Microsoft have just announced the line-up for Xbox Games With Gold for October 2018 and, well, it’s a little on the low-key side. While all of the games included are objectively good, it’s a far cry from what we’ve seen from the service in the past.
The two Xbox One games included for October are Overcooked and Victor Vran, the former available for the entire month and the latter from 16th October to 15th November. Of the two, Overcooked probably has the widest appeal as a fun couch co-op game, but don’t sleep on Victor Vran, especially if you miss Geralt’s dulcet tones.
The two Xbox 360 titles, which are both backwards compatible, are Hitman Blood Money (which is a highlight of the franchise, in my eyes) and Stuntman Ignition. The former is yours for the taking from 6th October to 31st October and the latter is available from the 1st of October to October 15th. I can’t remember ever playing Ignition, so that might be a good distraction for me.
As decent as these games are, they don’t particularly excite — there’s no buzz like what we saw with the addition of Metal Gear Solid V and For Honor. It’s been a patchy time to be a Games With Gold subscriber of late, to say the least. There haven’t really been any headline names for the past couple of months, which has been a consistent inconsistency for most of 2018 with GWG.
January, February, and June were all subpar months for Games With Gold, adding to September and October’s so-so tally. The division in quality and relevancy is a little jarring: Games With Gold really feels like a lottery these days. There might be a good reason for that, however.
Game Pass is Microsoft’s hot new thing and a deal that is almost impossible not to take them up on if you’re a regular Xbox player. All of the console’s new exclusives are included with the service, including the most recent Forza, as well as a tonne of third-party titles with plenty of support from Bethesda. It’s also very fairly priced, too, meaning that it’s hard to not see the value in it, even if you’re only hanging around for a month or two.
It’d be cynical to suggest that Microsoft are focusing less on GWG to encourage more people to try Game Pass, but it is surprising to see the roles reversed between Microsoft and Sony in terms of their subscription games. PlayStation Plus’ offerings were not great for the longest time whereas Games With Gold was constantly killing it. Now, it’s PlayStation Plus that is offering more and newer games while Games With Gold struggles to build up momentum.
Still, it’s worth remembering that these are effectively games that neither publisher needs to give out each month, though there certainly would be hell to pay if either stopped. You’re mainly paying for access to most of the online games on the platforms, but if you only sporadically play Xbox One, it may be getting harder and harder to cough up your Games With Gold fee each month.
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