Rewards with Xbox are our way of, well, rewarding you for your love of gaming, and today we’re thrilled to announce new ways for players to earn points. From expanding Quests to PC Game Pass, to reimagining the Game Pass Quests you use to earn points, to weekly Rewards for all Xbox players 18 and older, there are lots of new ways to earn points through your play time. 

Lastly, today we’re sharing an important update on earning Rewards with Xbox. This update aligns more closely with our continued commitment to foster positive, age-appropriate gaming experiences by making points earned through play activities available only to players 18 years and older.

Game Pass Quests Arrive on Your PC 

Previously exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate members, Quests unlock opportunities to earn even more Rewards with Xbox. Starting to roll out on January 7, Quests are also available for PC Game Pass members. Now you have more ways to earn  Rewards points on PC in addition to  console and mobile. The new  Game Pass Quests will also launch in Japan, bringing the region the full Rewards with Xbox experience. 

If you’re an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass member 18 years or older, starting to earn is simple: 

1. Explore the new Quests by navigating to your Xbox profile and accessing the Rewards Hub, which is available across console, the Xbox app on mobile, and the Xbox app on Windows PC. 

2. Earn points by playing your favorite games with Game Pass. 

3. Claim your points on the Rewards Hub. 

Once you’ve earned enough, redeem your points for Xbox gift cards to use for games, in-game content, donations to your favorite causes, and more. 

As part of these changes, minimum playtime is required to earn points through gameplay. For now, Quests are only available for titles in the Game Pass catalog, and this does not include PC games that require third party launchers or are played on Battle.net. Check Xbox.com/Rewards for more details. 

Download the Xbox app on mobile and the Xbox app on Windows PC to start earning more today. 

New Game Pass Quests Available 

We have reimagined Game Pass Quests, making them easier to use, and more fun to play – we’ve made it possible to earn even more points, simply by playing games you love and discovering your next favorite games. Quests offer daily, weekly, and monthly opportunities to add to your Rewards, and we’ve also brought back a player favorite: weekly streaks.  

Here’s how Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members can now earn points (and remember, Rewards offers may vary by region and may change over time. Check terms and conditions here): 

• Daily Play – Earn 10 points a day by playing any game from the Game Pass catalog for at least 15 minutes. 

• Weekly Streaks – Play for at least five days a week to complete your streak. The more days you play, the more points you earn. Now comes the challenge: maintain your streak week over week to unlock bigger point multipliers. A 2-week streak will earn 2x the base streak points, a 3-week streak will earn 3x the base streak points, and anything beyond a 4-week streak will earn 4x the base streak points. 

• Monthly 4-Pack – Explore the Game Pass catalog by playing four different games (for at least 15 minutes each) every month.  

• Monthly 8-Pack – Push your gaming further and play eight different games (for at least 15 minutes each) every calendar month. Don’t worry, the 4 games from your 4-Pack count towards the 8-Pack, too.  

New Ways to Earn Rewards for All 

Beyond changes to the exclusive Quests for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members, we’re also bringing new ways to earn points for all players. Starting January 7, 2025, all Rewards members 18 years and older will be able to access the new PC Weekly Bonus, awarding them 150 points when playing (for at least 15 minutes) for 5 days or more.  

With this update, we’re also rebalancing points from the current Console Weekly Bonus to 150 points and the Daily PC Play to 10 points.  

Play and Earn Update 

We are constantly evaluating the Xbox platform to ensure our continued commitment to foster positive, age-appropriate gaming experiences for our players to enjoy. Starting today, earning Rewards points via gameplay will only be available to Xbox players 18 years and older. With these changes, the Rewards Hub used for tracking and earning points on Xbox console, the Xbox app for Windows PC, and the Xbox app for mobile will no longer be available to players under 18 years old. 

This update will not impact existing Rewards and points previously earned by players, and going forward players under 18 will still be able to earn Microsoft Rewards points via parentally approved purchases of eligible items on the Microsoft Store, eligible searches on Microsoft Bing and other non-gameplay activities, such as completing the Microsoft Rewards Daily Set. They can continue to track and redeem their available Microsoft Rewards at Rewards.Microsoft.com. 

We can’t wait to see all the great Rewards you’ll redeem, simply by playing with Xbox.  You’re already playing, so now start earning! 

Learn more on: Game Pass Quests: Play Games & Earn Rewards | Xbox or our Xbox Support page. 

A few weeks ago, we released the latest trailer for Atomfall, our upcoming game where you will have to uncover the mystery behind what happened at the UK’s Windscale nuclear power station in the 1950s. This is a fictionalised telling of what happened following this real-life nuclear disaster in Northern England.

