Key Points
- Game Pass is a valuable addition to the Xbox ecosystem, offering access to hundreds of games across multiple devices.
- New titles are regularly added to Game Pass on the same day as their public release, making it a convenient option for gamers.
- Reddit is a reliable source for honest recommendations on the best Game Pass games, with active discussions and threads on various subreddits.
- Some of the highly recommended Game Pass titles by Redditors include Vampire Survivors, Forza Horizon 5, Yakuza 0, Tunic, Halo Infinite, Hollow Knight, Hi-Fi Rush, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
One of the most important components of the Xbox ecosystem, Game Pass has quickly become one of the best reasons to pick up the latest Xbox consoles.
Allowing you access to hundreds of games across your console, smartphone, tablet, and PC, Game Pass is the first good look at the future of cloud gaming. Having the ability to play 300-plus games from anywhere you have a Wi-Fi connection is a truly wonderful addition to gaming.
Launched in 2017, Game Pass has become the premiere destination for new titles on the Xbox platform. One of the biggest reasons for the success of Game Pass is that new titles are regularly hitting the service on the same day as their public release.
As the service costs right around $17 per month, it remains an outstanding value for anyone who doesn’t want to worry about tracking new game releases. This is good news, as there is an excellent selection of titles on the Game Pass platform you can start playing right now.
Let’s look at the best Game Pass titles recommended by Redditors that you can play today.
Why Use Reddit for Game Pass Suggestions?
While there is no shortage of reviews for just about every Game Pass game online, the hive mind of Reddit remains the best place to look for recommendations. Redditors include a group of gamers that have played these games all the way through and can give an honest take on why you should or should not be playing specific titles.
Between r/Xbox, r/XboxGamePass, and r/XboxSeriesX, there are hundreds and hundreds of threads, all with recommendations for the best Game Pass games around. If there is one thing you can count on with Reddit, it’s a completely honest opinion on every comment thread.
With that in mind, here are the best Game Pass games Reddit is recommending as of July 2023.
Vampire Survivors
Released in late 2022 across multiple platforms, Vampire Survivors is a standout hit that was an immediate award winner.
The gist of the Vampire Survivors game is simple. You select one of a few different characters and then begin fighting an array of seemingly endless enemies. These auto-generated battles help boost replayability, as you can earn more weapons by gaining more gold as you survive longer. With every monster or enemy you beat, you are able to collect different gems, which you can then use to power up your character by gaining new weapons, potions, or spells.
One of the most unique aspects of Vampire Survivors is that gameplay takes place over 15 and 30-minute increments. This is one of the main aspects Redditors in this r/XboxGamePass thread love about a game many call “addictive.” There is also plenty of Reddit conversation around the game being a true Roguelite, with an almost endless amount of ways to play before you will ever consider getting tired of the game.
Forza Horizon 5
- Ever-evolving open-world landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world’s greatest cars
- Hundreds of challenges that reward you for engaging in the activities you love
- Meet new characters and choose the outcomes of their Horizon Story missions
- Take on awe-inspiring weather events such as towering dust storms and intense tropical storms as Mexico’s unique, dynamic seasons change the world every week
- New events, challenges, collectibles, rewards, and new areas to explore. No two seasons will ever be the same.
- Play on Xbox Series X and Xbox One consoles. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, download and play it directly on your Xbox console or Windows 10 PC.
As one of the premiere Xbox titles, it should come as little surprise that Forza Horizon 5 is one of the best games available on the platform.
Arguably one of the best racing games of all time, this day-one 2021 Game Pass release saw more than 10 million players in its first week. A Game of the Year award winner from IGN, this open-world title is set somewhere in Mexico with a map that is almost 50% larger than Forza Horizon 4. The extra map space allows you to do some truly wild stunts with your vehicle of choice. Perhaps you would like to drive right up to a volcano or an ancient Mayan temple, as you can do exactly that with Forza Horizon 5.
As part of r/XboxGamePass, Reddit shows plenty of love to the Forza series with Forza Horizon 5 leading the conversation. In this Reddit thread, it’s clear that many fans of the series now consider Forza Horizon 5 to be the “perfect racing game.”
While there are many great racing games to choose from, Xbox console owners can rest assured that Forza Horizon 5 will be available as part of Xbox Game Pass for the foreseeable future.
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Yakuza 0
With more than 31 hours of gameplay available, Yakuza 0 is a terrific action-adventure game that popularized the entire Yakuza series.
As a predecessor to five other Yakuza titles, this open-world game takes place in a fictional Tokyo with players alternating between two protagonists throughout the game. The developers do a fantastic job of showing what life was like in Tokyo during the 1980s even as it focuses on many criminal aspects. Your main character is essentially a debt collector who finds himself accused of a crime and all sorts of hijinks take place in order to clear his name.
Redditors praise the game’s three different fight styles that allow you to take down a continuous stream of thugs and lowlifes. Reddit also has high praise for the storyline and graphics that accompany the title across Game Pass for both the Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Tunic
A semi-recent addition to Xbox Game Pass, Tunic is a wonderful action-adventure indie title that everyone needs to try at least once.
