Xbox Game Pass Is Losing Clair Obscur and 7 More Games on October 15

Xbox Game Pass is set to lose a significant batch of games on October 15, 2026, and this is one of those departure waves worth paying attention to rather than scrolling past.

The biggest name is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but it is far from the only substantial game on the way out. A Plague Tale: Requiem, Pacific Drive, Evil West, The Casting of Frank Stone, Crime Scene Cleaner and Donut County are also among the confirmed departures, while Nova Roma is leaving on PC.

If any of these are sitting in your backlog, the important date is October 15.

Xbox Game Pass games leaving on October 15

The currently confirmed departures are:

• A Plague Tale: Requiem — Console, PC and Cloud
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — Xbox Series X|S, PC and Cloud
• Crime Scene Cleaner — Console, PC and Cloud
• Donut County — Console, PC and Cloud
• Evil West — Console, PC and Cloud
• Pacific Drive — Console, PC and Cloud
• The Casting of Frank Stone — Console, PC and Cloud
• Nova Roma — PC

Some departure round-ups are also counting Superball, bringing the headline total to nine. The distinction is that Superball is a free-to-play title associated with Game Pass benefits rather than a conventional paid game simply disappearing from the main subscription catalogue, so we would treat the eight games above as the more useful core leaving-soon list for most Xbox players.

Microsoft's Game Pass library can change by region and tier, so it is always worth checking the Leaving Soon section in the Xbox app before starting something specifically because of a departure deadline.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the standout loss

The obvious headline here is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Sandfall Interactive's RPG arrived on Xbox Series X|S and PC in April 2025 and launched directly into Game Pass. It combines turn-based battles with real-time dodges, parries and counters, wrapped in a surreal fantasy world influenced by Belle Époque France.

The official Xbox listing for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 confirms Xbox Series X|S optimisation, Xbox Play Anywhere, cloud support and PC availability.

This is not necessarily the game to start on October 13 and expect to finish before it disappears.

Completion estimates vary considerably depending on how deeply you explore the game, but a full playthrough is substantially longer than most of the other titles leaving in this wave. Players who already have an active save should therefore make this the first title they check.

The good news is that leaving Game Pass does not remove your save data. If you decide to buy the game later using the same Xbox account, your existing Xbox cloud save should remain available.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is another major departure

A Plague Tale: Requiem is another sizeable game worth highlighting.

Asobo Studio's sequel follows Amicia and Hugo after the events of A Plague Tale: Innocence, combining stealth, environmental puzzles and increasingly large-scale encounters in a story-driven action adventure.

Compared with Clair Obscur, Requiem is more realistic to finish before October 15 if you are starting now and have enough gaming time available.

It is still a full narrative game rather than something to rush through in a single evening, so anyone midway through the campaign has a good reason to return to it over the next couple of weeks.

Pacific Drive needs more time than its structure first suggests

Pacific Drive is one of the more unusual games in the group.

Its combination of driving, survival systems, scavenging and vehicle upgrades means progress is tied to repeated trips into its hazardous exclusion zone. The station wagon is effectively both your transport and one of the game's central progression systems.

Because of that structure, Pacific Drive is not simply a linear campaign where you can estimate the remaining time from the chapter number.

If you have already started it, now is a good moment to decide whether you want to push through the main progression before October 15 or simply buy it later and continue at your own pace.

Evil West is a strong candidate to finish before it leaves

For players looking for something more straightforward, Evil West may be one of the better options in this departure wave.

Flying Wild Hog's action game mixes firearms with brutal close-range combat in an exaggerated supernatural version of the American frontier.

It is much more focused than a large RPG such as Clair Obscur, making it a more realistic prospect for players who want to complete a full game before the deadline.

There is still plenty to do for achievement hunters and higher-difficulty players, but a normal campaign run is a far less intimidating commitment.

The Casting of Frank Stone is built for horror fans

The Casting of Frank Stone combines Supermassive Games' cinematic horror formula with the universe of Dead by Daylight.

Expect branching choices, character relationships and decisions capable of altering who survives and how the story develops.

That structure means there is an important distinction between simply finishing the story and seeing everything the game has to offer. One run before October 15 is realistic for many players, while achievement completion or exploring alternative outcomes requires considerably more investment.

