Every Game New to Xbox Game Pass for April 2026

Both the Xbox brand and the Game Pass subscription service got a shot in the arm this April, courtesy of some initiatives spearheaded by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. For the first time in the service's history, the price of Xbox Game Pass dropped, which made April 2026 a great time to re-up on a subscription, especially with the sheer volume of excellent titles that made their way to the different tiers throughout the month. Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass PC are both closer to their original pricing at $23 and $14, respectively, and users also have the less expensive Essential and Ultimate tiers to choose from. Of course, to get the best bang for your buck and have access to all the newest titles on Game Pass for April 2026, you'd want to select Game Pass Ultimate, which got plenty of exciting day 1 releases this past month.

• Release Date — October 10, 2025
• Developer — PHL Collective
• Publisher — Outright Games
• Genre — Adventure, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 70% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 2, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

April kicked off with Outright Games launching yet another of its many licensed, family-friendly titles onto Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC with Barbie Horse Trails. Horse Trails joins both other Barbie games on the subscription service and many of Outright's other titles (including a handful of Paw Patrol games) that are aimed toward households with younger gamers. It's essentially a simulation game focused on caring for and riding horses, so take that as you will.

• Release Date — April 24, 2025
• Developer — Sandfall Interactive
• Publisher — Kepler Interactive
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 2, 2026 (Game Pass Premium)

The headline release on Game Pass Premium for the start of the month was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, 2025's Game of the Year winner and one of the best RPGs of the last decade. Clair Obscur had previously been available on Game Pass Ultimate, but April marks the excellent title's debut on the more affordable Game Pass Premium subscription tier. If you've managed to somehow avoid playing this once-in-a-generation game until now, Game Pass is the perfect way to pick it up and experience its captivating world and top-tier combat.

• Release Date — October 16, 2025
• Developer — Visual Concepts
• Publisher — 2K
• Genre — Sports, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 3, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

The final title arriving in the first week of April for Game Pass was NBA 2K26, the latest in Visual Concepts and 2K's long-running licensed professional basketball series. Putting the predatory microtransactions aside, NBA 2K26 has a fairly robust career mode and some great online play that make it the de facto choice for anyone hoping to pick up and play a quick game of virtual basketball. And if you're just a casual enjoyer hoping to play some hoops while the NBA playoffs are on, grabbing Game Pass for a month and playing some NBA 2K26 is pretty much your best bet.

• Release Date — September 26, 2024
• Developer — Tose, Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 7, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

Xbox owners were the last in line to get their hands on the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, but Microsoft and Square Enix have continued to make up for it by slowly but surely making each of the 6 original Final Fantasy games available on Game Pass. April saw the release of Final Fantasy IV on Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and Game Pass for PC, which is a huge win for subscribers who also happen to be RPG fans. Final Fantasy IV is one of the best games in the whole series, and the Pixel Remaster version gives players the option of speeding up some of the grind with EXP and gold modifiers.

• Release Date — April 8, 2026
• Developer — Bohemia Interactive
• Publisher — Bohemia Interactive
• Genre — Survival
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 8, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, Essential, PC)

The first day-1 release for April's Game Pass lineup was DayZ, the long-in-development zombie apocalypse survival game from Bohemia Interactive. Despite launching way back in 2018 (or, technically, beforehand if you count its origins as an Arma mod), DayZ has continued to stay relevant through continual updates and a slew of community mods, and its arrival on current-gen hardware after a disastrous port to PS4 and Xbox One is a big deal for survival fans. Anyone who has trepidation over this new version after playing the Xbox One release can try it out safely with any Game Pass subscription tier.

• Release Date — September 22, 2025
• Developer — Amplitude Studios
• Publisher — Hooded Horse
• Genre — 4X
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 8, 2026 (Game Pass Premium, PC)

One of the few Game Pass for PC-exclusive titles for April is Endless Legend 2, the excellent Early Access 4X game from Amplitude Studios that builds on an already strong foundation from its predecessor. Endless Legend 2 features brand-new factions and a reworked resource economy that players have been praising on Steam during its Early Access launch, and the game is now reaching a broader audience via its Game Pass for PC inclusion ahead of a planned 1.0 release later in 2026. Having played Endless Legend 2 a good bit already, I can attest to it being worth checking out for any fan of 4X strategy games.

• Release Date — June 17, 2025
• Developer — Remedy Entertainment
• Publisher — Remedy Entertainment
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 66% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 8, 2026 (Game Pass Premium)

Remedy Entertainment's FBC: Firebreak is a unique experiment with crafting a co-op-focused FPS set in the Control universe, and it unfortunately didn't land nearly as well as Remedy's other games. Still, there's some fun to be had with friends for a few rounds in this spooky, paranormal co-op shooter, which makes it a perfect fit for the Game Pass service. FBC: Firebreak had previously been a day-1 launch on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but it finally made its way to the Premium tier this past month.

• Release Date — December 3, 2020
• Developer — Fatshark
• Publisher — Fatshark
• Genre — Action, FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 8, 2026 (Game Pass Essential)

Speaking of fun co-op shooters, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is an absolute blast when you're able to get a handful of friends in a session, and it's finally available on the entry-level Game Pass Essential tier as of April 8. The Warhammer 40,000 gaming universe runs the gamut in terms of quality, from the highs of games like Space Marine 2 and Rogue Trader to the lows of...well, just about everything else, barring a few standouts. Vermintide 2 won't win any awards, but it's certainly fun enough for an afternoon or two on Game Pass.

• Release Date — November 6, 2024
• Developer — Frontier Developments
• Publisher — Frontier Developments
• Genre — Simulation, Management
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 9, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

Games like Roller Coaster Tycoon and the more modern Planet Coaster can be incredibly fun for simulation and management addicts looking to craft and run their own theme parks, and Planet Coaster 2 builds on the foundations those games laid to deliver one of the best-looking and most feature-packed renditions of a theme park management sim we've seen yet. IT's a perfect fit for something like Game Pass, where, even if a player wasn't necessarily planning on picking it up, they can try it out at low risk and potentially discover a new favorite in an atypical genre.

• Release Date — August 7, 2025
• Developer — Neoludic Games
• Publisher — Skystone Games
• Genre — Cozy, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 10, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

Fans of cozy simulation games have yet another strong genre entry available on Game Pass Ultimate as of April 10, courtesy of Tiny Bookshop making its way to the service. Just like the title indicates, Tiny Bookshop sees you manage and operate a small, car-pulled mobile bookshop that you get to set up and run in a variety of picturesque environments, getting to know the locals and selling them their new favorite books before pulling up stakes and moving to a new town to do it all over again.

• Release Date — November 4, 2025
• Developer — Sports Interactive
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Simulation, Management
• Review Aggregate Score — 68% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 13, 2026 (Game Pass Premium)

After previously being on Game Pass Ultimate as part of its launch last year, both the PC and console versions of Football Manager 26 come to Game Pass for PC and Game Pass Premium. It's worth noting that, while the PC version of Football Manager 26 received generally average reviews that point to it being another solid entry in the long-running management series, the console version was generally negative in its critical reception. So if you're planning on playing this on an Xbox Series X/S, keep that in mind.

• Release Date — April 14, 2026
• Developer — Supergiant Games
• Publisher — Supergiant Games
• Genre — Action Roguelike
• Review Aggregate Score — 95% (Universal Acclaim)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 14, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

One of the biggest "gets" for Xbox Game Pass during the month of April was the day-1 launch of Hades II onto the service to coincide with its arrival on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S after previously being a PC and Switch 2 exclusive. Much like its predecessor, Hades II is an incredible action roguelike that sets a new bar for quality in the genre that'll be hard to surpass, both in terms of its depth of combat and its incredible storytelling. Easily one of the best additions to Game Pass for not just April, but the year, and it's available at all tiers barring Essential.

• Release Date — April 14, 2026
• Developer — Sad Cat Studios
• Publisher — Thunderful Publishing
• Genre — Action, Cinematic Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 14, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

Another day-1 launch arriving on Game Pass on April 14 was Replaced, the new cyberpunk cinematic platformer from Sad Cat Studios. Replaced is essentially what you would get if you combined a classic cinematic platformer like Flashback with something like Batman: Arkham City, as it incorporates some incredibly crunchy and satisfying "free flow" combat along with its exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving. Beating Replaced takes roughly 12-15 hours and is a perfect one-and-done experience, which makes it a great fit for Game Pass.

