With so many Xbox PC Game Pass games to choose from, narrowing down which game to start with can be tough. You might suffer from decision paralysis—but what a great problem to have! We’ve rounded up the best options out of the Games Pass library for PC gamers.
Halo: Master Chief Collection
No title quite defines the Xbox gaming experience quite like Halo. If you never experienced the games back in their glory days, you owe it to yourself to play through what is quite possibly one of the best storylines a first person shooter has to offer. If you did get to play the games back when they first launched, the Master Chief Collection is your chance to play on fully populated multiplayer servers again. Every Halo game is available—even Reach. Even if you aren’t a fan of first person shooters, the Halo series is an approachable franchise that left a huge mark on gaming history. With mouse aiming, the gameplay is tighter. The improved graphics make an already-attractive game more beautiful than it has ever been.
Hollow Knight
The Metroidvania genre has grown by leaps and bounds. Some of the best games in the genre are indie developed titles, just like Hollow Knight. This game is a mix of tight platforming, gorgeous graphics, and punishing difficulty that will challenge even the most experienced gamer. Make sure you connect a controller to your PC before giving this one a spin. Trying to finish Hollow Knight with a mouse and keyboard would simply be an exercise in masochism. Hollow Knight presents a vast, beautifully rendered world to explore and conquer. It will take plenty of time to complete, but once you do, there is DLC and a New Game+ mode that provides an even greater challenge.
The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds is what Fallout 76 should have been, but with a sci-fi twist. Developed by Obsidian, The Outer Worlds has the same control scheme and feel as the Fallout games you know and love, but in a steampunk/retro-futuristic setting. The game’s feel gives off strong Firefly vibes. You captain a ship and hop between multiple planets, completing quests and leveling up as you go. The characters onboard your ship feel real and the choices feel like they have weight. If you’ve felt burned out on the Fallout-like games available to you, give The Outer Worlds Xbox PC Game Pass game a shot. It’s easily the best title released in 2019 and is well worth a playthrough.
Frostpunk
If you’ve never heard of or played Frostpunk before, here’s what you need to know: it’s tough. It’s bleak. It’s addictive. The game is something of a cross between a survival simulator and Sim City. You manage a group of settlers struggling to survive in a new ice age. Players must manage their settlers’ warmth, hunger, happiness, and more. Frostpunk presents players with hard choices, some which will result in the deaths of settlers no matter what you choose. The question you have to ask yourself is which result is worth those settlers’ lives. The world of Frostpunk is dark and cold, as are many of the choices you must make. It’s not a lighthearted game, but it will keep you coming back time and time again.
Slay the Spire
Slay the Spire is a deck-building roguelike that will keep you glued to the screen for hours at a time. The simple gameplay mechanic of pushing through the tower as far as you can and starting from scratch when you fall is more addicting than you expect. The goal of this Xbox PC Game Pass game is to beat the Spire, a fortress composed of multiple levels and packed with a variety of horrible dangers. You start out as The Ironclad, the first of four potential characters. Each character can level up five times, and each level up comes with new cards to aid you on your quest. The only progress that carries over between runs are the cards you unlock. You also unlock Relics, items that give you permanent abilities on your runs. There are multiple gameplay modes and a “challenge” mode that gives you unique conditions, including potential curses.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
If you’re a fan of real-time strategy titles, Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a great one to play. It’s a 4X turn-based strategy game developed by Triumph Studios that features six different factions all vying for control and victory. You take control of one of these factions as the commander and face off against other factions on the surface of a procedurally-generated planet. The game takes place on a hex-like grid, where the planet is broken down into different “sectors,” each of which yields two separate resources. There is a loose storyline surrounding the game, but the true appeal lies in the real-time strategy action. The game can be played on the Xbox One console, but is best experienced on PC where the mouse gives better control of the units. There is a steep learning curve associated with Age of Wonders: Planetfall, but once you get the hang of it the game yields a tremendous amount of fun. What is your favorite game in the Xbox PC Game Pass library? Let us know in the comments below.
