Severed Steel & Homeworld Are Free On Epic

Monday, an update came to Street Fighter 6 adding someone familiar to the roster, while Corpo Battle-Royale ’em up Showgunners got a free DLC that was poorly advertised. Tuesday, The Smurfs are back, as The Smurfs 2 game sequel got a new trailer, Pokémon Unite is celebrating its second anniversary with the 150th of what is now ten billion Pokemon, and Tencent is bankrolling Techland, probably annoying someone. Wednesday, Dreamworks felt left out after everyone else has had a kart-racer and started making one too. Thursday, Hammer of Virtue is coming to PC soon, and Futurama has joined Fortnite.

Moving on to this week’s games available on the Epic Games Store, we’ll start with Severed Steel. In this 2021 Doom-wannabe, we’re plunged into a stylish techno-based FPS with movement being key and destructible sections of the maps. I’m currently reviewing a Doom-esque game, so that isn’t an insult by the way. Despite owning Greylock Studio’s stylish title, I don’t remember exactly picking it up during one of the Christmas offerings back in 2022. That is a troubling sign considering that was only several months ago. It looks cool, does some things I enjoy, and has a level creation tool. I’d be sold if I hadn’t already picked it up.

Next up is Gearbox Software’s 2015 remaster of Sierra’s first two Homeworld games, which are Sci-Fi RTS games. If it weren’t for the brilliance of Sins of a Solar Empire and the Star Trek Armada 2 mod I’d be more excited about diving back into these late 90s/early 00s titles. Of course, this is all to build “hype” for Blackbird Interactive’s Homeworld 3, coming next year following the meh of Minecraft: Legends, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, the death of Minecraft Earth, as well as the actual success of Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Received well, Homeworld Remastered Collection should be a treat for those looking for a sci-fi RTS hit.

All this week you can pick up Homeworld Remastered Collection and Severed Steel on the Epic Games Store until the 3rd of August. Moving on to the offerings next week, it is a double repeat because Tim Sweeney thinks his desk is flame-retardant and impervious to me taking a hammer to the thing. Yes, one of them is the absolutely fantastic Loop Hero of 2021, which I highly recommend for its art, gameplay, and accessibility. Sadly the second offering is Bloons TD 6, again, which I wouldn’t impose on my enemy and Tim Sweeney is getting close to that.