[updated July 29th, 2025 to include the latest additions to Game Pass]
Gaming is a hobby that demands your time and money. It’s a luxury that asks you to curate your taste carefully, because not everyone is going to play every title that costs $60. And for that, Game Pass is a cost-effective solution.
Here are the best games to play for an Xbox Game Pass subscriber today.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014)
Action/Adventure
The Master Chief Collection highlights Master Chief’s journey, making it more accessible than ever before. The collection culminates 343 Industries’ efforts to preserve the Halo franchise. Every major Halo game is included, apart from Halo 5: Guardians.
The Master Chief Collection celebrates the cherished story, co-op, explosive Firefight encounters, and enduring multiplayer modes. The Xbox Game Pass title is a must-play for everyone who considers themselves a Halo enthusiast.
Ghostwire: Tokyo (2022)
Action/Adventure
Ghostwire: Tokyo brings to life the scary thought of exploring a Tokyo full of nothing but creatures from Japanese horror legends. To add to this, the empty ‘presence’ of residents who have been ghosted out of existence haunts you. Although Ghostwire paces itself slowly, while placing more of an emphasis on combat action than jump scares.
You take on the role of a young guy who survived the inexplicable “vanishing” of the rest of Tokyo’s residents and now works with a supernatural being. The group in charge of all that has happened, and other spirits, must be defeated by him after that.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (2016)
Civilization VI puts you in charge of the world’s history. It perfectly encapsulates what distinguishes a Civilization game from other games. Civilization VI may have a somewhat high learning curve because it is a turn-based strategy game. Still, the game tries its best to introduce unfamiliar concepts to new players.
The burden of keeping track of all the many systems required to maintain your expanding society is nothing short of a mammoth one. Yet, the game will keep you hooked. That’s what we’d like to call excellent game design. Easily one of the best games on Xbox Game Pass for those who like challenges and have the time to build a civilization.
Age Of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019)
Age of Empires II is simply the best in the series. It’s widely regarded as one of the best real-time strategy games available and one of the all-time top video games. This classic game’s much-welcomed Definitive Edition has now been included among the best games in the Xbox Game Pass collection.
With improved aesthetics and a more comprehensive selection of civilizations, it upgrades many elements of the dated original while still staying loyal to Age of Empires II’s most cherished elements.
A Plague Tale: Requiem (2022)
Requiem expands on the story, mechanics, and world of A Plague Tale: Innocence. There is no doubting the magnitude of what Asobo Studios aims for in its sequel, even though some might prefer the more intimate meetings and story bits seen in Innocence. Amicia and Hugo have returned, bringing a political dispute and much more fierce foes to deal with. Requiem is undoubtedly capable of managing the situation, especially with the game’s emphasis on battle and zone exploration.
Hi-Fi Rush (2023)
Hi-Fi Rush is a smooth and stylish rhythm action game. Everything in this world works in sync, and moving along with that beat-per-minute will earn you points. Fortunately, Hi-Fi Rush takes excellent care in its design to ensure that even rhythm-challenged gamers will enjoy its fight.
From its quick pace to its stunning candy-colored visuals, Hi-Fi Rush charms you at first glance. The game’s quality is immediately evident, thanks to entirely spoken cutscenes and level design that flourishes at every step. Without giving anything away, Hi-Fi Rush does a fantastic job with its licensed music, blending several genres to make the game’s soundtrack lively and new.
Monster Hunter Rise (2021)
This entry to the series is precisely what new players need. However, comparing Monster Hunter Rise to World before playing is simply a mistake. Sure, many of the mechanics and narrative decisions stay the same, but a lot of interface, combat, and movement changes make the game more accessible. Anyone new to the series will find Monster Hunter Rise to be a great place to start. Its mechanics have been simplified, eliminating many of the difficulties seen in Monster Hunter World.
Also Read: The Best Sword-Fighting Games To Play Right Now
High On Life (2022)
High on Life is the outrageously hilarious first-person shooter experience we need but don’t deserve. It’s created by some of the geniuses behind Rick and Morty. There are seldom more than three minutes in a game without Justin Roiland’s trademark humor and crudeness being there.
Putting humor aside, though, High on Life is a great shooter that blends a strong base of FPS gameplay with the kind of platforming you’d see in classic 3D platformers.
Dishonored 2 (2016)
Dishonored 2 has some of the best level designs you’ll witness in a video game, so it’s no surprise that it claimed a permanent spot on our best games on Xbox Game Pass list. The follow-up to the outstanding stealth game continues in its footsteps while making significant leaps on its own. Dishonored 2 is a treasure that has received very little attention. It follows Corvo and Emily’s journey as they attempt to reclaim the crown following a coup. Since Corvo and Emily each have their own unique abilities, and players may choose between them, Dishonoured 2 is highly replayable.
