Xbox Live's Major Nelson reveals the first game from the September 2016 Games With Gold lineup, which will be a brand new westernized RPG from a Norwegian developer.

Typically, gamers have to wait a little longer for Microsoft's Larry Hryb to reveal information about the next month's Games With Gold lineup, but this time the Xbox Live Director of Programming has revealed one of the title games early. RPG fans can now look forward to the release of Earthlock: Festival of Magic the moment the calendar flips to September, which will take the place of Warriors Orochi 3 in the Games With Gold lineup.

Gamers could be forgiven for not recalling what Earthlock: Festival of Magic is, and that's because it's a brand new game making its console debut via September's Games With Gold. It'll also be available on PC, and after a period of exclusivity will eventually launch for both PlayStation 4 and Wii U as well. Developer SnowCastle Games went through two Kickstarter runs to secure funding for the title over the last four years, and will be making its studio debut across all of the aforementioned platforms, having previously made a well-received game for iOS.

Interested gamers can take a gander at the trailer for the game below, which was handily provided by Major Nelson (Larry Hryb) himself:

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According to Larry Hryb, Earthlock: Festival of Magic starts out as a simple quest, but things will inevitably cascade into an fully-fledged journey across a variety of unique locations. Players will reside on the "beautiful but harsh" world of Umbra, a planet which stopped spinning thousands of years ago. The westernized RPG will include a crafting mechanic for ammunition and materials, customizable talent trees, and and the ability to harvest elemental plants.

The monthly roster of Games With Gold titles are typically all revealed in tandem, so it'll be interesting to see if Earthlock gets a boosted interest from fans after Major Nelson gave the title its own time in the spotlight. Even if Major Nelson had simultaneously revealed the rest of the Games With Gold lineup for September 2016, Xbox One gamers would still have plenty of time to grab the remaining August Games With Gold titles anyway - though those who want to nab WWE 2K16, Warriors Orochi 3, and Beyond Good & Evil HD should still get doing so sooner rather than later.

While every Xbox 360 game isn't backward compatible as of yet, it seems like the Games With Gold platform is ensuring that each 360 title released via the promotional channel comes from the backward compatible catalog, which means gamers playing from the Xbox One don't miss out on any of the offerings from Xbox Live. Fans of the backward compatible feature have been spoiled of late with the release of Red Dead Redemption and multi-disc games, so the future looks bright for the fan-favorite subscriber's service.

Are you interested in trying out Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Ranters?

Source: Major Nelson