After the October price increase to $30 a month for Game Pass Ultimate, the furor around Xbox Game Pass has settled. It may no longer be the best deal in gaming, but it’s received a fair amount of day-one, big-name games in recent weeks, like Ninja Gaiden 4 and The Outer Worlds 2. Those titles have only added to a library of hundreds of games worth checking out during your weekend gaming binges.
This week’s recommendations include a cathartic shooter, an indie award-winner, and a must-play HD-2D RPG.
Sniper Elite: Resistance
Every once in a while, you need a little catharsis. I know I have in 2025. For 20 years, there’s been no better source of that than Sniper Elite. Rebellion Developments’ long-running shooter series has given players the kind of ultraviolent carnage against Nazi that would make a senator scream. This year, Rebellion gave us a well-timed new entry in Sniper Elite: Resistance. Though it doesn’t shake up the series in any meaningful way, Resistance is another well-constructed dose of immersive sim World War II sandboxes full of Nazi targets. The sniping is as brutal and satisfying as ever, with the game’s signature killcam showing you the impact of each shot you take in gory, testicle-crunching detail. It’s a bloody thrill for any pacifist looking to let off some steam in the safety of digital space. —Giovanni Colantonio
1000xResist
1000xResist tells an award-winning narrative touching on post-pandemic life, trauma passed down between generations, and so much more. It hits on those themes through a sci-fi lens; you play as Watcher, one of several clones of Iris, the only survivor of a pandemic that wiped out human life. Watcher and her fellow clones explore Iris’s memories from when Earth was beset by that terrible plague, as well as memories of her school and home life, neither of which were bearable for a teenager. Watcher leans Iris isn’t all that she seems, and the story plays out from there. If all that intrigue isn’t enough to hook you, the game does start with a murder. What could be a more gripping opening than that? —Austin Manchester
Octopath Traveler 2
Yes, finishing a gazillion-hour RPG in nine days flat is a tall order, but if there’s any game worth attempting the grind for, it’s Octpath Traveler 2. Square Enix’s HD-2D masterpiece is leaving Game Pass at the end of November (as is the original, also available). But with a holiday in the middle there, at least for those of us in the States, it’s technically doable. Octopath Traveler 2 follows eight characters, each of which takes on the spirit of a different genre. There’s the procedural about a priest investigating the murder of his church’s archbishop. A merchant aiming to solve poverty through the power of capitalism (???) is the star of a western-themed tale. There’s even a mystery about an apothecary with amnesia (because every good RPG needs a character with an unknown background, of course). Some of these stories intertwine in unexpected, fascinating ways, as you play through a gorgeous Industrial Revolution-inspired setting. And the combat is excellent — “number go up” boiled to its essence. —Ari Notis
