What you need to know
- Xbox Games with Gold is a part of Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and gives subscribers free games every month.
- Xbox has announced the Games with Gold coming to players in May 2023, and only two are on the list this time around.
- In honor of Star Wars Day on May 4, Xbox Games with Gold will include Star Wars Episode 1 Racer.
- The second game will be Hoa, a well-received puzzle-platforming adventure.
Xbox Games with Gold is an aging part of the Xbox ecosystem, giving many Xbox subscribers access to a handful of free games every single month. The quality of these games has come under fire from the Xbox community for years, now, but the program has continued as is.
April is drawing to a close, not in a drizzle but in an explosion of new game releases like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Age of Wonders 4. With April's conclusion comes the arrival of May, and a new announcement from Xbox on the titles being offered through Xbox Games with Gold next month. There are only two games this time, but both seem to be well-received by players, and one is actually thematically appropriate for the month of May.
- Star Wars Episode 1 Racer — Available from May 1 to May 31
- Hoa — Available from May 16 to June 15
May 4 is Star Wars Day, so it's nice to see Xbox Games with Gold offer a free Star Wars game to celebrate it, even if it's an aging classic all the way back from 1999. The other game is Hoa, a beautiful, 2D puzzle-platformer that seems to be loved by its players, aside from those encountering a load screen bug. Neither games are high profile additions to the service or count among our best Xbox games, but both titles are sure to make plenty of Xbox players happy.
In other news, Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will also be able to enjoy some Free Play Days. From Thursday, April 27 until Sunday, April 30, 2023, subscribers can play games like Crusader Kings 3, Hell Let Loose, Leap, and Don't Starve Together. Crusader Kings 3 is a critically-acclaimed grand strategy game that absolutely deserves your attention, but it is also already available through Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes Xbox Live Gold and Games with Gold, but the real draw of this epic gaming subscription is access to hundreds of awesome games across Xbox, Windows PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
