[UPDATE: Epic Games Store has confirmed the first title to be Shenmue 3, proving the leak accurate. Original story follows.]
On Thursday, the Epic Games Store confirmed the return of its holiday mystery game promotion. Like the past couple of years, the store will be giving away a free mystery game every day starting December 16. As rumors have it, there will be a total of fifteen games given away on the Epic Games Store this year.
From now until December 16, Epic Games Store users can claim Prison Architect and Godfall: Challenger Edition. The promo begins on December 16 when fans will get the first mystery game. However, that game has now leaked online from a very reliable source. Dealabs, a French website, has accurately leaked every single PS Plus free game list for the past few months and has now leaked the first Epic Games Store mystery game.
According to Dealabs, the first giveaway this year will be Shenmue 3. The latest installment in the franchise sits at a 69 critic average on Metacritic. It was crowdfunded on Kickstarter back in 2017, raising 2 million dollars in under seven hours and had raised over $6 million at completion—the biggest in Kickstarter history at the time. Story-wise, Shenmue 3 follows teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he tries to find his father’s killer in the 1980s. Gameplay consists of open environments, brawler battles, QTEs, various mini-games, and far more.
Overall, it’ll likely be encouraging to fans of the franchise or get more to check it out. Reportedly, retail sales for Shenmue 3 were low, but that doesn’t count those sent out via Kickstarter. It should also be noted that Dealabs could still be wrong with this leak. As reliable as a source it has proven to be over the past few months, this is EGS and not PS Plus. It could be wrong for any number of reasons, so while fans should reasonably expect it to be Shenmue 3 based on its track record, they should take this leak as all leaks should be taken: with a grain of salt.
Either way, assuming it is indeed the first of fifteen free games this year, fans will want to keep their eye on the Epic Games Store for future mystery games too. They’ll be rotating quicker than normal, but it’s a good way to build up a backlog of games (or worsen, depending on the backlog) as 2022 and all of its early releases rear their head.
Epic Games Store users get a handful of free games every month.
Source: Dealabs