Microsoft has announced the free games that Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be getting in September as part of its Games With Gold program. These include both Xbox One titles and Xbox 360 games which are backwards compatible.

The Xbox One offerings include Prison Architect and Livelock. The former will be available through the next month, but Livelock can only be download from September 16th onwards. After that, it will be available until October 15th.

As for Xbox 360, there’s LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars, which will be available from September 1st to September 15th. From September  16th to September 30th, subscribers can download the Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World. This actually includes three titles – Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Monster World), Wonder Boy in Monster World (aka Wonder Boy 5: Monster World 3) and Monster World 4.

Those new to Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass can still pick up each for $2 – they’ll also receive an additional month for both services free.

The long and short of it is this: in the future, humanity learns of a massive burst of energy that is heading towards Earth and will wipe out most life on the planet. In response, we “evolve,” uploading the consciousness of certain people into machines designed to outlast the Capital C Cataclysm while the rest of humanity hides out underground in a place called Eden. After the worst is over, these people-turned-machines, known as “Capital Intellects,” will work with a powerful AI called SATCOM, and the army of machines it controls, to rebuild the world and awaken humanity from their state of dormancy, and Save The World^TM.

Of course, none of this goes as planned. The Capital C Cataclysm is far worse than anticipated, and SATCOM loses control of many of its machines. By the time it awakens the Capital Intellects, things have really gone to Hell, and you’ll have to fight through the rogue machines to get the… something that you need to save humanity. Look, if the generic naming conventions and recycled plot points didn’t give it away, Livelock’s story isn’t particularly good.

"Livelock throws a ton of enemies at you at once, and while the enemy variety isn’t particularly amazing, shooting most of the weapons feels pretty good, and the enemy robots explode rather nicely, even if they don’t respond to damage as well as they could."

The team at Arc Games has clearly put a lot of time and thought into it, but SATCOM’s droning voice and the lack of anything compelling about any of the characters doesn’t really lead to any kind of deep investment on the part of the player. It doesn’t help that the characters speak in robot appropriate clichés. One underground boss attested that he was “born in the dark” and reminded me that I was just “metal and rust.” After the fight, SATCOM informed me of the next stage in our master plan to take down the bad guys, which involved “hitting them where it hurts.” Suffice it to say, you aren’t coming to this game for its writing. For all the work Arc Games has done here, the plot basically boils down to a reason for your robots to shoot other, badder robots.

This is fine, because the actual shooty bits of Livelock are pretty decent. The game is a top-down, twin-stick shooter that supports up to three characters in drop-in, drop-out co-op. There’s three Capital Intellects to choose from. Vanguard is a melee brawler who can take a beating, Vex is a mid-ranged, Call of Duty-esque rifle master, and Catalyst is a support hero that can summon turrets and heal other bots. Once you choose a chasis to play, you can customize it, selecting everything from weapon loadouts and abilities to the various aesthetics of your robot. From there, you’re free to jump in and shoot everything that moves, and I do mean everything, unless you’re escorting it.

The game starts pretty slow, and the first few missions can feel unbearably small, but once it hits its stride, it never slows down. Livelock throws a ton of enemies at you at once, and while the enemy variety isn’t particularly amazing, shooting most of the weapons feels pretty good, and the enemy robots explode rather nicely, even if they don’t respond to damage as well as they could. Levels are also fairly short, often around ten minutes in length, ensuring that they never overstay their welcome. There’s also a great deal of variety in objectives. You’ll be tasked with holding areas, searching for items, fighting bosses, or escorting companions.

"While you can play the game solo, Livelock excels when played with friends, especially if you have a balanced team that supports one another. Each chasis plays differently and they complement each other nicely. Better still, online plays works very well and runs almost perfectly."

It’s all fairly standard stuff, but it’s pretty well-executed, and Arc Games even manages to make hold out and escort missions fun by having your base or buddy regen health while not in combat. One particularly memorable scenario has you protecting something with a group of turrets. While the turrets regenerate, they take damage quickly and will retreat underground to repair themselves after having taken a certain amount of punishment. The objective may be to keep the thing in question safe, but this mechanic means that you’ll be prioritizing protecting your turrets over the item itself, switching from chokepoint to chokepoint to maximize the health of each turret, as it’s impossible to hold off the enemies without them.

