A Fortnight Of Free Games From The Epic Games Store

The final one of these of the year, I couldn’t be happier: Monday, Prime Gaming added Yooka-Laylee‘s 2.5D sequel for members, Alexx spoke of a dark-humored murder mystery from the House Flipper devs, and I showed concern Codemasters might be bought by EA. Tuesday, David spoke of Steam’s latest experiment; All the while, I went on about Ubisoft’s latest set of giveaways. Wednesday, I covered DiRT 5‘s latest update and how EA Play isn’t coming to Game Pass this month. Thursday, I spoke of GOG’s latest winter sale with quite a few suggestions and that Prison Architect is free until Saturday, and Alexx discussed Demon Turf Trials‘ latest update.

I don’t even know what to say now; we are caught in a prism of doing “business as usual” while what we are covering changed the rules. Yesterday’s release of Cities: Skylines to the Epic Games Store is one that I could bellow about for days-on-end, but it would all be for not. It is another one of those games from the last decade that perfectly captures what it was: The likes of EA dropping the reigns to a series and shrugging it off because they are the spoiled child in this metaphor, while someone perkier and prettier is doing a salacious dance with that series or genre.

We saw it with Dungeons 3 & War for the Overworld taking up the Dungeon Keeper mantle. Two Point Hospital compares to Theme Hospital, and Prison Architect is a love letter genre of business management. We’ve had Parkitect and Planet Coaster rule both incarnations of Rollercoaster Tycoon, along with skating games caught in the eyes of indies. Now we have THPS 1+2 out and Skate 4 coming (coming 2063). Cities: Skylines is, of course, a spiritual successor to Manic Miner. No! Of course not; it is SimCity, but better.

An idea expelled from Will Wright’s fantastic mind in 1989 into the world of gaming, SimCity allowed you to place the roads in your little town growing to a city. You planned everything around your power grid, poo pipes, and beyond, all before Godzilla and aliens invaded during a tornado in a blackout. A power fantasy in every sense, you’d take control of a small town office and try to please everyone before hair loss set in. So, how do you improve on that? Simply make it less about managing everyone’s lives, just two things: Make your city pretty while still making money, and fix the traffic!

This week's #FreeGame on the #EpicGamesStore is @ColossalOrder & @PdxInteractive's #CitiesSkylines, a #CityBuilder/Traffic nightmare. You have just under 24-hours to pick up the #Game before the offer is gone.https://t.co/FLXMYI35eb https://t.co/Uk1igfpVNO

— Phenixx Gaming (@PhenixxG) December 17, 2020

Not that it really matters because it was the first of 15-games in total set to grace the Epic Games Store between now and the 1st of January 2021. Given the entire catalog is meant to be a surprise each day, we don’t know and couldn’t say what each day will be in advance anyway. However, as seen above, you’ll find that we’ll be tweeting daily as to what will be available each day. We’ll also start doing this for Prime Gaming in the coming days as well. We do plan to keep you up to date on all that is available with these weekly articles in that short form while we take a break for the new year.

All that said, there is more to be said of Epic as these two weeks of free games are in the middle of the Epic Games Store Winter Sale. While Mike will be around later for only a few personal highlights of his, I’d like to take a shotgun and blast you with a buckshot of bankruptcy as I did with GOG yesterday. The most obvious ones to recommend out the bat is last week’s free games of Tyranny and Pillars of Eternity, 75% and 50% off respectively.

Dead Cells is 40% off, Raji: An Ancient Epic is 25% off, Scourgebringer is 25% off, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead is 20% off, The Solitaire Conspiracy is 20% off, and The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk is 20% off. If I get a chance, we’ll have a review on As Far As the Eye during the break, which is currently 25% off. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is 25% off, WRC 9 is 30% off, Beyond Good and Evil is 70% off, Hellpoint is 20% off, Neon Abyss is 25% off, Death Stranding is 50% off, Pathway is 50% off, and Disco Elysium is 40% off.

Oxenfree is 50% off, Satisfactory is 20% off, Superliminal is 30% off, South Park: The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole are both 75% off, FTL is 75% off, Darksiders 1-3 are all 75% off, Far Cry 3 is 70% off, State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition is 40% off, and Gone Home is 80% off. Have I missed a genre? The Witcher 3 is 70% off, Civ VI is 75% off, Ark: Survival Evolved is 80% off, Shadow Tactics: Blades of a Shotgun is 85%, Ruiner is 75% off, Surviving Mars is 66% off, John Wick Hex is 30% off, The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series is 40% off, Celeste is 75% off, Mutant Year Zero is 60% off, Enter The Gungeon is 50% off, Gorogoa is 60% off, and Watch Dogs: Legion is 33% off. I think that’s just about everything.