If you have an Xbox, you don’t need to worry about finding new games to play this weekend. As of today (May 6), Microsoft is offering three excellent games, free of charge, until Sunday. If you want to play Civilization VI, Overcooked or Call of the Sea, but didn’t feel like dishing out dozens of dollars for the privilege, now is your chance. All you need is an Xbox console and an Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Information comes from the official Xbox Wire blog, where marketing program manager Dan Hickey outlined the weekend promotion. The process is about as straightforward as it sounds. From Thursday, May 5 to Sunday, May 8, three Xbox games are free for Game Pass and Gold subscribers: Call of the Sea, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and Overcooked! All You Can Eat. You can download and install the games through the Xbox storefront, and play them until 11:59 PM PT on Sunday.
If you decide to buy the games, you may be pleased to know that two of them are on sale. Call of the Sea, which usually retails for $20, is now $12. Civilization VI’s standard version, usually $30, is now $9; the Anthology Upgrade Bundle, usually $50, is now $25. Overcooked, however, is still at its standard $40 price, so taking the leap may require a little more consideration.
While free-to-play weekends aren’t uncommon, it’s relatively rare to see three games featured at once. It’s even rarer for all three of those games to be quite good. While it’s a little disappointing that the “free” games require paid subscriptions, it’s hard to think of another downside to the deal. You can play the games for three days; you can buy two of them at a discount afterward; all of your achievements and save data will carry over. Give them a look, and you may be pleasantly surprised.
