PS Plus vs. Xbox Games with Gold: Which Free Games Win December?

Sony PS Plus

PS Plus vs. Xbox Games with Gold: Which Free Games Win December?

For December, PS Plus’s PS4 lineup is headlined by Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition, a remastered version of the 2012 action game. This version includes all of the original release’s DLC along with a variety of technical improvements. For those interested in this year’s Darksiders III and Darksiders Remastered announcements, here’s a chance to download and play the series’ most recent outing. The hack-and-slash gameplay is entertaining, and the series tells an interesting story with a colorful cast of characters.

Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends is the other freebie title for PS4 this month. The brawler is essentially a Smash-like, featuring a virtually identical gameplay loop in which players battle to reduce each other’s health low enough to each other off the level. Although it has its own selection of unique characters, don’t expect a roster nearly as compelling as the iconic Nintendo franchise.

PS4 owners get a bit of bonus in the form of the Metroidvania platform game Forma 8, which is a Cross-buy title with PS Vita and can be downloaded and played on either platform.

Continuing on from last month, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood remains a free PSVR title for December. The on-rails spin-off of the popular and acclaimed story-driven adventure game for PS4 is more reminiscent of a scary ride at the theme park than the original game. Rush of Blood has had mixed reviews, but it’s still a fun VR experience with decent production standards.

Over on PS3, Xblaze: Lost Memories and Syberia Collection comprise this month’s offerings. Xblaze: Lost Memories is a visual novel based on the BlazBlue franchise, in which players are tasked with finding “Memory Fragments” that serve as keys to advance the mystery of the game’s narrative. The Syberian Collection, meanwhile, is a collection of the Syberia point-and-click adventure games, featuring clever puzzles, solid writing, and plenty of style.

In addition to Forma 8, PS Vita owners can take advantage of Wanted Corp, a top-down action game in which you play as two intergalactic bounty hunters with different powers.

It’s also worth noting that in addition to the free game downloads, PS Plus members get exclusive access to the Monster Hunter World beta, which runs from Dec. 9 through Dec. 12 on PS4. 

Xbox Games with Gold

PS Plus vs. Xbox Games with Gold: Which Free Games Win November?

The final month of 2017 for free Xbox Games with Gold is comprised of cooperative multiplayer game Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide and Telltale Games’ sequel of the Back to the Future trilogy on Xbox One.

Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide follows a similar beat to games such as Left for Dead, swapping the zombie apocalypse theme for fantasy theme of Games Workshop’s Warhammer franchise. There are no guns, of course, with the action being mostly a melee brawl that requires careful coordination between players as they work through each level. The game employs a deep and addictive crafting system that gives it a decent amount of replayability.

From Dec. 16 until Jan. 15, Xbox Live Gold subscribers get Telltale’s Back to the Future: The Game – 30th Anniversary Edition, which includes all five episodes of the series that originally launched in 2010 and 2011. Marty and Doc’s video game adventure earned critical acclaim upon its release and makes for a nice option for those that have only played Telltales more recent offerings.

Over on Xbox 360 (though they can also be played on Xbox One via backward compatibility), rhythm action game Child of Eden and Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, a hack-and-slash adventure title are free this month. Both titles were well-reviewed upon release, especially Child of Eden from game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez series).

Who Wins?

PS Plus vs. Xbox Games with Gold: Which Free Games Win November?

We would have liked to have seen both online services end the year on a high, but December is hardly a vintage month for either. If we had to choose between the two, though, Xbox Games with Gold edges out PS Plus. All of the games on offer over on Microsoft’s service are well-reviewed games that offer a diverse selection of genres, spanning cooperative multiplayer, single-player action adventure titles, and even a rhythm game, too. For Xbox One owners, in particular, backward compatibility means there are four acclaimed titles free to download this month.

Over on PS Plus, sure, Darksiders II: Deathfinitive edition is certainly the most eye-catching AAA title available for download across both the services this month. Its Zelda-like design and third-person hack-and-slash gameplay certainly have a greater scale than anything else available this month. Objectively speaking, however, Darksiders II isn’t really a standout game – entertaining enough, but hardly a must-play. And PS Plus really needed a must-play title if its other offerings were going to be this lackluster. Beyond Darksiders II, this is a pretty poor month for Sony’s online service. Kungfu Panda, as fun as it is, is ultimately a weak Smash-clone that hasn’t received much in the way of positive critical praise.

As always, the service offers free content across a greater amount of platforms than its rival, but even that doesn’t save it this month. Particularly so, given that PSVR owners get no new game this month. The free PS3 games are notably poor, too. Xblaze: Lost Memories is surely only going to be interesting to those already in-tune with the BlazBlue franchise, a fairly niche series unknown to many. The Syberia games were excellent on PC, but the console ports of these games are woeful in comparison to the originals.

Perhaps the only saving grace for the service this month is that those interested in Monster Hunter: World will be able to take part in an exclusive open beta test. Ultimately, though, we’re giving the nod to Microsoft this month for fleshing out Games with Gold in December with quality over quantity.