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After Microsoft's latest news of Game Pass membership changes, including a price increase for the top tier to $30 per month, numerous subscribers are seeking new ways to maximize their membership. For those holding onto their subscription or thinking about signing up, here are our latest recommendations.

Our selected games include a acclaimed Japanese role-playing game, a charming indie adventure, and a brilliant puzzler scheduled to leave the platform shortly.

Persona 4 Golden

One of the best ways to get your money's worth from your subscription is by diving into a extensive, engaging role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden matches that description exactly. You step into the part of a high school student who has just moved to the sleepy rural town of Inaba. During the day, your objectives include making friendships, working part-time jobs, and managing schoolwork. By night, you investigate a disturbing serial murder case by venturing into unique dungeons based on your companions' deepest insecurities.

With a memorable group of heroes, tactical turn-based combat, flawless art design, and a storyline full of surprises, Persona 4 Golden is considered a masterpiece for many reasons. It also features a incredibly addictive cycle that will have you playing past bedtime, night after night.

Sopa - Tale of the Stolen Potato

While big releases like Ninja Gaiden IV are a key selling point for Game Pass, the platform also highlights smaller games. A great example of this is Sopa - Tale of the Stolen Potato. Drawing from Spirited Away, this enchanting indie game is a fantasy journey steeped in South American traditions. You follow Miho, who, after helping his grandmother prepare soup, is pulled into a colorful world populated by potato-nabbing frogs and other eccentric animals.

Sopa unfolds like an learning-focused PC game from the 90s, as Miho solves challenges and aids the world's inhabitants by gathering an assortment of objects. Even if it's a little unpolished, Sopa is a heartwarming small game that openly showcases its love for the region's culture.

Cocoon

Cocoon is scheduled to exit Game Pass on Oct. 15, giving you only a short time to experience it via your membership — and you absolutely should. Developer the creators crafted one of the finest puzzlers of this generation in the 2023 release Cocoon. Its core gameplay element revolves around moving between realms inside additional dimensions, and often you'll carry those realms, in the form of colorful orbs, alongside you.

While it lacks direct guidance, everything about Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure's puzzles is built in a highly intuitive manner, though they can challenge you as well. 2023 was a massive year for games, so it's understandable if Cocoon was somewhat overlooked by the masses. We should rectify that while we can.