Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass has a new day-one game that, according to Metacritic scores, is the best day-one Xbox Game Pass game of 2026, so far. This does not mean that the Xbox Game Pass day one game is the highest-rated game of 2026 of any release. This honor belongs to Pokémon Pokopia. By this measurement, it is actually the 15th highest-rated new release of 2026, but none of the 14 games above it have been day one Xbox Game Pass games.
Previously, the claimant of this title was Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors, which only recently took the title from MIO: Memories in Orbit, which had the title from January to April. The new highest-rated Xbox Game Pass day one game of 2026 is Beethoven and Dinosaur and Annapurna Interactive’s Mixtape, which currently has an 85 on Metacritic. The game just released yesterday, so it is possible this score will drop as more reviews populate, but right now, it has a little buffer between the aforementioned Vampire Crawlers.
Available on PC and Xbox Series X via Ultimate and PC Game Pass
In addition to a rock-solid 85 on Metacritic, Mixtape has impressed general consumers so far as well. The game is too new for user reviews on the Xbox Store, but it has user reviews on Steam, where it has a 96% approval rating after more than 100 user reviews. These are reviews from early adopters who are more likely to be favorable to the game, though.
For those unfamiliar with the title, it is the sophomore release from the aforementioned developer, who previously released The Artful Escape in 2021, which received a similar reception. To this end, it looks like Mixtape is going to end up being a more niche release in the broader video game market, but one with plenty of praise and moderate commercial success for an indie title.
As for the game itself, Mixtape is a narrative-driven coming-of-age adventure game that follows the story of three friends on their last night together, reliving a mixtape of memories.
What Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass users can expect from the game — which is locked behind a $20 purchase otherwise — is a fairly short game that runs about three to five hours long, depending on completion level.
All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think, or join the video game conversations happening over on the ComicBook Forum.