Steam has been the dominant PC gaming platform for nearly two decades, and so Epic Games Store has had to be aggressive to draw in users. The primary ways Epic Games Store has convinced PC gamers to use its service over Steam is by securing timed-exclusivity deals, but another way it's accomplished this is by offering free games regularly. The Epic Games Store gives away free games every week with absolutely no strings attached beyond needing to use the Epic Game Store launcher to play them.

The way the Epic Games Store free games usually work is that Epic lets users know what free games are coming a week in advance. This way, when Epic Games Store users go to claim the latest free games, they can see what's coming next week and make a plan to return and claim those games as well. However, there are times when Epic deviates from this, most notably when it launches one of its free mystery game promotions.

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To help promote Epic Games Store sales, Epic hosts special mystery game promotions. The idea is that curiosity will get the best of Epic Games Store users, and so they'll return to the Epic Games Store every week to see what the new mystery game has in store. With the latest iteration of the Epic Mega Sale now live, Epic Games has brought back its free mystery game promotion, giving away a free mystery game for the duration of the sale.

Epic Games Store Free Games for May 2022

  • Borderlands 3

Epic Games kicked off this year's Epic Mega Sale by giving away looter-shooter Borderlands 3 for free. For the uninitiated, Borderlands 3 is the latest main series entry in Gearbox Software's massively popular Borderlands franchise. Most of the games that Epic Games Store gives away are indie titles or generally lower-profile than Borderlands 3, which is why BL3 being free on the Epic Games Store is exciting even though it's a few years old at this point.

Those who have been good about claiming the Epic Games Store free games regularly should have a near-complete collection of the Borderlands games available to play on their PC by now. Previously, the Epic Games Store gave away Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which includes Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. It's possible the other Borderlands games will be given away for free through the Epic Games Store at some point down the line, but plans to that effect have not been announced at the time of this writing.

Borderlands 3 being the first free Epic Games Store mystery game for the latest promotion sets the bar high, and while there's a chance the rest of the mystery games will be disappointing, it could also very well be a sign of things to come.

Epic Games Store Next Free Mystery Game

epic games store free game gold background

Traditionally speaking, the Epic Games Store kicks off its Epic Mega Sale free mystery game promotion with a big budget title, but then tones things down in subsequent weeks. It's possible that will happen again, but it's also possible that Epic Games will be more aggressive this year. In any case, fans will have a much better idea of what Epic Games intends to do with this latest free game promotion once the next mystery game is revealed on Thursday, May 26 at 10:00am CT.

So far, there haven't been any leaks regarding the next Epic Games Store mystery game, but there are theories. One of the prevailing theories is that the next Epic Games Store mystery game will be Sleeping Dogs, based on a teaser image, but that remains to be seen. Really until Epic Games itself decides to reveal what the next Epic Games Store mystery game is, all fans can do is speculate about its identity.

As for how many mystery games there will be, that's also not 100% clear at this time. The mystery games are expected to continue throughout the Epic Mega Sale, which is scheduled to conclude on June 16. That means Epic Games Store users can likely expect free games this coming Thursday, May 26, then again on June 2 and 9. It's possible that there will be one last mystery game given away on June 16 to cap off the sale, but it's also possible that day will mark the Epic Games Store getting back to business as usual. Fans will have a much clearer idea of what to expect when June 9 rolls around, as that's when the June 16 Epic Games Store free game will first be teased.

Regardless of what happens with the latest mystery game promotion, Epic Games Store users can expect the free games to keep coming. The Epic Games Store free games will continue for the rest of 2022, and while most won't be mystery games, there should still be plenty of free games for fans to add to their digital libraries.

MORE: Why Epic Games Store's Next Free Mystery Game Probably Won't Be as Big as Borderlands 3