Start the New Year Off with Some Sweet (Free) Games with Gold

Xbox Wire:

Three fantastic games across Xbox One and Xbox 360 will make sure you start your New Year off right. Xbox One gets the critically acclaimed indie adventure game D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die (or D4 for short), while Xbox 360 gets off-road racer MX vs. ATV Alive, and the epic role-playing game The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. As usual, all games are available only for a limited time, as part of the ongoing Games with Gold program – so find a buddy (or not), and jump in!

[DarkAstronaut]

IMO this is the best month for GWG yet.

Witcher 2 is a great pick up for 360 owners and smart of MS to do leading up to the Witcher 3. D4 is nice too.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Yeah, its ok. Witcher 2 is a smart choice I guess MS thought it was releasing in Feb.

Oh well looks like an early gift and a early start before the third one releases for Xbox owners.

[christocolus]

i think you are right, gamers get to play the witcher2 before jumping on witcher3. makes sense. also D4 is a great game, im glad more xbox owners finally get to play it.

[mikeslemonade]

For me personally it sucks as usual. I already bought D4, but I guess a cult exclusive that is free is great for people who haven't bought it.

360 is not relevant anymore. Why would you be lame and play those games?

[Pogmathoin]

As you said Mike, as normal you suck.

[BallsEye]

D4!!! finally something good!

[jackanderson1985]

i'll admit only replying to u to near the top ha

by my awesome detectiveness (clicking into the titles)... sleeping dogs, tomb raider, dragons age, COD, destiny (maybe) and alien isolation are all on sale starting tomorrow on the X1

[CorndogBurglar]

I'm glad I kept my 360 when I got a PS4 instead of trading it in. I've always wanted to see what was so great about The Witcher 2. Now i'll get my chance!

[destroyer11687]

Just a small piece of advice when playing witcher 2. I almost gave up on the game a few hours in because it starts off being pretty damn hard and the combat controls don't help either...but push through. I'm so glad I did. One of my favorite games.

[TheSaint]

Except the fact that it's been on sale multiple times and most who wanted it have it.

[4logpc]

dang ittttttttttttt. I bought D4, but never played it ha. Oh well. Dont mind supporting the devs.

[traumadisaster]

Yea I've gotten killed on buying these x1 downloaded games...everyone I buy and play for 5 min ends up free.

That's it, I'm done in 2015. No purchases.

I paid full price for 25 years, it's everyone else's turn to prop up the industry.

[Why o why]

Lol, it would be good if they let us know two months in advance but that would be a slight disservice to the game devs/publishers etc as it could stunt their sales. On the other hand its a great starter bonus for new owners

[r3f1cul]

i have no problem paying for a game, if i enjoyed playing it thats the only thing that matters to me... if its with GWG and i enjoy playing it for free... even better... to not bother buying games just because you are worried they will be free at some point is kind of doing a disservice to yourself, and limiting your enjoyment based on pure chance more or less... buy the games you want, if they end up being free eventually be happy that other people get to enjoy the game... or sometimes suffer through the crap you had to :D lol

[StevieMacUK]

Hold off on buying games day one, get them maybe two months later.

That's worked for me, and saved me at least 25%.

I got Murdered Soul Suspect new PS4 for £13 and I was planning on paying full price for it.

[Immorals]

Been looking to get d4,and I missed out on the witcher on 360. Guess my backlog can deal with a few more..

[Docknoss]

The Witcher 2 is amazing, easily in the top 5 RPG's of last generation for me.

[TheGreatGamer]

D4 is a good game and I look forward to playing it now but Xbox one either needs 2 indie games a month or MS needs to give us an AAA title for X1 if they're only going to give one game a month

[Kingdomcome247]

I understand wanting better. I would enjoy some AAA titles as well, but XBL memberships have always been merely a means to play online. It's been that way for 11 years or so, and they've only recently added GWG for *added* value, and to compete with PS Plus. I just don't understand saying that Microsoft needs to give us a AAA title monthly or two indie games for that matter. I'm sure we'll begin to receive better games in the near future, but our $60.00 a year XBL dues by no means entitles us to free games. Let alone AAA games. I'm not trying to single you out or bash you, I just don't understand your viewpoint.

[TheGreatGamer]

I see how my comment came across as ignorant, I merely meant that I wish MS would match Sony in their free games offerings

[Bigpappy]

I agree with you completely Kingdom. I see where some may see value in getting free stuff, but because it has to be what is now seen as 'low valued stuff' in order to make sense to give away, it does next to nothing for a person like me who simply buys what interest me.

I am not saying they should get rid of it, but if they did , I am certain that I wouldn't miss it. I get much more mileage out of discounts on recent games, is I do purchase games I want, on at a time. So I. Don't have all the recent games that interest me yet. But even sales don't get me to buy games that don't interest me. Sometimes free isn't enough to make me spend my time with them.

[Software_Lover]

That is great. D4 and The Witcher 2. I have it on PC so I'm interested to see how the consoles stack up.

[traumadisaster]

It's a mini game to me too...I compare 4kpc to consoles just for the experience of it.

