4 Games Free to Xbox Live Gold Subscribers in April 2016
It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the best month ever when it comes to high quality free games. But let’s back up. Being an Xbox Live Gold subscriber means you get free games each month. The service costs around $60 per year, but the games you’ll get are worth far more than that, even if you’re only interested in playing a fraction of them. Sony offers a similar platform but the PlayStation Plus games for April don’t look as great.
Although Microsoft gives away two games each for Xbox One and Xbox 360, you can play all of the Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. Effectively, Xbox One owners get four free games each month instead of two.
It’s also worth noting that even if you don’t have an Xbox One yet, you can redeem your free games either on Xbox.com or your Xbox 360. Then if you buy an Xbox One in the future, you’ll be able to find those games in your account and download them for free.
Without further ado, here are the free Games With Gold for April 2016.
1. Sunset Overdrive
Platform: Xbox One
Metacritic score: 81
Original price: $30
Available: April 16 to May 15
Insomniac Studios is best known for its PlayStation series like Ratchet and Clank and Resistance, but in 2014 the company switched sides to whip up an Xbox One exclusive for Microsoft. The result was Sunset Overdrive, a game so fun and full of life it eclipses all the dour, color-muted apocalyptic shooters that line the shelves at game stores. Sunset Overdrive is an open-world game that has you grind on rails to get around and use crazy weapons to blast mutants to smithereens. If you missed out on this one when it came out, be sure to download it in April.
2. The Wolf Among Us
Platform: Xbox One
Metacritic score: 83
Original price: $25
Available: April 1 to April 30
You know all those fairy tales you read growing up, like “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs”? In The Wolf Among Us, they’re all real. All the characters from the stories, from Georgie Porgie to Snow White, live in Manhattan and use magic to disguise their true nature. Although it sounds like it’s made for kids, this adventure game most certainly is not. A mystery involving prostitutes and severed heads sends Sheriff Bigby — the Big Bad Wolf — on a quest to get to figure out what’s going on. It’s up to you to help him.
3. Dead Space
Platform: Xbox 360
Metacritic score: 89
Original price: $15
Available: April 1 to April 15
If you’re a fan of survival horror games and you haven’t played Dead Space, you’re in for a treat. Heck, even if you’ve already played it, you’re in for a treat, because this game is an absolute classic of the genre. As an engineer trapped on a spaceship full of deadly monsters, you have to assemble weapons and armor as you try to get to safety. The gameplay is full of variety, whether you’re stomping down corridors, shooting the limbs off of aliens, or floating through zero-gravity environments. It’s dark, scary, riveting stuff that anyone who likes a good horror story should try.
4. Saints Row IV
Platform: Xbox 360
Metacritic score: 81
Original price: $35
Available: April 16 to April 30
If you’ve never played a Saints Row game, all you really need to know is that they’re open-world action games like Grand Theft Auto, but even more juvenile and way crazier — in a good way. This installment puts you in the shoes of the President of the United States, and gives you an array of wild superhero abilities you’ll have to use to stop an alien invasion. It’s ridiculous, hilarious, and tons of fun.
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