The titles are set to be removed from the service in two weeks’ time.
Cult classic escape room visual novel Zero Escape: The Nonary Games and indie RPG Undertale are among two of several games set to be removed from the Xbox Game Pass service in two weeks’ time, as revealed in an official statement published to the official Xbox website. Although the exact date of their removal is yet to be confirmed, players can expect to see the titles depart the Game Pass service in the week beginning on March 12.
According to the official statement, a total of eight games in total will be removed from Xbox Game Pass in this period. Departing titles include Square Enix’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, Coffee Stain Studios’ irreverent comedy Goat Simulator, and Kaizen Game Works’ whodunnit Paradise Killer, whose Xbox and PlayStation collector’s editions were revealed last month. Of all the titles leaving Xbox Game Pass this month, two of the most noteworthy are cult classics Zero Escape: The Nonary Games and Undertale.
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games by developer Spike Chunsoft is a collection of the first two games in the Zero Escape trilogy, the first being Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, and the second being its sequel, Virtue’s Last Reward. Written by veteran visual novel writer Kotaro Uchikoshi, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was originally released on the Nintendo DS in 2009 and remained exclusive to the handheld up until 2013, at which point an iOS version was flicked out into the world. This version — simply titled 999: The Novel — removed all escape room segments from the game, but added a flowchart not present in the Nintendo DS original.
This iOS version of the game has since been delisted from Apple’s App Store, however, its flowchart system survives in Zero Escape: The Nonary Games. The compilation also uses the higher-resolution graphics of the iOS version and features full voice acting. Zero Escape: The Nonary Games was first released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and the PS Vita in 2017; the collection arrived on Xbox in March 2022, and was added to the Game Pass service on the same day.
One year prior to the arrival of Zero Escape: The Nonary Games on Xbox Game Pass, the service was joined by another video game with a similarly cult-type following: indie RPG Undertale. Developed by Toby Fox, Undertale was originally released on Windows and Mac in September 2015. After a year of PC- and Mac-exclusivity, Undertale was made available on Linux systems. The game then arrived on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2017, coincidentally the same year that Zero Escape: The Nonary Games made its own PS4 and PS Vita debut.
Surfacing on the Nintendo Switch the following year before joining the Xbox Game Pass ranks in 2021, Undertale today is playable on all modern systems. As with Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, once Undertale is removed from the Xbox Game Pass service, it will still be available for Xbox consoles via the Microsoft Store, and likewise for PC systems via Steam. At the time of writing, Undertale has a standard retail price of 9.99USD on both Steam and the Microsoft Store, while the price of Zero Escape: The Nonary Games on both stores is set at 29.99USD.
