Since the Xbox Series X was released, I've made an amazing discovery: I love Xbox Game Pass For years, I've argued that if you're interested in a game, you should buy it, not rent it indefinitely Subscription services may be good for things like movies and TV shows that are over in a few hours, but not for things like games, which are long, complex, replayable, and grow and change over time

But even at a whopping $15/month, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate must be one of the best deals in console gaming today And I would never have believed it were it not for the very odd mid-budget Sega series about Japanese gangsters

A few months ago (though it seems like longer), the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S debuted Microsoft sent me a bunch of review codes to test the capabilities of these consoles, including a review code for a rather odd game called "Yakuza: Like a Dragon"

The "Yakuza" series is an action/adventure series that juxtaposes a serious crime story with quirky subplots and tons of side activities I also knew that "Like a Dragon" was the seventh film in this plot-heavy franchise and probably not the ideal one to dive into Nonetheless, I was still enthralled by "Like a Dragon's" energetic dialogue, colorful levels, and inventive gameplay

I played a few of these games to evaluate Series X and Series S, but I kept wanting to catch up with the previous installments That way, I would understand every reference, joke, and gameplay convention, rather than just smiling and nodding at everything that reminded me of the earlier games That said, "Yakuza" has six previous games and three major spin-offs (at least on the Pacific side) If I opt for the physical release, I'll have a hard time tracking them down, and if I opt for the digital release, I can expect to shell out well over $100

It was then that I decided to put down "Like a Dragon" and start researching the review portion of Xbox Game Pass Imagine my surprise when I found half of the Yakuza games waiting for me, ready to be downloaded and played as long as they remained on the service

For those of you who are not familiar with Xbox Game Pass, it is a subscription service that allows you to download over 100 Xbox games for a flat monthly fee The Ultimate tier, which costs $15/month, allows you to download games to your Xbox console or PC, or stream them to your Android device Saved data is carried over between platforms, and Microsoft first-party titles will appear on Xbox Game Pass as soon as they debut

Prior to reviewing the Xbox Series S, I had played around with Game Pass, but didn't spend much time with it This was because I already owned the games I wanted to play or planned to purchase them up front But as I learned, Xbox Game Pass not only makes it easy to try new games, it also makes it easy to dive into an entire series

As I mentioned above, starting a new series is a daunting task Which game should you play first? Where to find them? How much does it cost? And what if you don't like it after all the time and money you've put into it, Xbox Game Pass neatly solves all of these problems by essentially putting the entire franchise at your feet The only thing you risk is the time it takes to download and try the game, and if you don't like it, you can simply download it and play another game

Xbox Game Pass offers many franchises from both first- and third-party developers At a quick glance, Halo, Gears of War, Fable, Age of Empires, Bard's Tale, Banjo-Kazooie, Dead Space, Kingdom Hearts, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Battlefront, and of course, there is Yakuza Yakuza is another interesting example, with more titles eligible for the game pass in the past month After playing "Like a Dragon", I downloaded and played "Yakuza 0" The service also had "Yakuza Kiwami" and "Yakuza Kiwami 2," high-resolution remastered versions of the first two games

Later, however, Sega and Microsoft added the "Yakuza Remastered" collection, which includes refined versions of "Yakuza 3," "Yakuza 4," and "Yakuza 5" Yakuza 6 will be available on Game Pass on March 25, and the Yakuza spin-off Judgment will be available on Xbox consoles on April 23

However, relying on Xbox Game Pass for these titles has some drawbacks The Yakuza games are not mine Once my subscription expires, I cannot play them again unless I re-subscribe or purchase the full version Microsoft can pull the game at any time, even if I am in the middle of playing it (To be fair, games that I withdraw from Xbox Game Pass usually do so with ample warning) The Xbox/PC/streaming triangle is also not nearly as seamless, especially when it comes to save data being properly transferred

But despite those quibbles, I have to say I'm amazed at how completely captivated Xbox Game Pass has made me It took me only a few minutes to go from "mild curiosity about the series" to "enjoying the majority of the series at hand," and if "Yakuza" isn't your cup of tea, you can still try at least a half dozen other long-lived franchises The fact that I loved "Yakuza 0" helped, and I can't wait to dive into other franchises

To be clear, any game that you've played for years and want to replay is still worth buying But if you have an Xbox console and don't have anything in particular to play over the next month, try Xbox Game Pass and see what's available If you don't find anything to your liking, so be it However, a new favorite game, or even a new favorite franchise, may come from this experiment