Microsoft Announces Xbox Games With Gold Titles for January: D4, MX vs. ATV Alive, The Witcher 2

We already covered some of the great Xbox game sales that are happening over the holidays, but don’t forget, Microsoft’s Games With Gold promotion is still chugging along. The free games for January were announced over on Xbox Wire, so if you own an Xbox One or an Xbox 360, or if you think you’ll be getting one for Christmas, get yourself an Xbox Live subscription (it’s required for online matchmaking, anyway) and download these free titles.

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die will be the Xbox One’s free game for January. The episodic game received a lot of better-than-average reviews — mostly in the 7 out of 10 range — and I’ve personally heard some good things about it. It sounds like it could be one of those “cult hit” games, so it’s one I’ll definitely be downloading and trying out on 1/1.

On the Xbox 360 side of things, the game to start off January will be MX vs. ATV Alive. I’m personally not big on racing games (save for Trials, if you can count that as one), and MX vs. ATV Alive looks like it didn’t get the best reception in the world — a lot of 5 out of 10-ish reviews. Yeah, 5 out of 10 is technically average, but have you ever played a game with that score that didn’t have very visible issues?

In the middle of January, the Xbox 360 will make up for that first pick with The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. This title received a lot of praise from the video game press, averaging around a 9 out of 10 in reviews. This is a game I’d like to give some time to (if I can find any), as I’ve never played a Witcher game before, and its sequel, The Witcher 3, will be coming to next-generation platforms in May 2015. As it stands, my backlog is pretty significant — but hey, I have five days to do some damage to it, so maybe it’ll be less stacked after the holidays.

Happy with Microsoft’s Games With Gold lineup for January, or do you find it lacking? Leave your thoughts below.