Ghostwire Tokyo and Minecraft Legends lead April’s first wave of Xbox Game Pass free games

Xbox has revealed the next set of Xbox Game Pass games that will be available to subscribers of the service for the first few weeks of April 2023 – with two major releases debuting on the service on day one of their respective Xbox launches.

First off is Loop Hero, which arrives today on the service on both console and PC. It’s an endless RPG roguelike hybrid that uses a unique deck-building mechanic to determine things like enemies, buildings and more – with plenty more cards to unlock along the way. It’s followed by Iron Brigade on April 6, the Tower Defense shooter from Psychonauts 2 developer Double Fine Productions, originally released for the Xbox 360, and now will be available via Cloud and on Console.

April 12 will see Ghostwire Tokyo – a former PlayStation exclusive – come to Xbox consoles and launch right into Xbox Game Pass on Cloud, Console and PC flavours. If you missed our original Ghostwire Tokyo review read up on that, but the short version is that the game is a supernaturally-themed first person adventure, where you join forces with a spectral entity to find out just why an entire city’s population has seemingly vanished into thin air.

A day later will see EA’s NHL 23 strap on its ice skates and be available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, as that game arrives on the EA Play service, which is included on the higher tier subscription. Finally in this batch – Minecraft Legends is an all new action-strategy spin-off of the famous block building mega-franchise. And while it releases on just about everything, naturally as an Xbox published game will be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass on Cloud, Console and PC.

Xbox Game Pass Games leaving in April 2023

While those are the additions, the usual update wouldn’t be complete without the departure of a few games, and this month is no exception. Seven games will be departing this month – as well as an additional not mentioned here in the form of Xbox’s own Quantum Break.

Apparently, the reason for that game’s departure seems to be a licensing issue, according to an MS spokesperson speaking to German site Xbox Dynasty. However, apparently teams are working hard behind the scenes to return the game to the service as soon as possible.

The other games leaving Xbox Game Pass on April 15 are as follows:

• Life is Strange: True Colors (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Moonglow Bay (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Panzer Corps II (PC)
• Rainbow Six Extraction (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Long Dark (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Riftbreaker (Cloud, Console, and PC)

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