🔗 Share this article

Following Microsoft's latest news of Xbox Game Pass subscription changes, featuring a cost hike for the Ultimate Tier to $30 monthly, many subscribers are seeking new ways to maximize their subscription. If you holding onto their membership or thinking about signing up, here are this week's picks.

This weekend's titles include a beloved JRPG, a delightful indie journey, and a brilliant puzzler scheduled to leave the service shortly.

Persona 4 Golden

One of the top methods to maximize value from Game Pass is by immersing yourself in a lengthy, captivating role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden matches that description exactly. You step into the part of a teenager who has just moved to the sleepy rural town of Inaba. By day, your objectives include forming new friends, working employment, and managing studies. At night, you investigate a disturbing string of murders by exploring strange locations themed around your companions' deepest insecurities.

With a memorable group of heroes, strategic battle system, impeccable art design, and a storyline packed with surprises, Persona 4 Golden is considered a masterpiece for many reasons. It also boasts a incredibly engrossing gameplay loop that will keep you up late into the night, repeatedly.

Sopa - Tale of the Stolen Potato

Although major titles like Ninja Gaiden IV are a primary selling point for Game Pass, the platform also showcases lesser-known games. A perfect instance of this is Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato. Inspired by the animated classic, this enchanting indie game is a magical realist tale steeped in Latin American culture. Players follow Miho, who, after helping his grandma make soup, is pulled into a colorful realm filled with potato-stealing frogs and other eccentric creatures.

Sopa unfolds like an learning-focused computer title from the 90s, as Miho tackles challenges and helps the realm's residents by collecting an assortment of objects. Though it's a bit unpolished, Sopa is a heartwarming small game that proudly celebrates its appreciation for South America.

Cocoon

Cocoon is set to exit the service on October 15, leaving only a few days to experience it via subscription — and you absolutely should. Studio the creators designed one of the finest puzzlers of recent years in the 2023 release Cocoon. Its central gameplay element focuses on transitioning between worlds inside additional dimensions, and frequently you'll transport those realms, in the shape of vibrant spheres, with you.

While it lacks direct guidance, everything about Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure's challenges is designed in a highly intuitive way, though they can challenge you as well. The year 2023 proved a big year for games, so it's understandable if Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure was somewhat missed by many players. Let's rectify that while we can.