Xbox Game Pass loses some horror greats, but gains a kid-friendly racing game

By Tomas Franzese April 2, 2024

A custom car built drives around Lego 2K Drive. — 2K

We’ve learned what games will come to Xbox Game Pass over the first half of this April, and leading the batch is Lego 2K Drive, a Lego racing game that’s a solid alternative to the Forza Horizon games that are also available on Microsoft’s subscription service.

Lego 2K Drive was released in May 2023 and is an enjoyable racing game where players can build their own Lego vehicles and race throughout several open worlds. It found the middle ground between the likes of Mario Kart and Forza Horizon and thrives in that space, even if the microtransactions can be a little aggressive for a game aimed at children. Playground Games has not yet confirmed if another Forza Horizon game is in the works at this time, so Xbox fans can play this game to fill that void until a new one is announced.

Other notable additions include the solid indie title Lil Gator Game and Harold Halibut, a claymation adventure game 14 years in the making. Here’s the full list of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass between today, April 2, and April 16, in chronological order.

Superhot: Mind Control Delete — April 2
Lego 2K Drive — April 3
Lil Gator Game — April 4
EA Sports PGA Tour — April 4
Kona — April 9
Botany Manor — April 9
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition — April 11
Harold Halibut — April 16

As usual, some games will also leave Xbox Game Pass mid-month. The biggest loss happening on April 15 is Back 4 Blood, a fun Left 4 Dead spiritual successor from Turtle Rock Studios and WB Games. This is the full list of games leaving the service on April 15:

Amnesia Collection
Amnesia: Rebirth
Back 4 Blood
Phantom Abyss
Research and Destroy
Soma

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Gaming Staff Writer

Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

Check out this fantastic horror game before it leaves Xbox Game Pass next week

A gun sits in a drawer in Signalis.

Grief can be unexplainable. I lost my grandfather a few years ago, and after his cremation, my family and I went back to his house and argued a bit about who would be sleeping in his bed. The bedroom was the same as before he passed, but there seemed to be a weird hole on the side of the bed where he used to sleep. It was like a shadow hovering just above the sheets. He was both there and not, and it was tough to put into words, even with others in the house.

SIGNALIS - Official Launch Trailer

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass gains some great indies, but loses one of 2022’s best games

Marissa Marcel at a gala in Immortality.

Microsoft has announced the games that will join the Xbox Game Pass catalog during the back half of August and earliest days of September. That list includes four solid indie titles, two of which are day-one Xbox Game Pass releases. Unfortunately, the number of games leaving at the end of the month is greater than the number of games coming, and one of the games exiting the service is Immortality, one of Digital Trends' favorite games of 2023.
To start with the positive, all four games coming to the service during the rest of August are pretty solid. Campo Santo's Firewatch and Nomada Studios' Gris are both excellent, emotional indie adventures that garnered critical acclaim in the year since their release. Firewatch hits the service on August 17, while Gris won't be added until September 5. Then there's the day one Xbox Game Pass launches. First up is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game on August 18, which adapts the classic horror series into an asymmetrical multiplayer game, just like what happened to Evil Dead last year. Finally, there's Sea of Stars, a retro-inspired RPG coming out on August 29 that's also launching into the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog on the day it launches.

Sadly, six games will leave Xbox Game Pass on August 31, many of which are very good. The most notable for us is Immortality, a subversive and innovative game from Sam Barlow that has players scrubbing through the footage of three unreleased films to solve a mystery. The less you know about the game going into it, the better, but just know this was one of the best games to come out in 2022 and a must-play if you adore both film and video games.
Tinykin, Surgeon Simulator 2, and Nuclear Throne are all also great indie games that you won't have a bad time playing. Here's the full list of games leaving Xbox Game Pass on August 31:

Gaming

You can’t play Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox, but you can play these 6 Game Pass RPGs

A player conversation in Baldur's Gate 3.

Baldur's Gate 3 just launched on PC on August 3 and comes to PlayStation 5 shortly on September 6. Unfortunately, an Xbox Series X/S version of the RPG does not have any concrete release date. Developer Larian Studios explained in a community post that this is because it doesn't "want to compromise on quality and feel it would be a shame to downscale to 30 [frames per second, aka fps] or make other compromises to hit an arbitrary date." Still, it's disappointing that Xbox players can't get in on the fun anytime soon. Thankfully, there isn't a shortage of alternatives on Microsoft's gaming platforms.
Xbox Game Pass is home to dozens of RPGs, many of which share the same computer-RPG roots as Baldur's Gate 3. While Xbox players might not be able to enjoy Larian Studios' shockingly thorough and immensely enjoyable Dungeons & Dragons CRPG just yet, they can't go wrong playing these six titles right now.
Fallout: New Vegas

Where Baldur's Gate 3 may be the pinnacle of fantasy RPG games inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout: New Vegas is that for postapocalyptic RPGs. This game from Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks -- both of which are now owned by Microsoft -- first released in 2010. Despite some in-game glitches that still persist, the Xbox 360 version of Fallout: New Vegas on Xbox Game Pass is just as enthralling of a role-playing experience as it was nearly 13 years ago. The Xbox 360 version can even be played at 60 fps on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, thanks to the FPS Boost feature.
Like Baldur's Gate 3, it's a faithful follow-up to some classic CRPGs that give players a massive amount of choice as they complete their adventure however they see fit. You can have endless fun exploring the world and creating experiences that feel personal to you while dealing with its eclectic cast of factions and characters. While it's a bit rough around the edges in certain aspects, New Vegas is still one of the best RPGs ever made. As such, it's worth replaying or trying first the first time if you want to play an RPG, but can't experience Baldur's Gate 3 right now.
Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire