What’s new in March for Xbox Live Gold members?

Xbox Live Gold seems to be a thorn in Microsoft’s side lately. Just at the start of this year, they tried to raise the price of the subscription service. The backlash was immediate and vehement, and to everyone’s surprise, they backed off and kept it the same.

Probably also as a response, the offerings for Xbox Live Gold for February were some of the best we’ve seen in a while. Still, many gamers see the lackluster offerings and the attempted price gouge as a push towards Game Pass.

And yet Xbox Live Gold continues to stand somehow! Below are the offerings for March and the dates they’re available to download:

• Warface: Breakout, March 1 to 31
• Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse, March 15 to April 15
• Metal Slug 3, March 1 to 15
• Port Royale 3, March 15 to 31

Well, it’s not as good as the February offerings, but they are still free games, so let’s dive in and take a look!

First up is Warface: Breakout, the standard first person shooter offering for the month. It’s nothing overly crazy for a FPS and won’t break the genre, but it’s incredibly tactical. It’s in the same bucket as Valorant and Counter-Strike and isn’t as strong as those games, but it’s still something different to play.

There’s also a new event coming March 8th through 22nd in game, so keep an eye out for that.

Next is the ridiculous offering, Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse. It’s a twin-stick shooter with plenty of content to unlock along the way. Plus you’re playing to stop the Llaminati from taking down Llamazon and… yeah, if you can’t handle llama puns, this game probably isn’t for you. Still, it’s a fun yet frustrating game to play. There’s not a lot of variety in your llama enemies, but there’s enough content to make you want to keep playing.

Metal Slug 3 originally came out in 2000 as a literal arcade game and was ported to consoles later on. So yes, it’s definitely a little dated, but it’s such a solid 2D side scroller that you won’t really care. If you played any of the prior Metal Slug games, you’ll love the callbacks through the music. It’s not a very long game either, so it’s worth it to check out.

Last up is Port Royale 3. It’s an Age of Sail simulator and… really, not much happens. You can sail around the Caribbean doing search-and-rescue missions. Or you can ignore that completely and trade for a living. It’s a realistic economic model that’s not built incredibly well; the supply-and-demand mechanic is incredibly sensitive and you may end up frustrated more often than not. It’s probably the weakest offering this month, unless you absolutely love sailing simulators.

One of February’s offerings, Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition, is still available to download through March 15th as well!