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For the past month, we've been running weekly recommendations for the games we are enjoying on Game Pass. This is a chance for us to spotlight hidden gems or simply to talk about our favorite games. This time around, though, we need to begin by tackling the obvious issue: the latest unfavorable changes to the Game Pass subscription.

Starting October 1, Microsoft announced a series of adjustments to the service, with the most notable coming to the service's Ultimate tier — that provides the most games available plus day-one access to new games from Microsoft's game studios. The new price is $30 a month, up from $20. As expected, subscribers were not happy, with many being vocal on online platforms and in discussion forums about how they were going to cancel their plans.

It's the end of an era for the service as the former “best deal in gaming” has ended. Instead, players must consider if the annual $360 cost for the premium plan provides value to them, particularly when daily expenses continues to rise.

Should you maintain your membership, or seeking justifications to continue justifying it, read on for our current picks. They include one of the best exploration-platformers of recent years, a 2025 Game of the Year contender, and a delightful JRPG sequel. Or, should you prefer to do away with Game Pass, refer to instructions on how to change or cancel your Game Pass subscription.

The Lost Crown: A Prince of Persia Adventure

If you do happen to stick with your Ultimate membership, you’re probably going to need more excuses to use it. The best case for paying the extra cash is that it includes to a suite of Ubisoft+ Classics. This provides multiple Assassin's Creed games and Far Cry titles for your monthly payment, but the standout benefit is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

This side-scrolling adventure makes fantastic use of the series, returning to its origins in a trap-filled labyrinth that’s a thrill to mantle around. Pair that with exceptionally rich, most varied combat the genre offers, and you have the recipe for a top-shelf Metroidvania. Add in both Hollow Knight: Silksong and The Rogue Prince of Persia and the value becomes clear on three months of your subscription cost.

Blue Prince

The first-person puzzle game Blue Prince debuted to impressive numbers and a dedicated community on Steam, but console adoption was supported initially by membership programs (it also appeared on PlayStation Plus). The word of mouth combined with its simple availability eventually helped the game attract two million users.

Checking out a game for a few hours to discover if it's your jam or not is a key advantage of Game Pass, and anyone looking to get lost in a mystery should explore Blue Prince. You play as the inheritor of a property and large inheritance, but provided that you can locate the hidden chamber. The catch? The building's design is constantly changing, making Blue Prince a roguelike with fresh clues to discover every day. After several sessions with it and have been drip-fed secrets and hints surrounding the mystery at the core of the story, and I'm curious to see how it develops as I uncover more.

The Prince's Edition: Ni no Kuni 2

Is this suggestion Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom simply since the edition available on the service is the Prince's Edition and that creates thematic harmony with our previous selections? I'll never tell. What I can share, however, is that Ni No Kuni 2 is excellent sequel to one of the best JRPGs of all time. Although featuring charming animation-style visuals and emphasis on youthful protagonists, Ni No Kuni 2 addresses serious themes, beginning with an apparent terrorist attack on a contemporary metropolis before immediately throwing the protagonist (the literal president) into an other world where they find themselves involved in a historical power struggle. Compared to the first game, the battles are real-time — resembling a Tales game than a Pokémon one — and features a truly complex and complex management in which you have to manage a kingdom. It might be the Prince's Edition, but that sounds more like royal treatment to me.