Every month PlayStation and Xbox offer updates to their subscription services, PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold, and Xbox Game Pass. Here’s what’s on the docket for January 2019.
Free games for PlayStation 4 with PlayStation Plus:
- Steep: An open-world winter sports simulation game, where you have an entire mountain to ski, snowboard, and paraglide to your heart’s desire. Available all month.
- Portal Knights: An open-ended action role-playing game with a Minecraft-like art style and cooperative play for up to four players. Available all month.
Free games for Xbox One with Xbox Live Gold:
- Never Alone: A platforming game where an Alaskan native Iñupiat girl teams up with a spirit fox. Features cooperative play for up to two players. Available until Jan. 15.
- Celeste: A award-winning single-player hard-core platforming adventure game with a retro art style. Available all month
- Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: A two-player cooperative game based on the Tomb Raider game franchise. Available until Jan. 15.
New games added to Xbox Game Pass:
- Life Is Strange Complete Season: An episodic, narrative-driven adventure game following a high school teenager who discovers she can rewind time.
- Life Is Strange: Before the Storm: A three-episode prequel to the aforementioned Life Is Strange.
- Life Is Strange 2: Part 1: The first episode in the sequel to Life Is Strange. This game follows two brothers who are forced to flee from their home after an unexplainable event.
- Ark: Survival Evolved: A massively-multiplayer survival game where you have to eke out an existence on an island filled with dinosaurs, mythical creatures, and advanced technology.
- Farming Simulator 17: A simulation game that puts you in charge of all aspects of a modern farm.
- Absolver: A massively-multiplayer game focused on martial arts. (New to Xbox One)
- Just Cause 3: The third entry in the open-world action game where you’re tasked with taking down a Mediterranean island’s dictator.
- Aftercharge: A team-based multiplayer game where one team attempts to sneak into the enemy’s territory and destroy their items while the other team, who is invincible, tries to stop them with weaponry. (New to Xbox One)
All of these services are subscription-based and you need to be a member in order to access the games. A PlayStation Plus membership is $59.99 for 12 months; an Xbox Live Gold membership is $59.99 for 12 months; an Xbox Game Pass membership is $9.99 a month.
