Although Microsoft has been pushing its Xbox Game Pass subscription service in recent years, Xbox Games With Gold hasn’t disappeared completely yet. Every month, subscribers can pick up four free games that are released in pairs. The offering is worth taking advantage of because Microsoft has openly turned its attention from Xbox Games With Gold to Game Pass. As a result, many gamers feel that the quality of each month’s offering is on the decline and expect the service to be scrapped entirely sooner than later.
In the meantime, Xbox Games With Gold usually provides a good way to get older Xbox titles at a reasonable price. Even if gamers find one or two of the games offered in a month unexciting, the other two will likely be satisfactory. In past years, the subscription service has given away numerous top-rated games like the original Assassin’s Creed, Mirror’s Edge, the two Star Wars: The Force Unleashed titles, and Bayonetta by Platinum Games.
The four titles that will be free in February through Xbox Games With Gold were announced a few days ago, and the first two have been made available a day early. Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse is a last-gen game that released at the end of 2013 and is a direct sequel to the events of Broken Sword: The Angel of Death. Developed with the assistance of a successful Kickstarter campaign, the 2D third-person adventure title follows American George Stobbart and French journalist Nicole Collard as they hunt down the thieves of a valuable painting and stumble across a murder conspiracy.
The second game currently available through Games With Gold is a survival horror adventure title called Hydrophobia, which launched through Xbox Live Arcade in 2010. If it is not yet marked free for subscribers on xbox.com, the game can also be grabbed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace. Hydrophobia takes place in the future after a great flood; players find themselves aboard a floating city called Queen of the World. Terrorists have taken control of the vessel, and protagonist Kate Wilson must foil their plans. The game received mixed reviews and, being an indie title, developer Dark Energy Digital was unable to complete what was intended to be a three-part story. So Hydrophobia ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.
The two other games for February become available in the second half of the month. Also released on PC and Switch Aerial Knight’s Never Yield will be available through mid-March. Launched in May 2021, the 3D runner follows the adventures of Wally, who must escape from some thieves. The game can be completed in about an hour and a half. Band of Bugs, developed by NinjaBee, is a turn-based tactics game that came out in 2007 and features anthropomorphic bugs as combat units.
Sources: Xbox.com, Xbox 360 Marketplace