Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is a major subscription service that lets you download from a library of over 100 games at no additional costs. You can choose from games by Bethesda like Skyrim and Fallout and even Day 1 releases. A Plague Tale: Requiem recently released and Xbox Game Pass subscribers had access to it on the first day. However, is Xbox Game Pass actually worth your money in 2023?
What does each Game Pass tier offer?
If you go to Microsoft’s website, you’ll find that there are three “levels” to the service. There is the PC-only, Xbox-only, and the Ultimate subscription. Like the titles say, PC and Xbox only are for their respective consoles/devices. This means that you can only use the subscription on one of the aforementioned devices. Xbox Game Pass for console does not include Xbox Live Gold, which means you will get access to the game library but cannot play multiplayer games without Xbox Live Gold.
The Ultimate subscription is the most packed, and allows you to use the service on both your PC and your Xbox. Ultimate also allows you a few extra features like cloud gaming and free in-game content, as well as some external perks.
Ultimate also includes Xbox Live Gold (which you need to play online multiplayer titles that are not free-to-play) and EA Play, which allows for you to access EA games like Jedi Fallen Order and Dead Space. PC Game Pass also includes EA Play.
All three levels of Xbox Game Pass lets you download any available video game as many times as you want. It’s convenient to be able to play whatever game you’d like to play and decide which ones you want to play the most.
What Games Are Available on Xbox Game Pass?
Game Pass boasts a library of over 100 games to play, with new games added each month. Similar to a streaming service like Disney+ or Netflix, you can download any game you want, play it anytime (so long as you’re paying), and remove it whenever you’re bored.
With Ultimate, you can download games on your PC and Xbox and even play offline. Games include Halo Infinite; Rainbow Six Siege and Extraction; EA Games like Battlefield and FIFA; Bethesda games like Dishonored and Doom and so much more. There are games from every genre, ranging anywhere from first-person-shooters to Action-Adventure RPGs and more.
With all the great options, Game Pass is certainly worth the money.
I personally use Game Pass and have found Battlefield 4, Dishonored and Mass Effect to be my favorites. It’s great to be able to download games whenever I want, play them whenever I want, and not feel obligated to finish a game I may not have liked.
We’ve all had regrettable video game purchases and feel bad for abandoning those games. But with Game Pass, it’s like guilt-free gaming: No room for making mistake purchases. If I don’t like one game, I’ve got a vast library of any other game to try.
You can also try out a lot of new games that you didn’t think to try before. I mean, there are plenty of games available on Game Pass that I didn’t think to buy, but with Game Pass, I found that they were really great after all.
Since you pay monthly, it’s a pretty small fee, but you get thousands in value of video games to try at your leisure. It’s pretty cool, honestly.
What is Game Pass Cloud Gaming?
Xbox Cloud Gaming is one of the most recent additional features added to the Game Pass lineup. If you subscribe to the Ultimate level, you can play Xbox games on your mobile phone, laptop, and PC for example. You can use an Xbox Controller, a DualShock 4, Razer’s Kishi, and other controllers.
All you need is an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, a good internet connection, a controller, and you can play your Xbox games on any device anywhere in the world. You can even play games on your Xbox console without downloading them, making storage woes much easier.
Trust me, with Warzone 2.0, you’re gonna need that storage.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is different from Remote Play, which is available to all Xbox users.
Remote Play lets you stream the game from your device itself. What this means is that your Xbox is turned on while you’re playing. That’s not the same with Cloud Gaming, which is technically a streaming service, but it’s not streaming from your personal Xbox. It’s a server-based streaming service. Similar to NVIDIA GeForce Now, there are Xbox’s set up in offices somewhere that allow you to stream the game to your device.
Remote Play can be a bit janky honestly, because it requires a pretty solid internet connection. Unfortunately, this is something that isn’t always possible. It can get really laggy and hard to play in that case. Cloud Gaming provides a bit of a solution, although you’ll still likely need a stable connection to the internet to get the most out of your gameplay session.
Conclusions
All in all, the Xbox Game Pass is definitely worth it in 2023. There is a lot of benefit to the service, providing you with games you probably didn’t consider trying before. It is one of the best values currently in gaming.
Currently, you can get the following deals if you want to give it a-go:
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
