New this week for Xbox One: Stardew Valley, Astroneer, and more indie gems!

By Matt Brown
last updated

Here's what's coming to an Xbox near you for the week of December 12, 2016.

Looking ahead into the forthcoming week, several smaller ID@Xbox titles are hitting the Xbox One ahead of the holiday season. Although this year's top triple-A titles are already on shelves, some highly anticipated indie titles are releasing this week. Among these titles are two exploration and survival experiences: Stardew Valley and Astroneer. Bastion is also seeing an Xbox One re-release this Monday, giving gamers the chance to catch up on the Xbox 360 classic.

Our top pick this week:

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley (Image credit: ConcernedApe)

Stardew Valley

Amid this week's biggest games, the highly anticipated Stardew Valley is making its debut on consoles. After receiving its fair share of praise after a PC release back in February, the farming simulator is now arriving on the Xbox One in all its glory.

After your recently passed grandfather left you a worn-down farm, your task is to pick up the tools and build up your own settlement and expand the plot. With mineable elements, needy livestock, and other farmable resources, there's a huge list of ways to build up your farming empire.

Stardew Valley debuts on Xbox One on Tuesday, December 13, priced at $14.99.

See on the Microsoft Store (opens in new tab)

Astroneer

Another of this week's more intriguing releases in System Era's upcoming planetary exploration title, Astroneer. Launching in Game Preview on both the Xbox One and Windows 10, Astroneer takes players on a journey through the procedurally generated universe.

Although the game still has a long way to go until launch, the preview version of Astroneer currently contains the core pillars of gameplay. This will allow for exploration, excavation, transportation, and crafting, which create the basic gameplay loop to be built upon. The final version hopes to offer a wider range of tools, hazards, and other options to broaden your adventure.

Astroneer will debut on the Xbox One on Friday, December 16, available for $19.99.

Other releases this week:

Monday, December 12

  • Bastion (Xbox One Version)

Tuesday, December 13

Friday, December 16

What about you?

What are you looking forward to this week? Are there any games you're looking to pick up? Make sure to let us know in the comments below!

Matt Brown
Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.

6 Comments
  • Stardew Valley is like nintendos crossing
  • Astroneer sounds better than no mansky
  • Astroneer has been called what NMS should have been.
  • I wish stardew was play anywhere. I wanna play on Xbox and take it with me on my surface.
  • Stardew Valley looks great! It's the kind of games I would like to find in the Windows Store! I hope they will bring it to Windows 10 through the "Xbox Play Anywhere" platform ! Do WindowsCentral has some news about it ?
  • I think they might, but not initially.