‘Banner Saga 2’ And ‘Rainbow Six Vegas 2’ Are Free Xbox One Games For July

Microsoft announced the free Games with Gold titles for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on Tuesday. Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers can look forward to getting Banner Saga 2 at no additional cost when it launches this Friday for the current-gen console. It is joined by the tactical first-person shooter Rainbow Six Vegas 2, a multiplayer puzzle battler, and tie-in to the Tron: Legacy movie.

The new slate of free games kicks off on Friday, July 1, with The Banner Saga 2 becoming available for free to Xbox One owners throughout the entire month. It will be joined by Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for both the Xbox One via backwards compatibility and Xbox 360, which will be available as a free download through July 15.

The second helping of free titles starts on July 16. Multiplayer puzzle battle game Tumblestone will be available for free through August 15 for the current-gen console. Meanwhile, Tron: Evolution can be downloaded free on both the current-gen and last-gen Xbox consoles.

The Banner Saga 2 is the award-winning sequel to the award-winning tactical role-playing title filled with stunning art. Interestingly, the game was originally slated to be released to consoles on July 26, but independent developer Stoic elected to push the release date up almost an entire month.

PC players have already been enjoying The Banner Saga 2 since it was released on the platform in April. It has earned a Metacritic score of 83 since launch, with a thumbs up given to the larger variety of enemy types and tweaks to the tactical combat system. It’s a heavily narrative-based game though, so be prepared to read through plenty of story and conversations between characters.

Be aware that there are some choices that carry over from the first The Banner Saga to the sequel. The main decision can be picked from the beginning for those that do not elect to purchase the original on the Xbox One, for whatever reason.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 was one of the more solid entries in the series when it was released to the Xbox 360 in 2008. The Ubisoft game received an aggregate review score of 88 on Metacritic, where it was praised for the tactical first-person combat and level design. The single-player campaign could come across as a little skimpy, but it really shined in multiplayer.

Tumblestone for the Xbox One is a spin on Tetris and match-3 puzzle games from indie developer The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild. It features a competitive online and local multiplayer for up to four players along with a “40+ hour story campaign will test your puzzle-solving prowess. Featuring 10+ gameplay modifiers, challenge puzzles, and boss battles.” The game hasn’t been released yet, but has received preview praise from outlets such as Ars Technica and the Escapist.

Tron: Evolution is a third-person action game attempts to tell the story of what happened prior to the events in the Tron: Legacy movie. It features role-playing elements as well as Light Cycle racing sections, but received extremely mediocre reviews. It scored only a 58 in the Metacritic round-up of reviews. It was hit for a lack of polish, a repetitive campaign, and a lackluster multiplayer option.

As a reminder, Games with Gold titles currently available to download for free include Goat Simulator and The Crew for the Xbox One plus XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the Xbox One via backwards compatibility and Xbox 360. Goat Simulator and XCOM will end their runs on June 30, while The Crew will be free through July 15.

What do you think of the free Games with Gold for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 for the month of July? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Stoic]