The Best Games On Xbox Game Pass (November 2023)

Microsoft’s Game Pass service is easily worth the price of admission. Many might balk at the concept of having their video game library locked behind a subscription service, but the fact is subscribers get access to an incredible selection of titles spanning from indie darlings to triple-A blockbusters for a surprisingly affordable monthly fee.

RELATED: Everything You Need To Know About Xbox Game Pass

With such a dizzying array of fantastic titles on display, it can be a daunting task deciding which ones are worth a player’s time. Given that the cost of entry is taken care of with the subscription fee, the most pressing matter is determining the best use of your hard drive space. Thankfully, the diamonds of this collection are readily apparent. Here’s a look at the greatest games that Xbox Game Pass has to offer.

The selections listed here will include games available on EA Play, which is included with a subscription to Game Pass Ultimate.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

The adventures of the Master Chief have never been as accessible as they are in the Master Chief Collection. This gathering of Halo games is the definitive collection of 343 Industries’ endeavors to immortalize the series. Not only is every mainline Halo game (not counting Halo 5: Guardians) included, but the fantastic Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach were added as well.

From beloved campaign co-op to thrilling Firefight matches to iconic multiplayer modes, the Master Chief Collection has it all. Anyone who thinks of themselves as a Halo fan should consider it a must-play from Xbox Game Pass. And for those who have never completed the Master Chief’s saga, there is no better way to finish the fight.

Jusant

Many know Don’t Nod Entertainment as the developers behind the Life Is Strange series. While those games are clearly centered around a dialogue-heavy narrative that lets players massively affect the outcome of the story, Jusant feels like a step in a new direction. You control your protagonist as they begin an upward climb of this massive tower. All you really know as you start off is that you must get to the top.

Your character says not a word as they start the slow process of stretching from handhold to handhold, foothold to foothold, with only their climbing gear and a small blob-shaped companion. But despite this wordlessness, the story of Jusant is conveyed in every melancholy melody that plays as you reach abandoned villages that used to thrive on the outcroppings of this tower. It’s illuminated in the gorgeous environments of the tower’s cavernous interior. And it’s felt with every step you take to ascend.

Jusant is by no means a mind-bending puzzle game or an incredibly impressive narrative game, but it’s a quietly thoughtful experience that stands out from the crowd by the literal and figurative way it says so much by saying so little.

Like A Dragon: Ishin!

The Like a Dragon series, previously known by the Yakuza moniker, is well-loved for its balance of off-the-wall humor and actual emotionally striking moments. Nearly every entry in the series walks this balance beam to perfection, and Ishin, though it wraps itself in the environments of historical Japan, is no exception. Your favorite Yakuza characters are back, but this time they’re stepping into the shoes of iconic figures from the Bakamatsu period.

Despite this new setting, fans of the series will have no problems finding something to love. These zany characters, though attired in patterned robes, are just as endearing and captivating as before, and the story, though grounded in history, is as engrossing as the ones that we’ve seen in other entries. So if you’re waiting to play Infinite Wealth, Xbox Game Pass has got you covered with Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Dead Space (2023)

You’ll see the original Dead Space further along on this list, but the remake (also made available on EA Play through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate) garners a place on this list due to a mountain of its own merits. 2023’s Dead Space is a chilling horror game that builds upon the foundations of the first in a myriad of ways. Atmospheres are enhanced through new graphics, necromorphs are blown to bodily bits with every blast from the plasma cutter, and the entirety of the USG Ishimura is available to explore without any segmenting chapter loading screens.

Isaac Clarke is now also completely voiced, and certain elements of the story have been further clarified with due diligence given to later game lore. This Dead Space is a must-play for fans of the original or for anyone who missed out on it and are looking for a good starting point. It’s the kind of horror game that can make you whole once again.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is exactly the sort of title that belongs on Xbox Game Pass. The rush and chaos (Chaos, get it, because it’s Warhammer 40K) of diving into a run with a group of up to four players is just inherently fun on its own. It’s got exactly the sort of engagement factor that you’d see with Left 4 Dead. However, this offering from Fatshark is wrapped in the rich lore of the Warhammer 40K universe, and as a result, the environments ooze the exact sort of grim-dark stylings you’d get from reading one of the series’ novels.

