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After Microsoft's latest announcement of Game Pass membership updates, including a cost hike for the Ultimate Tier to $thirty monthly, many members are seeking fresh methods to maximize their subscription. For those keeping their subscription or thinking about signing up, we present our latest picks.

Our selected games include a beloved JRPG, a delightful independent adventure, and a brilliant puzzler scheduled to leave the service soon.

Persona 4: The Golden Edition

Among the best methods to maximize value from your subscription is by immersing yourself in a lengthy, captivating role-playing game — and Persona 4 Golden fits that description exactly. Players step into the role of a high school student who has just moved to the quiet rural town of Inaba. By day, your objectives involve forming new friends, working employment, and managing studies. By night, you investigate a disturbing serial murder case by exploring unique locations based on your companions' deepest insecurities.

With a unforgettable cast of characters, strategic turn-based combat, impeccable visuals, and a storyline packed with surprises, Persona 4: The Golden Edition is considered a classic for good reason. It also boasts a highly engrossing gameplay loop that will keep you up past bedtime, repeatedly.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato

Although major releases like Ninja Gaiden IV are a key selling point for Game Pass, the platform also highlights lesser-known indie gems. A perfect example of this is Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato. Inspired by Spirited Away, this enchanting independent game is a magical realist journey rooted in Latin American culture. You join Miho, who, after helping his grandmother prepare soup, is pulled into a colorful world filled with potato-nabbing frogs and other quirky animals.

Sopa plays out like an learning-focused PC game from the 1990s, as Miho solves puzzles and helps the realm's inhabitants by collecting an inventory of objects. Though it's a little rough around the edges, Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato is a sweet little game that proudly celebrates its love for South America.

Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure

Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure is scheduled to leave the service on Oct. 15, leaving only a few days to experience it via your membership — and you definitely 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 between realms inside additional dimensions, and frequently you'll transport those worlds, in the shape of colorful spheres, alongside you.

While it doesn't have direct instructions, everything about Cocoon's puzzles is built in a highly intuitive manner, though they will test you as well. 2023 was a big period for video games, so it's no surprise if Cocoon was somewhat missed by the masses. We should rectify that now.