Beyond These Stars Game Pass: Is It on PC Game Pass?

If you're wondering whether Beyond These Stars Game Pass access is real, the answer is yes — and it's been that way since launch day. Hooded Horse and Balancing Monkey Games put the space-whale city builder on PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate on October 16, 2026, the same day it hit Steam, GOG, Epic, and the Microsoft Store.

That matters because the game normally costs $29.99, and the launch discount only knocks it to $23.99 through October 30. If you already pay for Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, you can build a city on Kewa's back for nothing extra. Below is exactly where it's available, how to install it, and the platform catches you should know about before you clear 7 GB of drive space.

Check out beginner guide for more details.

Beyond These Stars Game Pass Availability at a Glance

The subscription version is the full 1.0 release, not a demo or a trimmed build. Here's how the platforms stack up.

The key takeaway: Game Pass covers the PC version only. There is no Xbox console release, so don't expect to download it on a Series X or Series S. If you're on a Mac or Linux machine, Game Pass won't help you either — the game is Windows 10/11 (64-bit) only.

How to Install Beyond These Stars on PC Game Pass

Installing takes a few minutes once you confirm your subscription tier. The steps are straightforward:

1. Open the Xbox app on Windows (not the Microsoft Store app — the Xbox app is where Game Pass titles live).
2. Sign in with the Microsoft account tied to your Game Pass subscription.
3. Search for Beyond These Stars in the store tab.
4. Confirm the listing shows "Included with Game Pass" rather than a price.
5. Hit Install. The download is roughly 7 GB.

A couple of practical notes from the store listing: an SSD is recommended, and the minimum specs call for a GTX 960-class GPU with 8 GB of RAM. The recommended tier steps up to 16 GB of RAM and something in the RTX 2070 / RX 6600 XT range. If your rig runs Manor Lords or Against the Storm comfortably, you're likely fine here.

One thing to watch: Game Pass installs sometimes default to the WindowsApps folder on your C: drive. If space is tight, set your install location to a secondary drive before you hit install, not after.

What You Actually Get With the Game Pass Version

This isn't a stripped-down trial. The Game Pass build is the same 1.0 release sold on Steam, which means you get:

• Story Mode with an ending and optional tutorial helpers
• Sandbox mode where you set Kewa's resources, terrain, river options, and planet count
• Scenarios, including set challenges like Only Kewa and Only Planets, some with speedrun variants
• All 64 Steam achievements — though achievements only track on Steam, not through the Xbox app version
• The full 15-language interface with English voice acting

The game launched out of a long-delayed Early Access plan. The team originally targeted Early Access in 2023, slipped repeatedly, then scrapped that plan in March 2026 and went straight to 1.0. So the Game Pass version is a finished release, not an in-progress build — though a hotfix landed on October 17 addressing missing smoke and construction particle effects, which tells you launch-week patches are still rolling out.

Does Game Pass Include the Demo?

No — but you don't need it. The free demo is still on Steam and it's an older slice: no planets, no galaxy map, no aliens, and no ending. There's no official word on whether demo saves carry over to the full game. If you have Game Pass, skip the demo entirely and start fresh in Story Mode, which is what the developers recommend for first-timers.

What to Know Before You Start on Kewa

Whether you're playing through Game Pass or buying on Steam, the early game has a few quirks worth flagging. Community reports from the demo forums were consistent about one thing: waste management.

Burner Generators produce soot, smelters leave slag, woodcutters leave wood waste, and digging leaves debris. All of it needs storage, and if you fall behind, tiles turn toxic and your Peeps lose happiness walking across polluted ground. The developers say the full release makes early soot management much easier than the demo did — but that was a promise, not a proven fix, so keep an eye on storage in your first few hours.

A few other details that affect how you play:

The adjacency system deserves a specific example. A second Potato Patch next to the first gives 30% more potato storage but slows production by 20%. A Water Pump next door speeds it up by 20%. The card shows both effects before you commit, so you're never guessing — though exact numbers could shift in patches.

Beyond These Stars vs. Buying It Outright

If you don't have Game Pass, is the subscription worth it just for this? Probably not on its own — but if you're already subscribed, it's a clean win.

One caveat on mods: the game is tagged "Moddable" on Steam, but no official mod support has been announced. If modding matters to you long-term, the Steam version is the safer bet — Game Pass installs are harder to mod in general.

Also worth knowing: Valve rates the game Playable on Steam Deck, with small-text and control caveats. That rating applies to the Steam version. Game Pass titles on Steam Deck require Windows or cloud workarounds, so handheld players should lean toward Steam.

Is the Game Pass Version Worth Your Time?

Reviews are still thin — Steam shows "Mostly Positive" at 76% from 39 user reviews as of this writing, which is a small sample. Critical reception has been warmer on the concept than the execution. PCGamesN called living atop a giant space whale a fantasy worth fulfilling, Rock Paper Shotgun compared Kewa's autonomy to the creature in Black & White, and GamesRadar described the game as much a galaxy-wide supply chain simulator as a city builder.

The honest open question is whether the town-building itself holds up. A 2024 hands-on preview called the city building "not very innovative" and singled out the Kewa relationship as the unique twist. Demo players also reported buildings breaking down too often, with some getting stuck needing iron to repair an iron mine — the developers said they were looking into it earlier this year.

What makes it interesting is that the same choices count twice: once for your Peeps and once for Kewa. Keep the whale healthy and it travels faster and grows fruit trees that boost Peep happiness. Let its health slide and thorny stems appear instead, dragging your settlers down. The developers say Kewa's health can directly shape how the story ends.

If you're jumping in through Game Pass, start with Story Mode, watch your storage early, and plant trees around your industry. For the full store details, check the official Beyond These Stars page on Steam.