Xbox Live Games with Gold Free Games For December 2015 and Predictions for January 2016

By Mark Rollins
Xbox Games with Gold for December.
Games with Gold for December 2015.  Major Nelson

Xbox Live Games with Gold subscribers are always pleased to see that their subscription fee is worth it with the free games that are available.  Listed below are the Xbox Live Games with Gold Free Games for December 2015 and some predictions for January 2016 as well as what titles could arrive for next year. 

A recent article on Polygon showed that Xbox handed out $900 worth of free games for 2015.  Some of the titles can suggest what could be available shortly.  There is a pattern in January 2015 offered The Witcher 2, and then the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is released and becomes the game of the year.  Last March, Tomb Raider shows up (with the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition showing up in September), and then Rise of the Tomb Raider is released this year.  In April 2015, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag shows up, and then Assassin's Creed: Syndicate is released this year in October.  In June, Just Cause 2 is free, and Just Cause 3 just had its release date.  In August, Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes as a free game shows us that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be showing in September of that year. 

If you haven't seen the pattern yet, you can see that Xbox Live Games with Gold will release a free game that is part of a franchise, and then the latest in the franchise will be released that year. Finding out what games will be released in 2016 could be as simple as figuring out what franchises will be updated next year, and assume that the older version will go up for free in an attempt to promote the new. 

Here is a list of suggestions that I will make, based on a list of games coming next year from Game Informer:

  • Far Cry 3: With Far Cry Primal coming on February 23, doesn't that make sense?
  • Something from Hitman: With a Hitman game coming on March 11th, it could be a good tie-in.
  • Mirror's Edge: We have mentioned this one before, and it sounds like it is in the cards with Mirror's Edge Catalyst coming on May 24th.
  • Something from Deus Ex: Either Invisible War or Human Revolution could work here with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided coming out on August 23rd.
  • There will be more than just the franchise mentioned above offerings being published in 2016, so there could be more, with always, a few indie games thrown in.

In the meantime, here are the games available for the month of December 2015: 

Available all month for the Xbox One from December 1st to the 31st is The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, an action role-playing game that is the first in a series of games about the son of the famous vampire hunter taking out a lot of supernatural enemies in a steampunk world.  Another game available for the Xbox One is Thief, a reboot of a 1998 game, and the player controls Garrett in a Victorian steampunk world as the stealth game focuses on stealing from the rich.  The game is available from December 15th to January 15th.

Xbox 360 players can enjoy CastleStorm from December 1st to the 15th.  From December 16-31, Xbox 360 users can enjoy two games.  One of them is Sacred 3, which is described on the Steam Store as "an arcade Hack 'n' Slash game for up to 4 players".  The other game is Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

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