While you can play the game solo, Livelock excels when played with friends, especially if you have a balanced team that supports one another. Each chasis plays differently and they complement each other nicely. Better still, online plays works very well and runs almost perfectly, and the drop-in/drop-out nature of co-op means that you can start a level and wait for others to join you mid-game.

As solid as its gameplay is, however, Livelock is let down by a ton of little flaws. The game is designed as a twin-stick shooter, but playing on a pad feels clunky and inaccurate. The mouse and keyboard controls are thankfully much tighter. While the sound design is pretty solid, the graphics are visually unimpressive and the environments tend to blur together. Really, how many destroyed cities or dark caves can you look at? It’s certainly not an ugly game, but it’s not a looker, either. The upside is that the game runs well, even with so much happening on-screen. Weirdly, the only time I experienced any kind of slowdown was in the opening cutscene, which is pre-rendered.

"There are only 21 missions in the campaign, and while their brevity is a boon on an individual basis, it means that the game is only a few hours long."

There’s also a few of quality of life issues. For instance, it’s impossible to switch characters between missions without having already created a character using the chasis you want, which means that using a new character for the first time requires exiting the game and heading to sub-menu just to change characters. This would make more sense if you couldn’t customize your character’s weapons, abilities, and armor on the fly, which makes one wonder why you need to create versions of a character at all, or why you’ve ever want more than one file assigned to a certain chasis. You also need to drop all the way out of mission select to play with your loadouts. It’s a minor annoyance, but it’s a pain to have to go back to the ready up screen just to equip a new weapon or ability.

The other thing about Livelock is that it’s short. There are only 21 missions in the campaign, and while their brevity is a boon on an individual basis, it means that the game is only a few hours long. Replay value can be found in leveling a new chasis, hunting down the relatively meaningless audio logs, or playing the survival mode, but the fact is there just isn’t a lot here.

For many, Livelock’s longevity and appeal will depend on how willing they are to dive back into it. Played once, it’s an above-average twin stick shooter will some interesting twists and decent mechanics. Those who really want to delve deep into the lore, max their characters, and discover everything will find that Livelock’s core is solid enough to support it. For the rest of us, it’s a quick, fun little game to be blazed through once on a lazy afternoon, as we try to save humanity from the… whatever it was.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

GamingBolt spoke to lead game designer Kevin Neibert about the same and discussed the game’s story, the different abilities of the characters, what exactly Open Protocol mode is and more. Livelock is out on August 2nd for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

"As developers, we focused on building an enriched gameplay system where players can show off their mechanical and tactical skills."

The top-down shooter genre has gone through a strong revival through the years. What are your thoughts and how it applies to Livelock?

I think that people like to play games that are similar to those they grew up with. Now that the average gamer (and developer) is getting a bit older, I’m not surprised that we are seeing a strong resurgence of twin-stick, top-down shooter games. We are definitely inspired by classic twin-stick action shooters, but we’ve taken it to the next level with Livelock.

How deeply does the story of Livelock play into the game? Will there be in-game cut scenes or lore for players to collect or is it a straightforward experience?

The world of Livelock was detailed out with the help of New York Times bestselling author Daniel H. Wilson (Robopocalypse). Livelock has a rich back story that players will experience through dialogue and cut scenes throughout the Main Story Campaign. Players who want to have a deeper insight into the Livelock universe can hunt for hidden audio logs or decrypt Data Cards dropped by fallen enemies.

The game has been described as “less of a bullet hell top-down shooter and more about overcoming overwhelming odds”. Could you tell us about the mechanics that set Livelock apart from other top-down shooters?

Each enemy in the game has several different attacks to choose from based on the position of the player. Some enemies are extremely deadly up close, while others are much more dangerous at mid or long range. As you play, you will learn the enemy behaviors, how to avoid them or exploit them to your advantage. As developers, we focused on building an enriched gameplay system where players can show off their mechanical and tactical skills.

What kinds of weapons can we look forward to in Livelock?

