Microsoft announces January 2016's free Games with Gold games for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, including Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the first season of Killer Instinct.

Xbox Live Gold subscribers that are interested to see which free games will kick off the program in 2016 will be glad to know that Microsoft has spilled the beans a little early this month. In January, Gold subscribers will have two new free Xbox 360 games and two new free Xbox One games to download.

Beginning next Friday, January 1st, Xbox One owners can look forward to downloading the first season of Killer Instinct for free. Better yet, this is the Ultra Edition of Killer Instinct, meaning that it includes bonus DLC on top of the regular Season 1 content, such as fighter accessories and Killer Instinct Classic.

Zheroes is the second Xbox One game for next month, a new release that will be available for free from January 16th to February 15th. The game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up that has a similar aesthetic and tone as Pixar's The Incredibles.

On the Xbox 360 front, players will have the opportunity to download Dirt Showdown from January 1st to January 15th. This will mark the second Dirt game that has been featured in Games with Gold, with Showdown joining November's Games with Gold game Dirt 3.

Adam Jensen in 'Deus Ex Human Revolution'

Xbox 360 owners will also have a chance to download Deus Ex: Human Revolution from January 16th to January 31st. Deus Ex is arguably the biggest free game for January, as it released to critical acclaim and its sequel, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, is set to release in 2016.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution joining the free Games with Gold program is fitting when one considers that it was just recently made playable on Xbox One in the Xbox 360 December backward compatibility update. As for Dirt Showdown, it has been a part of the backward compatibility program since the service launched on November 12th.

With a few heavy hitters being added to the Xbox 360 Games with Gold lineup, it would behoove Microsoft to make it possible to download Xbox 360 games through the Xbox One marketplace. Currently, the only way to download Xbox 360 games on an Xbox One is to have it pop up in one's "Ready to Download" section, which is inconvenient to those that simply want to download the 360 Games with Gold titles from the marketplace.

In any case, January's free Games with Gold offerings are fairly decent, with Killer Instinct and Deus Ex: Human Revolution standing out. Those that have yet to download December's Free Games with Gold games should be sure to do so before these new games hit the service next week.

Source: GameSpot