Xbox Games with Gold 2021 year in review: 49 games worth $1,074

If Xbox Live Games with Gold was facing an existential crisis at the turn of a new console generation, the service’s catalog didn’t reflect it over the course of 2021. While subscribers, players and gamers may have still rolled their eyes, I’m sure that they wondered how Microsoft was going to continue to balance out the Xbox Game Pass free-games obligation for Gold members. It is clear the subscription Microsoft wants everyone to buy.

Xbox Live Games with gold continued on as is. The Xbox 360 and Xbox One compatible titles were the most prominent, but there was no indication that Microsoft considered smaller Xbox One games to be an independent platform.

This is, in other words: exactly what we can expect for 2020.

The average Metacritic score of Games with Gold’s 49 titles in 2021 is 0.8 points lower than PlayStation Plus’ games (73.8 to 73). But Sony’s catalog shows higher highs (10 80-rated games, to six for Games with Gold) and greater product diversity than Microsoft, which leaned into dated fighting games, city-building sandboxes, and Konami and Capcom’s rummage sales.

The reason for the discrepancy between Games with Gold & PlayStation Plus is the history of the services. PlayStation Plus was created in 2010 to encourage PS3 owners and other PS3 users to subscribe to a service. Sony needed to provide strong games in order to attract this kind of customer, having already offered multiplayer access. Microsoft answered with Games with Gold in 2013, plainly a reaction to PlayStation Plus, which now set the player’s expectation that people should get some kind of kickback for paid multiplayer access.

The Games With Gold platform had an excellent run while the Xbox 360 catalog was fresh. Backward compatibility was also introduced in 2015. But it’s struggled as that has timed out and as major partners like Ubisoft and Electronic Arts created their own subscription services — the latter of which is now paired with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Microsoft now finds itself in an interesting situation. The best and most current games, especially from the company’s sizable first-party operation, should be found on Xbox Game Pass. So how can they make Games with Gold more enjoyable while also incentivizing the Game Pass upgrade for $4.99, and not just copying or cannibalizing their catalog?

I haven’t figured it out. Neither has Microsoft, by the looks of 2021’s Games with Gold roster. And perhaps they’re fine with that. After all, Sony’s problem is the inverse: PlayStation Now is the second banana, with many folks satisfied by what they receive through PlayStation Plus. It may be that there is no way to have both a streaming/subscription service, and a free-games subscription, at parity.

Image by The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios

2021 at review

There were 49 Xbox Live Games Gold titles for 2021. The average Metacritic score was 73, and the combined retail price at the time of offer was $1,074.51. The Metacritic average has dropped two points since 2020, and the total MSRP is just $8.51 lower.

We’ll start breaking down, month-by-month, the offerings. All Xbox One-compatible games can all be played. The original Xbox has three games that are compatible with Xbox One and Xbox Series X. Xbox 360 subscribers have exclusive access to the Xbox Series X-enabled games.

If applicable, the games are listed alphabetically by platform. Then, Metacritic scores and their age at the time of release.

January

• Little Nightmares (83 Metacritic, 3.0 years old).
• Dead Rising (78, 4.3 years)
• King of Fighters 13 (Xbox 360, 79, 10.5 years)
• Breach (Xbox, 71, 16.8 years)

Little Nightmares, the best game here (and second-best, by Metacritic score, overall) is a compact puzzle-platformer delivering “about five or six hours max” of gameplay, according to our review. It’s perfect for this type of service — give players a free game they’d otherwise not seek out or try — it just comes a little too late to seem like that was Xbox’s intent here.

Februar

• Gears 5 (Xbox Series X 84 – 1.4 years).
• Resident Evil HD (82, 6 years)
• Dandara: TrialsFear Edition (73, 3 years)
• Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb (Xbox, 73, 17.9 years)
• Lost Planet 2 (Xbox 360, 68, 10.8 years)

You should be cautious about what you wish to get, I think. In last year’s analysis, I said Xbox could stand to loosen up on some of the Xbox Game Pass catalog and let a few of its titles go out to Games with Gold, maybe as an inducement that more is in store for an extra $4.99. Microsoft seems to be doing this here Gears 5, so I can’t ding them for double-dipping.