• Release Date — December 4, 2024
• Developer — Fool's Theory
• Publisher — 11 bit studios
• Genre — CRPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 14, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

One of the more surprising additions to Game Pass for April is The Thaumaturge, an excellent and underrated CRPG from a handful of former CD Projekt RED employees and their new studio, Fool's Theory. In The Thauamaturge, players assume the role of the titular hero, a magically-inclined private investigator who, together with real-world historical figure Rasputin, needs to solve a series of murders in early 20th-century Poland. This is another one that's short but sweet, making it a great game to pick up and burn through as part of a monthly subscription to Game Pass.

• Release Date — September 12, 2025
• Developer — EA Vancouver
• Publisher — EA Sports
• Genre — Sports, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 70% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 16, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate)

Game Pass subscribers ate good in April with regards to sports games being timed with their playoff postseasons, as joining NBA 2K26 was also NHL 26. And while the critical reception to NHL 26 isn't quite as positive as it's been in previous years, it's still a worthwhile game to pick up and play for a bit for any fan of hockey, especially if you're interested in recreating how the current season has been shaking out.

• Release Date — April 22, 2025
• Developer — Virtuos, Bethesda Game Studios
• Publisher — Bethesda Softworks
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 16, 2026 (Game Pass Premium)

The surprise launch of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered last year was one of April 2025's highlights, and a year later, it's now arrived on Game Pass Premium after previously being accessible for Ultimate tier subscribers. Unsurprisingly, Oblivion Remastered is still the excellent open-world RPG that the original has always been; it just has a fresh new coat of paint that brings its visuals and presentation more in line with modern genre entries. Given Microsoft's ownership of Bethesda, this feels like a natural fit for Game Pass.

• Release Date — October 25, 2019
• Developer — Infinity Ward
• Publisher — Activision
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 17, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

Along with the news of Game Pass' price lowering was the less-favorable announcement that Call of Duty games would no longer launch day-and-date on Game Pass, instead arriving the following holiday season (in an effort to boost title sales). To soften that blow, though, Microsoft brought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the 2019 remake of the groundbreaking 2007 original, over to all tiers of Game Pass except Essential. As far as Call of Duty campaigns go, Modern Warfare is still one of the best.

• Release Date — October 7, 2025
• Developer — Teenage Astronauts
• Publisher — No More Robots
• Genre — Adventure, RPG, Automation
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 21, 2026 (Game Pass Premium)

What's this? A cozy automation game? Little Rocket Lab is an adventure game-coded RPG with factory management and automation elements and plenty of charm, and it's available on Game Pass currently for all Premium tier subscribers and above. According to Steam reviews, Little Rocket Lab is a great introduction to the automation genre that has a generally smoother learning curve, but it might not please genre enthusiasts with its simplicity.

• Release Date — October 6, 2025
• Developer — Studio Bando
• Publisher — Studio Bando
• Genre — Adventure, Puzzle
• Review Aggregate Score — 70% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 21, 2026 (Game Pass Premium)

Food-centric adventure game Sopa - Tale of the Stolen Potato was a day-1 release on Game Pass Ultimate as part of its launch last year in October, and this past month saw the game finally make its way to the popular Premium subscription tier. And despite some middling critic reviews, user perception of Sopa paints it as a charming and heartwarming adventure game with some fun puzzles and just the right amount of length (4-5 hours) to burn through in one or two sessions. Sounds like a perfect Game Pass title to me.

• Release Date — April 21, 2026
• Developer — poncle, Nosebleed Interactive
• Publisher — poncle
• Genre — Roguelike, Deckbuilder, Dungeon-Crawler
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 21, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

Right alongside Hades II as one of April's biggest Game Pass launches is Vampire Crawlers, the roguelike deckbuilding and dungeon-crawling spin-off of poncle's hit Vampire Survivors. I've been hooked on Vampire Crawlers since it launched, and even after roughly 20 hours spent with it, I'm still amazed at how much there is to unlock and discover. It's a perfect fit for Game Pass, too, as the original Vampire Survivors found a huge audience on the service back when it first debuted. Just beware — Vampire Crawlers is every bit as addictive and time-consuming as its predecessor.

