Microsoft has officially announced the Wave 2 Xbox Game Pass lineup for April 2026. The newly revealed roadmap includes half a dozen titles, among them five day-one releases, as well as one additional arrival for next month that strongly suggests the most likely date when the Wave 1 Xbox Game Pass scheduled for May will be formally confirmed.
The gaming industry’s biggest subscription content catalog received 18 new games in January, followed by an extra 20 in February 2026. March then marked 16 more arrivals, while another ten joined the ever-rotating library between April 1 and 17. The monthly expansion will continue with a Vampire Survivors spin-off, as day-one Xbox Game Pass title Vampire Crawlers is due to debut worldwide on April 21, in approximately one hour as of this writing.
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Xbox Game Pass Wave 2 Lineup for April 2026 Includes 5 Day-One Releases
Microsoft announced the next batch of arrivals a day before its most recent prior Xbox Game Pass lineup came to an end. The company has hence formally confirmed that the Wave 2 roadmap for April 2026 spans six titles: Kiln, Aphelion, Trepang2, Sledding Game, Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, and TerraTechLegion. Five of those are day-one games, with the only exception being Trepang2, a 2023 first-person shooter made by Canadian developer Trepang Studios and published by Worms creator Team17.
In typical Wave 2 fashion, the newly shared schedule spills into the month ahead, although not as much as it sometimes does; the lineup ends with the 2021 Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy 5, which is now officially confirmed to be joining the service on May 5. That will be less than a month after the newest version of Final Fantasy 4 (from the same remaster collection) appeared in the Xbox Game Pass library. Likewise, the original trilogy was rolled out to subscribers in stages, presenting one new game each month since the start of 2026.
Xbox Game Pass Wave 2 Lineup for April 2026
|
Date |
Game |
Game Pass Tier(s) |
Platform(s) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Apr 21 |
Vampire Crawlers |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, Handheld, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
|
Apr 21 |
Little Rocket Lab |
Premium |
Cloud, Console, PC |
Available on XGP Ultimate and PC GP since Oct 2025. |
|
Apr 21 |
SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato |
Premium |
Cloud, Console, Handheld, PC |
Available on XGP Ultimate and PC GP since Oct 2025. |
|
Apr 23 |
Kiln |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, Handheld, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
|
Apr 28 |
Aphelion |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, Handheld, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
|
Apr 29 |
Trepang2 |
Ultimate, PC, Premium |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
|
|
Apr 30 |
Sledding Game |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release for 2026. |
|
Apr 30 |
Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era |
Ultimate, PC |
PC |
Game Preview; day-one release. |
|
Apr 30 |
TerraTech Legion |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
Considering Final Fantasy 5 arrives on May 5, Microsoft’s Wave 1 reveal for next month may also be planned for that day, not least because of the company’s longstanding preference for sharing subscription catalog update news on Tuesdays. Still, exceptions, while uncommon, remain possible. Case in point: this newest lineup announcement went live on Monday, April 20. The last time Xbox Game Pass had a full-fledged lineup reveal on a Monday was in November 2024.
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All Xbox Game Pass Arrivals with Confirmed Release Dates in May 2026 and Beyond
|
Date |
Game |
Game Pass Tier(s) |
Platform(s) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
May 5 |
Final Fantasy V |
Ultimate, PC, Premium |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
|
|
May 19 |
Forza Horizon 6 |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
|
Jul 13 |
Ascend to Zero |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
|
Aug 4 |
Beast of Reincarnation |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
|
Aug 13 |
Mafia: Definitive Edition |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
|
|
Aug 14 |
Grave Seasons |
Ultimate, PC |
Cloud, PC, Series X/S |
Day-one release. |
As is frequently the case, the month’s final catalog update is reserved for departures. Nine titles are due to leave Xbox Game Pass on April 30, with the upcoming removals including some fan favorites such as Citizen Sleeper, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, and Goat Simulator Remastered. This will be the single largest wave of departures since late March 2025, when the service lost 10 games.
