Cancel Christmas: these new Xbox Game Pass releases will be much more fun

If you've got an Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X I've got some good advice for you this December: stay home! It's horrible and cold and dark outside, so you'd be better off staying in the horrible, cold and dark moon of Jupiter where The Callisto Protocol is set. That's out on 2nd December, and it's followed a few days later by some Xbox Game Pass releases I've been waiting months for.

Microsoft has announced four key new Game Pass titles coming to your console in December, and they're really exciting. First up is Hello Neighbor 2, the sequel to the smash hit that my kids lost months to. This time it's the whole town under investigation, not just Mr Peterson's house, and it promises to be just as jump-scary as the original. It's coming to Game Pass on 6 December. 

Next up, there's fantasy JRPG Chained Echoes. That's coming to Game Pass on 8 December and promises up to 40 hours of turn-based battles, looting and crafting, and you'll get to travel in style in an airship or a mech.

13 December brings two really fun ones. The first is Infinite Guitars, a rhythm-based RPG that sees you battling evil mechs with the ultimate weapon: your electric guitar. It's a dazzling mix of anime-style art, big mech battles and of course, a suitably electric soundtrack.

The one I'm really excited about also drops on 13 December. It's called High On Life, and it's a deeply silly comedy adventure game from the mind of Justin Rolland, creator of Rick and Morty. If you've ever wanted to play an FPS when your weapons were living, talking, wisecracking creatures, this is the game for you. If it's even a fraction s good as it appears to be in the video below, I'll be playing it for weeks.