[News] Xbox Games With Gold For February 2021: First Batch Available Now

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Xbox Games With Gold For February 2021: First Batch Available Now 

 

Instead of its usual four free games per month, Microsoft is giving away five freebies in February for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. The first few free games can be claimed now, a day earlier than they were scheduled to be made free.

Those with an active subscription will be able to claim the excellent Gears 5 along with Resident Evil, Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, and Lost Planet 2. As always, all of these games can be played on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. A few should also work on Xbox 360.

Now Playing: Gears 5 Video Review

Initially, the news was bittersweet, as Microsoft announced a price increase for Xbox Live Gold. However, this was reversed just hours later, with free-to-play games on the consoles now no longer requiring an Xbox Live Gold subscription to access multiplayer, either. It ended up working out pretty well!

Set after the events of Gears 4 and featuring Kait Diaz in the lead role, Gears 5 is a horror-inspired entry in the series that digs deeper into the mysterious origins of the Locusts as well as the role humanity played in the conflict. Its excellent campaign is complemented by a beefy competitive multiplayer mode and several cooperative offerings, including Horde mode. It experiments in its storytelling more than its predecessor, as The Coalition is clearly getting more comfortable leading the franchise. If Gears 4 felt like more of the same to you, this is very different.

Resident Evil is a great choice for February, seeing as it's only a few months before we get Resident Evil Village, and the version included with Games With Gold is the remaster from a few years back. It's a tense and smaller-scale game than some of its successors, but it emphasizes classic horror over action for a less mindless experience. It also introduces us to some of the series' best characters like Jill and Chris.

Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition may not be a household name, but the pixel art action game is an acclaimed and mysterious adventure that has elements of Metroidvania games. If you like Celeste, the chances are pretty high that you're going to like Dandara, as well, and there's even more focus on the narrative in this version.

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Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb was released way back on the original Xbox, taking place in China during the '30s in a classic action-adventure that also includes a trip to Istanbul. You'll have access to Indiana's classic equipment, including his whip, and there's also a hand-to-hand combat system so you can lay down the smack.

Lost Planet 2 is the last freebie of the month. Capcom's sequel takes you out of the frozen hellscape of the original and into something a little warmer. However, it retains the first game's excellent blend of exploration and third-person combat, and it's generally considered to be superior to the third game, which released three years later.