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Xbox Game Pass is one of the best deals in gaming today. For $10 a month, you get access to a Netflix-style library of video games that you can download and play whenever you want. Some marquee games hit the service the same day they’re released, as with Outriders or Rainbow Six Extraction. In other words, it’s no surprise that the subscription claims more than 20 million members.
But as good a deal as Game Pass is, it can also be seriously overwhelming. On console, you’ll find hundreds of titles at your fingertips. Seeing as games are bigger now than ever, you can reasonably only have a handful of Game Pass titles on your console at any given time. So, where should you start?
Below, you’ll find a rundown of the best games currently on Xbox Game Pass. Some ground rules: Don’t expect to see any Microsoft tentpoles here—your Forzas, your Halos, and so on—seeing as, if you have an Xbox you’re probably well aware those games exist and are worth playing. We’re further keeping this list console-only for now. (Members of Xbox Game Pass for PC get access to a similar list that includes most of these games but has some that aren’t available on console.) Of course, games are also periodically added to Game Pass—and periodically leave, too. We will continue to update this list as availability shifts.
Hades
A game about Greek gods should make you feel like a god. Hades sure as hell does. The isometric roguelike, developed by Supergiant Games, casts you as Zagreus, son of Hades. Your goal is to escape the land of the dead, fighting your way through the various regions of the Greek afterlife. Along the way, you earn new powers, weapons, and tactics, and quickly get to a point where you’re slicing through the shades of hell like butter.
Hades can sometimes be a punishing exercise in repetition, but it never gets old, thanks to a nonlinear narrative that moves forward with every run—whether you live or die. But if Hades is running you through the wringer, there’s a mode (called, literally, “god mode”) that tilts the balance in your favor.
A Good Match For: Fans of roguelikes, action games, mind-bending narrative design, and the bottomless well of intrigue that comprises the Greek mythical canon.
Rough Average Playtime: 45.5 hours
Read the full article on Kotaku
