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Xbox Games With Gold features The Walking Dead, Valiant Hearts in October

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The first season of Telltale Games’ episodic adventure game series The Walking Dead will be available as a free download for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in October, Microsoft’s Major Nelson announced.

In a first for the Games With Gold program, both the Xbox One and Xbox 360 editions of The Walking Dead will be available for free in the same month, giving players on both platforms the chance to experience Telltale’s acclaimed series.

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Originally released as a series of downloadable episodes throughout 2012, The Walking Dead is a choice-driven adventure game in which players must forge alliances with fellow survivors in the wake of a zombie outbreak. Player actions and choices are reflected throughout the game’s first season, and decisions made in early episodes have far-reaching consequences.

Telltale followed up with a second season of The Walking Dead in 2014, continuing starring character Clementine’s journey. A third season is currently in development alongside ongoing Telltale projects based on the television series Game of Thrones and 2K’s first-person shooter franchise Borderlands.

The Xbox One version of Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts will also launch as a free download in October for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Taking place during World War I, Valiant Hearts features multiple playable characters who each must weather wartime challenges and hardship.

Gameplay in Valiant Hearts unfolds throughout a series of 2D vignettes that frequently swap out playable characters and settings. Players progress by solving environmental puzzles and interacting with other characters in a style similar to classic point-and-click adventure games.

Also up for grabs in October is the Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. Serving as a prelude chapter to the recently released Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes tells a brief story that directly follows up on the events of 2010’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The Xbox One edition of Ground Zeroes previously launched as a featured Games With Gold freebie earlier this year.

Valiant Hearts will be available as a free download throughout the month of October, while the Xbox One version of The Walking Dead will be free to download between October 16th and November 15th. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be free on the Xbox 360 between October 1st and October 15th, and 360 players can download The Walking Dead from October 16th through October 31st.

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Everything announced at Xbox Games Showcase Extended
Fall Guys parodies Halo's believe trailer.

Microsoft held the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12, giving a first look at gameplay for Redfall and Starfield and revealing brand-new games like Pentiment and Minecraft Legends. As that showcase was focused on reveals, it had a very fast pace outside of the extended looks at Redfall and Starfield. Microsoft changed that with a slower-paced Xbox Games Showcase Extended presentation on June 14.During it, we learned more about some of the games that we saw on Sunday, and even got some news about games that weren't featured, such as Valheim and Slime Rancher 2. This livestream was definitely much slower-paced and less reveal-heavy than Sunday's showcase, but those who want a more in-depth look at Xbox's upcoming lineup of games will enjoy watching it (below). We've rounded up everything that was announced and discussed during Xbox Games Showcase Extended.
Xbox Games Showcase Extended
Valheim is coming to Xbox Game Pass as a console exclusive
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The first real announcement of the Xbox Games Showcase Extended was that Valheim is coming to Xbox Game Pass. The PC version of the game will arrive on Xbox Game Pass this fall. It will then come to Xbox consoles and that version of Xbox Game Pass in spring 2023 as a console exclusive.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre game is coming to Xbox Game Pass
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A new trailer was released for the multiplayer horror game based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which will be on Xbox Game Pass at launch. We also learned that the game will be a console launch exclusive on Xbox One and Xbox Series X in 2023 for a bit before coming to PS4 and PS5 later in the year. 
Slime Rancher 2 is still coming this year
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After skipping out on the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, console-exclusive Slime Rancher 2 popped up here with a new trailer showing The Conservatory, the player's base of operations, exploration gameplay, and more. It will be released in fall 2022 and be on Xbox Game Pass on day one. 
Fall Guys pays homage to an iconic Halo trailer
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Mediatonic and Epic Games revealed that a Halo collaboration is coming to the Xbox versions of Fall Guys on June 30. They made the reveal through a trailer that parodies Halo 3's iconic Believe trailer, as we see a lot of beans frozen in the middle of a battle. This collaboration is called "Spartan Showdown," and players will be able to earn Halo-themed cosmetics by completing challenges while the event is live. 
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 devs urge players to support Ukraine
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Xbox's Sarah Bond and GSC Game World highlighted the S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 team's experience as a Ukrainian game developer following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in an emotional interview and video. GSC Game World then showed a new cinematic trailer that confirms S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will now release in 2023. 
Everything Else

Bethesda's Pete Hines defended the delays of Redfall and Starfield, discussed how Redfall was distinct from previous Arkane and cooperative shooter games, referenced The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76's expansions, and emphasized how players have lots of freedom to do what they want in Starfield in an interview.
Naraka: Bladepoint's developers gave an overview of the game's characters, gameplay, and the campaign ahead of its release on Xbox Series X|S consoles next week. NetEase Games also confirmed that it would come to Xbox One later this year. 
We got to see some brief gameplay footage from Ara: Stories Untold as the developers discussed how this grand strategy game supports player agency and reflects player choice. They also confirmed that its technical alpha begins later this summer.
The developers of Grounded reflected on the survival game's development and teased how the 1.0 launch this September will resolve the story and introduce a new Praying Mantis boss. 
Microsoft Flight Simulator and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's collaboration was discussed in a video featuring Gamertag Radio's Parris Lilly. 
High On Life's Justin Roiland discussed the formation of Squanch Games and his quirky new sci-fi Metroidvania shooter where players take down the leaders of a cartel with talking guns.
A dev diary for Pentiment revealed more details about the story, characters, and setting of Josh Sawyer's new medieval narrative adventure game.
As Dusk Falls got a new developer diary showing how its choice-based gameplay works and discussing its themes and narrative ahead of its July 19 launch. 
We saw some new gameplay from the Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels expansion, showing just how these toys have been incorporated into four new Mexican biomes.
Mojang Executive Producer Dennis Ries revealed that Mojang first teased Minecraft Legends at Minecon 2018 with a T-shirt and explained why Mojang is making an action-strategy game with Blackbird Interactive's help. 
An ID@Xbox trailer highlighted upcoming indie games like Tinykin, Togges, Coral Island, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Bond teased Project Moorcroft, a Game Pass feature that will let developers put demos of their unreleased games in Game Pass to get feedback from players.

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Assassin’s Creed Origins leads June’s Xbox Game Pass lineup
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Microsoft has revealed the first games headed to Xbox Game Pass in June, and the list includes a few significant titles that are likely to excite subscribers.

This week's most notable Xbox Game Pass entries are Assassin's Creed Origins and For Honor: Marching Fire Edition, both of which show Ubisoft's commitment to extending its presence on Microsoft's service. The prolific publisher has promised that a variety of other games in its library are on the way for subscribers before the end of the year, so this is apparently just a taste of what's in store for now.

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The best indie games on Xbox One
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The Xbox One era was a great time for indie games: Microsoft proved increasingly willing to support smaller developers, and Game Pass alone made it far easier for players to access a whole library of fascinating indie titles they hadn’t known about before.

Plus, the popular indie games on Xbox have plenty of other advantages, too -- they’re usually shorter than larger titles, they can be incredibly ambitious in design or premise, and if you’re buying them, they’re significantly more affordable purchases. Here are some of the best available to help you get started!

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