Xbox Drops 4 New Free Games, But You Don't Have Forever

Another week’s end, another batch of free Xbox games– but will you have actually heard of any of them this time around?

Uh, probably not. But hey, at least that means you’ve definitely not played them already!

That’s right folks, the Xbox Free Play Days event has returned (just like it does every weekend), and it’s brought four limited-time freebies along with it for both Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X owners.

Plus, two of these are free for everyone, regardless of whether you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber or not.

Thank you in advance to Pure Xbox’s Ben Kerry for collating this list!

Alright, let’s start with the two that you need an Xbox Game Pass subscription to play.

First up, we’ve got SYNDUALITY: Echo of Ada, a third-person anime shooter from developers Game Studio (yeah, good luck searching them on Google) and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

This one came out in January this year, and, to be honest, I think I remember hearing about it… but I could also be confusing it with any of the other dozen anime games Bandai dropped this year. Apparently, it’s fine, by the way, according to reviewers (although it’s “Mostly Negative” on Steam due to performance issues).

Next up, Matchpoint: Tennis Championships by developer Torus Games and Kalypso Media.

This is certainly one of the tennis games of all time. Look, I’ve not played it, but people who like tennis games say it’s alright. Do you like tennis? You might like it. Do you not like tennis? You might hate it. I don’t know what you want from me here.

Moving swiftly on to the games that are free for everyone this weekend…

Ship of Fools is a "seafaring cooperative roguelite" from developers Fika Productions and Team17, and it’s the first game on this list I recognise.

This one is, by all accounts, a hell of a lot of fun– provided you have some mates to play through it with you. Considering it’ll be free all weekend, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue to find some friends to try it out with.

And finally, but certainly not least, you've got Townscaper, the "instant town building" simulator from developer Oskar Stålberg and Raw Fury.

This one I definitely have heard of, because I remember everyone raving about it when it originally dropped back in 2021. It has a ridiculously impressive “Overwhelmingly Positive” score on Steam (with 95% of the almost 20,000 reviews being positive), which suddenly makes me feel like a terrible game journalist for not having played it. Guess I know what I’m doing with my weekend.

If you’re keen to give any of these a go, just make sure you do so ASAP, as they’re only available from now until September 21.

Just do me a favour and at least start with either Townscaper or Ship of Fools, because once the weekend is up, you’ll have to cough up some cash to play them again.