Huge Open-World Game Now Free to Play for All Xbox One and Xbox Series X Users
A huge open-world game is now free to play for all Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S users. And the same applies to Xbox One users as well. More precisely, the game is free to play for all Xbox users until October 26, with no subscription to Xbox Game Pass required. After this, the free download will expire, and those who want to continue with the game, a Ubisoft game, will need to fork over $30 to the Microsoft Store.
Back in 2016, developer Ubisoft Annecy released an open-world extreme sports sim called Steep. 10 years later, now all Xbox users can play it for free if they haven’t checked it out at all in the last decade, or haven’t played it since launch, as it has changed and improved quite a bit since launch.
For those unfamiliar with this release, it is spiritually the predecessor to 2021’s Rider’s Republic, the latest game from Ubisoft Annecy. Upon release, it earned a 71 on Metacritic, a score that would be improved upon by Rider’s Republic, which earned a 78 itself. Meanwhile, it doesn’t have a very great score on the Xbox Store either, with 3/5 stars after more than 1,700 user reviews. That said, there aren’t many winter sports games, so for those who want a game based on this, there aren’t many other choices, let alone choices in the free department.
A 2016 Open-World Ubisoft Game
Those who decide to check out Steep now that it is free to download and play on Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X, will find that it takes 12 hours to mainline. Add side content to this, and it’s more like a 25-hour journey. Meanwhile, completionists will need roughly 40 hours with the Ubisoft game. That said, Steep has multiplayer, which is important to remember, as it can bring the hour count way beyond 40 hours.
Why the Ubisoft game has been made free-to-play for a limited time by Ubisoft, we do not know, but it’s part of the larger Free Play Days promotion; however, every other game involved with the promotion requires an Xbox Game Pass subscription. This is the only game in the promotion that doesn’t.
Speaking of free and Xbox, some Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S users can grab a game that normally costs $40 on the Microsoft Store for free. And unlike this other promotion, this one isn’t timed. That said, this one is limited to select Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S users, unlike this one, which is available to all Xbox users.