Image by Atari

March

• Broken Out: Warface (66, 0.8 years)
• VALA: Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse (74, 3.0 years)
• Metal Slug 3 (Xbox 360, 78, 13.1 years)
• Port Royale 3 (Xbox 360, 56, 8.5 years)

Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse gets my “Manholes of Venus” award (see above) for the title that most exemplifies a game’s bargain-bin obscurity. Port Royale 3 is the lowest-rated game among the Games with Gold picks; even as a fan of Kalypso’s city-builders, a console isn’t the best place for something like that.

April

• Vikings of Midgard: Wolves from Midgard (64, 4 years)
• FIA European Truck Racing Championship (73, 1.7 years)
• Dark Void (Xbox 360, 59, 11.2 years)
• Uprising by the Hard Corps (Xbox 360, 75, 10.2 years)

Capcom stepped in this year to dump its catalog from the very early teens, when it was publishing all kinds of pitches and experiments from third-party studios, most of which didn’t work out. We are now Dark Void, which was outperformed critically by a DSiWare adaptation originally conceived as an April Fool’s stunt. It is clear that both Games with Gold and PS Plus can attract big publishers to support their libraries. PS Plus receives their critical and commercial successes, Games with Gold their failures.

Mai

• Armello (80, 4.7 years)
• Dungeons 3 (72, 3.6 years)
• Lego Batman (Xbox 360, 76, 12.6 years)
• Tropico 4 (Xbox 360, 77, 9.6 years)

Again, I’m a fan of Kalypso Media’s city-builders, and I enjoyed Dungeons 3Although console may be their preferred medium, Furthermore, two in one month reeks of last-minute desperation to fill out May’s lineup sheet. Dumping is the final option. Tropico 5 LegoBatman 2At the end of every year, it is funny to laugh at each month. Armello notwithstanding.

June

• The King’s Bird (71, 2.3 years)
• Shadows: Awakening (69, 2.8 years)
• NeoGeo Battle Coliseum (Xbox 360, 64, 11 years)
• Injustice: Gods among Us (Xbox 360, 81, 8.2 years)

Microsoft is aware that there’s an Injustice on Xbox One that’s half as old, right? All Injustice: Gods Among Us on Xbox 360 is doing here is reminding folks that it didn’t get an Ultimate Edition or port to Xbox One (but did to PS4). It’s a good fighting game, just conspicuously outdated.

July

• Planet Alpha (72, 2.8 years)
• Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break (74, 1 year)
• Conker: Live & Reloaded (Xbox, 78, 16 years)
• Midway ArcadeOrigins (Xbox 360, 61, 8.7 years)

Midway Arcade Origins This is the best game, despite its Metacritic, which mostly relates to the Xbox Gamepad being used for old arcade games. It’s not ideal for a game like Super SprintThey still function. Paired with Conker: Live & Reloaded, It’s a good month for nostalgia.

August

• Darksiders 3 (69, 2.7 years)
• Yooka-Laylee (73, 4.3 years)
• Lost Planet 3 (Xbox 360, 58, 7.9 years)
• Garou: Mark for the Wolves (Xbox 360, 77, 12.1 years)

Garou: Mark for the Wolves It has been on Xbox Game Pass since September 2017 but serves well as an Xbox 360 representative this month. Darksiders 3’s appearance here means all three Darksiders have been offered by both Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus. Well, PlayStation Plus got the “Deathinitive Edition” of Darksiders 2It was probably still visible on GwG at the close of 2017.