• Release Date — April 23, 2026
• Developer — Double Fine
• Publisher — Xbox Game Studios
• Genre — Hero Shooter, Party Game
• Review Aggregate Score — 68% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 23, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

One of the few PC and Xbox-exclusive titles to launch on Game Pass in April (alongside Replaced) was Kiln, the new co-op party game from Double Fine. Essentially a pottery-themed hero shooter, Kiln sees players team up and battle rival groups of clay fighters as they make their way to claim ownership of the titular oven that serves as each side's base. Claim the kiln and win the game. Reviews for Kiln have been mostly mixed, but it could be a great title to hop in with friends at a lower risk on Game Pass.

• Release Date — April 28, 2026
• Developer — Don't Nod
• Publisher — Don't Nod
• Genre — Adventure, Stealth
• Review Aggregate Score — 66% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 28, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

Unfortunately, it seems like developer Don't Nod can't break the curse of developing games with great narratives and somewhat lackluster gameplay, as Aphelion follows Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden as yet another title where critics rave about the story and feel like just about everything else feels comparatively underbaked. That said, Aphelion's day-1 launch on Game Pass is a great way to try the game for yourself and at least get to experience its story. This is the kind of game that Game Pass was made for.

• Release Date — June 21, 2023
• Developer — Trepang Studios
• Publisher — Team17
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 69% (Mixed or Average)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 29, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, PC)

Don't let the critic reviews for Trepang² fool you; this is easily one of the best shooters of the last decade. Heavily inspired by Monolith's classic F.E.A.R., Trepang² is a dark and tense shooter with some truly impressive enemy AI, insane white-knuckle firefights, and superb audio design. Essentially, it's "the shooter fan's shooter", even if critics weren't all that blown away. If you're a mouse-and-keyboard purist for FPS gameplay, Trepang² is also available on Game Pass for PC, and I'd recommend checking it out there if you can.

• Release Date — April 30, 2026
• Developer — Unfrozen
• Publisher — Hooded Horse
• Genre — Turn-Based Tactics, Turn-Based Strategy, Grand Strategy
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 30, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

One of the most exciting Game Pass launches for April is the availability of Game Pass for PC subscribers to check out the Early Access launch of Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. While Olden Era is intended to be a prequel to the series, its gameplay is most clearly modeled after the series highs of Heroes of Might and Magic III, and that embracing of the franchise's "golden era" has paid off in it already being a smash hit in less than a week. If you've never played a HoMM game, Olden Era is a great starting point that embodies what players have always loved about the series.

• Release Date — April 30, 2026
• Developer — Nagai Industries
• Publisher — Nagai Industries, Beep Japan, Serenity Forge, Smilegate
• Genre — Adventure, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 30, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

A good cozy adventure game is a perfect fit for a service like Game Pass, where players might enjoy it once and then never pick it up again, and the service gets a brand-new one that's supposedly pretty great with inKONBINI. I've highlighted inKONBINI before as a promising new title that taps into an interesting aspect of Japanese culture, that of the local convenience store or konbini, and reviews so far have been absolutely glowing. It's only available on Game Pass Ultimate or Game Pass for PC for now, but if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, check it out now while you can.

• Release Date — April 30, 2026
• Developer — The Sledding Corporation
• Publisher — The Sledding Corporation
• Genre — Adventure, Co-Op, Cozy, Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 30, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

Game Pass tends to luck out from time to time with getting some incredibly viral games arriving on the service, and it closed out April with the adorable Sledding Game, a title that currently has an impressive 97% "Overwhelmingly Positive" user score on Steam across 1,400 reviews. The beauty of Sledding Game is that it can be whatever kind of experience you want, whether that's as a racing game against your friends, or just a chill snowy mountain simulator where you occasionally sled down the slopes.

• Release Date — April 30, 2026
• Developer — Payload Studios
• Publisher — Mythwright
• Genre — Action Roguelike, Vehicular Combat
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)
• Xbox Game Pass Arrival Date — April 30, 2026 (Game Pass Ultimate, PC)

The last major addition to Game Pass for April 2026 was the excellent TerraTech: Legion, the Vampire Survivors-like roguelike spin-off of TerraTech where you get to build a car and take it out against unending hordes of enemies. TerraTech: Legion is a phenomenal twist on the very saturated survivors-like subgenre of action roguelikes, and it's one of the few physics and driving-based ones that actually feels good to play.