For anyone who has been saving it for October because of the Halloween season, its Game Pass departure makes the timing a little awkward: it leaves halfway through the month.

Crime Scene Cleaner is easy to overlook

Crime Scene Cleaner is one of the quieter departures, but its premise has earned it plenty of attention.

Rather than investigating crime scenes, your job is to clean up the evidence left behind. The result is part simulation game, part environmental puzzle, with players methodically restoring locations while managing tools and disposing of incriminating material.

It is also a more manageable game to sample before October 15 than some of the huge titles in the list.

If you have never played it, downloading it for an evening should be enough to work out whether it is something you want to complete before the deadline.

Donut County is the easiest recommendation for a short play

If your gaming time is limited, Donut County is probably the least intimidating departure.

The puzzle game revolves around controlling a hole in the ground that grows as objects fall into it. What starts with small items quickly escalates into increasingly ridiculous environmental puzzles.

It is short, accessible and very different from the larger action games leaving this month.

For someone browsing the Leaving Soon section wondering what can realistically be completed without turning the next two weeks into a schedule, Donut County is an obvious place to start.

Nova Roma is leaving PC Game Pass

Nova Roma is the odd one out because its departure applies to the PC side of Game Pass.

Players who primarily use an Xbox console therefore do not need to treat it as part of their console backlog, but PC Game Pass subscribers should check their progress before October 15.

This is also why some lists of October departures can appear slightly different depending on whether they are counting console, PC, cloud and Game Pass-related perks together.

Which games should you prioritise?

There is no single answer because the best choice depends heavily on whether you have already started any of them.

A practical way to look at the list is:

Already started Clair Obscur? Prioritise it now. It is the longest major game in the group and the hardest one to cram into the final couple of days.

Want a full campaign you can realistically finish? Evil West or A Plague Tale: Requiem are more manageable choices than beginning a huge RPG from scratch.

Want something short? Donut County is the obvious candidate.

Want horror in October? The Casting of Frank Stone fits the month perfectly, but remember that it leaves on October 15 rather than sticking around through Halloween.

Curious rather than committed? Try Crime Scene Cleaner while it is still included. A Game Pass departure is a good excuse to finally test something that has been sitting in the backlog.

What happens to your save when a game leaves Game Pass?

A game leaving Game Pass does not normally delete the save associated with your Xbox account.

If you later buy the game digitally — or access it again through Game Pass if it returns — your compatible cloud save can generally be used to continue where you stopped.

What changes on October 15 is your subscription entitlement to launch the departing game.

That distinction matters if you are halfway through something long. You do not necessarily need to rush through dozens of hours simply to protect your progress.

Can you buy departing Game Pass games at a discount?

Microsoft commonly offers Game Pass subscribers discounts on games included in the service, and current departure reporting indicates that these titles have discounts available before they leave.

However, prices and discounts can vary by title, edition, region and subscription tier, so check the live Xbox Store listing before deciding whether to buy.

For example, the UK Xbox Store currently lists Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on Xbox separately from its subscription availability.

If you are halfway through a 40-hour-plus game, buying it at a subscriber discount can make more sense than forcing yourself to finish it against a deadline.

October is still a big month for Game Pass

These removals come during a busy period for Xbox's subscription service.

Gears of War: E-Day has arrived as one of the major October releases, so the library is changing in both directions rather than simply shrinking.

That is the nature of Game Pass: third-party games rotate in and out, while new releases and additions continually reshape the catalogue.

For subscribers, the useful habit is to check the Leaving Soon section at least a couple of times per month. A two-week warning is enough for something like Donut County, but it can feel very short when the departing game is a substantial RPG.

The bottom line

The October 15 Game Pass departures are unusually notable, primarily because Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is among them.

If you already have a save in Clair Obscur, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Pacific Drive or another longer game on the list, check how much you have left before deciding whether to make a final push.

If you have not started anything yet, do not assume you need to race through the largest game just because it is leaving. There are several shorter titles here that are much more realistic to experience before the deadline.

The confirmed core departures on October 15 are A Plague Tale: Requiem, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Crime Scene Cleaner, Donut County, Evil West, Pacific Drive, The Casting of Frank Stone and Nova Roma on PC.