The quips your character tosses around range from boisterous shouts of their skills with a chainsword to condemnations of all Heretics who oppose the Emperor’s will. And even if you’re not a die-hard fan of the Warhammer 40K universe, Darktide’s gameplay loop keeps you coming back for more as no run is ever alike thanks to the Specialist enemy types that randomly spring up during a mission.

Cocoon

Jaw-dropping puzzle games can be hard to find. We’re talking about titles that create innovative mechanics which task players with thinking in the terms the game presents. Puzzle game greats like Portal and Superliminal do this to perfection. If you didn’t “think with Portals” while playing Valve’s classic, you were going to get interminably stuck, but once you did, clever thinking and problem solving were open to you.

Cocoon, a puzzle game made by one of the developers behind Limbo and Inside, deserves a spot alongside these phenomenal games. With a minimalist yet alien level design, you control a little character that transports orbs to various devices. These orbs contain entire worlds, and you can seamlessly move in between these worlds. As you travel further and further along, you must dive into these orbs while carrying other orbs, thereby placing a world within a world.

It sounds confusing when described, but Cocoon does a fantastic job introducing this recursive world concept to you. And we can’t understate how amazingly seamless going in between orbs is. Cocoon is a game you have to play to understand how awesome it is, and it is currently one of the major highlights of the Xbox Game Pass library.

Spiritfarer

Spiritfarer casts you as a ferry master shepherding souls to their final resting grounds. It sounds grim, but behind its premise is an incredibly hopeful game about love, loss, and growth. The game’s art design allows it to walk the line between tackling a depressing subject and remaining the soothing experience players expect from a management sim.

Spiritfarer wears a lot of hats. Premise aside, at its core, it’s a light farming and relationship sim. It mixes and matches a lot of elements fans of the genre will be familiar with, including crop planning, gift-giving, and plenty of crafting. It has a lovely world to explore, and even some light platforming thrown in for good measure.

Lies Of P

No one does a Souls game like the creators of this “genre” themselves, FromSoftware. But damn does Lies of P come incredibly close to reaching the same level of polish and iconic design as its inspirations. You take on the role of Pinocchio, a Victorian-apparelled stringless puppet who makes for a very silent protagonist, but this take on the fairy tale is much grimmer. The fictional city of Krat has been overrun by frenzied puppets, and you must navigate past blood-soaked cobblestone streets and gear-strewn alleyways to find your creator, Geppetto.

The combat is familiar if you’re a fan of Bloodborne and Sekiro, as are most of the trappings of a Soulsborne game. However, a few changes have been made to the formula that shine a spotlight on how well Lies of P stands out from the crowd of other Soulslike titles. From Ergo (the Souls or Blood Echoes equivalent in Lies of P) waiting for you outside of boss arenas to blade and handle upgrades being separate, a variety of alterations have made Lies of P a delightful, if challenging tale to experience if you’ve been longing for more Soulslike action since Elden Ring released.

Quake II

Seemingly having taken it upon themselves to preserve the mid-to-late 90s FPS boom with a modern sheen, Nightdive Studios has graced us with yet another remaster-done-right with Quake II. A tried-and-true classic from the old id Software catalog, Quake II’s original release furnished players with an extensive, and at the time, somewhat uniquely interconnected single-player campaign, co-op support, and as is requisite to the Quake IP, a bombastic and fast-paced arena multiplayer experience.

But Quake II’s 2023 remaster is so much more than an updated port. Sure, it packs in the usual bits and bobs: a graphical tune up, modernized UI and QOL features, multiplayer support, and the like. But this thing comes packed with every expansion pack ever released, a brand-new single-player campaign developed by MachineGames, and perhaps among its most novel inclusions, the entirety of the Nintendo 64 port’s version of the campaign — an experience entirely unique to the N64 until now.

