Xbox Free Games With Gold Game Aground Explained

Thanks to the success that Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass has achieved in recent years, it's sometimes easy to forget about the publisher's older subscription service. Often in the shadow of its high-profile cousin, and against a backdrop of speculation focused on its future, Xbox Live Gold’s Games With Gold roster is updated each month with new titles for subscribers to sample. For the next month or so, between January 16 and February 15, players can subsequently access a group of new games, including one called Aground.

Available to players who have access to the games with gold lineup, either via Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Aground is a charming indie title that’s worthy of some love and attention. Released initially in early access form all the way back in 2017, before landing on Microsoft's Xbox ecosystem four years later to little fanfare, the creative people behind the title will be hoping that the subscription services can boost its publicity to new heights.

Aground’s Backstory

Aground is the brainchild of Fancy Fish Games and SnoBox Studio, two small indie teams that employ only a handful of talented developers between them. After the release of a free early access version of the game on platforms like Newgrounds towards the tail end of 2017, a Kickstarter initiative was created between the pair in the hopes that their collective vision could be truly realized.

Thanks to the subsequent support of 584 backers, Aground went into full development during the early months of 2018. Even though the fundraising campaign ultimately fell short of its $15,000 console port stretch goal, Aground still launched on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, when the game came out of early access in 2021. With the game widely available after this point, the stage was set for its eventual debut on Xbox Live Gold.

What is Aground?

Stylized as a resource gathering and crafting RPG, it’s obvious when examining Aground that it shares a lot of gameplay and aesthetic DNA with games like Terraria and Stardew Valley. Progression and survival are unsurprisingly the two central tenets that run through the core of Aground because of this, as players explore its beautiful retro-inspired pixel art universe. While recent survival phenomenons like Minecraft have clearly inspired the developers behind Aground, the influence of old-school text adventures like A Dark Room, and their surprising narrative twists, is also plain to see during gameplay.

As one of the last human survivors of a shipwreck, players are given the task of piecing together their lives again on a seemingly uninhabited island. From tentative initial steps that revolve around simply collecting firewood, the ability to build settlements, fight dragons, and even venture into the depths of space, all await those that are willing to explore their uncharted surroundings. Featuring a campaign that can stretch northwards of over 51 hours thanks to its divergent paths, Xbox Live Gold subscribers are in for a substantial adventure should they choose to download Aground before it leaves the service in the middle of February.

Aground’s Accolades

Since making its early-access debut towards the tail end of 2017, Aground has accumulated some notable critical acclaim from players and critics alike. Considering the nature of its creation, and the sheer number of people who believed in it enough to back it during its Kickstarter campaign, that isn’t all that shocking though. As it stands right now, 95% of Aground’s 1,043 Steam user reviews are overly positive, which bodes remarkably well for its time in the spotlight on Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold.