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Xbox Game Pass August 2026 Wave 1: Every Game Coming and Leaving the Service

Xbox Game Pass logo beside two tiny riders on insects in a glowing golden grass scene from Grounded 2.
Credit: Xbox

Xbox Game Pass has revealed its August 2026 Wave 1 lineup, bringing 10 new games to the service across the first half of the month.


The standout additions this wave are PowerWash Simulator 2 and Grounded 2, alongside the cricket simulation Cricket 26 and the quirky dating sim Date Everything.


There are also two Game Previews in this wave, with Grounded 2 and Sandustry both arriving in Early Access.


On the departures side, four titles are leaving on August 15, including the beloved narrative adventure Firewatch.


Here is the full breakdown.


Games Coming to Xbox Game Pass: August 2026 Wave 1

August 6

  • Monsters are Coming! (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass

  • PowerWash Simulator 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass


August 11

  • Bounty Star (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass

  • Date Everything! (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass

  • Grounded 2, Game Preview (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass


August 12

  • Ball x Pit (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass


August 13

  • Cricket 26 (Cloud, Console, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass

  • Mio: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass

  • Sandustry, Game Preview (PC) - Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass


August 18

  • Egging On (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass


Key Highlights

Monsters are Coming! is a tower-survivor and action roguelite hybrid from Ludogram, published by Raw Fury. You protect a constantly moving city from waves of monsters, gathering resources through auto-attack style combat while placing and upgrading districts and towers on the fly. It launched on PC in late 2025 and arrived on Xbox Series X|S alongside its Game Pass addition. The reception has been generally favorable, with a Metacritic score around 79 and an OpenCritic score in the high 80s. Critics highlighted its clever blend of Vampire Survivors-style combat with tower defense and city-building, praising its addictive one-more-run loop and vibrant visual style.


PowerWash Simulator 2 is the follow-up to one of Game Pass's most beloved cozy titles, developed and published by FuturLab. The sequel expands the original's meditative cleaning loop with new tools including surface cleaners, abseiling rigs, and lifts, a career mode packed with dozens of jobs, home-base customization, and an improved co-op mode that now supports split-screen with shared progress. It launched in late 2025 and has been broadly praised as a smart and generous sequel that keeps everything that worked about the original while adding meaningful new content.


Bounty Star is an action game from Dinogod, published by Annapurna Interactive, blending customizable mech combat with light farming and base management. You play as war veteran Clem in a post-apocalyptic American Southwest, taking on bounties in a mech with melee, ranged, and defensive loadouts before returning to manage a ranch and upgrade your base between missions. It launched in late 2025 to a mixed to positive reception. IGN gave it an 8 out of 10 and praised its unique genre blend, atmospheric setting, and emotional storytelling, while Steam reviews have been more mixed at around 66% positive, with some criticism around combat feel and pacing.


Date Everything! is a quirky dating simulator from Sassy Chap Games, published by Team17. Using a pair of special glasses called Dateviators, you bring over 100 household objects to life as fully voiced anthropomorphic characters and build romance, friendship, or outright hatred relationships with them across daily conversation limits and stat-building mechanics. It launched in mid-2025 with a star-studded voice cast and was met with a generally favorable reception, earning a Metacritic score around 78. Critics praised it as one of the most creative and well-written dating sims in recent memory, with the character writing and voice performances singled out as standout strengths.


Grounded 2 is the sequel to Obsidian Entertainment's hit survival adventure, developed alongside Eidos-Montreal and published by Xbox Game Studios. You play as miniaturized teens exploring a larger backyard park environment, gathering resources, crafting weapons and armor, building bases, fighting insects, and using new systems like the Omni-Tool and rideable Buggies. It launched in Early Access on Xbox and PC in July 2025 and is now also expanding to PlayStation 5 in Early Access on August 11 alongside its Game Pass Premium addition.


Ball x Pit is a roguelite from solo developer Kenny Sun, published by Devolver Digital, that fuses brick-breaker arcade action with town-building. You launch and bounce balls to destroy descending waves of enemies in a pit, collect resources from the carnage, and then return to expand and upgrade a base that unlocks new characters, abilities, and ball types for future runs. It launched in October 2025 and earned enthusiastic praise, with Steam reviews sitting at overwhelmingly positive. Critics called it an inventive and deeply addictive genre mashup with surprising strategic depth.


Cricket 26 is the latest cricket simulation from Big Ant Studios, published by Nacon, and the official game of the Ashes. It features enhanced batting, bowling, and fielding mechanics, an expanded Ashes mode, a Pro Team card collection and multiplayer component, community content support, and a new Management Career mode built around squad strategy and long-term team development. It launched in late 2025 to a mixed to positive reception.


Mio: Memories in Orbit is a 2.5D Metroidvania from Douze Dixiemes, published by Focus Entertainment. You control Mio, a small robot exploring a vast, deteriorating spaceship called The Vessel, navigating interconnected areas with fluid aerial combat, precise platforming, and a suite of movement abilities including wall-climbing, grappling, and gliding. The environmental storytelling pieces together the history of the ship and its former inhabitants across boss fights and exploration. It launched in January 2026 to a generally favorable reception with an OpenCritic score around 83. Critics frequently compared it to Hollow Knight and Ori, praising its beautiful art direction, atmospheric score, and tight movement systems.


Sandustry is a 2D factory automation sandbox from Lantoo Games, published by Hooded Horse, arriving in Early Access on PC via Game Pass on August 13. What sets it apart from other factory builders is its full pixel-level physics engine, where every grain of sand and resource has individual physics and chemical reactions. You explore and dig into a procedurally generated planet, set up production chains with conveyor belts, filters, and pumps, automate resource processing, and uncover the secrets of an ancient civilization buried beneath the surface.


Egging On is a physics-based precision platformer from Egobounds, published by Alibi Games. You control a fragile egg with realistic wobbly physics, where the sloshing of the yolk inside genuinely affects your momentum and movement. You roll, jump using the pointed end for extra height, and carefully navigate vertical levels set across a farm, factory, and other environments. An optional checkpoint system via drones helps make the demanding difficulty more approachable. It launched on PC and consoles in late 2025 to a mostly positive reception, praised for its inventive egg physics, clever level design, and humor. It sits in similar territory to Getting Over It in terms of its willingness to frustrate players, but with more accessibility options to ease the experience.


Games Leaving Xbox Game Pass on August 15

Four titles are heading out mid-month, so make sure you finish them before they go:

  • Menace, Game Preview (PC)

  • Atlas Fallen (Cloud, Console, and PC)

  • Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console, and PC)

  • Firewatch (Cloud, Console, and PC)


The most notable departure by far is Firewatch. Developed by Campo Santo and published by Panic, it is a first-person narrative adventure set in the Wyoming wilderness in 1989 that follows fire lookout Henry as a mystery slowly unfolds around him. It holds a Metacritic score of around 81 and is widely regarded as one of the finest indie narrative experiences ever made, with its voice acting, writing, and art direction all receiving near-universal praise.


Atlas Fallen is also worth a mention for players who enjoy stylish action combat. Despite a mixed overall reception, its momentum-based sand combat and monster fights drew consistent praise, and later updates improved the experience meaningfully.


Menace, meanwhile, is the Early Access turn-based tactics game from the Battle Brothers team, and it has been building a strong reputation in the strategy community since its February 2026 launch.

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