You need to play the best apocalypse RPG before it leaves Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass is one of the best deals in gaming, functioning like the "Netflix for games" for any Xbox One or PC owner that's willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to directly download from a curated selection of video games. Like any subscription service, titles come and go, and another wave of games will be leaving the service on April 30. If you only have time to play one of these games before they leave, make it the massive post-apocalyptic RPG by Bethesda: Fallout 4.

On April 15, Microsoft revealed that Fallout 4 would be removed from Xbox Game Pass, alongside other titles like Wolfenstein: The New Order and Braid, on April 30. It is leaving just a couple weeks after Prey, yet another solid game from Bethesda. An enormous RPG may sound like a daunting game to get into with less than two weeks before it leaves, but you should still make Fallout 4 the next game you play in quarantine before it leaves Games Pass.

In Fallout 4, you play as the Sole Survivor of Vault 111 and emerge years after nuclear war has ravaged most of the Earth. Desperate to uncover the mystery of your spouse's murder and your child's abduction, you venture out into a strange and dangerous apocalyptic version of Boston, Massachusetts. Along the way, you're given a myriad of customization options and moral decisions that'll define your experiences and reshape that of your fellow survivors. It's a dense experience with a sprawling world that's easy to get lost in, and per usual, the compelling narrative explores themes related to parenthood in interesting ways.

How Fallout 4 was made — As the title suggests, Fallout 4 is the fourth main entry in the long-running post-apocalyptic RPG series Fallout. The game was rumored for years but wasn't confirmed by Bethesda until May 2015, just about six months before the game's release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

This generated a lot of hype for the game, and it wound up selling extremely well. Bethesda's VP of marketing Pete Hines even confirmed that it sold more than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim did over the same period of time. If you somehow haven't played it, Xbox Game Pass gives you a great chance to try Fallout 4 for free.

The first two games in the series were innovative top-down RPGs known for a surprisingly large amount of player choice. Once Bethesda took the helm, it was brought more in line with The Elder Scrolls series, though it still maintained its setting and focus on the player's choices in the post-apocalypse. Fallout 4 retains that identity, though it lessened the number of options that players had at their disposal during conversations, which proved to be a bit divisive. Still, if you enjoy a good story-based RPG, Fallout 4 will scratch that itch.

Why you should play Fallout 4 — Fallout 4 is an enjoyable game that any RPG fan should play. It differs from previous Fallout games by showing a bit of the world before the nuclear apocalypse began and people were forced in Vaults around North America. Still, these sequences are little more than a prologue before you're thrust into the distant future to face irradiated monsters.

Just like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 4 doesn't hold your hand once you are set loose on its world. There is a story to complete, but there are tons of items, side quests, and companions to find. The game even has limited mode support! It's Bethesda's biggest RPG of this style and will give more than enough objectives to sink your teeth into between now and its removal from Xbox Game Pass.

Fallout 4 is also a first-person shooter, albeit one that's much more methodical than something like Call of Duty. The VATS system from previous Bethesda Fallout games does return, allowing players to stop the action and target a specific body part of the enemy that they are fighting. The game also features an in-depth crafting and base building system, and these elements served as the inspiration for Fallout 76.

Whether you like first-person shooters, RPGs, or sandbox crafting games, Fallout 4 can entertain you in some way. Bethesda's engine does show its age with mediocre graphics and glitches, but this is still a really great RPG.

If you haven't tried it yet and don't mind playing a game about the apocalypse while in quarantine, be sure to give Fallout 4 a shot before it leaves Xbox Game Pass on April 30.