The Xbox One Games With Gold line-up for January 2019 is already burning hot. With the new year, Microsoft released Game of the Year contender Celeste free for subscribers of Xbox Live Gold, as well as the backwards compatible Xbox 360 game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. But, as with previous months, there's more where that came from, and Wednesday morning it was revealed that several more titles are coming to Game Pass, including three that are free to download starting Thursday.
Six new Xbox One Game Pass titles are planned to release between January 3 and January 10, building off of the momentum of announcements made in December. Life is Strange 2: Part 1 will be one of January's new additions, and there are plenty more where that came from:
- Life is Strange 2: Part 1 (Jan. 3)
- Ark: Survival Evolved (Jan. 3)
- Farming Simulator 17 (Jan. 3)
- Absolver (Jan. 7)
- Just Cause 3 (Jan. 10)
- Aftercharge (Jan. 10)
More games may yet be announced for the rest of January, so stay tuned for more information in the weeks to come. Also, Xbox's offer of just $1 for new subscribers' first month of Game Pass is still available -- for now.
Life is Strange 2 will be a five-episode series, so including Part 1 in Game Pass is likely more akin to a demo than a promise that the whole season will be coming to the service. A demo still has its uses, though. Part 2 of Life is Strange 2 is scheduled to release in late January, so potential buyers on Xbox will now be able to try out the game for themselves to see if they want to buy in for the whole season.
The dinosaur-rich multiplayer action-survival game Ark is likely joining Game Pass to capitalize on what's left of its lifespan. Its developers have moved on to Atlas, a similar game but with piracy instead of dinosaurs. Both Farming Simulator 17 and Just Cause 3 are in similar situations, with Farming Simulator 19 and Just Cause 4 having been released in late 2018. Players can try the Game Pass titles first and maybe buy into the follow-ups later.
As for Absolver and Aftercharge, a martial arts action-RPG and a 3v3 competitive first-person action game, respectively, both are quality indie games hoping to reach a broader audience. Given the success of Game Pass the past year, they will likely get what they're looking for.
Microsoft likely isn't stopping its addition of titles, soon, as more games are being added to Game Pass all the time. 2018 was a great year for Game Pass, with recent months adding PUBG, Ori, Below, Ashen and more, but January may just be the start of an even better 2019 for Xbox One owners who subscribe to Game Pass.
Source: Xbox