Lords of the Fallen, Borderlands free with Xbox Live Gold in March

By Danny Cowan Published February 24, 2016

Microsoft will hand out another batch of free games for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in March, including the Dark Souls-inspired action-RPG Lords of the Fallen and an Xbox One-compatible version of Borderlands.

The full Games With Gold lineup will be free to download throughout the month of March for Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners with an active Xbox Live Gold subscription.

Related: Lords of the Fallen review

From March 1st through the end of the month, service subscribers can download a free Games With Gold copy of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments for the Xbox One. Developed by Frogwares and originally released in 2014, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is a mystery-themed adventure game in which players guide the renowned detective through six cases of increasing complexity.

Detective work plays a major role throughout Crimes and Punishments, as players will need to interrogate suspects, investigate crime scenes, and identify guilty parties as they navigate the game’s challenges.

Also making its Games With Gold debut in March is Supreme Commander 2, an Xbox 360 real-time strategy game from Square Enix. The free release will also mark the first time that Supreme Commander 2 will be playable on the Xbox One via the platform’s backward compatibility feature.

Another backward-compatible release Xbox Live Gold subscribers can look forward to in March is Borderlands, a co-op first-person shooter featuring a distinctive otherworldly setting and loot-based gameplay mechanics. Multiple sequels followed in the wake of Borderlands‘ 2009 release, including the series compilation Borderlands: The Handsome Collection for the Xbox One.

March’s final Games With Gold title is the Xbox One version of Lords of the Fallen, a dark fantasy action-RPG inspired by From Software’s notoriously difficult Dark Souls series of games. Lords of the Fallen will be free to download for Xbox Live Gold subscribers between March 16th and April 15th.

Topics

Contributor

Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…

Gaming

You can’t play Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox, but you can play these 6 Game Pass RPGs

A player conversation in Baldur's Gate 3.

Baldur's Gate 3 just launched on PC on August 3 and comes to PlayStation 5 shortly on September 6. Unfortunately, an Xbox Series X/S version of the RPG does not have any concrete release date. Developer Larian Studios explained in a community post that this is because it doesn't "want to compromise on quality and feel it would be a shame to downscale to 30 [frames per second, aka fps] or make other compromises to hit an arbitrary date." Still, it's disappointing that Xbox players can't get in on the fun anytime soon. Thankfully, there isn't a shortage of alternatives on Microsoft's gaming platforms.
Xbox Game Pass is home to dozens of RPGs, many of which share the same computer-RPG roots as Baldur's Gate 3. While Xbox players might not be able to enjoy Larian Studios' shockingly thorough and immensely enjoyable Dungeons & Dragons CRPG just yet, they can't go wrong playing these six titles right now.
Fallout: New Vegas

Where Baldur's Gate 3 may be the pinnacle of fantasy RPG games inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout: New Vegas is that for postapocalyptic RPGs. This game from Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks -- both of which are now owned by Microsoft -- first released in 2010. Despite some in-game glitches that still persist, the Xbox 360 version of Fallout: New Vegas on Xbox Game Pass is just as enthralling of a role-playing experience as it was nearly 13 years ago. The Xbox 360 version can even be played at 60 fps on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, thanks to the FPS Boost feature.
Like Baldur's Gate 3, it's a faithful follow-up to some classic CRPGs that give players a massive amount of choice as they complete their adventure however they see fit. You can have endless fun exploring the world and creating experiences that feel personal to you while dealing with its eclectic cast of factions and characters. While it's a bit rough around the edges in certain aspects, New Vegas is still one of the best RPGs ever made. As such, it's worth replaying or trying first the first time if you want to play an RPG, but can't experience Baldur's Gate 3 right now.
Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Gaming

Final Xbox Live Gold games include a free hidden gem worth downloading

Blue Fire's main character runs on a wall.

Microsoft revealed the final two games that will be available for free as part of the Games with Gold program for Xbox Live Gold. The service isn't really going out with a bang, but one of the games is a solid Souls-inspired indie platformer that's worth a download as Games with Gold's swan song.

The two games Microsoft will give away are Level 91 Entertainment's Inertial Drift and Robi Studios' Blue Fire. Inertial Drift is a vibrant, neon-infused arcade racer with unique twin-stick controls that players have to master in order to steer and drift properly. Racing game fans should get a kick out of it, but the game to really care about in this final batch is Blue Fire.
Blue Fire is a 3D platformer, but it takes more inspiration from the likes of Dark Souls and Hollow Knight than Super Mario 64. While it's a pretty fast-paced platformer with a satisfying dash move at its core, it makes players platform through pretty dark and moody settings that interconnect like Dark Souls areas do. The game also sometimes places emphasis on combat, which is usually a bad sign in platformers, fights can actually sometimes be pretty tough and satisfying in Blue Fire.

Gaming

Your Xbox Live Gold subscription will turn into Xbox Game Pass Core this September

Microsoft finally made the decision to move on from its monthly online-access subscription service Xbox Live Gold. On September 14, Xbox Live Gold will transform into Xbox Game Pass Core, with current Gold subscribers automatically gaining a Game Pass Core subscription.

An Xbox Live subscription tied to online play has existed in some form since Xbox Live launched in 2002, but Xbox Live Gold as we now know it truly came into form in July 2013 when Microsoft started the Games with Gold program that gave subscribers free games each month in addition to that online access. Although Microsoft rolled back some online restrictions in 2021, Games with Gold continues to this day. That will all end when Game Pass Core launches.