Livelock has a wide range of weapon types; too many to mention all at once. Hex, a skilled marksman, excels in long range combat using assault rifles, and sniper style weapons. Vanguard, a heavily armored tank, shines in close combat while swinging a massive hammer, punching with oversized battle gauntlets or blasting with a shotgun. Catalyst, a support specialist, come fully equipped with a fusion welder that heals allies and damages enemy armor, a guided rocket launcher and lighting gun that chains damage between tightly packed enemies.

"We were certainly inspired by action-RPGs like Diablo, but I think classic twin-stick shooters had a greater influence."

Can you run down the basic differences between the playable characters? Will there be other characters to unlock in-game?

Livelock has 3 separate characters, each wielding 6 unique weapons and 5 special abilities called Functions. Our characters are inspired by the “holy trinity” of player archetypes: tank, ranged damage and support. We believe that new players will able to quickly identify with one of those 3 roles and have some familiarity with the core mechanics, which will help them learn and master their character throughout the game. All characters are available at the start of the game, and can be leveled up by playing missions to fully unlock all their weapons and functions.

Livelock has been compared to Diablo in some respects. What are your thoughts on the comparison?

We were certainly inspired by action-RPGs like Diablo, but I think classic twin-stick shooters had a greater influence. Players might be familiar with our upgraded enemy system that randomly pulls special abilities from a preset list of enemy traits. In contrast to Diablo, we have opted to focus on action and avoid downtime during gameplay by simplifying player progression and restricting character management to downtime between missions.

Along with the campaign, can we expect an Arcade mode or Endless mode?

Outside of the Main Campaign, we have an Arcade style game mode called Open Protocol. Open Protocol features a Survival Mission where players will have their skills pushed to the limit by endless hordes of corrupted machines.

"Most missions contain secret areas that reward players with bonus resources and story driven audio logs."

Will Livelock support local split-screen co-op and online co-op?

Livelock will support online co-op, but there are no plans for split-screen at this time.

How long do you estimate the campaign will last players? Are there secrets to discover and other reasons to revisit it (higher difficulties, for example)?

The Main Campaign unfolds across 22 different Story Missions, separated into 3 Acts.  Each Act features a different enemy faction that you must overcome to recover missing encryption keys to Eden, the hidden sanctuary of Humanity. Most missions contain secret areas that reward players with bonus resources and story driven audio logs. The Campaign should take players between 5-7 hours to complete, and it is repayable with 3 levels of difficulty.

When can we expect Livelock to arrive this year?

Livelock will be launch buy-to-play at $19.99 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Steam later in 2016. 3-packs will be available on Steam for $44.99.

Arc Games, previously known as Perfect World Entertainment of Neverwinter fame, will be releasing its next big title Livelock on August 2nd for Xbox One, PC and PS4. As the developer’s first non-free to play title, it will bring a Diablo-esque level of combat to the realm of co-op top-down shooters.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been wiped out by a gamma ray, you take control of one of three characters – Hex, Catalyst or Vanguard – in order to defeat hordes of corrupted machines. Each has their own abilities, skills and roles during combat. Like Diablo, you can team up with two other players but enemies will increase in difficulty. With 22 missions, there seems to be quite the campaign to experience in Livelock.

Check out gameplay from the PAX East build below. It offers a look at overall mechanics and classes plus some spiffy visuals. Livelock will retail for $20 on launch but a three pack can be obtained for $45 through Arc’s site.

Perfect World Entertainment and Tuque Games have announced they are going to be bringing a brand new game to the PS4, Xbox One and PC. The game, entitled Livelock features a story that takes place in the 22nd century. Players are able to take control of a Capital Intellect, which is a human brain uploaded into a massive robotic body.

This capital intellect must then fight the corrupted machine Clusters and break the cycle of an infinite war that has gripped the country for decades. This game is the first from Tuque, which a small indie developer that is looking to make a splash thanks to the fact that they are bringing Livelock to current generation consoles.

The game itself looks like a top down shooter that will have lots of explosions and destruction. The whole, never ending war means there’s literally no scene where a big time battle can’t break out. Along with the announcement of the game, Tuque and Perfect World released a trailer to show all that destruction to the masses as well as a set of screenshots. You can check out all of that below. While Livelock is expected to land on the PS4, Xbox One and PC later this year, the companies did not divulge an official release date.