Summary
Microsoft’s on-demand game library has expanded to include nine titles since the turn of the month. Thelatest Xbox Game Pass arrival isHarold Halibut, a unique narrative-driven adventure with stop-motion animation, which reached the service on April 16 as a day-one release.
Mere hours following that launch, the company announced Wave 2 of itsXbox Game Pass April 2024 lineup. The newly confirmed additions to the platform areOrcs Must Die! 3,EA Sports NHL 24, andHave a Nice Death. The second half of the batch includesEiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes,Another Crab’s Treasure, andManor Lords. That latter trio has already been known to be coming to Microsoft’s content library, as it exclusively consists of upcoming titles that their publishers announced as day-one Xbox Game Pass releases.
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Ultimate tier only; non-cloud versions were already added in January 2024
Returning title that was last available in May 2022
PC Game Pass and Ultimate tiers only
Returning title that was last available in March 2021
Day-one release
📌Newly confirmed
📌Newly confirmed; Ultimate tier only
Day-one release; Game Preview; PC Game Pass and Ultimate tiers only
The first of the newly confirmed additions to reach Xbox Game Pass will beOrcs Must Die! 3, a 2020 action tower defense game that is set to debut this Wednesday, April 17.EA Sports NHL 24will be added to the service a day later. As is the case with all Electronic Arts titles that make their way to the platform, the ice hockey sim will require the EA Play add-on, which isone of the perks of Game Pass Ultimateand PC Game Pass subscriptions. But seeing howEA Sports NHL 24doesn’t have a PC version, it will only be available to Xbox console owners with an Ultimate-tier membership.
Critically acclaimed roguelikeHave a Nice Deathwill round off the Xbox Game Pass April 2024 Wave 2 lineup. Developed by France-based Magic Design Studios, this stylish indie game is scheduled to reach Microsoft’s subscription library on April 30, just over a month following its first anniversary.Have a Nice Deathwill be the first traditional roguelike to hit Xbox Game Pass in spring 2024. It was widely celebrated as a high-quality genre representative upon its release, with its aggregate review scores on Metacritic ranging from 77 to 81, depending on the platform.
Assuming no surprise launches take place in the next two weeks, Xbox Game Pass will ultimately add 15 new games over the course of this month. This will make April 2024 its most release-filled month of the year so far. But the month will only end up being a small net positive for the service, which lost six games on April 15 and is scheduled to lose half a dozen more on April 30.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft’s flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you may play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.
