Xbox Game Pass Officially Adds Seriously Underrated Open-World Hidden Gem

Xbox Game Pass subscribers have had an especially eventful year in 2026, with the service dropping an impressive mix of blockbuster launches, major third-party releases, and unexpected bangers. Some of this year’s biggest day-one arrivals have included Forza Horizon 6, Subnautica 2, High on Life 2, and Gears of War: E-Day, giving fans of every genre a range of titles to keep them busy.

Meanwhile, surprising major additions like Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition have proven that the service still has a few tricks up its sleeve and is making sure players are getting their money’s worth.

However, not every worthwhile game needs to be a brand-new blockbuster or GOTY-winning hit, and Game Pass has added another hugely underrated open-world adventure, giving it a second chance in the spotlight. It’s the kind of hidden gem that many players may have overlooked during its original release, but is absolutely worth checking out.

Originally released in December 2016 and added to Game Pass earlier this year, Ubisoft Annecy’s Steep is one of the most underrated extreme sports games of the last decade, offering an experience that remains surprisingly unique even today. Rather than confining players to individual tracks or courses as you might expect for an extreme sports-style game, Steep drops players in the European Alps and recreates it into an enormous open-world playground, where players can ski, snowboard, paraglide, or launch themselves off mountainsides in a wingsuit.

Although Steep earned somewhat mixed reviews at launch, Ubisoft has continued supporting the game with substantial updates and expansions over the years that vastly improved the original experience.

One of the biggest additions arrived in February 2017, when the free Alaska update introduced an entirely new mountainous region to explore, alongside 21 additional challenges, new events, and more opportunities for exploration. This was followed by the Road to the Olympics expansion, which introduced Japanese mountains, Olympic competitions in South Korea, and an entirely new progression system centered around becoming an Olympic champion.

Other expansions, including Winterfest and X Games, introduced everything from sledding to officially licensed extreme sports competitions. Additional content brought new disciplines, including BASE jumping, speed riding, and rocket wingsuit flying.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can experience Steep for free, as the title is currently included with Ultimate on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, with the free Alaska expansion included. However, premium DLC packs such as Winterfest and X Games are separate purchases.

Even more exciting is that Riders Republic, Steep’s spiritual predecessor, is temporarily free for all Xbox players through October 26 as part of Xbox Free Play Days. Both titles are solid winter sports games that fans of the criminally ignored genre will appreciate. While franchises like SSX and Amped were once huge IPs, skiing and snowboarding have largely faded from the mainstream, especially compared to traditional racing and/or skateboarding games.

This is a bit surprising considering how well winter sports lend themselves to open-world experiences. Massive mountain ranges offer practically endless landscape designs ripe for exploration, with the genre being perfect for competitive multiplayer and intense environmental challenge-type game modes, not to mention player-created maps vis-à-vis the Create-a-Park mode in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater‘s modern reboots.

Ubisoft eventually revisited the concept with 2021’s Riders Republic, which you can check out for free for the time being, but there’s something uniquely appealing about Steep‘s approach. Nearly ten years after its release, it’s still an overlooked gem worth discovering through Xbox Game Pass.