🔗 Share this article

After the company's recent announcement of Xbox Game Pass membership changes, featuring a price increase for the Ultimate Tier to $30 monthly, many members are looking for new ways to maximize their subscription. For those keeping their membership or thinking about joining, here are this week's picks.

Our selected titles feature a acclaimed Japanese role-playing game, a charming indie adventure, and a brilliant puzzler scheduled to depart from the platform soon.

Persona 4 Golden

One of the top ways to maximize value from Game Pass is by diving into a lengthy, captivating role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden matches that bill perfectly. Players take on the role of a teenager who has just moved to the quiet rural town of Inaba. During the day, your objectives include forming new friends, taking on employment, and managing schoolwork. At night, you investigate a disturbing string of murders by exploring unique locations based on your companions' inner fears.

With a memorable cast of characters, strategic turn-based combat, flawless art design, and a storyline full of twists, Persona 4 Golden is considered a classic for good reason. It also features a incredibly addictive gameplay loop that will keep you up past bedtime, night after night.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato

Although big titles like Ninja Gaiden IV are a key attraction for the service, the platform also highlights lesser-known games. A perfect instance of this is Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato. Drawing from the animated classic, this charming independent adventure is a magical realist tale rooted in South American traditions. You join Miho, who, after helping his grandmother make soup, is pulled into a colorful world filled with potato-stealing frogs and various eccentric creatures.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato unfolds similar to an learning-focused PC game from the 1990s, as Miho tackles puzzles and helps the world's residents by gathering an assortment of objects. Even if it's a bit unpolished, Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato is a sweet small experience that openly celebrates its appreciation for the region's culture.

Cocoon

Cocoon is scheduled to exit Game Pass on October 15, giving you only a few days to play it via your membership — and you definitely must. Developer Geometric Interactive designed one of the best puzzle games of recent years in 2023's Cocoon. Its core gameplay element revolves around transitioning among realms within additional worlds, and often you'll carry those realms, in the form of vibrant orbs, alongside you.

Although it doesn't have direct instructions, everything about Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure's challenges is built in a highly natural way, yet they can test you as well. 2023 was a big period for games, so it's understandable if Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure was a bit missed by many players. We should correct that while we can.