The Epic Games Store was not content with letting E3 have all the excitement this June in 2021. For the end of the storefront's June "Mega Sale," Epic released 2 free games, with two more coming on the 17th. However, next week's new games are not hidden under the "mystery game" veil, like the last several free releases. It seems as though hiding upcoming free releases as "mystery games" was a strategy to build hype during the sale - and it worked. Among Us alone had its PC player base skyrocket to 2 million after its free release on the store during this time.
It is no coincidence that Epic came out swinging at the end of its mystery game releases. The Epic Games Store built up a lot of momentum during its Mega Sale, and maintaining that level of engagement is very important for Epic's approach to the PC storefront market. And go out with a bang, it did, with two big games. First, Control is a highly acclaimed weird fiction sci-fi action game and spiritual successor to Remedy's other series, Alan Wake, which launched to huge popularity in 2019. Secondly, Genshin Impact is Chinese developer miHoYo's incredibly popular free-to-play open-world ARPG, and it dropped alongside Control to celebrate the game's release on the Epic Store - along with a discount code for the game's microtransactions.
Genshin Impact Shadow Drops on EGS
Since its launch on September 28th 2020, Genshin Impact has made quite the name for itself. If customers log into the Epic Store right now, they can claim a microtransaction voucher for the game. This has been done before as part of Epic's "Discover: Free Games" initiative, most recently for Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, where $100 of in-game content became free on the Epic Store.
Games like Idle Champions and Genshin Impact are very important for the company, as he Epic Games Store's purpose is piercing the PC storefront marketplace (which Steam has dominance over). As such, high player count games like Genshin Impact really affect how many customers return to the Store on a regular basis. Obviously, more players means more potential buyers, which is only positive for storefronts like Epic's.
Control Is One of Epic's Best Free Games Ever
The last mystery free game launched by Epic in the Mega Sale was not a disappointment, as Control is free on the Epic Games Store until June 17. On release, Control reviews were incredibly positive. While Control is not the only critically popular game to become free on the Epic Store, it is one of the newest triple-A titles with such high regard to grace the weekly free game roster. While the game was an exciting free title for many, this move was not necessarily surprising.
Two New Games Are Free Next Week on The Epic Games Store
Not content with two huge free releases in the middle of June, Epic will start the latter half of June with two free indie titles. Hell is Other Demons is an platforming bullet-hell rogue-lite set to an intense synthwave score. Fittingly, this bullet hell takes place in actual hell, as the Sartre pun of the game's name would imply. The game initially released to incredibly positive reviews back in 2019, and is debuting on the Epic Store entirely free. This would not be the first time publisher Kongregate dropped a free game for the first time on the Epic Store, as Pine, an open-world action-adventure title, did the same in April 2021.
The same is true for Overcooked 2, Ghost Town Games' sequel to the classic indie co-op cook-em-up. Filled to the brim with cute graphics, intense goofy action, and puns about lettuce, Overcooked! 2 is a great cooperative game suitable for all ages. The sequel follows in the footsteps of Overcooked, which has been free twice on the Epic Games Store before. Overall, Hell is Other Demons and Overcooked! 2 serve as a great pair of free indie games, covering players who want single player arcade action and cartoony cooperative chaos.
Genshin Impact and Control are free on the Epic Games Store until June 17th.