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After Microsoft's recent announcement of Game Pass subscription changes, featuring a price increase for the Ultimate Tier to $thirty per month, numerous subscribers are seeking new methods to maximize their subscription. For those holding onto their membership or considering signing up, here are our latest picks.

This weekend's games feature a acclaimed JRPG, a charming indie adventure, and a brilliant puzzler scheduled to leave the service shortly.

Persona 4 Golden

Among the top ways to maximize value from Game Pass is by diving into a extensive, captivating role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden fits that description perfectly. You step into the part of a teenager who has just moved to the quiet rural town of Inaba. By day, your goals involve making new friends, taking on employment, and keeping up with schoolwork. By night, you investigate a disturbing string of murders by exploring strange locations themed around your companions' deepest insecurities.

With a memorable group of heroes, tactical turn-based combat, impeccable visuals, and a storyline full of surprises, Persona 4: The Golden Edition is considered a masterpiece for good reason. It also features a highly addictive gameplay loop that will keep you up late into the night, repeatedly.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato

Although big titles like Ninja Gaiden IV are a key selling point for Game Pass, the subscription also highlights smaller indie gems. A perfect instance of this is Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato. Inspired by the animated classic, this charming independent game is a magical realist tale steeped in South American culture. Players follow Miho, who, after helping his grandma prepare soup, is transported to a vibrant realm filled with potato-stealing frogs and other quirky creatures.

Sopa plays out similar to an learning-focused PC game from the 90s, as Miho solves challenges and aids the realm's residents by gathering an inventory of objects. Even if it's a little rough around the edges, Sopa is a sweet little game that openly showcases its love for South America.

Cocoon

Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure is set to exit the service on October 15, leaving only a short time to experience it via subscription — and you absolutely must. Developer Geometric Interactive designed one of the best puzzle games of recent years in 2023's Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure. Its core puzzle mechanic focuses on transitioning among worlds within other dimensions, and often you'll transport those realms, in the form of vibrant orbs, with you.

Although it lacks direct instructions, everything about Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure's puzzles is built in a very natural way, though they will 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 now.