Xbox Wire Sets September 30 Exit for Eight Game Pass Titles
Microsoft announced the departures in its September 15 Xbox Wire post for the second wave of Game Pass titles that month. The post lists all eight games as available on Cloud, Console and PC. GameSpot's coverage confirms the list. It notes that Microsoft removed 10 games from Game Pass earlier this month, so a total of 18 games are being removed this month alone. Player.One, Pure Xbox, Complete Xbox and Game Rant report the same eight titles and the same date.
The platform scope needs correcting. TrueAchievements frames the loss as affecting subscribers on Series X|S consoles. Microsoft's list covers cloud and PC too. Game Rant's breakdown also marks each departing title as Console, PC and Cloud, and says the games are listed as leaving soon on their Game Pass pages, with the official date of their departure being September 30. PC Game Pass members and cloud players are on the same deadline as console players.
Microsoft gives a date but no removal time. Don't assume you can play all day on the 30th. Treat September 29 as your realistic last full evening.
TrueAchievements counts "seven unique achievement lists", and its table leaves out Terminull Brigade. Microsoft's official count is eight. If you're only tracking achievement lists, use TrueAchievements' seven. If you're deciding what to play or buy before the deadline, use Microsoft's eight.
SOPA and Little Nightmares II Top TrueAchievements' Short List
The table below comes from TrueAchievements' community data. "Length" is the site's estimated time to finish the base-game achievement list. The completion percentage is what the site labels "TA Base Game Completion": the share of its tracked players who finished the base list. It hints at difficulty or player commitment, but it doesn't measure difficulty and doesn't predict whether you'll finish. Missables are achievements you can permanently lock out of a playthrough.
| Game | Estimated achievement time | TA base-game completion | Missables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomfall | 5–15 hours | 4% | 7 |
| Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light | 12–15 hours | 5% | 0 |
| Little Nightmares II | 6–8 hours | 16% | 0 |
| Little Rocket Lab | 40–50 hours | 10% | 0 |
| Sifu | 15–20 hours | 1% | 0 |
| SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato | 2–3 hours | 18% | 16 |
| Sworn | 60–80 hours | 1% | 0 |
SOPA is the fastest on paper. TrueAchievements estimates the full list at under three hours, but 16 of its achievements are missable. You can only hit that time if you play slowly and carefully the first time. A rushed run is likely to mean a second playthrough.
TrueAchievements also noticed that SOPA had disappeared from the Game Pass leaving-soon list, even though Xbox Wire named it as a departure. The site suggests players might get more time than expected. Microsoft's post still lists SOPA for September 30, so read this as a listing glitch, not a reprieve. Plan for the announced date.
Little Nightmares II is the safest pick for a short window. It has an estimated 6–8 hours, no missables and the second-highest completion rate in the table, at 16%. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has no missables either, but at 12–15 hours it needs a clear weekend. TrueAchievements rates both as easy completions this month. That's the site's comparison, not a promise that you won't need any skill.
Atomfall's 15-Hour Route Includes a Speedrun and Seven Missables
Atomfall is the most interesting entry because its open-world RPG style suggests a much longer job. TrueAchievements cites its community walkthrough, which says you can finish the list in no more than 15 hours if you follow the route exactly. That estimate includes a second, faster playthrough for the "Quick Exit" achievement, which asks you to escape the Quarantine Zone in under five hours.
The 15 hours only holds if you follow the route. Atomfall has seven missables, so playing freely and going back for achievements later will take longer. The estimate also covers the base game only. TrueAchievements notes 18 more DLC achievements, so the route earns the full base 1,000 Gamerscore but not a 100% completion of everything.
Game Rant's main-story estimate for Atomfall is about 10.5 hours. The extra time in the achievement estimate is mostly that second speed run.
Sifu and Sworn Show How Story Length Misleads Achievement Hunters
Sifu is the clearest case of a gap between story length and achievement length. Game Rant says Sifu takes around eight hours to complete the main story. TrueAchievements puts the base achievement list at 15–20 hours, and only 1% of its tracked players have finished it.