The trailer showcases the game’s folk horror influences and give you the first glimpse of Casterfell Woods, an eerie location within Atomfall where you will encounter an unsettling wicker man and a ringing telephone box that needs to be answered.

But what were our influences behind Casterfell Woods? We thought it would be interesting to let you know how we came up with this unique aesthetic.

From the outset, we knew that we wanted some spookier areas of the game, where we could emphasise folk horror and provide some contrast with our more idyllic areas. Most of our outdoor environments are very green, vibrant, pretty, and very much British. But for Casterfell, we wanted the player to question what things might happen in the deep dark woods. Hidden things can happen there, secret and ancient things… We knew that this would be a ton of fun – so started doing our homework.

Our initial goal was to establish the visual baseline for our sandbox spaces, with a focus on the content that we needed to build out our various natural biomes. Then, we could start adding our thematic twists.

Early in the project, the team took quite a few trips up to the English Lake District for reference gathering and to capture photogrammetry content. For several of the non-Brits on the team (myself included, as an American) this was incredibly exotic. For anyone who hasn’t been there, it is an extremely diverse area of outstanding natural beauty and diversity. It is just so wet and green, with lakes and streams everywhere, and tremendous stone formations topping the high fells and hilltops. The entire area is just dripping with greenery, ferns, and moss.

As I was new to driving in the UK, I found those tiny Cumbrian roads terrifying! There are slate stone walls on one edge, and steep drops into a lake on the other. But the trips were very educational, and the views were sensational. By the end of the trip, we had a ton of fantastic reference, fabulous photogrammetry content, and were confident that we could ground the game visually in the north of Britain.

Next up, were the twists. How could we make our world different from a typical holiday trip to a beautiful natural destination? How could we layer in an older era, and warp things a bit more?

We started looking at storytelling focused on folk horror, sci-fi, and old-school British imaginative fiction for inspiration. Films like The Wicker Man, The Blair Witch Project, Annihilation, and Midsommar were great to look at. Then of course we have BBC programming like Doctor Who, The Prisoner, and The Quatermass Xperiment, as well as books by John Wyndham, who has so many wonderfully weird stories.

We wanted the player to feel that they are stepping into an older era. The real Windscale nuclear accident was in 1957, which is when the quarantine began in our game. As we were intending to be a period piece, how could we impress that into a natural area? This was a tough one, and we had a lot of conversations about it. I mean, especially in the woods, where trees pretty much would have looked the same in 1957, 2024, or 1066.

We began asking ourselves who was living out there, beyond the comforts of village life? How would they survive with no manufactured resources?

The answer was pretty simple in that these outcasts would survive just as they had in archaic times. We would regress them even further back and have them use what was at hand. Wattle (and daub) construction became our go-to architectural style. Thatched roofs, woven branches and vines, and dry-stone structures also seemed to fit. Even though many of these traditional methods of construction can still be seen in the modern day, they are really ancient and foreign to many of us who grew up elsewhere.

Then, taking into account our inspirational media reference, and our desire for more Britishness, we began layering even more symbolic imagery. Ancient markings, effigies, and wickermen, all intermingled with more traditional maypoles and bunting to give strong pagan religious overtones.

We think you are going to love exploring Casterfell Woods and discovering the secrets that it holds when Atomfall is released on March 27 for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, and day one with Game Pass. We can’t wait for you guys to get your hands on the game.

Atomfall

Rebellion

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

A survival-action game inspired by real-life events, Atomfall is set five years after the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England.
Explore the fictional quarantine zone, scavenge, craft, barter, fight and talk your way through a British countryside setting filled with bizarre characters, mysticism, cults, and rogue government agencies.
From Rebellion, the studio behind Sniper Elite and Zombie Army, Atomfall will challenge you to solve the dark mystery of what really happened.
Player Driven Mystery: Unravel a tapestry of interwoven narratives through exploration, conversation, investigation, and combat, where every choice you make has consequences.
Explore this Green and Unpleasant Land: The picturesque British countryside, with rolling green hills, lush valleys, and rural villages belie the dangers that await you.
Search, Scavage, Survive: You’ll need to scavenge for supplies, craft weapons and items, and fight desperately to make it out alive!

Desperate Combat: With weapons and ammunition scarce, each frenetic engagement will see you blend marksmanship with vicious hand-to-hand combat. Manage your heart rate to hold a steady aim and ensure you have the energy you need to reach for your cricket bat and land the killer blow.

Green and Unpleasant Land: The picturesque British countryside, with rolling green hills, lush valleys, and rural villages belie the dangers that await you. Navigate cult-controlled ruins, natural caves, nuclear bunkers and more as you explore this dense, foreboding world.

Reimagining Windscale: A fictional reimagining of a real-world event, Atomfall draws from science fiction, folk horror, and Cold War influences to create a world that is eerily familiar yet completely alien.