The Xbox Live Games With Gold titles for December have been revealed and they’re a pretty big step up from November. Keep in mind that with the New Xbox One Experience adding backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 titles, Xbox One players will now have access to a wider range of free games going forward.

Xbox One players get their hands on The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, one of the better Diablo clones out there, throughout December. Meanwhile, Eidos Montreal’s meh reboot of Thief will be available from December 16th to January 15th 2016.

Xbox 360 gamers are in for a treat – along with Castlestorm (available until December 15th) and Sacred 3 (available from December 16th to December 31st), they’ll get their hands on Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising from December 16th to 31st.

And for Xbox One players, this means five free games for December. What are your thoughts on the Free Games With Gold offerings next month? Let us know in the comments.

Xbox One players and PlayStation 4 players can look forward to playing CastleStorm: Definitive Edition Sieges when it releases later this month on September 23rd. This 8th generation build of Zen Studios, who famously created the (somehow) popular Pinball FX2 and KickBeat, is a next generation version of the game with all of the DLC included. There’s also some new features thrown into the mix for good measure.

The hit action strategy tower defence game will run in 1080p at 60fps and features improved character models as well as improved textures. The game will also feature voice support courtesy of the Kinect and PlayStation Camera. But who’s gonna use that? Am’I’right?

Not only that though! Zen Studios are also launching the KickBeat – Special Edition on Xbox one! So get on that rhythm combat nonsense!

Microsoft has finally released a short list for the first 25 indie titles to be arriving for the Xbox One. These titles have been developed under the ID@Xbox initiative and are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Some of them, like Zen Studios’ CastleStorm and KickBeat, are already available to play at GDC 2014 while others like Nutjitsu have been revealed in advance.

Check out the full list of games below:

1001 Spikes – Nicalis
Calibre 10 Racing Series – Bongfish GmbH
CastleStorm – Zen Studios
Chariot – Frima
Chuck’s Challenge 3D – Niffler
Contrast – Compulsion Games
Divekick Addition Edition + – Iron Galaxy Studios
Forced – BetaDwarf ApS
FRU – Through Games
Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition – DrinkBox Studios
Gunscape – Blowfish Studios
Habitat – 4gency
Hyper Light Drifter – Heart Machine
It Draws a Red Box – Other Ocean
Nutjitsu – NinjaBee
Pinball Arcade – FarSight Studios
Q.U.B.E. Director’s Cut – Toxic Games
Riptide GP2 – Vector Unit
Roundabout – No Goblin
Sixty Second Shooter Prime – Happion Laboratories
Spectra: 8bit Racing – Gateway Interactive
Strike Suit Zero – Born Ready Games
Super Time Force – Capybara
The Last Tinker – Mimimi Productions
Wulverblade – Darkwind Media

Keep in mind that, in Microsoft’s own words, this list is “neither comprehensive nor chronological”. Some games may release sooner than others and more details are pending at this time so stay tuned. Regardless, what are your thoughts on the first wave of indie games? Let us know below.

Two new pieces of DLC have been announced for CastleStorm: From Outcast to Savior and The Warrior Queen, both available in North America and Europe as Cross Buy for $2.99, €2.99. You can buy it once for either PS3 or Vita, and get automatic access to it on the other platform too.

From Outcast to Savior features a brand new Royal Guard faction, new environments and areas, a new, unlikely hero, 20 new battles, new weapons, new skirmish and survival maps, and new Trophies, of course. The Warrior Queen features a new Viking Elite troop class, plus  additions to the arsenal of weapons available for the destruction of your enemy’s castles, which include Meteor Showers, Exploding Barrels, Stormbringers, Golem Hostages, and something called Frozen Swordfish. With another 20 new battles, and new Trophies, it presents an excellent addition to the base game.

Both are available on PSN in North America and Europe today: did you download them? What did you think?

CastleStorm, the tower defense game from Zen Studios, of Zen Pinball fame, will be coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita next month. The title will support cross buy, meaning if you buy it on one of the two systems, you will automatically own it on the other.

CastleStorm will include a tower editor mode, along with a 1v1 multiplayer mode (the latter will be available only on the PlayStation 3). Both versions of the game, however, will feature the Survival and Last Stand co-op multiplayer modes.

You can check out the trailer for the game above- will you be buying this title? Tower defense games have traditionally (somehow) not worked all that well on consoles, but considering the pedigree of the studio at work here, this might just be an exception. Will you buy the game? What platform will you be buying it on? Let us know in your comments, and stay tuned for more coverage!

To call it a straight-up tower defence game is a tad misleading. You will initially start off with but a single castle equipped with a catapult placed above your gates, which acts as your turret. Your catapult by default is capable of firing spears at opposing forces, in what’s strictly a 2D scrolling space.

Using the WASD keys will help pan the camera around, while lining up shots to take out incoming mobs works perfectly via mouse control. Winning conditions are straightforward enough: wreck the other guy’s castle, along with a few variants thrown in – such as retrieving an enemy’s flag or simply surviving an enemy wave.

