In an age where hordes of adults gladly trample one another just to save a buck, I’m sincerely thankful for online sales like Cyber Money. Rather than wait until after the holiday, however, Microsoft’s Black Friday sale is live… *in my best E3 voice* RIGHT NOW! Well, for Xbox Live Gold subscribers anyway.
Although the sale touts discounts on over 150 games, movies, TV shows, and apps, I didn’t find much worth getting excited over. A few gems, sure, but it’s largely forgettable in the overall scale of things and you’ll likely find better deals on the bigger AAA releases closer to Christmas.
Rather than copy/paste a laundry list of games, I’ll simply drop a direct link right here, courtesy of Xbox’s own Major Nelson.
On the Xbox One front, I recommend the following (discount listed is for Gold subscribers):
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Blues and Bullets: Episode 1 – 33% off
A promising start to a truly bizarre and horrific episodic adventure series. Blues and Bullets has a distinctive monochromatic art style where the only vibrant color is red, and it’s used fantastically as you control The Untouchables’ Eliot Ness in his attempt to recover the granddaughter of rival Al Capone. I felt like I was playing an adventure game based on the movie Seven, and really enjoyed its combination of traditional Life is Strange/The Walking Dead-style dialogue choices with sprinkles of third-person shooting. Worth every bit of its original $5 price tag, so it’s easily recommendable with the discount.
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Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin – 40% off
$20 for a drastically superior version of Dark Souls II, complete with all of the highly regarded DLC expansions, is a great price. It runs significantly better, has new enemy placements, a new Scholar class, and it’s the closest thing any Xbox One owner will get to playing Bloodborne.
If you don’t already own the second wave of Killer Instinct fighters (and you actually enjoy the game), you can snag the upgrade now for $10. Want a little more bang for your buck? $20 nets you the Ultra Edition instead, which includes Killer Instinct 2 Classic.
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Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime – 35% off
A quirky and colorful little indie game about piloting a space ship, manning the shields, dodging bullets, blasting enemies, and navigating tight corridors. The catch? Every action is handled by a different control panel, including directional movement. I had a blast with this in the short time I played it, but it’s best when played locally with a 2nd player. Prepare to push the boundaries of your friendship.
I haven’t actually played this yet, which is surprising given my adoration of both episodic adventure games and the Borderlands universe. I hear the finale is excellent and it’s Game of the Year quality stuff overall, so now seems like a good time to pull the trigger. You could do far worse with $10.
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Borderlands: The Handsome Collection – 60% off
$25 for Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and all of their respective DLC isn’t a bad deal at all. And now that Borderlands is backwards compatible on Xbox One, you can have them all in one spot! The original Borderlands is even on sale this week for $5.
That’s really it on the Xbox One front, although you’re bound to find something else that tickles the ol’ fancy I’m sure.
Now that backwards compatibility is a thing, it’s worth noting that you can pick up classics like Beyond Good & Evil HD, Borderlands, Castle Crashers, Super Meat Boy, Assassin’s Creed II, BattleBlock Theater, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Prince of Persia, and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for up to 75% off, and play them on your Xbox One.
According to Major Nelson, more games will be added to the list next Friday, the 27th, like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and Destiny: The Taken King, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Picking anything up?
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