The Thanksgiving holiday is almost upon us, and you know what that means — SALES. More specifically, Microsoft has now rolled out its annual Xbox Black Friday Sale, featuring discounts on tons of past and current-gen Xbox titles.
There’s quite a bit on sale at the moment. For the purposes of this particular rundown, however, I’m going to assume one thing about you already: you are an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber. That is the cheapest way to play many of these games. It’s $15 per month for all-you-can-game buffet that includes Xbox first-party titles and EA Play. It’s a steal.
For this reason, you won’t find Xbox Game Studios titles in this list. You also won’t find any Bethesda games, as I’m expecting them to be added to Xbox Game Pass as soon as Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax is finalized. Finally, there are no EA titles in here, because EA Play is a part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. If you’re looking to stretch those dollars, why buy something that’ll end up in EA Play in a few months?
Going past that, here are the major deals in the sale at the moment:
- Watch Dogs Legion – $40.19
This game isn’t even a month old! It also makes full use of ray tracing on the new Series consoles. - Marvel’s Avengers – $29.99
I still can’t tell you whether the live service aspect of this game will pan out. I can tell you that I did play the campaign, however, and really enjoyed it. For $30, that’s not bad. - Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – $14.99
A whole lot of game for not a lot of money. - Assassin’s Creed Origins – $11.99
You might have skipped out on this one due to Assassin’s Creed fatigue, but Origins is what set the franchise on the path it is traveling today. Worth it for $12. - Grand Theft Auto 5: Premium Edition – $14.99
The GOAT. If you don’t own this already, you’re one of just a few. - Control Ultimate Edition – $19.99
This gets you the base game, all of the expansions, and the upgraded Xbox Series X/S version coming in 2021. I’m actually fairly surprised this is discounted so deeply already. - The Division 2 – $8.99
Even if you don’t take part in the post-game grind, the campaign here is still fairly entertaining. - Resident Evil 2 – $15.99
Heck of a remake, now about a quarter of what it was priced at last year. - Resident Evil 3 – $19.79
If you aren’t going for the remake of 2, you can nab this one for roughly $20. - Raccoon City Edition: Resident Evil 2 + Resident Evil 3 – $31.99
This is the one you for if you want the remakes of both 2 and 3. Heck of a price. - Hitman 2 – $11.99
Perfect time to catch up on the series before Hitman 3 drops at the beginning of 2021. - Batman: Return to Arkham – $9.99
This will net you both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, two of the best action games of the Xbox 360 generation, remastered for Xbox One. - BioShock: The Collection – $9.99
All three BioShock titles remastered, plus all of the DLC that came out for them. At $10, that’s tough to say no to. - Dark Souls Remastered – $19.99
Xbox may not have the Demon’s Souls remake, but you can try and fill that void with the first Dark Souls, remastered and running at 60 FPS. - Diablo 3: Eternal Collection – $19.99
The base game, plus all of the expansion and DLC packs that came afterward. Not bad for the price. - Injustice 2 – $9.99
Your favorite DC superheroes and villains in a Mortal Kombat-esque fighter. That for $10? Absolutely. - Red Dead Redemption 2 – $26.99
I believe this is the cheapest this game’s ever been sold at in an Xbox sale. Long — perhaps too long — but ultimately an experience you should have. - Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition – $2.99
A look back at where the reboot series started. Insanely cheap for the fun you’ll have. - Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration – $5.99
Base game + all DLC. I love these games and will go to the ends of the earth to defend them. This one is great, and if you’re on the Series X, has a Performance Mode that should now stay locked at 60 frames-per-second. - Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition – $14.99
Again, base game + all DLC. Like Rise, also has a Performance Mode that can hit a steady 60 FPS on the Series X. - Sonic Adventure – $2.49
If you want to feel a tinge of nostalgia this holiday season. I walked into a Kmart the day after Christmas 21 years ago and picked this one up. How time flies. - XCOM 2 – $14.99
A solid entry in one of the premiere strategy franchises out there.