The Best JRPG Games Available on Xbox Game Pass

With the arrival of Sea of Stars on Xbox Game Pass, the new JRPG developed by the Canadian team at Sabotage Studio, it seemed fitting to compile a list of the best games in the genre available in the catalog of Microsoft’s subscription service. So we continue the Game Pass insights that began one cold April afternoon with the best FPS and TPS shooter games (here, the full list of the best FPS and TPS shooters to play on Xbox Game Pass here).

A month later, in the wake of the excitement, I also posted the best roguelike and roguelite games featured on Xbox Game Pass (here is the complete list of the best roguelike and roguelite games available on Xbox Game Pass).

I thought, finally, I was done with the best metroidvania games downloadable from the catalog (if you missed them, here you can find the best metroidvania games available on Xbox Game Pass here) and instead, here I am again talking about JRPGs. Before proceeding with the list, I wanted to thank my good colleague, Francesco Muccino, who helped me compile the list.

Sea of Stars

Let’s just start with the most recent JRPG, Sea of Stars: as I explained at the beginning of the article, Sabotage Studio’s latest effort landed on Xbox Game Pass, Playstation Plus Extra, and Premium on 29th August 2023. To make a very long story short, the title was a critical and public success.

Sea of Stars pays homage to old turn-based role-playing games but at the same time tries to modernize a gameplay that abandons, for example, random fights and grinding. The cherry on top of the cake is an off-the-charts art and sound direction that further enrich an adventure lasting about thirty hours that is exciting and engaging.

Persona Saga

Persona 5 is, at the moment, the best JRPG you can access via Xbox Game Pass. Atlus’s work, given its quality, is about as good as you can ask for in RPGs. Are you ready to experience the double identity of the protagonists divided between school, homework and saving the world?

Along with Persona 5, on Game Pass you will also find Persona 3 and Persona 4: we are talking about more than two hundred hours of gameplay if we add up all three works. In case this amount of content is not enough, you don’t have to worry! Persona 5 Tactica, the strategic spin-off of Persona 5, will land on Game Pass on November 17th, 2023 (here the most relevant video game releases in the last quarter of 2023 beyond Persona 5 Tactica).

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

The Yakuza series, which began in 2005 on the Playstation 2, still remains, despite its age, one of the best known within action-adventures. Although belonging to the same universe, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is, on the other hand, unique in the saga in that it is proposed to the public as a JRPG.

In the SEGA-developed title, in fact, it is possible to form your own party by choosing four characters from the eight available to face enemies in more classic turn-based combat, either through the unique movesets of each team member or through numerous blunt objects available on the battlefield. Finally, it is worth noting the excellent narrativesection that accompanies the player all the way to the end credits.

Chained Echoes

Before Sea of Stars, one of the most talked-about JRPGs in recent months was, without a shadow of a doubt, Chained Echoes. The title was developed by one person, Matthias Linda, a German boy who completed his work in seven years of hard work with the help of a Kickstarter campaign that began in 2019.

There are several reasons why this role-playing game has attracted the public’s attention including the excellent combat system and a character growth that does not come through the accumulation of experience points, but rather through the unlocking of each party member’s skills. This choice allows players to focus on the story without having to spend too much time on grinding.

Eastward

Ok, it’s right we are not talking about a pure JRPG, however, I want to take the liberty of pointing you to one of my all-time favorite games – otherwise what would be the point of starting my own blog – as well as one of the best titles in general available on Xbox Game Pass: Eastward is an action – adventure RPG developed by a small indie studio from Shangai, Pixpil, composed by only three people.

It may be because of the game world; it may be because of an aesthetic that is so reminiscent of Howl’s Moving Castle and, more generally, the style of Hayao Miyazaki and the Ghibli studio…I could go on and on. In short, Eastward is a must-have experience that I want to include, albeit forcibly, in this list. Try it to believe it.