October’s Games with Gold have arrived

The new Games with Gold for Xbox Live Gold members have dropped today, and they are…well, they’re free. That may not be good enough for everyone, but all things considered, free is better than nothing. It’s worth mentioning that of the four games you see, I’ve only heard of the Xbox 360 title, and from what I remember that game came out quite a while ago.

Starting out this month’s offering is Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut from Blue Wizard Digital and Stage Clear Studios released on PC in 2016 and ported to consoles in 2017. It’s a blocky horror game, but a bit more chibi in art style. The game to me looks more like a mobile puzzle game than a full PC/console release, but the game seems to have done fairly well for itself. It’s done fairly middle of the road in terms of critical and fan review, with most people solidly “meh” about the game, enjoying aspects of the tone and theme but not so much the puzzle aspect.

Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut will be available all month for free.

Next up is Maid of Sker from Wales Interactive. Based on a three-book series of the same name, Maid of Sker is a first-person horror survival game that echoes Outlast in a lot of ways. Players have to sneak their way past sound-based enemies called the “Quiet Ones” while finding their missing love, Elizabeth. If you enjoyed Outlast, you’ll enjoy this. In terms of reception, Maid of Sker did pretty well for itself, with most reviewers enjoying the story and atmosphere, but finding the game’s reliance on the usual survival horror tropes to be a bit stale in most regards.

Maid of Sker is available from October 16^th through November 15^th.

A game from the original Xbox generation, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy from developer Eurocom is the third offering. Released in 2003, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is the usual third-person action/adventure game released for the GameCube and PS2 generation, so while the graphics have received a minor facelift, temper your expectations in terms of gameplay, which is pretty similar to Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. While the graphics are a bit more robust, we’re talking about a game as old as the average high school student, so it’s not exactly going to blow you away in that department. The game was reviewed pretty well, and the only real criticism it received was in regards to a lack of voice acting in a game that’s super text heavy.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is available from October 1^st through October 15^th.

The final game in the lineup is Costume Quest from developer Double Fine Productions. Released a decade ago in October 2010, Costume Quest is an RPG about trick-or-treating siblings. One of the two is kidnapped by a monster, and the other sibling, alongside other children they meet, go on a quest to rescue them. The costumes they wear are the basis for what abilities they have and what they can do in a fight, and is where the RPG elements come in. The game was received well, with praise for the charm of the game, but a big criticism was centered on the game’s relatively stale gameplay, which was definitely out of date a decade ago, and more than likely wouldn’t have aged well since.

Costumer Quest is available from October 16^th through October 31^st.