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Following Microsoft's recent news of Xbox Game Pass subscription updates, featuring a price increase for the top tier to $thirty per month, numerous subscribers are looking for fresh ways to get the most from their membership. For those holding onto their membership or considering joining, here are this week's picks.

Our selected titles feature a beloved JRPG, a delightful independent adventure, and a superb puzzler set to depart from the service shortly.

Persona 4 Golden

Among the best ways to get your money's worth from Game Pass is by immersing yourself in a extensive, captivating role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden fits that bill perfectly. Players take on the role of a high school student who has relocated to the sleepy rural town of Inaba. During the day, your objectives include forming friendships, taking on employment, and managing studies. By night, you investigate a chilling string of murders by exploring strange locations based on your companions' inner fears.

With a unforgettable cast of characters, strategic battle system, impeccable visuals, and a plot packed with twists, Persona 4 Golden is considered a masterpiece for many reasons. It also features a highly addictive gameplay loop that will have you playing late into the night, night after night.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato

Although major releases like Ninja Gaiden IV are a primary attraction for the service, the platform also showcases smaller indie gems. A great example of this is Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato. Inspired by the animated classic, this charming indie adventure is a fantasy journey rooted in Latin American culture. Players follow Miho, who, after helping his grandmother prepare soup, is pulled into a vibrant realm filled with potato-stealing frogs and other quirky animals.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato plays out similar to an learning-focused PC game from the 90s, as Miho solves puzzles and aids the world's inhabitants by gathering an assortment of objects. Though it's a bit unpolished, Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato is a heartwarming small game that proudly showcases its appreciation for South America.

Cocoon

Cocoon is scheduled to exit the service on Oct. 15, giving you only a few days to experience it via subscription — and you definitely should. Studio Geometric Interactive designed one of the finest puzzlers of recent years in 2023's Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure. Its central gameplay element revolves around transitioning among realms within additional dimensions, and often you'll transport those worlds, in the shape of colorful spheres, with you.

Although it lacks explicit guidance, everything about Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure's puzzles is designed in a very natural way, yet they will challenge you as well. 2023 was a massive period for games, so it's no surprise if Cocoon was a bit overlooked by the masses. We should correct that while we can.