Xbox Live Games with Gold for January 2020 has been revealed, and it includes a few major properties in its foursome of titles available for subscribers of Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Here's the quartet players can expect to find in the new year.
Styx: Shards of Darkness (available January 1-31)
Styx: Shards of Darkness is the sequel to Styx: Master of Shadows. The fantasy stealth-action series stars a 200-year-old goblin who infiltrates enemy encampments by shadow and tiptoe. It earned "Fair" scores in 2017 when it launched, averaging an OpenCritic 72, which is a few points better than its predecessor's 68. If you've been subscribing for a while, you now have both games in your library, as Master of Shadow was given out in February 2016.
Batman: The Telltale Series (available January 16-February 15)
Telltale's take on the caped crusader first arrived in 2016 and later spawned a second season. Their version of a Batman game includes almost equals time spent out of cape and cowl and in the fine dining halls as Bruce Wayne, facetiously cozying up with Gotham's elite as he shield his true identity. The game remixes classic Batman lore in ways that had previously never been done before. The full season got decent scores, averaging a 71 on OpenCritic.
Tekken 6 (available January 1-15)
The first of the two backward compatible titles in January's lineup is Bandai Namco's sixth installment of its long-running fighting series. Tekken 6 sees the return of over 30 characters and introduces a handful more, such as the android Alisa Bosconovitch and Azazel, an Egyptian demon. The game predates OpenCritic but it did earn positive marks elsewhere, averaging around an 80 from many outlets.
LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy (available January 16-31)
Xbox loves giving away a LEGO game, and the timing seems right to make it a LEGO Star Wars game while they're at it. This bundle, originally released in 2006, was a cross-gen title that hit shelves for nine different platforms in its time. As the name suggests, it follows the story of the original George Lucas trilogy that began in 1977 with A New Hope. The LEGO formula has undergone some changes with its last few iterations, so this bundle may seem dated to those who keep up with the expansive series, but it did earn good scores in its time, with averages as high as the mid-80s for some platforms.
