🔗 Share this article

Following the company's latest announcement of Xbox Game Pass subscription updates, featuring a price increase for the Ultimate Tier to $30 monthly, numerous members are looking for fresh ways to get the most from their subscription. If you keeping their subscription or considering signing up, we present this week's picks.

Our selected games feature a beloved JRPG, a delightful independent adventure, and a brilliant puzzler scheduled to leave the service shortly.

Persona 4: The Golden Edition

One of the best ways to maximize value from Game Pass is by diving into a lengthy, captivating role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden fits that bill exactly. Players take on the role of a high school student who has just moved to the quiet countryside of Inaba. By day, your goals involve forming new friends, taking on employment, and managing studies. At night, you investigate a disturbing string of murders by exploring unique dungeons based on your companions' deepest insecurities.

With a unforgettable group of heroes, strategic turn-based combat, flawless art design, and a plot full of twists, Persona 4 Golden is considered a classic for many reasons. It also boasts a highly engrossing cycle that will keep you up past bedtime, repeatedly.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato

Although big releases like Ninja Gaiden 4 are a key attraction for Game Pass, the subscription also highlights lesser-known indie gems. A great instance of this is Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato. Drawing from Spirited Away, this enchanting independent adventure is a magical realist journey rooted in South American traditions. Players join Miho, who, after helping his grandmother make soup, is pulled into a vibrant realm filled with potato-nabbing frogs and various eccentric animals.

Sopa unfolds like an learning-focused PC game from the 90s, as Miho tackles challenges and helps the realm's residents by collecting an inventory of items. Though it's a bit unpolished, Sopa is a sweet small experience that proudly showcases its love for South America.

Cocoon

Cocoon is scheduled to exit Game Pass on October 15, leaving only a few days to experience it via your membership — and you definitely should. Studio the creators crafted one of the finest puzzlers of recent years in 2023's Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure. Its central puzzle mechanic focuses on transitioning among realms inside additional worlds, and often you'll carry those worlds, in the shape of colorful spheres, alongside you.

While it doesn't have explicit instructions, everything about Cocoon's challenges is designed in a highly natural manner, yet they can challenge you as well. 2023 was a big year for games, so it's no surprise if Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure was somewhat missed by the masses. We should correct that while we can.