Along with perks like online play, Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass Ultimate members get access to a handful of free games every month. Until the end of January 2020, members can claim three games, though one game will stick around until mid-February. [Update: Only one game from February is still available to claim for free: Batman: The Telltale Series. You have until February 15 to claim it. In the meantime, check out February's full lineup of Games With Gold, the first of which are available now.]
The current month's lineup of games includes Styx: Shards of Darkness and Batman: The Telltale Series for Xbox One, along with Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy for Xbox 360 (with Xbox One backward-compatibility). Lego Star Wars II and Batman: The Telltale Series took the place of Tekken 6 on January 16.
Styx is a stealth-action game from 2017 that received a 6/10 from GameSpot for its uneven mix of fluid controls and spotty AI and mission structure. Batman was one of Telltale's higher-profile licensed games and was well-received as a new take on the iconic character. Lego Star Wars is a classic from the last generation, and Lego Star Wars is being re-envisioned with a new "Skywalker Saga" game in 2020.
The Games with Gold are included with your Gold subscription, which enables Xbox Live online play. But you're also a Live member if you have Game Pass Ultimate, which entitles you to Game Pass games on Xbox One and PC. That subscription received some heavy-hitters recently including Pillars of Eternity and The Witcher 3. A trio of great games--Gris, A Plague Tale: Innocence, and Children of Morta--are coming to the service soon.
Xbox Games With Gold for January 2020
- Styx: Shards of Darkness (January 1-31)
- Batman: The Telltale Series (January 16-February 15)
- Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (January 16-31)