Xbox Holiday Sale Is in Full Effect, So Go Check It Out Before It Goes Out of Style

First of all, before you spend even one cent on any discounted game, either if you're using an Xbox console or PC, make sure you subscribe to the Xbox Game Pass service first. If, by any chance, you aren't familiar with it, know that it's basically the Netflix of gaming.

There are two tiers for it, the normal Game Pass version for $9.99 a month, and the Ultimate version for $15 a month. The good news is that if you never subscribed, you can get your first month of the Ultimate tier for just $1.

Starting with the simple edition, you get the benefits from Xbox Live Gold, meaning access to online play, along with monthly free games and store discounts. As a side note, 99% of the time, the monthly games from Live Gold are skippable. However, the meat and bones of the subscription service lie within the library of over 100-150 games you get to play.

That includes day-one first-party games from Xbox's own developers like the upcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Starfield, the next Forza, Fable, and pretty much everything they own. Aside from that, you also get some 3rd-party games like Lies of P or High on Life.

If you bump it up to the Game Pass Ultimate, you're privy to the EA Play library as well, which is nothing to scoff at. Furthermore, you also get the more or less mirrored subscription on PC at no extra cost.

Depending on the game itself, you either digitally download it for the optimal local experience, or you can play it through Xbox Game Cloud on your console, PC, tablet, smartphone, and even on some new Samsung TVs. Here, you don't have to install anything except for the app, log in, and provided you have a great internet connection, start playing whatever you want from the Cloud library.

Just be mindful, though, you can't access the cloud feature in some territories, and if you use a VPN, you can get a latency of even one entire second. This means that from the moment you push a button in a game, it takes a second to perform the action, making everything unplayable. Now let's move on to the individual holiday deals.

Forza Horizon 5 PLUS Hot Wheels DLC is now $51.98 from $79.98. I wouldn't advise it. If you want to play the DLC, just get whichever Game Pass version you want, then simply get the $15.99 Hot Wheels add-on that's now down from $19.99. And if you want the separate Hot Wheels game (unrelated to the Forza DLC), you can get it for as low as $9.00 from $49.99.

Next, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is $13.99, down from $39.99, and it's a pretty good deal if you want to own the game. When I played it for the first time, the smooth and fun gameplay design, together with the cartoonish graphics, made me like it instantly. There aren't a lot of bad things to say about this karting game. And it just gets better and better when you play it in split-screen mode with a couple of friends.

Next up, we have F1 22, which can cause a bit of confusion, because there are three versions of it. One's last gen, meaning Xbox One, at 24 bucks, another one is the 28-dollar current-gen version (Xbox Series S|X), and the last one costs $32 and it's cross-gen. If you're planning on getting it, just get the one for your current Xbox if you're not planning on upgrading your console anytime soon.

Another good title is GRID Legends. Currently, it's $11.99 from $59.99 for the barebones version, and the Deluxe Edition will cost you $4 more. Usually, Deluxe versions can be shameless money grabs, but this one gets you new Story experiences and Career events, new game modes, new locations, more cars, sponsors, liveries, logos, and the Voltz Pack, which contains the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Audi R8.

For you bike fanatics out there, maybe you'll find something more to your liking by means of MotoGP 22 for $12.49, MX vs ATV Legends Leader Pack at $41.99, RIDE 4 at $9.99, SBK 22 at $19.00, or Rims Racing: Ultimate Edition (cross-gen) for 21 bucks.

If anything tickles your fancy, as the brits would say, I'd hurry up if I were you, because the holiday deals end pretty soon, on January 2, 2023.

Even if you're not into racing games, there are plenty of other ones on sale that could suit your needs, like Elden Ring at $42, Call of Duty Modern Warfare II at $60, NBA 2K23 at $24, GTA V at $15, Cyberpunk 2077 at $30, Dying Light 2 at 30$, Assassin's Creed Valhalla at $20, the Destiny 2: The Witch Queen expansion at $20, and many, many more. Just, whatever you do, don't get Gotham Knights.