The Xbox Game Pass August lineup is looking pretty strong, with an announcement from the service that reveals Final Fantasy 7 HD and Man of Medan will be coming to its games library within the next few weeks of the month, accompanied by some other solid choices. Xbox Game Pass remains one of the biggest draws for consumers to actually owning an Xbox, and given that the subscription service will likely factor into the Xbox Series X business model in a big way as well, finishing out the current generation of games with some strong additions should be a priority.

So far, that's certainly seemed like the case, as Xbox Game Pass continues to add important titles from the past alongside more current options to help create waves of titles that appeal pretty broadly across gaming demographics. By contrast, PlayStation Plus free games have been hit-or-miss historically, with some additions feeling like the service is finally gearing up to try to rival its competitor before the next wave introduces confusing or unexciting options. Microsoft just revealed it could be cutting "Xbox" out of the Game Pass subscription name altogether, too, so the desire to freshen things up and remain on the cutting edge clearly remains present.

However, that change isn't official yet, and the company referred to its newest Xbox Game Pass August announcement the same way it has historically, so that's what the latest wave of games are still arriving on. In the announcement made by Xbox Wire earlier today, it was revealed that Final Fantasy 7 HD is coming to console & PC on August 13, while The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan will arrive solely on console tomorrow, August 6. The latter will also be joined by Darksiders: Genesis on consoles on the same day, making for a strong one-two punch of early August additions that will be supplemented by others, like UnderMine and It Lurks Below.


The announcement also detailed recent updates to the Xbox Game Pass mobile app while also announcing the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perks that consumers can receive if they're a member of the higher-tier service in August. These include perks in Sea of Thieves, Phantasy Star Online 2, and Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker.

The addition of Final Fantasy 7 HD might not be the FF7 game fans without PlayStation 4 consoles truly want, but it's still a JRPG classic that's withstood the test of time. Fans of more modern gaming experiences could do worse than Man of Medan, too, so it's a balanced offering from Xbox this time around that will help buoy consumers into late August. With the Xbox Series X so close to release, it will be worth keeping an eye on how Xbox Game Pass chooses to finish its current-gen run - will Microsoft overload the service with attractive titles to drive next-gen sales, or will it stay the course with steady, solid additions and let its future games do the heavy lifting?