Let’s use this topic to share information about free games on digital platforms. The criteria for “free” is that the game shall not require any other purchases (e.g. not a free bonus in a paid bundle), and the game must remain available in your account permanently (e.g. free Steam weekends don’t count). It shouldn’t be a demo and of course the giveaway must be legal.
To start us off: Destiny 2 (without expansions) is currently free on Battle.net until November 18th.
While we’re talking about Bungie, I’d like to mention Marathon. The trilogy has been made free officially by Bungie years ago. Not sure if anyone here has played it but it has pretty fantastic atmosphere. I wouldn’t call the gameplay as much clunky as quirky (such as gravity pull being so slow you can leap across pits to higher ledges, or the bizarre non-euclidian geometry). It gives it a pretty unique feel. I’ve been playing it recently and have been enjoying it a lot.
Odd enough, there’s still a couple people who still play the games online.
I can vouch for Marathon. It is simply incredible, the first and it’s sequel. Infinity jumps the shark somewhat though, in terms of story.
I haven’t played the Marathon games. How well do they hold up in 2018?
I played a demo of Destiny 1 and it seemed… okay. Mechanically a lot like the Halo games, but there didn’t seem to be a sense of purpose like it’s predeccessor. I’m not sure if I’ll get around the trying the second game, but I’ve added it to my account nonetheless.
Marathon doesn’t hold up to the gameplay mechanics of Doom, but it also isn’t some Doom clone of the era. It’s a much slower paced game that was intended to be used with freelook, so you don’t just line up the horizontal axis with an enemy and land every hit. The story is entirely told through text terminals throughout the level that give you an idea of the setting and what your objectives are for that map. The atmosphere reminded me of some of the lonelier parts of the first Halo game and it kept my interest all the way through. I may have a slight bias because I’m a die-hard for classic FPS, but it’s definitely a standout that deserves more recognition.
Outcast: Second Contact is currently free for a limited time.
Full Throttle Remastered on Gog and Lego the Hobbit on Humble are both free for the next day or so
Subnautica is currently free on the Epic Store.
From January 10 to 24 / 2019 you can get What Remains Of Edith Finch off of the Epic Game Store
What Remains of Edith Finch is a good game. I’ve previously recommend it and suggest you add the game to your Epic account if you haven’t played it yet.
DISTRAINT: Deluxe Edition is free on GOG at the moment. No idea if it’s any good…
Looks a lot like something I would skip. Not that anyone else has to, but as I get older I have to be more picky as my time is limited, even for free games!
You can currently get Axiom Verge for free off of the Epic game store.
I have recently finished playing the game on my PS Vita, and I thought it was a very good game that take inspiration form the 2D Metroid game.
Epic sure are trying their best to get people hooked on their store.
For the record, the Epic launcher is basic, but it’s lightweight and far less intrusive than Steam. I forget its even there.
That’s good to hear, although at this point I don’t have any reason to use the Epic launcher besides these free games. Most of my PC games are in my Steam library, the rest on GOG. I have the occasional free game on UPlay, Battle.net, Origin, Humble Bundle, and the Microsoft Store - but to be honest, I don’t go out of my way to use those unless I can manage the games with the other apps. It gets quite messy when start to build up a large collection and have eight or more clients installed.
Microsoft could actually do something about this problem by adding a game manager to Windows 10 itself, with option to load game libraries from different sources - something like the Internet Accounts screen in macOS for setting it up. Cloud saves, achievements, etc follow a fairly standard format too, so could be synced without a client. But I’m doubtful that they’d ever do something this organised.
Smile Rancher. Has anyone played it?
Oxenfree.