The whole package arriving on Game Pass as soon as it was announced is really just the cherry on top of this lovingly crafted late 90s time capsule.

Starfield

The anticipation for Starfield prior to its release was immense, and the weight of expectations from fans eager for Bethesda’s latest RPG must have caused more pressure than performing a space walk without a suit. But Xbox Game Pass subscribers should be thrilled to know that Starfield is an utter joy. It’s filled with the dense exploration and well-thought-out storylines many have appreciated from the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series in the past. It’s exactly the kind of game you can spend years sinking your time into, a true successor to the might of Skyrim.

You take on the role of a miner soon to be a willing or unwilling explorer, depending on how you role-play your character. Once you set upon this adventure, the world, nay, the universe opens up to you. You can then spend hours surveying planets, becoming a seedy seller of contraband, building glorious outposts, hunting down space bounties, or doing just darn near anything your space-faring heart desires. Starfield is a fantastic game, and one of the best you can play on Xbox Game Pass.

Firewatch

Part thriller, part mystery, and part romance — Firewatch is an unforgettable walking sim/radioplay that puts players in the shoes of a newly appointed lookout. The goal? Watch for fires.

Needless to say, the game’s actual plot is far more interesting than its logline. The creative team behind the game includes industry veterans, including some of the minds behind the first season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. And with such a short time to complete, Firewatch is a must for anyone who enjoys a story-first experience. In terms of gameplay, Firewatch has players exploring the great outdoors, but like any great thriller, there’s a lot more happening than meets the eye.

A Short Hike

A Short Hike is one of the shortest games you can play on Xbox Game Pass, clocking in at about two hours, and that’s being generous if you decide to beeline toward the top of Hawk Peak (the overall objective of the game). But to do so would do the game a great disservice. Though its visuals are exceedingly simple, and the premise is straightforward, A Short Hike does a fantastic job of highlighting the enjoyment we derive from going off the beaten path.

How many times have you ignored a main questline in order to explore a new area or talk to an interesting character or collect just one more ability upgrade? A Short Hike is the sweetest love letter to this style of playing a video game.

Playing beachstickball ultimately gives you nothing, but it’s a fun diversion from your journey. Following the painter as he goes from one spot to another doesn’t reward you much aside from listening to him talk about his paintings, but finding him is more about learning his struggles than it is the Golden Feather you get for it. And giving that kid who bought all the Feathers enough money for college is not a requirement to finish the game, but it was downright satisfying to be kind to him. A Short Hike is just as its title describes, incredibly short. But making it last just a little bit longer is what the game’s about.

Limbo

A violent black and white puzzle platformer starring a small child in a nightmarish world, Limbo is one of the most striking games ever made. An early indie game darling, Limbo has players moving through the stark environment, solving puzzles and trying to escape with their life. Despite its bleak aesthetic, Limbo is still an incredibly thrilling experience. It’s a game that tries to keep its player’s stomach in knots during cinematic moments, and even manages to surprise during its puzzle sequences. It’s easy to see why so many developers are still trying to emulate Limbo’s success today.

Venba

It’s not often that such a short game can hit you in the feels, but that’s exactly what Venba accomplishes in its easily digestible runtime. You play as Venba, an immigrant from India managing (and feeding) her small family of three. Gameplay is simple, taking the form of click-and-drag puzzles as you work your way through Venba’s recipe book. Some instructions are missing, so you have to use context clues and logic leaps to complete the exquisite dishes, which are made downright aromatic using bright colors and boldly drawn art.

It’s engaging without being tough, and it highlights the culture that Venba embraces as her son grows up and distances himself from it. The story is the main draw of the game, as it reflects on the trials of parenthood, specifically focusing on how raising a child in a “better” place can lead to cultural dissonance and rejection, but ultimately acceptance, of the unique heritage we receive from our family.

