Major Nelson Confirms January’s Games With Gold

Through his website, Microsoft’s Major Nelson has revealed the four games that Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners will be gifted in January, as part of the company’s Games with Gold promotion. It’s a rather varied and solid list, too, which consists of a fun-looking arcade brawler, the remake of a popular fighting game, an edge-of-your-seat arcade racer and a deep, immersive RPG.

Starting on the first of January, Xbox One owners will be able to download (and pummel their friends in) Killer Instinct: Season 1 Ultra Edition, which includes multiple characters and costumes, as well as the original Killer Instinct game. Then, from the sixteenth through January 15th, they’ll be able to mash buttons and beat the living Hell out of enemies in Zheros, a fun-looking, cartoon beat ’em up.

On the Xbox 360 side of things, there’s DiRT Showdown, a fun and rather solid arcade racing game, which will become free as of New Year’s Day. Come January 16th, it will be replaced by Square Enix’s great futuristic RPG, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which will revert back to paid status as of January 31st.

Overall, this is a good month for Xbox owners – especially those who recently purchased an Xbox One, without having played much of the 360’s library before doing so. After all, there’s something for practically everyone here. That said, as someone who doesn’t like fighting games and has played the Hell out of both of the Xbox 360 titles on offer, I find myself only being excited about Zheros, which looks like it could end up being a blast.