Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers — the latter comes with the former — have two new free games to look forward to playing across Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X during the month of July via the Games With Gold program. Like most months, both games are of the smaller, less notable variety, which is to say neither are AAA games or the latest Xbox Series X|S release. In fact, both are Xbox One games that are also playable on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series X via backward compatibility.ย
One of the two games — the more notable of the pair — is Darkwood from Acid Wizard Studio. While you may have never heard of the horror game, it was quietly quite successful in 2017, and is widely considered one of the best horror games of its year. The other game, When the Past Was Around, hails from 2020. It is less popular than the other offered game this month, but the title from Mojiken and Toge Productions is equally highly among those who played it.ย
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“Roam by day, survive the night. Darkwood is a different type of survival horror game that builds tension through slow-burn atmosphere without relying on jump scares,” reads an official blurb about Darkwood from Xbox. “While the sun is out, explore an open world of the corrupted woods to scavenge weapons and materials. Once the sun dips, you’ll need to hole up surrounded by whatever traps and barriers you can build and pray you can hide from or fight the creatures that emerge in the dark. Good luck making it through the night with your body and mind intact.”
“Discover the touching and bittersweet love story of Eda and Owl,” reads an official pitch of When the Past Was Aroundย provided by Xbox.”Unlock the puzzles in a beautifully rendered point and click adventure with hand-drawn art and a magical score that will stick with you for days. This is a calming, meditative game that reflects on love and loss in a surreal world made up of disjointed rooms from memory and time.
According to Xbox, the pair of games offer roughly $23.50 in value, but this is assuming you were going to buy both and do so at full price. That said, Darkwood is set to be available between July 1 and July 31, When the Past Was Around is going to be available between July 15 and August 15. Once downloaded, both games are yours to keep, but you need to act within each respective window.ย
