Games leaving Game Pass in September 2026, and what to buy instead

Microsoft published the September wave on 1 September, and the interesting half of it is not the arrivals. Ten titles drop out of the catalogue on 15 September, and the list is unusually good: a headline RPG, one of the decade's best roguelikes, a strategy sequel that only went in on PC, and a couple of small games that are genuinely finishable in the fortnight you have left.

Here is the complete set of games leaving Game Pass in September 2026, taken straight from Microsoft's own wave post rather than a repost of it, along with the only decision that actually matters for each one: finish it now, buy it outright, or let it go.

Games leaving Game Pass in September 2026: the full list

• Commandos: Origins — Cloud, Console, PC
• Cricket 24 — Cloud, Console, PC
• Cyberpunk 2077 — Cloud, Console
• Dead Cells — Cloud, Console, PC
• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor — Cloud, Console, PC
• Frostpunk 2 — PC
• Mullet Madjack — Cloud, Console, PC
• Spiritfarer — Cloud, Console, PC
• Superliminal — Cloud, Console, PC
• Train Sim World 5 — Cloud, Console, PC

Note the platform tags, because they are not decoration. Cyberpunk 2077 is listed as leaving Cloud and Console only; Frostpunk 2 is listed as PC only. Microsoft is precise about this and readers routinely are not, which is how people end up panic-buying a version they were never going to lose.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the one to act on

It is the biggest game on the list by a distance and the one with the strongest case for buying rather than rushing. Night City is not a weekend. A first run through the main story plus a reasonable amount of the side work is a proper commitment, and Phantom Liberty is effectively a second game bolted to the side of it. Two weeks is not enough, and playing it under a deadline is the worst possible way to experience a game whose entire appeal is wandering off the plot.

The Phantom Liberty launch trailer, from the official Cyberpunk 2077 channel. The expansion is the part most people on Game Pass never reached.

The good news is that it is also the single most consistently discounted big-budget PC game we track. It has been through years of storefront sales and has a well-established floor, so buying it outright is not the punishment it would be for a new release. Check the live price on the Cyberpunk 2077 page before the 15th, and if you want the full argument for whether it is worth owning at all, we made it in is Cyberpunk 2077 worth it in 2026.

Cyberpunk 2077 leaves Cloud and Console on 15 September. Buying it is the sane response; speed-running it is not. (Official Steam screenshot)

Frostpunk 2 is the PC-only casualty

11 bit studios' city-builder sequel is the departure that will catch PC Game Pass subscribers off guard, precisely because it is the only entry on the list flagged PC and nothing else. It is also the hardest game here to finish on a clock. Frostpunk 2 is a long, deliberate strategy game about steering a city through decisions that take hours to pay off or ruin you, and it is unpleasant to play quickly.

Frostpunk 2's launch trailer, posted by 11 bit studios itself. A game to own rather than to sprint through.

Frostpunk 2 is the only entry on the departing list flagged PC and nothing else — easy to miss if you skim the wave post. (Official Steam screenshot)

If you have started a city and are enjoying it, buy the game and keep going — your saves are local and the campaign is worth finishing properly. If you have not started, do not start now. Wishlist it, watch the Frostpunk 2 page, and pick it up when the price is right.

Dead Cells and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor are the easy buys

These two are the value picks of the departing set, and both are the kind of game you dip into for years rather than complete. Dead Cells is one of the most refined action roguelikes ever made and has appeared in more sales and bundles than almost anything of its generation; its price floor is very low and very well established. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is the auto-shooter spin-off of the co-op mining game, and it is cheap by design.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is the sort of small, endlessly repeatable game that a subscription never really suited. (Official Steam screenshot)

Neither is worth a fortnight of guilt-driven play. Buy them, or add them to a watchlist and let the price come to you — the reasoning is the same one we set out in what a historical low price actually means. If roguelikes are your thing generally, our roguelike round-up covers the rest of the field.

Spiritfarer and Superliminal can actually be finished

Two weeks is a real window for these. Superliminal is a compact first-person puzzle game built around forced perspective — objects become the size they look, which is a single idea executed with a lot of wit. It is comfortably a couple of evenings, and there is no reason to buy it if it is already sitting in your library.

Spiritfarer is a management game about grief. Playing it against a deadline rather defeats the point. (Official Steam screenshot)

Spiritfarer is the harder call. It is a warm, slow game about ferrying the dead, and its whole method is unhurried — you build a boat, you cook, you listen, and eventually you say goodbye. A determined fortnight will get you a long way through it, but if you find yourself checking a calendar during the farewells, buy it instead and take your time.

The three you can probably let go

Commandos: Origins is a real-time tactics revival with a devoted niche and a mixed reception; if you have not touched it by now, the fortnight will not change that. Cricket 24 and Train Sim World 5 are both annualised simulation products, and both are the wrong thing to buy in a hurry — Train Sim World in particular is a platform for expensive route DLC, and buying the base game on a deadline is how that habit starts.

What to do before 15 September

Three steps, in order. First, open your Game Pass library and check which of the ten you have actually installed and played — the answer is usually fewer than you think, and the ones you have not touched in six months are not going to be missed. Second, for anything you are mid-way through, confirm where the saves live: cloud saves persist and will still be there if you buy the game later, which removes most of the urgency people feel. Third, put the ones you want on a watchlist rather than buying all of them on the 14th.

Mullet Madjack, an anime-styled speed shooter, is the cheapest thing on the departing list and the least urgent decision on it. (Official Steam screenshot)

That last point matters more than the deadline does. A game leaving a subscription creates artificial urgency, and urgency is the enemy of a good price. Nothing on this list is going out of print. For the wider picture of what September's catalogue looks like on the way in, we covered the additions separately in Xbox Game Pass September 2026, and our guide to the best games on PC Game Pass flags which catalogue staples are worth buying outright regardless.

The bottom line

Buy two of them: Cyberpunk 2077 if you are on console and have started it, and Dead Cells if you have any affection for roguelikes at all. Both are cheap, both are permanent, and neither is a game you finish and shelve.

Finish Superliminal this week because it is short and pleasant. Let Cricket 24, Train Sim World 5 and Commandos: Origins go without ceremony. And for Frostpunk 2 and Spiritfarer, be honest about whether you were ever going to play them — if the answer is yes, they will be cheaper in a month than they are in a panic on the 14th.