Published Apr 21, 2026, 8:53 AM EDT
Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers are having an incredible month so far and still have a ton to look forward to in the coming weeks. Xbox recently announced several new additions to the Game Pass library, including some real hidden gems available to all membership tiers.
This week alone, all Xbox Game Pass subscribers got a trove of new and upcoming games on the docket, with games like Little Rocket Lab and Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato, which were previously only available to the highest-tier Game Pass subscribers. Premium subscribers are also getting several new free titles and day-one releases, such as a new Vampire Crawlers game, available today, April 21.
However, there's one brand-new sci-fi game that's hitting Xbox Game Pass on April 28 as a free day-one release from the studio that brought us Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, and it features gameplay and story inspired by real-world science (Xbox Wire).
Game Pass Gets Exciting Day-One Sci-Fi Release Next Week
Fans of sci-fi action-adventure games who have an Xbox Game Pass Premium or PC-tier subscriber are getting an exciting new game from the studio behind Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Don't Nod. Aphelion is "a cinematic third-person action-adventure set on the planet Persephone, an uncharted, frozen world." It launches for free to Premium/PC members day one on Tuesday, April 28.
Aphelion takes place in 2060, after Earth has been destroyed and made uninhabitable and humans discovered a ninth planet at the edge of the solar system. "Stranded and isolated, you must survive the truly unknown, find each other, and complete the mission." Players will explore the dangerous uncharted planet and fight for survival against a mysterious lurking entity, following dual protagonists Thomas and Ariane.
"Ariane must persevere and push forward to save Thomas," using a unique "Pathfinder tool" and facing challenging parkour-based obstacles. "Thomas, injured in the crash, must rely on ingenuity and observation, piecing together what surrounds him to survive," with both characters discovering new details about the planet and understanding what caused them to crash on the planet in the first place.
Aphelion Features Real-World Science-Based Gameplay
Aside from Don't Nod's signature storytelling and character-based cinematic gameplay, developers worked closely with The European Space Agency to create real-world science-based gameplay, promising the following key features:
- Grounded sci-fi exploration: a realistic depiction of near-future space exploration
- Dual-perspective survival: experience both Thomas’s resourceful investigation and Ariane’s high-stakes parkour gameplay
- Cinematic third-person action: gripping traversal mechanics, with grappling, sliding, and momentum-driven movement
- Tense stealth encounters: face an alien threat in tense and exciting stealth-based sequences
- An emotional core: two astronauts bound by a complicated past, fighting to find each other
With a range of sci-fi gameplay elements such as stealth and survival mechanics, open-world exploration, and real-world physics, this is a must-play new adventure from a studio with a proven track record, and Xbox Game Pass subscribers will want to mark their calendars for April 28.
Number of Devices Concurrently Standard subscription plan allows two accounts playing at once, with four accounts playing at once on Friends & Family plan
Highest Resolution 1440p streaming
Number of Accounts ~35 million subscribers
Compatibility Xbox Series X|S, PC, ROG Xbox Ally, Android, iOS, Samsung & LG TVs, Meta Quest, Web Browser
English (US) ·