While neither Good Friday nor Easter are observed as Federal Holidays, a fair number of workers in the U,S. still get today or Monday off in observance of the holidays. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you know what a three-day weekend means: more time for gaming. (What else am I to do? Go outside? In spring?)
This week’s Xbox Game Pass recommendations spotlight some games that we can’t wait to get back to playing over this long weekend, including an open-world superhero adventure, a heartfelt Metroidvania, and a game you should really check out by now if you haven’t.
1
GTA 5
GTA 5
Grand Theft Auto 5 is about to leave the Game Pass library (…again). Rockstar’s open-world crime game has cycled in and out of Xbox’s games-on-demand service over the years. If by some chance you haven’t played it yet (via Game Pass or any other platform), well, you might as well give it a spin. Is this the last chance you have to play it at no extra cost ahead of GTA 6‘s Nov. 19 release? Who knows! But it can’t hurt to test GTA 5 out, see what everyone’s talking about before the next game becomes the only thing they talk about. —Ari Notis
2
Batman: Arkham Knight
Batman: Arkham Knight
The wait for the next Lego Batman game has been a long one since its Gamescom reveal last year, but it’s almost here. Still, I want some Batman in my life pronto, and I could do a lot worse than revisiting Batman: Arkham Knight. While the Bat-Tank sections take up more time than you might expect, there is still plenty of time in Arkham Knight to glide around Gotham City as Batman, stealthily taking out unsuspecting criminals from the shadows or swooping down to clobber them right in the face. The combat is as fluid and rhythmic as the prior entries, and stringing together a large multi-hit combo never gets old. As Rocksteady pivoted to making the live-service Suicide Squad game after Arkham Knight and the WB Games Montréal-developed Gotham Knights was somewhat disappointing, Batman: Arkham Knight remains one of the best options for an open-world superhero game around. —Austin Manchester
3
Tales of Kenzera: Zau
Tales of Kenzera: Zau
I’ve been playing more and more Metroidvanias over the past year or so, like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Possessor(s), and Mio: Memories in Orbit, but none have moved me quite like Tales of Kenzera: Zau. Like last year’s GOTY-winner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, its story is largely a meditation on grief, and pulls from Surgent Studios founder Abubakar Salim’s personal loss of his father. You play as Zau, a young warrior who journeys through a Bantu legends-inspired world to try to bring his father back from the dead. He has to defeat three beasts on behalf of the God of Death to do so. Along the way, he’ll acquire various abilities to further open up exploration, as you’d want from a Metroidvania, and defeat countless enemies using two unique fighting styles inspired by the sun and moon. Unlike some sprawling Metroidvanias, Tales of Kenzera: Zau can be completed in a tight 10 hours or less, making it perfect for a long weekend. —AM
