Larry David wrote that headline
Xbox has sputtered and come up short with Games with Gold for most of 2020. That’s an unfortunate byproduct of Xbox Game Pass being so well-rounded. Havingso manytitles on Game Pass means that Games with Gold suffers when it comes to finding more things to add to subscription services — especially when Xbox probably gets more value out of adding them to Game Pass and making that an even more attractive offer.
The headliner — or at least the most recent game — is 2017’s moody horror indie platformerLittle Nightmares. It’s a bizarre piece of art, a lot like Playdead’sInsidein some ways. Funny story: Jordan actually playedLittle Nightmaresa couple weekends ago and then described it to me as “insane but short.” Then he showed me the level with the chefs.
There’s more brand name recognition by moving back another console generation. The Xbox 360 games are generally well-known.Dead RisingandThe King of Fighters XIIIare also part of the lineup. I’m curious as to howDead Risingruns on Xbox Series X. I’d assume it doesn’t have too much trouble pushing all those zombies on-screen at once. Lastly, Namco’s first-person become-a-superhero-and-escape-from-a-lab game from the original Xbox,Breakdown, rounds out the freebies.
Here’s the full, ahem, breakdown of January 2021’s Xbox Games with Gold:
