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Following Microsoft's recent announcement of Xbox Game Pass membership changes, including a price increase for the top tier to $thirty per month, numerous members are seeking fresh methods to maximize their membership. If you holding onto their subscription or considering joining, here are this week's picks.

This weekend's titles include a beloved Japanese role-playing game, a charming independent journey, and a superb puzzler scheduled to depart from the platform shortly.

Persona 4 Golden

Among the top ways to get your money's worth from your subscription is by immersing yourself in a lengthy, engaging role-playing game — and Persona 4: The Golden Edition fits that bill exactly. Players step into the part of a high school student who has relocated to the quiet rural town of Inaba. During the day, your objectives include making friendships, working part-time jobs, and keeping up with studies. By night, you work to solve a disturbing serial murder case by venturing into unique dungeons based on your companions' deepest insecurities.

With a memorable group of heroes, tactical battle system, impeccable art design, and a plot packed with twists, Persona 4: The Golden Edition is considered a classic for good reason. It also features a incredibly engrossing gameplay loop that will keep you up past bedtime, repeatedly.

Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato

While major titles like Ninja Gaiden 4 are a key attraction for Game Pass, the platform also showcases lesser-known indie gems. A perfect instance of this is Sopa - Tale of the Stolen Potato. Drawing from Spirited Away, this charming independent adventure is a magical realist tale steeped in Latin American culture. You follow Miho, who, after helping his grandma make soup, is transported to a colorful world filled with potato-stealing frogs and various quirky creatures.

Sopa plays out similar to an educational PC game from the 1990s, as Miho solves puzzles and aids the world's inhabitants by gathering an assortment of items. Even if it's a bit unpolished, Sopa is a heartwarming small experience that openly celebrates its love for the region's culture.

Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure

Cocoon: A Puzzle Adventure is scheduled to leave the service on Oct. 15, giving you only a few days to play it via your membership — and you absolutely must. Studio Geometric Interactive designed one of the finest puzzlers of recent years in the 2023 release Cocoon. Its core gameplay element focuses on transitioning among worlds within additional dimensions, and often you'll carry those worlds, in the shape of colorful spheres, alongside you.

While it lacks direct instructions, everything about Cocoon's puzzles is designed in a very intuitive way, yet they will challenge you as well. 2023 was a big year for games, so it's no surprise if Cocoon was a bit overlooked by the masses. Let's rectify that now.