Celeste

Games typically take players on a journey, but Celeste gives whole new meaning to this concept. Players control Madeline, a young woman set on climbing to the top of Mount Celeste. Along the way, she must face her inner demons while remaining steadfast in her goal. The poignant story is wrapped in the trappings of a demanding platformer, but the tough nature of the gameplay ties in to the themes the story shares with its players. Celeste is not for the faint of heart, but seeing it through to completion is incredibly rewarding.

TOEM

Not every game has to be an epic quest with an intricate storyline or a competitive battle royale with twitch-skill duels that determine whether or not you take home first place. Sometimes, all you need from a game is a quiet time taking cute pictures.That’s what TOEM offers. You go off on the straightforward adventure of exploring your world and taking photos of adorable events and charming creatures. And that’s all there really is to it.

Now some may claim that the simplistic nature of the game makes it boring. What are games for if not to engage and entertain you? But TOEM goes above and beyond with how snug and comforting it feels. It isn’t here to challenge you; it isn’t here to rate the quality of your photos. TOEM is here to be played, completed, and enjoyed in one bite-sized sitting. And if that sounds darn right delightful, then TOEM is the game for you.

Maquette

Like Superliminal before it and Portal before that, Maquette is a puzzle game that takes a concept and just runs with it for the entirety of its playtime. Where Portal played with physics and Superliminal played with perception, Maquette has you solving puzzles that play with the idea of a recursive world. In each “area,” you have a little table in front of you that you can interact with, and doing so affects the literal larger world around you.

And the cherry on top of this delightful concept is that Maquette features a heartfelt story for you to uncover as you go along. No spoilers, but both the ingenuity of the puzzles and the emotional payoff of the story make Maquette a title not to be missed.

Grand Theft Auto V

Brought back to Xbox Game Pass once again, Grand Theft Auto V’s vibrant open-world setting of Los Santos is a prime reason for players to stay home and immerse themselves in a digital life of crime and skullduggery. Countless hours can be spent enjoying the game’s various activities and diving into the gripping story.

Playing through GTA V is a gaming experience like no other; the freedom of exploring a living, breathing city is brought to home consoles with masterful game design. GTA V is ridiculously fun, which eases the pressure of its intense heists, chaotic car chases, and other criminal enterprises.

Bramble: The Mountain King

With a healthy helping of atmospheric horror and a dash of terrifying folk tale tropes, Bramble: The Mountain King is exactly the game you are looking for if you want to be entertained and creeped out at the same time. Think Little Nightmares with more of a fantasy-esque setting. The majority of the gameplay revolves around light platforming and puzzle-solving to progress, but if you’re focusing solely on the gameplay, you’re doing Bramble a huge disservice.

Just as with games like Little Nightmares and Inside, a large part of the game’s brilliance stems from its environments. Both the areas you guide the small child you are playing as through and the sounds that haunt your ears as you do so contribute to making the title a hidden gem within the Xbox Game Pass library. It’s not a lengthy adventure, so Bramble: The Mountain King is the perfect game to download if you want a bite-sized but high-quality game to play in your spare time.

Amnesia: The Bunker

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is well known for putting the indie horror scene on the map. It shone a limelight on the creativity that flourishes in indie spaces, especially when it came to scaring the living daylights out of players. After several sequels that did not reach the same heights of notoriety as the original, The Bunker is here to reclaim the horror-inducing crown the series deserves. Deviating from the typical narrative-driven gameplay of all its predecessors, The Bunker almost feels like a horror roguelike as it creates a manual save system that sees you managing resources you collect on your runs throughout the bunker.

Set during the trench warfare of World War I, a monster stalks a head-wounded-so-conveniently-amnesiac soldier through the darkened, echoing tunnels of an underground bunker. Your objective is to escape, but every step you take runs the risk of drawing the deformed creature to your position. Amnesia: The Bunker breathes fresh air into the series, so if you’re a fan of horror and you want to explore all the terrifying titles available on Xbox Game Pass, it should be your first stop.