For the past month, we’ve been running weekly recommendations for what we’re playing on Game Pass. It’s an opportunity for us to spotlight hidden gems or simply to talk about our favorite games. For this week, however, we have to kick things off by addressing the elephant in the room: Microsoft’s recent anti-consumer updates to Game Pass.
On Oct. 1, Microsoft announced a bevy of changes to its subscription service, with the most notable coming to the service’s Ultimate tier — which offers the most games available plus day-one access to new games from Xbox Game Studios. It’ll now cost $30 a month, up from $20. Understandably, subscribers were not happy, with many being vocal on social media and in comment sections about how they were going to cancel their plans.
It’s the end of an era for Game Pass as the former “best deal in gaming” is no more. Instead, gamers have to contemplate if $360 a year for Game Pass’s top tier is worth it to them, especially as everything else in life gets more expensive.
If you’re keeping your subscription, or looking for reasons to continue justifying it, read on for this week’s recommendations. They include one of the best Metroidvanias of all time, a 2025 Game of the Year contender, and a delightful JRPG sequel. Or, if you’re inclined to do away with Game Pass, see our guide on how to change or cancel your Game Pass subscription.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
If you do happen to stick with your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you’re probably going to need more excuses to use it. The best case for paying the extra cash is that you’ll now have access to a suite of Ubisoft+ Classics. You’ll get plenty of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games for your $30 a month, but the best perk is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
The 2D Metroidvania makes fantastic use of the series, taking it back to its platforming roots in a trap-filled labyrinth that’s a thrill to mantle around. Pair that with some of the deepest, most varied combat the genre offers, and you have the recipe for a top-shelf Metroidvania. Pair it with both Hollow Knight: Silksong and The Rogue Prince of Persia and you’re already breaking even on three months of your subscription cost. —Giovanni Colantonio
Blue Prince
The first-person puzzle game Blue Prince debuted to strong sales and a committed player base on Steam, but its console player base was buoyed at launch by subscription services (it was also available on PlayStation Plus). The world of mouth combined with its ease of access eventually helped the game reach 2 million players.
Checking out a game for a few hours to discover if it’s your jam or not is one of the core appeals of Game Pass, and anyone looking to get lost in a mystery should check out Blue Prince. You play as the heir to an estate and large inheritance, but only if you can find the mansion’s secret room. The catch? The mansion’s layout is ever-shifting, making Blue Prince a roguelike with new information to discover every day. I’ve spent a few hours with it and have been drip-fed secrets and puzzle clues surrounding the mystery at the heart of its manor, and I’m curious to see where the game goes as I uncover more. —Austin Manchester
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom – The Prince’s Edition
Am I recommending Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom just because the edition available on Game Pass is the Prince’s Edition version and that makes it tonally consistent with our preceding two recommendations? I’ll never tell. What I will tell, though, is that Ni No Kuni 2 is delightful follow-up to one of the best JRPGs of all time. Despite the whimsical Ghibli aesthetic and focus on younger characters, Ni No Kuni 2 doesn’t shy away from heavy topics, opening with an apparent terrorist attack on a modern-day city before immediately throwing the main character (the literal president) into an alternate dimension where they end up smack in the middle of a violent Medeival-era coup. Compared to the first game, the combat is more action-focused — think more like a Tales game than a Pokémon one — and features a genuinely deep and complex management in which you have to manage a kingdom. It might be the Prince’s Edition, but that sounds more like king shit to me. —Ari Notis