"Castle building gives you some nice room for experimentation, because depending on where exactly you will place a component on your blueprint, your opponent can specifically target it and have it destroyed."

Things start opening up more so as you progress throughout the single player campaign. Aside from firing off your own projectiles from a distance, you’re able to spawn your own troops of various sizes, and have them either clear a path or make a beeline for flag capturing. Better yet, you can also call forth your hero character and assume direct control of his actions. This will actually change your camera’s perspective, and have it homed in on your hero. You can move your hero using the WASD keys, and opt for a normal attack and a charged-up attack using the left and right click mouse buttons respectively.

One other key component goes into deciding the kind of troops or passive skills you will carry into battle, and that’s constructing your castle via the game’s editor. The further you progress in the campaign, the more types of projectiles, magic abilities, troops and passive skills you will unlock – which can be upgraded with the gold you’ll win from completing missions or optional side-quests.

However, equipping troops and skills to your castle is a more involved process, as each component takes up a number of physical blocks and resources in your customisation window. Castle building gives you some nice room for experimentation, because depending on where exactly you will place a component (be it say, a dragon or a skill that increases your chances for more gold) on your blueprint, your opponent can specifically target it and have it destroyed.

"I did find some issues with the pacing. For those looking to jump straight into any of the other modes, you are still required to complete the campaign if you want to toy around with a full arsenal."

CastleStorm is more about the sum of its parts than focusing on one specific play-style, and encourages you to switch things up mid-battle. Because an opponent is likely to have the same set of tools as you do, how exactly you want to deploy those tools is still completely up to you. Even if you’re not looking to spend time with the game’s skirmish or multiplayer modes, the story mode does a good job of introducing the numerous amount of units or weapons you’ll soon unlock, as well as providing a different set of objectives and conditions. The over-arching narrative presented is your typical generic fantasy fare, charming and inoffensive enough to plod your way through.

I did find some issues with the pacing. For those looking to jump straight into any of the other modes, you are still required to complete the campaign if you want to toy around with a full arsenal. There were also points in single player that forced me having to play as a hero character all the way through. Soloing as a hero just isn’t engaging enough to carry an entire mission, and should be mostly reserved for short bursts.

My other quibble was having to switch mid-story to the Norse troops. Just when you’re finally getting into the groove of taking advantage of your higher level troops and skills, the game gives you a new faction with their own set of unique units, but also asks you to unlock and level-up them from square-one. I wasn’t too keen on repeating this process again, but it did nothing to affect the difficulty scale.

However, credit to Zen Studios on making a fairly detailed and smooth presentation. Performance was quite crisp, even on my lower-spec laptop. Rarely did I experience any slowdowns, glitches or wonky animations – even while playing online. The aforementioned cartoony look lends itself to a very colorful game helped along with the small touches found in its busy backgrounds and solid physics. Watching an enemy’s castle crumble to the ground will likely lead to cheers and victorious gesturing.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

The DLC will provide a new Royal Guard faction, new environments such as Stonecrest, The Royal Airport, The Skyship Harbour and the Bladgard Icefields, 20 new battles, a new Hero, new weapons and Skirmish and Survival levels to go with the brand new Achievements. The DLC will be available for 240 Microsoft Points or $2.99 on Xbox Live Arcade and Steam respectively.

CastleStorm has received some very good critical acclaim since launching on May 29th, and can be purchased on Steam today for $8.99 for PC while the Xbox Live Arcade version is available for 800 Microsoft Points.

Mixing tower defense with brawling and allowing players to alternately handle defense along with taking the fight to their enemy, CastleStorm was seemingly inspired by the gold ol’ days when one would build large LEGO castles and then smash them.

Of course, those never had the benefit of a physics engine, stereoscopic graphics, 12 level campaign, co-op and multiplayer. There will also be a 1 vs. 1 split-screen mode, along with Survival Co-Op and Last Stand Co-Op.

CastleStorm further expands on this by allowing for a dynamic castle editor, that players can use to create their own castles. These can then be used during multiplayer and even shared with other players for recreating the LEGO castle-smashing dream. See it all go down above.

Zen Studios has released a new “Song” trailer for their upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, CastleStorm.

The trailer shows plenty of gameplay, showing off how the game will run, and showing many of its features, including online play, co-0p castle customization, and much more. It’s basically a karaoke trailer, and the lyrics which are to be sung are also given in the video. They don’t make a lot of sense, but who really cares.

Zen Studios have also opened a competition on this. Whoever sings and records to best karaoke to this video and sends it to them till November 16 will win the competition. The winner will get “some sweet Zen Studios Slippers” and a few codes when the game releases for Xbox Live.

They’d also appreciate it if you spent a lot of money and bought a Vikings or a knights’ outfit and wore it while you sang.

Remember, contest is open till November 16th.