[gangsta_red]

Witcher 2!? Hell Yea! Now that is what I'm talking about...sux I already bought D4 tho...good game.

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

Haven't bought D4 yet so this is a big win for me.

[BattleTorn]

I had remained on the fence, but now I will gladly play it!

[Minute Man 721]

Too bad I bought the Witcher 2 on sale a few months ago on XBL

[Shineon]

Me too and I still haven't had time to get into it

[Kingdomcome247]

This makes me happy as I wanted to try D4, but I wasn't quite sure I'd like it. I feel as though we'll probably start to see some AAA launch titles for GWG within the first quarter or so of next year.

[Angerfist]

I guess Forza 5 could be coming in anticipation of Forza 6 and they know they make a few bucks from DLC anyway. Not sure about Ryse but games that are having DLC are good candidates for GWG.

[Kingdomcome247]

True. I don't want it, but truth be told, I'm absolutely shocked that Lococycle hasn't hit GWG.

[ghostface9]

nice ill finally get to play d4 thanks xbox

[No_Limit]

D4 sounds great and I don't mind playing the witcher 2 again before the Witcher 3 is release. Nice going MS.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Super excited about D4 coming to Gold.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Never played The Witcher 2, do I have to play the first one?

[poppinslops]

I didn't.

The Witcher 2 does a pretty good job of catching you up... There's a video on Youtube that explains the first game's key plot points, which I'd recommend.

Still, you can get the first Witcher for $10, so you might as well play 'em both... Wild Hunt isn't out 'till May, so you've got plenty of time.

[ziggurcat]

witcher 2 is a fantastic offering. and if i didn't already own D4, i'd nab that one, too.

[reaper602]

Witcher 2? NICE!!One of my favorite games of the past decade

[kstap33]

I bought D4 and played through it with Kinect. It was a strange but good game. The Witcher series wasn't on my radar until articles about Witcher 3 popped up online, so I look forward to checking out Witcher 2.

[feedthereaper]

It is good to see these games free and I for one am happy to receive anything they throw at me, but I also get why a few commentators are unhappy because the GWG (and I suspect PS+ too) services are probably to a degree harming the indie developers. We all know that it is incredibly rare for a new AAA game to be given away and that those AAA games that do come are a good couple of years old or more, so they are not the ones with the problem.

But with the indie type games, where people were happy to buy them and play them based on the price being reasonable, they are less inclined to now because there is a good chance of it becoming FREE in the next month or two.

I do wonder how this affects the sales of Indie games, particularly on the X1 which has fewer of them and therefore more likely a chance of them being offered free in the near future.

I only question it like other gamers on here not because I have been burned at all, but because I have made Indie/Arcade purchases in the past on X360 and waited for my budget to buy others, I have seen those "others" become free later on and although it has saved me a few pennies by waiting, it has also made me wonder whether my hard earned pennies should now be saved up and spent on AAA games only, and play the patient game on the time-filling Arcade/Indie titles knowing there is a fair chance they may become available to me in the future.

Like I said, to me, its a small trade off with being patient and hoping, against not having to pay a penny and I am happy with that, but for the bedroom developers or brand new small studios breaking out, I wonder how it affects them and more to the point, whether they are like the aliens from Toy Story these days, sitting there with much lower sales than they used to expect to get, and crying out "Choose Me!!!" to Microsoft to buy the licence rights to distribute their game free with GWG!

[SegaGamer]

Not a fan of western RPG's but since it's free i'll get it.

[Illusive_Man]

The sun has set on JRPGS. Western RPGs offer better stories, superior pacing , writing, and character development.

[OculusRift]

-In your opinion.

[SegaGamer]

Not really. Western RPG's tend to be dark games, pretty boring really.

[Revengeance]

Persona says otherwise

[TheOnlyMastrx]

Great 360 games, never heard of the Xbox One title, but for free I will definitely be checking it out.

[underwaves75]

isn't D4 a Kinect only title??

[NeoGamer232]

D4 is either Kinect or controller. But, the game actually plays better with Kinect.

[NeoGamer232]

@Cobra951
I don't see it as a minus. Just like fighting games are better with fighting sticks, driving games are better with steering wheels, and plane combat games are better with flight sticks.

Kinect is not trying to be in every game. It is in the games it does best. Dancing, virtual sports, and now D4.

[modelgod]

Kstap33 it was hell getting all the achievements for D4. After multiple play thrus it just got better and better. It is a weird game but it's awesome. I'm jealous it's free next month. Lol!!

[Morgue]

For some reason I always keep thinking that D4 is related to the D series that was out on PS1 and then D2 that was on Dreamcast.

Is it?

[typittt69]

It's not. Used to think the same. D4 stands for Dark Dreams Don't Die

[purebennyc]

great to see D4 included in Jan, this is a title I've had my eye on for a while. Finally starting to see some games worth downloading coming through on GwG for XB1

[jznrpg]

Witcher 2 is great , but I played it years ago on pc D4 is nice tho

[poor_cus_of_games]

So now.the games are free? Not rentals? I'm confused about all this spinning.