Celebrate Lunar New Year with these Xbox Game Pass options

We're welcoming the Lunar New Year. It's past the winter solstice, so days are getting longer, and you've got a little more sunlight to work with during your waking hours. It's tradition not to clean during the first day of the Lunar New Year, lest you sweep out your luck. That means you'll have some time on your hands for gaming. Here are six games to play while maintaining your luck for the year.

Balatro

Entering a new year, everyone has their list of most hotly anticipated games (here's ours), but Balatro is the perfect example of a Cinderella story that comes out of nowhere. A single developer tinkering around, trying to learn how to build a game, resulted in a smash hit that won Best Indie Game and was nominated for Ultimate Game of the Year in 2024's Golden Joystick Awards.

This roguelike deckbuilder tasks you with racking up absurdly high point totals by whatever means necessary, whether that's filling your hand with multiples of the same card or using special math powers conferred on you by your collection of Jokers. As we said in our review, "This is an absolute triumph." If you haven't tried it out, you owe it to yourself. No game nails "numbers go up makes brain go brrrrr" quite like Balatro.

Mortal Kombat 1

If you've picked up a controller in the last 30 years, you're probably familiar with the Mortal Kombat series. This soft reboot is the latest example of gratuitous violence and complete nonsense for fans of fighting games. It has an eight-hour cinematic story mode to catch newbies up on the latest goings-on from klassic (sorry…) characters, including Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, and personal favorite Baraka.

For folks who aren't as adept at slinging kombos (again, sorry…), the MK series is a great pick-up-and-play option. Our review agrees, saying, "Mortal Kombat remains the perfect fighting game for people who aren't very good at fighting games—with its relatively slow pace, simple inputs, and forgiving timing, even someone as clumsy-fingered as me can put together a few combos and have a good time." Don't settle for watching a "Mortal Kombat 1 - All Fatalities" compilation on YouTube. Jump into the game and get your hands dirty.

Overwatch 2

After a somewhat rocky start when it launched in 2023, the last 12 months have been kind to Blizzard's 5v5 free-to-play hero shooter. Whether you're a tank, damage, or support player, chances are they've done something to pique your interest. If you've been gone for a minute, you can expect tons of new perks, skins and an exciting new game mode in Stadium. Season 20 introduced the first melee DPS Hero, Vendetta, along with the standard array of stylish cosmetic upgrades and mechanic tweaks. With your Xbox Game Pass subscription, you can expect six Hero Skins, 30 Mythic Prisms, and a 10% XP boost to speed up your learning curve. If you need to catch up on the latest in Overwatch 2 tips and tricks, don't hesitate to check out our latest coverage.

Vampire Survivors

In the last edition of this article series, I spoke about how Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor iterated on the gameplay loop of Vampire Survivors, which is great! We love iteration, but there's a reason Vampire Survivors remains an undisputable blast. You'll dive into hordes of enemies one 30-minute run at a time, leveling up your weapons and creating unstoppable builds over a series of battles that will keep you muttering "one more run" at the end of each. It more or less created a genre, and as our review said, "It's dangerous to have on your hard drive." There's no denying that. Even writing this paragraph made me want to fire it up.

Age of Empires 4

There was a time when the RTS was the king of PC gaming. The genre has gone through a fallow period, but Age of Empires is a classic series for a reason. The latest entry will have you leading eight unique civilizations across sleek campaigns and into multiplayer skirmishes worthy of any fan of the genre who needs a new, historically-accurate Zerg rush in their lives. Our review called it "a worthy new entry in the legendary series." Build your army, research technology, and dominate opponents. What more do you need?

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Need a challenging action game to scratch that soulslike itch? Wuchang: Fallen Feathers hits a lot of the marks you've come to expect. Visually stunning world, chock full of danger? Check. Flexible combat customization with access to a variety of spells and fighting styles? Check. Intense supernatural boss battles that will have you banging your head against the wall? You better believe check. Inspired by the Ming Dynasty, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has you exploring the plague-ridden Chinese countryside, overcoming obstacles and running into baddies that will send you packing to your save point more often than not.