In what is a great way to start the new year, Microsoft is allowing Gold members to download two of this months’ games with gold titles. What’s even better is one of them is the fantastic platformer Celeste.
Take a look at the complete January 2019 games with gold below:
Celeste: Available January 1st – 31st
Lara Croft and the Guardian of light: Available January 1st – 15th
WRC 6: FIA World Rally Championship: Available January 16th – February 15th
Far Cry 2: Available January 16th – 31st
And you can Still grab December games with gold title Never Alone until Jan 15th.
As usual, there’s an eclectic mix of games available to download this month. While it’s hard to please everyone, in my opinion, Microsoft has gotten off to the best possible start, for the most part, with the two games that are available to download straight away. So, let’s take a look at them, shall we?
Celeste
Having sold over 500,000 copies in 2018, Celeste will now hit more homes thanks to Gold. For the people who have already purchased this game, it’s bad news (it happens to me every single month on both PlayStation and Xbox), for everyone else, it’s fantastic.
Celeste gives you a mountain to climb, literally. Players control a girl called Madeline as she climbs Celeste mountain. Madeline must run, jump and climb her way to the top all the while avoiding deadly traps, spikes, and pitfalls. There’s also a pretty deep story involving depression and anxiety. Not something you’d usually expect from a platform game, but it works.
Have a read of our January 2018 article on the game for more information and the trailer. It even made it into our game of the year piece a couple of times as best indie title.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
While not your usual Tomb Raider game, Guardian of Light can be a lot of fun. Guardian of light is a co-op games played with an isometric viewpoint. Players must solve puzzles using Lara and her companion, Totec. Both characters have different items to help in the adventure. Lara has her classic dual pistols and a grappling hook, while Totec has spears which are used as both a weapon and a climbing aid for Lara. Using both characters abilities is vital to solving puzzles, avoiding traps and getting through the levels.
I said above that the game can be fun. I found that it’s a lot more fun when played the way it’s supposed to be, which is with a partner controlled by another human. Be that online or in couch co-op. I just don’t find this game anywhere near as fun as a solo experience.
What I do find incredibly lazy on Microsoft’s side is the fact Guardian of light has been free on games with gold before. Also in January. It was back in 2014 I know, I just hope to not see the trend of repeating games too often in the future, regardless of how long ago they were available.
What are your thoughts on this months games dear readers? Does it annoy you we are being given a title we’ve had before and what games would you like to see given away in the future?
