THE BIG GAMES
XBOX GAMES WITH GOLD PREDICTIONS FOR FEBRUARY 2018
Every month, those who subscribe to Microsoft’s online services on Xbox One and Xbox 360 are gifted a few free games under the Games with Gold program. Usually, a couple larger or well-known games from bigger studios make that list, and we have a few predictions as to what those might be for February 2018.
The first guess is 2014 stealth/horror title Alien: Isolation from Creative Assembly. Set within the same universe as the horror Alien movie series, the game takes place 15 years after the first 1979 Alien film. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter to film protagonist Ellen Ripley, as you investigate her disappearance while avoiding a single alien monster within a massive space station.
Alien: Isolation has been on sale numerous times since its release in 2014, and it’s honestly surprising it hasn’t be used with Games with Gold thus far due to its initial popularity back when it released and the four years it’s been on the marketplace since then. Furthermore, the game is currently free for Xbox 360 owners for an unspecified time, so it shouldn’t be too hard for Microsoft to consider offering it for free on Xbox One as well.
Another likely candidate is South Park: The Stick of Truth, the first installment in the South Park RPG series followed more recently by South Park: The Fractured But Whole. Currently, The Stick of Truth is included free in a bundle along with The Fractured But Whole if you buy it digitally through the Xbox Marketplace. By offering the first game for free with Xbox Games with Gold, despite it already being free if you buy the sequel, this would help players who are hesitant buying the second game but who still want to give the first one a try.
Check out page two where we look at a couple possible indie inclusions for next month.