July is almost here and that means a brand-new batch of free games for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.
Next month will start a new trend for the program on Xbox One. While previously, Xbox One gamers would receive one free new game each month, along with a returning free game from the previous month, Microsoft will now include two new Xbox One titles for free each month.
For July, those two free games are Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (available from July 1 through July 31) and So Many Me (available from July 16 to August 15).
On the Xbox 360 front, gamers can download the original Plants vs. Zombies for the first half of the month (July 1 through July 15) before moving on to Gears of War 3. Gears of War 3 will be available from July 16 to July 31, just in time for the Gears of War: Ultimate edition coming to Xbox One in August.
It's a solid lineup of titles, even if most are older titles that can already be picked up on the cheap. Still, we aren't going to complain about receiving the pirate-filled Black Flag for free. So Many Me is a newly released 2D platformer that received positive reviews, so it's good to see Microsoft is providing some variety in the games they offer.
The Games With Gold program still isn't quite as expansive as Sony's PlayStation Plus free game offerings, but adding an additional Xbox One game definitely helps even the odds. We don't yet know what Sony will be offering for July, but expect to hear details soon.
Be sure to grab last month's free games if you haven't already. On Xbox 360, you still have time to download the first-person stealth title Thief, while Xbox One gamers can pick up Double Fine's turned-based strategy title Massive Chalice. Even if you primarily play on Xbox One now, it might be worth it to hook up your old 360 and at least redeem the free 360 games. With the announcement of Xbox One backwards compatibility, you will soon be able to download and play those same games on the Xbox One.
To see how we think Xbox Live Games With Gold stacks up to PlayStation Plus, check out our versus feature.
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