Image: Eko Software/Bigben Interactive/Games Workshop

September

• Warhammer: Chaosbane (Xbox Series X 73 2.3 year)
• Mulaka (73, 3.6 years)
• Zone of the EndersHD Collection (Xbox 360, 75, 8.8 years)
• Samurai Shodown 2 (Xbox 360, 72, 13.0 years)

Warhammer: Chaosbane was better than its score suggests, and is an enjoyable hack-and-slash dungeon-crawler, even if it lacks the depth you’d expect from a Diablo or its clones. It’s not the kind of game that makes a year’s sub to Xbox Live Gold pay for itself, but it is good to see ChaosbaneThis type of exposure can give you a second chance.

October

• Aaero (80, 4.5 years)
• Hover (75, 3.1 years)
• CastlevaniaHarmony of Despair (Xbox 360, 67, 11.2 years)
• Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (Xbox 360, 67, 10.1 years)

Harmony of Despair This means that there are only two compatible Castlevanias left for Xbox. Collection for Anniversaries Advance Collection. This could be Konami’s last line of business. The company also excavated its Xbox compatible Metal Gears for Games with Gold from 2015 to 2019.

November

• Moving out (78, 1.5 years)
• Kingdom Two Crowns (70, 2.9 years)
• Rocket Knight (Xbox 360, 72, 11.5 years)
• Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes (Xbox 360, 79, 9.4 years)

Konami may not have emptied this clip, but TT Games has! Lego Batman Only eight licensed Lego titles are left from the original and sequel, which were released in May 2017. At a rate one per seven months Games with Gold, 15 Xbox-compatible Lego Lego titles remain.

December

• The Escapists 2, (77, 4.3 years)
• Tropico 5 — Penultimate Edition (75, 5.6 years)
• Orcs Must Die! (Xbox 360, 79, 10.2 years)
• Shadow Planet with insanely bizarre twists (Xbox 360, 76, 10.4 years)

The Escapists 2,Since 2019, has been on Game Pass Shadow Planet with insanely bizarre twists A Summer of Arcade was published (remember that? Selection that Microsoft published in 2011. I spent a few hundred hours pumping. Tropico 5 on PlayStation 4, so of all the Kalypso city-builders, it’s probably the best for a console. Tropico fan preferred 4 You can find more information here 5, But, as you can see, neither are superior to the other. 6The company was launched in 2019 by.

Capcom Image

The Numbers

Average value: 73

Median MSRP: $21.93

Median age: 7.13 Years

Published by Xbox Game Studios There are three titles (Gears 5, Conker: Live & ReloadedPlease see the following: Shadow Planet with insanely bizarre twists)

The publisher with the most titles Capcom and Kalypso Media contributed six games each Dead Rising, Resident Evil HD, Lost Planet 2, Dark Void, Lost Planet 3, Resident Evil Code: Veronica X Capcom, Port Royale 3. Vikings: Wolves of Midgard. Dungeons 3 and Tropico 4. Shadows 4: Awakening. Tropico 5 — Penultimate Edition Kalypso. Each contributed four games to Konami, SNK and Team17.

Played on Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus before: Games with Gold offered them none before. Eighteen were available on PS Plus before. The King of Fighters 13 (October 2012), Resident Evil HD (October 2016), Port Royale 3 (May 2017), Tropico 5 (May 2016), Uprising by the Hard Corps (June 2012), Zone of the Enders HD collection (September 2019), Darksiders 3 (September 2019, Injustice: Gods Among Us (December 2014).

You can find me on Game Pass Three, currently; five, formerly. Garou: Mark for the Wolves Available in Game Pass starting September 2017. Gears 5 Game Pass has been available since September 2019. The Escapists 2,Game Pass has been available since November 2019 You can still find them all there. Resident Evil HD Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition, Kingdom Two Crowns, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes They were available on Xbox Game Pass from 2017 to 2019, but they have been removed.

You can now appear on the following: Eighteen of the 49 titles are also currently available on PlayStation’s streaming/downloading service.

The total value $1,074.51 MSRP (Microsoft at the time of offering them)