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Assassin’s Creed IV, Gears of War 3 free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in July

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Xbox Live Gold subscribers will receive free downloadable copies of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for the Xbox One and Gears of War 3 for Xbox 360 starting next month, Microsoft announced today.

Microsoft also revealed that Xbox One owners who subscribe to Xbox Live Gold will receive two free games every month starting in July, expanding the service’s slate of monthly freebies beyond its initial allotment of one free Xbox One game per month.

Originally released in 2013, Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag features an 18th-century Caribbean setting and supplements the series’ traditional stealth mechanics with naval combat sequences. Players navigate ships through narrow waterways and engage enemy pirates in explosive ship-to-ship battles throughout the game’s single-player campaign.

July’s second free Xbox One offering is So Many Me, a Lemmings-like indie puzzle-platformer with inventive cloning mechanics. So Many Me will be available as a free download from July 16 through August 15.

Xbox 360 owners, meanwhile, will receive a free downloadable copy of Gears of War 3 starting July 1. Released in 2011, Gears 3 wrapped up Epic Games’ third-person shooter trilogy with a lengthy single-player campaign and a broad selection of multiplayer maps. Gears of War 3 will be released for free on July 16.

Starting July 1, Xbox 360 players can additionally pick up a free downloadable copy of PopCap’s popular tower defense variant Plants vs. Zombies. Released across multiple platforms in the years since its debut, Plants vs. Zombies recently spawned the team-based multiplayer spinoff Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. A sequel, Garden Warfare 2 was revealed at E3 last week.

All featured Games With Gold titles are free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers to keep, even after their service subscription lapses. Assassin’s Creed IV will be downloadable throughout the month of July, while all other featured games are available over two-week periods.

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