednesday brings two very different headline releases.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 continues directly from the retro-styled original. The confirmed description promises a branching single-player campaign, new locations, and fast first-person combat inside the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea combines farming and animal raising with a larger adventure. The setup sends the player beyond Bloomfield Village as a strange mist, wild beasts, and disasters threaten the surrounding communities. Xbox’s listing describes caves, islands, towns, exploration, crops, livestock, and home building.

Also scheduled for October 14 is Ratatan, a rhythm roguelike that mixes side-scrolling action with online co-op for as many as four players and large character-filled battles.

Jackbox Party Pack 12 is built for group nights

The Jackbox Party Pack 12 launches October 15 with five new games. One person owns and runs the game while participating players use phones as controllers, preserving the series’ low-friction party setup.

Xbox lists Smart Delivery and Xbox Play Anywhere. That combination should make it easier to use a compatible digital purchase across Xbox hardware and PC, while Smart Delivery supplies the appropriate Xbox console version.

Do not assume every person needs a separate copy. Jackbox says only the host needs to own the pack; the group joins through personal devices.

Tales of Eternia returns on October 16

Tales of Eternia Remastered is scheduled for Friday, October 16. Bandai Namco’s RPG follows Reid Hershel, Farah Oersted, and Meredy across Inferia and Celestia as the two realms face a collision called the Great Fall.

This is a remaster of an established role-playing game rather than a new numbered Tales entry. Players looking for a story-focused release may find it a quieter alternative to the week’s action games, survival horror, and simulations.

The same date brings Tenebris Somnia, a 2D retro survival-horror adventure with live-action cutscenes, puzzles, and combat, plus Beyond These Stars on Game Pass.

Modern Warfare 4 access starts—but only for the Campaign

Eligible digital Modern Warfare 4 buyers can begin Campaign early access on October 16. This is not the full launch and does not open DMZ on the same day.

• Campaign early access: October 16
• DMZ early access: October 20
• Full Modern Warfare 4 launch: October 23

Our Modern Warfare 4 DMZ early-access guide explains the eligible digital editions, supported platforms, and confirmed extraction systems. The Standard Digital Edition can qualify; the Vault Edition is not required merely to access the Campaign or DMZ early.

Smaller Xbox releases worth checking

The official calendar is unusually broad. Beyond the major names, these releases have distinctive hooks:

• Alpha Nomos — October 12: rhythm-action roguelite combat where instruments become weapons.
• Colorbound — October 12: a color-powered platformer about reuniting a family band.
• Survivor Cells — October 13: an offense-focused horde game themed around medicine, viruses, and nanotechnology.
• DESOLUS — October 15: first-person puzzles across past and future versions of a fractured Gothic city.
• Swarm Me — October 15: survival through movement, traps, hazards, and crowd manipulation.
• Tingus Goose — October 15: an intentionally bizarre idle game about growing money-producing goose trees.
• Sproutrex — October 16: a pixel-art platformer with running, jumping, gliding, and flying across 28 levels.
• Supercar Collection Simulator — October 16: a shop-management game about opening, collecting, and selling miniature car boxes.

Some Xbox Wire entries display a “Get it now” button even though the accompanying release date is later in the week. Use the dated store listing to determine whether a product is playable, available for preorder, or merely listed early.

What should you play first?

• For management: Planet Zoo 2 or Beyond These Stars.
• For Game Pass co-op: Deep Dish Dungeon or Chained Beasts.
• For action: Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, Valor Mortis, or Boltgun 2.
• For families: Bluey’s Happy Snaps or Just Dance: Decades of Hits.
• For parties: The Jackbox Party Pack 12.
• For classic RPG fans: Tales of Eternia Remastered.
• For horror: Tenebris Somnia or Creepy Tale: Snow Child.

The week has more range than one blockbuster headline suggests. Game Pass subscribers receive several lower-cost ways to experiment, while Planet Zoo 2 and Castlevania offer the most obvious new premium releases.

The bottom line

October 13 and October 15 are the busiest Xbox release days this week. Planet Zoo 2 anchors Tuesday, while Castlevania, Jackbox, Bluey, and Chained Beasts make Thursday the broadest day for different audiences.

Check the exact platform, Game Pass plan, Play Anywhere label, and release status before downloading or purchasing. Xbox Wire notes that release dates may change, and not every game on the schedule supports Xbox One, PC, cloud play, or the same subscription access.

Release dates and access labels were checked against official Xbox Wire and Xbox Store information on October 12, 2026. Prices, dates, platform support, and subscription availability can change.