The reason is Sifu's ageing mechanic. TalkEsport describes it as a system where every death costs the player years off their character's life. TrueAchievements adds that your character gets stronger as they age, so dying a lot makes the game easier. That works against the "Prodigal Child" achievement, which requires beating the game with the hero at age 25 or younger. In practice, that means clearing Sifu at a high difficulty.
The rest of Sifu's list is fairly simple, according to TrueAchievements. A skilled player can finish the base list in under 20 hours. The 18 DLC achievements push a full completion past 40 hours, which is too long for most people in six days.
Sworn has an even bigger gap. Game Rant's time to beat is about 10.5 hours, while TrueAchievements estimates 60–80 hours for the achievement list, with a 1% completion rate. Two achievements do most of the damage. "A Sovereign's Tale" requires beating the game on Sovereign difficulty. "Fae Master" requires completing the Blessing Compendium. Sworn is a co-op roguelike and also has extra DLC achievements.
Little Rocket Lab and Terminull Brigade Are the Edge Cases
Little Rocket Lab has a 10% completion rate, which TrueAchievements counts as fairly easy. The problem is time: at an estimated 40–50 hours, the site expects most subscribers won't finish before the deadline. Game Rant's story estimate of about 42 hours agrees. Little Rocket Lab is long however you play it.
Terminull Brigade isn't in TrueAchievements' roundup, so there's no community estimate for its achievements. Game Rant lists its time to beat at about 4.5 hours, which puts it among the shorter games leaving. That figure is story length only. As Sifu and Sworn show, you can't use it to predict how long the achievements take.
Buying a Leaving Game at a Discount Before September 30
If you can't finish in time, you can buy the game at a discount. Xbox Wire says members can save on the departing games before they leave, but it doesn't give amounts. Pure Xbox reports discounts of at least 20% on all of these Xbox Game Pass titles until they leave on September 30th. Complete Xbox also describes a discounted purchase option before the games go.
TrueAchievements reports a bigger deal on Sworn: a 75% discount running until September 28. Microsoft doesn't mention it and no other outlet has confirmed that figure, so check the store price before you buy. If the deal is real, Sworn's 60–80-hour list makes the most sense as a cheap purchase you finish at your own pace. It isn't realistic to finish on Game Pass before the 30th.
Buying makes the most sense for Sworn, Sifu with its DLC, and Little Rocket Lab, since their estimates don't fit in six days. For SOPA, Little Nightmares II and Terminull Brigade, playing now on your subscription is the cheaper choice if you have the time.
What this means for you
Pick what to play based on how many hours you really have before September 30, not on how long each game's story is. If you've got one evening, SOPA is the fastest target, as long as you follow a guide for its missables. If you've got a weekend, Little Nightmares II and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light have no missables. Atomfall suits you if you're willing to follow a route with two playthroughs. Anyone aiming for a full completion of Sworn, Little Rocket Lab or Sifu with DLC should look at the member discount instead of trying to race the clock.
- The eight removals cover Game Pass on cloud, console and PC, not just Xbox Series X|S. Microsoft hasn't given a removal time for September 30.
- SOPA's estimated 2–3 hours depends on avoiding 16 missable achievements on your first run.
- Atomfall's base 1,000 Gamerscore takes about 15 hours if you follow the community route. That includes a second run under five hours for "Quick Exit" and excludes 18 DLC achievements.
- Sifu's eight-hour story becomes a 15–20-hour achievement list because "Prodigal Child" requires finishing at age 25 or younger. DLC pushes a full completion past 40 hours.
- Sworn's 60–80-hour list includes a Sovereign-difficulty clear and completing the Blessing Compendium. It doesn't fit the remaining window.
- Pure Xbox reports discounts of at least 20% on leaving titles. Check the reported 75% Sworn discount, said to end September 28, in the store before you buy.
The six-day window mostly rewards players who pick the right game: the short lists with no missables can still be finished before September 30, and the lists full of difficulty achievements can't. After the 30th, all eight games will need to be bought to keep playing them, discounted or not, and Game Pass will keep rotating games out on the same kind of short notice.