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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Technology
Alan Martin

Xbox Game Pass April releases: full list of new games

A new month means new titles for Xbox Game Pass – Microsoft’s all-you-can-play subscription gaming service.

Below are all the titles currently confirmed, along with their release date and average review score via Metacritic (where available) so you can prioritise what to play next. We’ve also highlighted the games that are leaving the service so you can try and finish any saved games you have underway.

Here’s what’s coming to Xbox Game Pass in April.

Incoming Xbox Game Pass new releases in April

Ghostwire Tokyo: use psychic and paranormal powers to defeat ghosts (Bethesda)

April 4 – EA Sports PGA Tour (10-hour trial)

Unusually, this is more of an extended demo than a full game but 10 hours should give you plenty of time to decide whether virtual golfing is for you.

April 12 – Ghostwire Tokyo

With its one-year exclusivity period on PS5 over, Ghostwire: Tokyo is likely to now be a permanent fixture on Game Pass, given Microsoft now owns Bethesda. It’s a first-person action-adventure game where you use psychic and paranormal powers to defeat ghosts haunting a modern-day deserted Tokyo, and has a solid 75% rating on Metacritic.

April 18 – Minecraft Legends

Minecraft Legends: protect your settlement against marauders (Microsoft)

What if Minecraft was a real-time strategy game? That’s the question that Minecraft Legends will hope to answer when it launches on April 18. In other words, you’ll still be building, but you’ll spend more time protecting your settlement against marauders.

April 20 – Coffee Talk Episode 2

The original Coffee Talk was the definition of a cosy game. A text-based game where you offer a virtual ear to people’s problems while brewing them coffee. It won’t be for everyone, but the original has a very positive average score of 76% on Metacritic.

April 27 – The Last Case of Benedict Fox

The Last Case of Benedict Fox: a demonic companion helps you to solve a murder (Rogue Games)

A day-one release, so it’s hard to know exactly what to expect from this one. But it appears to be a Metroidvania-style adventure where you try to solve a murder mystery with a little help from a demonic companion. Hopefully the gameplay matches the stunning art style.

TBC in April – Homestead Arcana

A magical farming game, you play as Billie — a witch charged with reviving a dying patch of land via spells and base building. All with a little help from your cat familiar, Huckleberry.

And for PC Game Pass…

Those with PC Game Pass get all of the above, except the EA Sports PGA Tour trial. On top of that, there are two PC exclusives are coming to those who have Game Pass for PC or Game Pass Ultimate. They’re Everspace 2 on the 6th, and Cassette Beasts on the 26th.

Last chance! Games leaving Xbox Game Pass in April

Microsoft giveth, Microsoft taketh away. In April, the following games leave Game Pass:

  • Life is Strange: True Colors
  • Moonglow Bay
  • Panzer Corps 2
  • The Dungeon of Nahuelbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos
  • The Long Dark
  • The Riftbreaker
  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
  • Quantum Break

All of these are scheduled to vanish on April 15, except Quantum Break, which doesn’t currently have an expiry date attached.

April Game with Gold releases

Those with Xbox Live Gold (included with Game Pass Ultimate but sold separately from Xbox and PC Game Pass) get two additional games to keep as long as they’re subscribed. In April, these are:

  • Out of Space: Couch Edition (available from April 1 to April 30)
  • Peaky Blinders: Mastermind (available April 16 to May 15)

What are the benefits of Xbox Game Pass?

Xbox Game Pass is one of the best value propositions in gaming: all-you-can-play games for a monthly fee. That includes all of Microsoft’s first-party titles, including the likes of Doom, Fallout, Gears of War, Forza and more.

There are three flavours of Game Pass to buy: Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate.

The first two are reasonably self-explanatory: games for console or PC, costing £7.99 per month (although the PC version is slightly more generous, in that it includes EA Play as well.)

Game Pass Ultimate is all of the above and more. As well as containing all the games for PC and Xbox, it includes EA titles via EA Play, Xbox Live Gold for online multiplayer and cloud gaming, letting you stream titles to your phone or laptop. It will set you back £10.99 per month.

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