Xbox may not be winning on the first-party exclusive front, but it's absolutely killing it with its services. Xbox Game Pass is widely considered to be the best deal in gaming right now, with well over 100 titles available for just one, more than reasonable price, and first-party exclusives heading to the service day-one for no additional cost. With Game Pass taking most of the limelight, it's easy to forget about the service that started it all, Xbox Games with Gold.
For almost 10 years, Xbox Games with Gold has been giving subscribers at least two free games every month. For a while now, Games with Gold has been giving away four games every month, some of which have been real heavy-hitters. This month, subscribers will have access to four free games, two of which will appeal to fans of certain genre, while the other two will appeal to fans of another.
June's Games with Gold are Great for City Simulator Fans
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Two of June's Games with Gold are the perfect addition to any simulator fans' library. Aven Colony and Project Highrise: Architect's Edition both offer city-building and simulation gameplay, but each has its own set of distinct gameplay mechanics, and its own unique art style and presentation.
Developed by Mothership Entertainment, Aven Colony is the first simulation city-builder heading to Games with Gold this month, available for download now until June 30. The general premise of the game is very simple, tasking the player with creating a new human colony on an alien planet named Aven Prime.
The gameplay of Aven Colony is also fairly basic, including all the city-builder elements fans would expect of the genre. Players will be monitoring and gathering resources, managing their population, and constructing new buildings that in turn attract more citizens to live in the colony. As players progress, the colony's technology does the same, advancing from tents and walking to skyscrapers and hover cars.
The real draw of Aven Colony is its Sci-Fi setting, and how well it integrates that setting into its gameplay and presentation. During the course of the game, players will have to fend off various alien threats, from hulking tentacled monsters to poisonous spores. They'll also have to defend against a variety of environmental hazards, ranging from storms to toxic gas. Aven Colony's Sci-Fi aesthetic and atmosphere is enhanced exponentially by the game's vivid backdrops which showcase the planet surrounding the colony, giving the game a grand scale.
Trading a Sci-Fi setting for a downtown industrial one, well-loved SimTower successorProject Highrise: Architect's Edition (available from June 16 - July 15) tasks the player with building a world-famous skyscraper. Using a 2D cross-section perspective, players will begin the game by building their skyscraper from the ground-up, and will add to it floor-by-floor once they've gathered enough resources. As the tower gets bigger, players can decide what type of block goes there, from residential areas to office blocks to restaurants and bars.
Though Project Highrise's general gameplay goal is the same as Aven Colony's the two stand apart from one another quite a bit. While Aven Colony's Sci-Fi setting is enhanced by its vibrant visuals, Project Highrise's industrial tone is immediately set by its simplistic pixel art and muted color pallette. Fans of city-builders and simulation games should definitely pick up these two Games with Gold titles.
June's Other Games with Gold Offerings are Great for Platforming Fans
While city-builder and sim fans have been catered for with Aven Colony and Project Highrise, 2D side-scrolling platforming fans are also getting treated this month. Available from now until June 15, the critically-acclaimed Super Meat Boy is free to those who subscribe to Xbox Live Gold. For those who still haven't played the 2010 indie darling, Super Meat Boy is an incredibly challenging, fast-paced side-scroller that demands incredibly precise platforming.
Coming out in 2010, Super Meat Boy was one of the titles included in the first real Indie boom, alongside the likes of LIMBO and Fez. The cartoon aesthetic and grotesque character models of Super Meat Boy helped to set it apart from other platformers of the time, and its high-skill, addictive gameplay has ensured that it stands the test of time in just about every way. By all accounts, Super Meat Boy is still one of the best indie games ever made, and may just be one of the most influential 2D side-scrollers of all time. Those that haven't played this game before should definitely pick it up, especially if they're a fan of intense platformers.
Xbox's final Games with Gold offering this month is another must-have for platformer fans. Another 2010 indie classic, Raskulls will available for download from June 16 to June 30. In a fairly unique move, especially for the time, Raskulls blends 2D platforming gameplay with puzzle mechanics, tasking players with smashing blocks in the right order to create the fastest route through a stage.
Where Super Meat Boy is a strictly single-player experience, Raskulls encourages up to four players to face off against one another, competing to earn a faster time. Raskulls also offers quite a decent variety of gameplay, with ten game modes being available from the get-go, ranging from a bomb defusal mode, to a deathmatch mode. There are also plenty of small gameplay quirks to keep Raskulls fun for more than just a few rounds, like the Frenzy mechanic, which sees players being given super speed once a certain item has been consumed, and a slew of both defensive and offensive pick-ups that can drastically change the outcome of a match.