Skip to main content

April’s free Xbox Games With Gold include ‘The Witness’ and ‘Dead Space 2’

Xbox - April 2018 Games with Gold

As the new game releases start to ease up a little bit next month, you might be left without anything to play on your Xbox One. But fear not, as April’s free Games With Gold has something for nearly every player, even if you prefer to play video games based on bad animated sequels.

Recommended Videos

For the entire month of April, The Witness will be free to download on Xbox One. Developed by Braid‘s Jonathan Blow, the exploration and puzzle game is cerebral without being stressful. Normally priced at $40, it’s one of the best deals we’ve seen through Games With Gold to date.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

From April 16 through May 15, Xbox One owners can also grab Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Released in 2015, the game is set in London during the Industrial Revolution and features two playable protagonists, the Frye siblings. An underrated gem, Syndicate was a huge improvement over Unity, which released in a broken state a year earlier. Syndicate doesn’t use the role-playing combat style seen in Origins, but its reaction-focused gameplay is still a ton of fun.

Xbox 360 owners should keep their expectations a little bit more in check for April. From the beginning of the month until April 15, you will be able to pick up Cars 2. The action-racing game features characters from the film such as Lightning McQueen and Mater, as well as over-the-top stunts. Though the film wasn’t particularly well-received, the game actually received decent reviews when it launched in 2011.

From April 16 through the end of the month, Xbox 360 players can also download Dead Space 2. The horrifying second installment from defunct developer Visceral is often seen as the series’ high point. The third game was more action-focused and the franchise was effectively put on ice after its release.

As always, the Xbox 360 games available through Games With Gold in April will also be playable on Xbox One through backward compatibility.

If you’re looking for something brand new to play on Xbox One, you might want to check out Rare’s pirate adventure Sea of Thieves. The open-world online game can be played with up to three other friends and uses a “shared world” similar to Destiny 2 or The Division.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
3 games leaving Xbox Game Pass you should play this weekend (December 20-22)
A custom car built drives around Lego 2K Drive.

No more new games are coming to Xbox Game Pass for the rest of 2024. In fact, the service is going to lose some games at the end of the month. All of the games leaving the service on December 31 are very entertaining, and the lineup encompasses wacky racing games, hardcore strategy games about the history of humanity, and goofy fighting games where players control cute animals. These games are worth checking out this weekend as they're leaving Microsoft's gaming subscription service very soon.
Lego 2K Drive
LEGO 2K Drive | Awesome Reveal Trailer | Coming May 19

Racing games are some of the most approachable ones out there, so it makes sense that the genre would be a perfect fit for a Lego game. Visual Concepts and 2K went a step further than they had to with Lego 2K Drive, though, adding large open areas full of missions and minigames to experience. Lego 2K Drive is a light and breezy arcade-like racer that doesn't ask too much from players unless they want to spend a lot of time building vehicles piece by piece. After this game leaves the service at the end of the month, Forza Horizon 5 will be your only option when it comes to open-world racing games on Xbox Game Pass.

Read more
The best Xbox games of 2024: Indiana Jones, Hellblade 2, and more
Best XBOX Games of 2024

2024 was a year of metamorphosis for Xbox. The long-gestating acquisition of Activision Blizzard finally finished toward the end of last year, and in 2024, we saw the fallout of the biggest gaming company acquisition of all time. A year of high peaks and low valleys for Microsoft's gaming brand followed.

Microsoft laid off thousands of game developers at different points this year. It shut down studios like Arkane Austin, Mighty Dog, and Roundhouse Studios, and sold off Hi-Fi Rush and its developer, Tango Gameworks, after attempting to shut them down. Xbox Game Pass confusingly split into several tiers, getting more expensive for those who want to play new games on the service day one. Xbox Game Studios Publishing's Ara: History Untold and Towerborne were PC exclusives at launch this year, which alludes to a significant shift in Xbox's strategy.

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games that you should play this weekend (December 13-15)
Indiana jones buried in the sand.

Xbox Game Pass has had a wild year of ups and downs. While the introduction of new tiers with different game offerings has made subscribing a more confusing process, lots of fantastic games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 have still come to the service the day they released. Over the past couple of weeks, we saw the launch of the last few of 2024's day one Xbox Game Pass titles. These range from early access indies to a new Indiana Jones game from the developer of the Wolfenstein series. If you're wondering what you should be playing on Xbox Game Pass this weekend, look to these titles.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Gamescom Date Reveal Trailer - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | gamescom 2024

The last major Xbox exclusive release of the year, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, is a first-person action-adventure game based on the iconic Lucasfilm series. Wolfenstein: The New Order and The New Colossus developer MachineGames managed to create a licensed game that still retains a unique gameplay identity, infusing puzzle game and immersive sim gameplay elements into what easily could've been an Uncharted knockoff. If you've ever enjoyed an Indiana Jones film and are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, then Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a game you should definitely check out.

Read more