Welcome! This is a weekly series where we tell you which game the Epic Games Store is offering for free. We'll keep you updated on the free games you can get every week, and whether we think they're worth your time.
Say what you will about how the Epic Games Store compares to Steam, but it's hard to beat getting a new free game to play every week. Last week, Epic Games gave us Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 and A Game Of Thrones: The Board Game Digital Edition. But if you were in need of a break from sims and tabletop adaptations, now it's time for something different.
The Epic Games Store is offering three free titles this week: Geneforge 1: Mutagen, Iratus: Lord of the Dead, and Hood: Outlaws and Legends. If you add them to your collection, you'll own them permanently, and can play them whenever you want.
To get any of these from the Epic Games Store, all you have to do is visit the Epic Games Store Free Games page. You’ll need an Epic Games account to claim the titles, and the Epic Games software client to play them with, but both of these are free as well.
The deal is active now, and will run until July 7 at 11:00 a.m. ET. After that, the company will have a different free game on offer.
Are they worth your time?
Epic Games seems to be offering multiple free titles lately. In terms of this week's selections, Iratus is a roguelike RPG, Hood is a stealthy PvPvE title, and Geneforge is a top-down RPG with magic and creature-raising mechanics.
In Geneforge 1 - Mutagen, you have a large high-fantasy world to explore, and an army of spells and customizable monsters at your disposal. The game's design is a little antiquated, which is understandable when you realize this is a remaster of a PC title that came out in 2001. It's supposed to offer 50+ hours of content, so this is a good deal if you're into retro indie RPGs.
As a roguelike RPG set in the underworld, Iratus: Lord of the Dead looks like it could scratch the same itch as the beloved indie hit Hades. In Iratus, you'll raise bodies from the dead to act as your allies in battle. Whether it's zombies, vampires or skeletons, each creature has different abilities to keep encounters varied. Iratus: Lord of the Dead received favorable reviews on Metacritic, earning a score of 78/100 from critics and 7.5 from users. Users were particularly enthused that grinding for level upgrades isn't necessary in this RPG.
Hood: Outlaws and Legends is arguably the weakest of the three offerings, with a critic score of 62/100 and a user score of 3.4/10 on Metacritic. It has an interesting concept. You play in a medieval setting, and need to combat guards and other players as you collect loot. However, some players found the gameplay repetitive, and were frustrated due to a lack of content. If the 15th-century setting speaks to you, the game is fun enough for a weekend of sneaking around, practicing your assassination tactics. (And you won't need to steal any gold from King Richard the Lionheart for the privilege.)
