If you’re a gamer on a budget, it is paramount to the thrifty gamer way of life to look for free games. Even if you have money to spare for gaming, it is still no reason to pass a freebie when there’s one. The free games alone is a good reason to pass by Epic Games Store once in a while. Every two weeks or so, they pick a new game and just release it into the wild for you to grab.
You might be entering this with a grain of salt. For, as a rule of thumb, free stuffs are never good stuffs. But just a couple of weeks ago, Epic Games Store had put Subnautica on offer. After that, it was Super Meat Boy. And this week?
What Remains of Edith Finch.
A Story Unlike Any Other
You will love this one if you have an appetite for story-telling games. And for those who aren’t, granted, it’s not a gory, shoot-em-up feast. Nor it is a graphical Holy Grail that can make your eyes pop and your battle station sizzles. Just try and immerse yourself into the story that the game’s trying to tell. I guarantee you, you will find yourself having a good time. What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the best story-centric games I’ve ever played. Somewhere up there among To The Moon and Gone Home.
In the game, you play as - non-surprisingly - Edith Finch. The beginning to the story is rather familiar, if you have played Gone Home before. The character returning from far-away back to their childhood home, re-digging old bones to discover untold myths and stories never shared. The Finches’ house was special, however. It had housed every generations of the family since it was built. And with every generation, a new floor and a set of rooms were built a top that of their ancestors. This is done until the house became a sprawl of secret rooms, entwined passageways filled with tales waiting to be heard. For every steps into the house, every forks in the story found and treaded. Edith will recount the story of her family in accordance to what you had found. Gradually bringing to the lights the truth behind the horrific tragedy that ended up with every single family member - aside from her, dead.
The game is played over a background of a grimy, olden colour palette and designs resembling that of old Polaroids. Leaving behind in the hearts of players a conflicting cocktail of emotions: Sorrow - Hope, a bit suspense - but also some heartfelt moments.
If you haven’t played What Remains of Edith Finch, now is a very good time to solve that.
Epic Games Stores' Future
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Epic Games is able to buy off and roll out new games every couple weeks like that. Considering the fact that the massive revenues they pulled out of Fortnite was, for the past year, a number rivalling GDP of some countries.
They’ve also put all of that extra money into additional good uses, beside from buying people new games. A deal has also been made with Ubisoft to host The Division 2 - coming later this year - exclusively on Epic Games Stores. This is something that Steam hadn’t been able to do. And if that’s any indication, Epic Games Store will be a formidable player in online gaming marketplace category in the future.