Released in 2022, Tunic is set in a fantasy world where players take control of a fox that can sword fight with the best of them. Unfortunately, there isn’t much provided in the way of instructions or even a backstory for the fox, but that never hinders gameplay. It’s also easy to ignore the lack of directions as soon as you look at the 3D terrain, which is shown from an isometric view as it’s just beautiful to look at while playing.
As the fox moves around the environment, there is plenty of free exploration taking place without a predetermined linear path to follow. This works out well for the player as navigating the terrain is half the fun of the game as you discover new pathways.
As a surprising hit, Redditors on r/XboxGamePass have quickly extolled the virtues of playing Tunic. One poster even notes this game is their favorite game of all of 2022, which is high praise for an indie title that came out nowhere to be a cross-platform hit.
Halo Infinite
Expectations are always high for new Halo titles on Xbox consoles, and Halo Infinite has delivered in every way fans of the series could expect.
The sixth entry in the Halo series, this new campaign follows Master Chief, once again in yet another quest to defeat the Banished, an alien faction that hopes to rid the universe of humans. Originally released in 2021, Halo Infinite is a first-person shooter that takes place across an open world where players can explore and defeat as many enemies as can be found.
Where Halo Infinite really shines is not in its single-player campaign, but in its multiplayer campaign, which has a variety of game modes. Between deathmatch, capture the flag, and 4-versus-4 matches, Halo Infinite is full of different ways to play.
Unsurprisingly, Reddit is full of praise for Halo Infinite as the biggest Xbox series. Redditors praise the multiplayer aspect as the best ever in the Halo franchise.
©Miguel Lagoa/Shutterstock.com
Hollow Knight
Praised as one of the best Metroidvania games around, Hollow Knight has more than earned its place as one of the best indie games ever.
Originally released in 2017, Hollow Knight made its way to the Xbox in 2018, after receiving positive critical reviews. Just one year after the game appeared on Xbox Game Pass and other consoles, Hollow Knight sold just under 3 million copies.
As a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania, Hollow Knight players take control of a protagonist known as Knight and explore a vast underground world. The game world is so vast that it takes almost 27 hours to beat the game without even exploring any of the side quests. Gameplay is non-linear, though not quite open-world, and, as players progress, they can learn new skills or movements that will come in handy as they move into the later levels.
Hollow Knight is a r/XboxGamePass fan favorite with almost 70% of all comments recommending it as the next game to play. Many comments even highlight Hollow Knight as the best Metroidvania many have ever played.
Hi-Fi Rush
- Feel the beat as wannabe rockstar Chai and his ragtag team of allies rebel against an evil robotics enhancement megacorp with raucous rhythm combat!
- Take on armies of corporate drones (read: actual robots) in satisfying, rhythm-amplified combat
- Digital code
One of the most hotly anticipated titles to come to Game Pass in recent memory, Hi-Fi Rush, is a fantastic game that is a must-play for every Game Pass subscriber.
Played over the course of 11 hours, Hi-Fi Rush is a combination game that steals elements from both action titles and rhythm-based games. Released on January 25, 2023, Hi-Fi Rush has you playing as Chai, who believes himself to be a future rock star in a futuristic world where cybernetic surgeries are experimental. During one of these surgeries, Chai accidentally has a music player embedded in his chest and he becomes hunted by the corporation that is providing all of these experimental surgeries.
As soon as Hi-Fi Rush hit Game Pass, the game received immediate acclaim for its unique art style, humor, combat, and characters. Reddit echoes this sentiment as multiple posts believe the game is well deserving of a 10 out of 10 score. Everything from the soundtrack, mission length, and voice acting all receive high praise.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- A virtual world open for you to explore any way you choose
- Play any type of character you can imagine, and do whatever you want
- Choose from hundreds of weapons, spells, and abilities
- Battle ancient dragons like you’ve never seen
- The Anniversary Edition includes the core game, pre-existing and new Creation Club content, plus all three official add-ons: Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn
- Digital code
Considered one of the best video games ever made, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is one of the games that makes it worthwhile to subscribe to Game Pass.
A combination of action and role-playing, Microsoft picked up the rights to this title with its Bethesda Game Studios purchase. The 5th installment in the The Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim takes place some 200 years after its predecessor. Emulating previous titles in the series, Skyrim offers an open world where the main character, Dragonborn, continues on his quest to defeat the evil dragon who wants to destroy the world.
Playable from either a first or third-person perspective, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the top games you can definitely count on Reddit recommending for anyone looking for a new Game Pass title to play. Skyrim receives high praise for being able to explore a world without feeling like you need to follow a predetermined path, as you might find in a more linear title.
©Pe3k/Shutterstock.com
Wrapping Up
Game Pass has won over millions of video gamers who want instant access to games in the cloud. This is further emphasized by the fact that Reddit has thousands of threads praising many of the hundreds of games available on Game Pass. Whether its titles are available for the PC or consoles, Reddit is a constant stream of activity for fans of the Game Pass platform. These 8 titles are among Reddit’s favorite games and encompass many different genres, so there is truly something for everyone to enjoy.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Miguel Lagoa/Shutterstock.com.
