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Over the last few weeks, we've been running regular suggestions for the games we are enjoying on the Game Pass service. It's an opportunity for us to highlight underrated titles or just discuss our favorite games. For this week, though, we need to begin by addressing the elephant in the room: Microsoft's recent unfavorable changes to the Game Pass subscription.

Starting October 1, Microsoft announced a bevy of changes to the service, with the most notable coming to the Ultimate plan — that provides the largest game library plus day-one access to latest releases from Xbox Game Studios. The new price is $30 monthly, up from $20. As expected, subscribers were not happy, with many being vocal on online platforms and in discussion forums about their plans to terminate their subscriptions.

This marks the conclusion for Game Pass as the former “best deal in gaming” is no more. Instead, players must consider if $360 a year for Game Pass's top tier is worth it to them, especially as everything else in life gets more expensive.

Should you maintain your membership, or looking for reasons to continue justifying it, check out this week's recommendations. These feature a top-tier Metroidvanias of recent years, a 2025 Game of the Year contender, and a charming role-playing game follow-up. Alternatively, if you're inclined to cancel Game Pass, refer to instructions on how to change or cancel your Game Pass subscription.

The Lost Crown: A Prince of Persia Adventure

Should you decide to keep your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you’re probably going to need more excuses to use it. A strong argument for paying the extra cash is that it includes to a collection of Ubisoft titles. You’ll get plenty of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games for your monthly payment, but the standout benefit is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

This side-scrolling adventure makes fantastic use of the franchise, taking it back to its platforming roots in a dangerous maze that’s a exciting to explore. Pair that with some of the deepest, diverse battle mechanics the category includes, and it creates a premium exploration game. Pair it with both Hollow Knight: Silksong and The Rogue Prince of Persia and you’re already breaking even on a quarter of your annual fee.

The Blue Prince Mystery

This investigative puzzle title Blue Prince debuted to impressive numbers and a dedicated community on PC platforms, but its console player base was supported initially by membership programs (it also appeared on PlayStation Plus). The word of mouth alongside its ease of access eventually helped the game attract two million users.

Checking out a game for several sessions to see if it suits your taste or not is a key advantage of Game Pass, and anyone looking to get lost in a puzzle should explore Blue Prince. You play as the heir to an estate and significant wealth, but provided that you can locate the hidden chamber. The challenge? The mansion's layout is ever-shifting, making Blue Prince a roguelike with fresh clues to discover every day. I've spent a few hours with it and have been gradually uncovering mysteries and puzzle clues related to the enigma at the core of the story, and I'm eager to discover how it develops as I progress further.

The Prince's Edition: Ni no Kuni 2

Is this suggestion Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom just because the edition available on the service is the Prince's Edition and that makes it tonally consistent with our previous selections? I'll never tell. What I will tell, though, is that Ni No Kuni 2 is excellent sequel to a top role-playing game of all time. Although featuring charming animation-style visuals and emphasis on youthful protagonists, Ni No Kuni 2 doesn't shy away from serious themes, opening with an apparent terrorist attack on a contemporary metropolis before quickly transporting the main character (a world leader) into an alternate dimension where they find themselves involved in a violent Medieval-era coup. Compared to the first game, the combat is more action-focused — think more like a action RPG than a Pokémon one — and includes a truly complex and complex management in which you must oversee a realm. While called the Prince's Edition, but it feels more like royal treatment to me.