// KOTAKU — GAMING
Game Pass Is About To Get One Of My Favorite Minimalist Strategy Games
The first wave of Xbox Game Pass additions for November 2026 has been revealed, and there are a whopping 12 games joining the Ultimate tier of the Netflix-like subscription service for the first time. It’s hard to choose a headliner, so I’ll highlight one of my favorite minimalist strategy games of the past few years: Thronefall.
Imagine what you love about a 2D medieval management sim like Kingdom Two Crowns, apply it to a top-down map, and add a lot more combat. You control a general who spends money on various buildings to generate resources and troops. Each round, you face a wave of enemies and then pick up the pieces once the sun rises again. It reduces the economy balancing and army micro-ing of a regular RTS down into its most basic but sublime elements. The graphics and music are excellent too.
Here’s everything joining Xbox Game Pass in wave 1 for November 2026:
Other games you should have on your radar are Void/Breaker, a new FPS roguelite with destructible environments that’s been getting some decent reviews. There’s also Warhammer Survivors, the upcoming Warhammer-themed spin on everyone’s favorite bullet heaven auto-shooter. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is decent enough for fans of the horde shooter genre, and if you had kids and took them to see the Paw Patrol dinosaur movie this summer, you’re in luck: Paw Patrol: Dino World is now free to play with Game Pass.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and Wreckfest are both leaving on November 15. Winter Burrow, a cozy survival game and a favorite in my household, will also be gone. But there’s still time to finish 1000xResist, a 2024 sci-fi visual novel that was one of that year’s best games.
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