← Back to GPN · All articles

Hope in the City Launches November 11, Day One on Game Pass

OFFICIAL Written by GPN · Nov 8, 2026, 4:55 AM ET · Hope in the City · Gaming

Hope in the City launches on November 11 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Steam, and will be available day one with Xbox Game Pass.

The narrative mystery adventure stars Hope Song, a 17-year-old aspiring artist in Shenyang, China. Just as she is preparing to leave for art school overseas, she comes home to find her apartment ransacked and her parents missing.

Hope is no detective, so she investigates the way an artist would: with her sketchbook. As she explores Shenyang she collects clues, conversations and observations, then combines any two thoughts in her notebook to form insights and breakthroughs that unlock new dialogue, locations and leads. The writers created individual responses for every combination, even the ones that do not advance the investigation, so experimenting with wrong answers still reveals jokes, personality or subtle hints.

Artist Calista Antonio created more than 100 hand-drawn sketches for the game, using the game's 3D models to block out perspectives before finishing each page with linework and digital watercolour. Some of her own paintings hang on the walls of Hope's bedroom in the game.

Hope in the City costs $19.99 and comes from Lofty Sky Games and NAGA Games, the team behind the 2026 GDC Best in Play winner Sky of Tides.

Facts gathered from

• Xbox Wire

More on this

Share