Also Read: The Best RPGs Of All Time
Doom Eternal (2020)
Doom arrived with a bang (a blast, a head-smash, and more) in 2018. Its follow-up, Doom Eternal, built on everything great about the first game and multiplied its brutality by 100 times.
The armies of Hell have occupied Earth due to what happened during the Doom Slayer’s first appearance. From this point onward, the Doom Slayer has a task to complete that will need a lot of bullets and weapons along with equipment that brings his doom-slaying potential to its best. Doom Eternal rips and tears until it’s done. And then asks you to do it once again, for the millionth time.
Forza Horizon 5 (2021)
To Xbox and PC players, Forza Horizon is simply one of the best racing experiences. Rewinding time, cruising across Mexico, collecting the finest vehicles. These are just some of the many experiences you’ll have with Horizon 5. It’s the latest entry to the series, and everything about the game feels fantastic. It’s also one of the most visually stunning games on next-generation platforms.
Also Read: The Best Racing Games To Play On Xbox Series S|X Right Now
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025)
A GOTY contender that came out of nowhere, this one combines the very best of all elements that make a great game. The story behind the development makes the game that much more remarkable. The tone, the overall world, and the excellent voice acting get you invested right from the beginning as you prepare yourself for the ‘Gommage’; where the ‘Paintress’ makes all humans of a particular age and above disappear. You are part of an Expedition that is attempting to stop this from happening and hope that, unlike the other 32 Expeditions before, you succeed at it.
Metaphor ReFantazio (2024)
Atlus Studios, with this new franchise, displays the peak of the type of visual style, storytelling, and characters that only they can pull off, successfully transposing (and expanding) the successful Persona & Shin Megami formula into a sort of medieval setting.
The game went on to become one of the big hits commercially for 2024: selling a million copies on day one, and becoming a critic favorite as well, with a Critic Score of 94 on Metacritic. A sprawling turn-based RPG, this game can easily take upwards of 60-70 hours to complete, with tough boss battles, especially in end game, that will have you think of all possible ways to maximize the damage output of your team and its combination as well.
Oblivion Remastered (2025)
Take one of the greatest entries in the game and remake it so that you can experience all of that again (including that awesome opening montage with the Sir Patrick Stewart voiceover?), but with modern-day graphics? That’s as safe a bet as one can take that the audiences will lap it up, and that’s what happened when the rumoured Oblivion Remastered shadow-dropped in April 2025.
GTA V
While we wait patiently for the next entry in this franchise, we still have GTA V to fall back on, even if it has been 12 years since it first came out. The seventh game in the series has you playing as one of the 3 main characters as you complete missions and generally hang out doing all the crazy stuff with the level of freedom that only a GTA game can bring to the table.
A cultural as well as a commercial milestone, the game made history with more than 200 million copies sold, and a 10 billion dollar revenue.
Avowed (2025)
A key game in Xbox’s strategy to market exclusives, Avowed from Obsidian Entertainment, was a great attempt in creating a smaller, more focused experience in the Pillars of Eternity universe for gamers as compared to the sprawling open worlds with an overwhelming set of tick marks to complete.
The game features, like in any good RPG, various build possibilities that combine magic, melee and gun-wielding as well. A continued attempt to balance out combat, builds and make the user experience that much better with patches (the latest one came out a week back) means that hopefully gamers will keep coming back to the Living Lands, trying to make sense of the mysterious ‘Dream Scourge’.
It Takes Two (2021)
The co-op action adventure game released in 2021 by developer Hazelight Studios, and become an instant favorite of the gaming community. It brought the often under-the-radar co-op gameplay to mainstream with a delightful experience that rewarded co-op gameplay in solving puzzles, platforming and in general having a great time. The game rightly secures its place in the best co-op games of all time.
The game went on to sell 20 million units, and won the coveted Game of the Year Award at the 2021 Game Awards.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021)
A good reminder of what Bioware used to be at their peak, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition combines all 3 games into one package, with the added bonus of all DLCs. The standout game in the trilogy obviously is Mass Effect 2.
While the graphics may appear a bit dated, all other aspects are as good as they can be in a game. You can make your Commander Shepard the absolute Paragon who does whatever it takes to have his team make it out alive, or you can be a Renegade who cares for nothing but getting the mission through.
Indiana Jones & The Great Circle (2024)
Developed by MachineGames, who know a thing or two about Nazi-bashing thanks to their efforts behind the Wolfenstein series, they have very ably used all of that to bring their game to a larger canvas. Indiana Jones & The Great Circle combined first-person and third-person gameplay, puzzle solving and combat, exploration, and story all in one very satisfactory experience.
The game was received quite well and was a nominee for the Game of the Year Award, and very recently moved to PS5 as well in April 2025. This remains one of the best games available on Xbox Game Pass.
