The original Division is the best Xbox has for September’s Games with Gold

Hey, a pandemic game!

When news broke two weeks ago that Forza Horizon 3 would be delisted toward the end of September, I wondered whether it’d go out with one last hurrah as a closing time freebie in next month’s Games with Gold. It wasn’t meant to be, as Microsoft’s instead giving out a different old game that has similarly been made redundant by newer entries in its series.

The Division is the biggest name in September’s Games with Gold lineup, as Ubisoft’s 2016 open-world RPG team shooter takes the spotlight. It’s a fine enough game, but the sequel vastly improves upon the original in most areas. Also, Ubisoft sold The Division 2 for $3 earlier this year, so plenty of people have tried their hand at the newer of the games.

The rest of the list is less remarkable. The other Xbox One title is point-and-click adventure The Book of Unwritten Tales 2. As far as past-generation games go, Xbox 360’s De Blob 2 and original Xbox’s Armed and Dangerous are up for grabs. As always, those older games are playable on Xbox One through backward compatibility.

Here’s the full rundown for Xbox’s Games with Gold in September: 

• The Division (Xbox One, available September 1 through September 30)
• The Book of Unwritten Tales (Xbox One, available September 16 through October 15)
• De Blob 2 (Xbox 360, available September 1 through September 15)
• Armed and Dangerous (original Xbox, available September 16 through September 30)