The Epic Games Store lets players grab one to three games entirely for free every Thursday. These can range from indie games to major AAA titles such as 2K’s looter shooter Borderlands 3. Usually, Epic announces the free games a week in advance but sometimes decides to surprise gamers with the next free title.
This is the case with the Epic Games Store’s free game for May 26th. However, with Epic releasing an official clue image to foster discussion and speculation, gamers aren’t entirely in the dark. Users on r/EpicGamesPC did both, coming up with several compelling arguments for what the free Mystery Game might be.
The teaser image resembles a paper card with the date 5/26/2022. The picture depicts a man in sunglasses lighting his cigarette with a $100 bill. Reddit user Cursed_Mortal determined that Epic Games based the image on a scene from the 1986 Hong Kong action movie A Better Tomorrow. The film’s protagonist is a Triad member who, after his fall from grace, attempts to reconcile with his police officer younger brother.
Given the film is about gangsters in Hong Kong, some were quick to guess that the open-world action game Sleeping Dogs was the obvious answer. However, the game and film plots aren’t all that similar, leading some Reddit users to suggest that one of the Yakuza games might fit better. Others suggested 2007’s Stranglehold, which likewise centers around Hong Kong criminal syndicates. The actor from the teaser’s image, Chow Yun-fat, even voiced the main character in the 2007 game. While Sleeping Dogs seemed to be the favorite guess, there are arguments for both games.
Sleeping Dogs, Yakuza, and Stranglehold aren’t the only possibilities. Reddit user Responsible-River653 came up with several arguments for why the mystery game could be Max Payne 3. The first is that A Better Tomorrow and the Max Payne series are both known in China as True Color of a Hero. Next, the Chinese characters on the bottom of the card translate to “They are burning too much,” referring to the money. The post suggests this references Max Payne 3’s $105 million budget. Responsible-River653 goes on to list several other pieces of potential evidence. These include the remake of Max Payne and Max Payne 2 and a post from Epic’s Chinese social media account.
Another Reddit post suggests that the mystery game is 2018’s indie Metroidvania Dead Cells. While the cartoon bill does not show any actual writing, there are dots corresponding to the text on a genuine US $100 bill. The only missing dots are the ones for the “DC” in Washington DC, which has burned off. The poster claims the missing “DC” stands for Dead Cells. Of course, that is a pretty massive reach and may not be 100% serious.