Xbox’s April 2026 Wave 2 Game Pass update is not just another library dump. It is a practical checklist for the next ten days. The headline additions are Kiln on April 23, Aphelion on April 28, and Final Fantasy V on May 5, but the other half of the post matters just as much: most of the current leaving list still drops out on April 30.
That makes this less of a hype story and more of a planning story. If you subscribe to Game Pass, Xbox just told you what deserves your next few sessions and what needs a last call before the month closes.
What is coming in Wave 2
The official Xbox Wire post lays out the next batch clearly:
- April 21: Little Rocket Lab, Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato
- April 23: Kiln
- April 28: Aphelion
- April 29: Trepang2
- April 30: Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era (Game Preview), Sledding Game (Game Preview), TerraTech Legion
- May 5: Final Fantasy V
Xbox also tags several of these as day-one Game Pass releases and keeps the usual Cloud / Console / Handheld / PC platform labels attached where relevant. For subscribers, that is the useful part. The lineup is spread across the rest of April, so the post works like a calendar, not just a trailer reel.
The April 30 list is the other real story
The departures are where this post stops being background noise. Xbox says Citizen Sleeper, Creatures of Ava, Endless Legend 2, Goat Simulator, Goat Simulator Remastered, Hunt Showdown 1896, NHL 24 (EA Play), and Revenge of the Savage Planet are all still set to leave on April 30.
There is one important correction in the same post: Xbox added an editor’s note on April 22 saying Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 will not be leaving on April 30 after all. That is worth calling out because it changes the usual end-of-month scramble for anyone who still had that game on the shortlist.
What changes for subscribers now
The clean read is simple. Kiln looks like the near-term day-one slot to watch this week, Aphelion is the bigger sci-fi swing next week, and Final Fantasy V gives the lineup a useful classic-RPG anchor right after month-end. At the same time, the April 30 exits still create a real deadline for anyone halfway through the older library.
We do not have good evidence yet for broader subscriber reaction, so there is no point pretending this lineup has already landed as a hit or a miss. What we do have is enough for a sharper takeaway: Wave 2 gives Game Pass subscribers a clearer play order for the rest of April, and the leaving list still carries more urgency than the marketing copy around it.
For more GameGuideDog coverage, browse our hardware section, check the latest English stories, revisit our Kiln launch roadmap report, or read our Xbox Game Pass pricing update.
