Since its launch, the Epic Games Store has received both praise and criticism. None of its strategies, however, have been met with as much praise as its free games policy. Every week, Epic Games add a new game to its list of free titles. This list updates every Thursday, and often makes award winning titles free for customers. While its tendency towards exclusive titles is often unpopular, gamers of all tastes enjoy the varied free games that the store releases.
Last week's Epic Games Store free games were all about science fiction. Titles like Surviving Mars focused on the literary references and hard choices made by a colony on the red planet. While the two titles featured in this week's (and the next) list of free games are still sci-fi, they share something else in common, as both games feature a robot protagonist. These games delve deep into the questions around robot sentience, sapience, and moral push or pull. Both titles received huge praise at launch, with The Fall getting a "game of the year" award for its story. Creature in the Well was also showered in praise, including "outstanding original game" winner at Unreal's E3 competition.
The Fall Is Free On The Epic Games Store
Made free by Epic Games last week, The Fall won "best story" at the Game Awards for a reason. The game's expertly crafted atmosphere teems with rich environmental storytelling. The narrative rivals even the best stories in horror games, complimented by some stunning but refined painterly graphics. Tension abounds in this reserved, considered, often claustrophobic tale with some intriguing things to say about sentience, duty, and what it means to "owe" someone something.
The game was announced in last week's free Epic Games Store games, alongside similarly complex Surviving Mars. Both draw on similar sci-fi stories as influences, but The Fall is much less sprawling. For gamers who are less interested in a sprawling city builder, and want a more closely authored experience, it is an excellent choice. Players who want a shorter story-driven experience will enjoy getting lost in the dark depths of its broken planet.
In The Fall, players take on the unusual role of ARID, an AI controlling a spacesuit. Unfortunately for ARID, the human who normally controls the suit is unconscious, and it is the AI's job to follow the primary directive - protect human life. Unlike the scariest sci-fi robots in movies, ARID is a much gentler protector, at the start of the game anyway. As the story progresses, ARID's journey and prime directive puts it up against the very protocols it was built upon. Story-focused players should not miss this free game while it lasts.
Creature In The Well Is Free Next Week On The Epic Games Store
Pinball with swords is basically the elevator pitch for Creature in the Well, and it certainly delivers. The game is a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler that takes aesthetic notes from icons like Hyper Light Drifter, while also drawing unique inspiration from classic 3D Pinball games. This original central mechanic works by charging up orbs of energy, then releasing them at various speeds. Players can parry these orbs back into the dungeons they fight through to rack up a score.
In Creature in the Well, players delve through eight gorgeously hand-crafted dungeons to the heart of a desert mountain. The aim is to activate some long-defunct machinery to potentially avert a deadly sandstorm. Like in The Fall, the main player character is a solitary robotic unit with an essential quest. The futuristic city of Mirage hangs in the balance for Creature in the Well's BOTC-C unit. Haunting this desert mountain is a deadly and terrified "Creature." Rather than a normal boss encounter, battling the Creature entails several intricate puzzles and battles based on skill.
Creature in the Well is a vibrant, electrifying example of the top-down dungeon crawler. It speaks testament to how independent developers can still innovate even in a heavily saturated genre. The game sets itself apart from genre-defining titles like Hyper Light Drifter with its unique mechanics. Indie developers consistently break new ground and breathe life into slightly stale genres and game mechanics, and Creature in the Well is a perfect example of an independent studio doing this.
Free To Play Spotlight: Diabotical
A less serious title than the other free featured games is Diabotical. This first-person shooter, inspired by classic Quake deathmatch setups, employs unique weapons and a fast pace. Released in 2020 by The GD Studio, the title is a vivid and colorful take on deathmatch FPS gameplay. A whole arsenal of varied weapons, from classic rocket launchers to grasping tethers to one-hit-kill precision aim rifles. The game pays close homage to the best FPS games ever, and its wealth of game mode shows that The GD Studio have understood how popular games like this maintain their legacies.
Diabotical does not limit itself to just being a cutesy Quake clone. As well as bringing the bright, cartoony graphics of genre mainstays like Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch, Diabotical brings a huge set of game modes to complement its 30 different maps. These game modes include an "instant-gib" mode, one where every shot kills, arena deathmatch, aim training and even time trials. Like Counterstrike and Team Fortress 2 before it, players are able to dart around long racetracks against competitors, using melee weapons and jumps to increase their speed.
The game understands that longevity in a shooter can depend on the other ways that fans enjoy themselves in the software. For games like CS: GO and Team Fortress, this is often players making their own fun. In the case of Diabotical, these game modes come pre-packaged, ready for gamers to enjoy for free.
The Fall is free on the Epic Games Store until March 25th. Creature In The Well is free from March 25th until April 1st.