Xbox quietly adds 5 new free games

Xbox has done a lot for retro gaming, with the pledge to keep older games alive via backward compatibility, but if you missed it last month, they’re also partnered with Antstream Arcade to bring many older games to players.

The new Retro Classics program brings Xbox Game Pass subscribers a selection of classic games as part of the service, and this month we’ve got five throwbacks to explore.

It was promised that every month we’d get the chance to play more retro releases and Xbox kept their word, bringing us Cosmic Commuter, Heart of China, Skiing, Solar Storm, and Subterranea.

These five games are available now and can be found under the Retro Classics section of Xbox Game Pass, where they’re listed as ‘new games’.

We expect many more games to be heading over to the service, many of which will be unknown hits from back in the day.

I’ll admit, I’ve not heard of these games, and I’m so old that if I sneeze, my hips will dislocate, so it’s a shock to see these games brought to modern systems for gamers to enjoy.

Usually these services all swarm on the popular classics that everyone knows, whereas this will showcase those lesser known titles, giving them a new lease of life, and hopefully attracting players who will explore further.

You can check out what’s currently popular in the chart within the Retro Classics section of the Xbox Store, where you’ll find the likes of Pitfall riding high.

Antstream Arcade is a separate subscription service that allows players to stream all kinds of retro games to modern hardware, with some real deep dives into the history of console games.

This partnership should go some way to preserving games, even if it simply makes them playable for years to come, keeping them alive.