Xbox Game Pass for PC has quickly risen up among the throngs of ga💧me subscriptions and established itself as a must-have service. The number of high profile games titles Microsoft has added, especially in the last few weeks, is practically beyond compare. For the price, Game Pass for PC is the best deal out there.
The Furthest $5 Has Ever Gone
Netflix opened the Pandora's Box of subscription services years ago, but it's taken game publishers quite a while to catch up. Xbox Game Pass for PC was first announced in May of last year and launched during E3 in June 2019. At the time, it was described as a curated library of 100 games for 1 low monthly fee. New subscrib💝ers could get the first 3 months ✃of service for $1 and every month after that for $5 while the service was available in early beta.
A year later, Game Pass for PC is still only $5 a month. The $1 promotion is still available, th♌ough only for the first month, and that "introductory" early beta price is still in effect for the foreseeable future. Xbox Game Pass for PC is half the price of regular Xbox Game Pass and offers nearly all the same games.
Not only are Xbox exclusives like Gears 5, The Master Chief Collection, and Crackdown 3 available, but Game Pass has consistently been adding new games on Game Pass on the same day as the retail release. Ori & the Will of the Wisps, Bleeding Edge, and Gears 5 were all available on Game Pass on release day, and Gears Tactics will be available later this month when it launches May 28th. Gears 5 alꦜone costs more at retail than a year of Game Pass, the subscription is really a no brainer.
Actually Something For Everyone
Uplay PLus and EA Access both offer a lot of games at a great price, but you'll only find Ubisoft and EA games on their services. Game Pass has consistently added new games week after week from just about e💯very publisher and in𝓀 every genre.
Just this month they've added The Long Dark, Mistover, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, The Surge 2, Ori 2, LOTR: Adventure Card Game, Two Point Hospital, Bleeding Edge, and many more. Age of Empires 3, Gears Tactics, Battletoads, and Minecraft Dugeons are all forthcoming. When Halo Infinite releases for the Xbox Series X, it's෴ already been announced that it will be available on Xbox Game Pass for Windows.
You can see the. These are heavy hitter titles too, not the kind of small indie games you might expect to get for free from Steam or Epic Game Store. The Game Pass library is one of, if not the strongest collection of available right now. From Hollow Knight to The Outer World, the average quality of a Game 🔯Pass game is just insane.
There isn't literally everything, there's only about 200 games, but at a glance, it's hard to find a genre that isn't represented. They've got horror (Blair Witch) strategy (Age of Wonders: Planetfall) RPG (Mistover) sports (Football Manager 2020) racing (Forza 4 Horizon), rouge-likes (Dead Cells) and everything in between. Sometimes games cycle out, but for 𒁃every game that leaves 5 more come to take its place.
Discovering New Favorites
Humble Monthly is a great ꧟way to add new games to your collection every month, but the games offered tend to be less "hidden gems" and more "hidden for good reason." Getting a dozen games dropped in your lap every month can be more trouble than it's worth in our experience, but Game Pass does a much better job of creating a Netflix-like stor🔯e-front where you're free to browse, pick and choose, and try out games you may never have played otherwise.
It can be hard to pony up the cash for a game when you're not✤ sure you'll like it. Steam has a great refund p🥂olicy, but even then, you may play 5 hours of a game, realize you're bored, and have no way to get your money back. Waiting for Steam sales to come is great, but even then there's at least some kind of investment that can make you feel pressured to play/enjoy the game.
With Game Pass, it's so easy to try something new and abandon it if it's not for you. You still need to download the game and make space for it of course, but you'll be surprised how many new things you try simply because the🃏y're there and they're free.
If Game Pass continues to add brand new AAA games every month, it's hard to imagine anyone else will ever be able to compete. Even when the price eventually increases to $10/month (likely when Halo Infinite comes out,) I'll be keeping m🐠y subscription for access to all the newest next-gen games. Playing just 2 games a year🌌 pays for the whole thing, so it's hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to sign up.