Update: Last time Alien: Isolation was given away on the Epic Store, it was just the base game. This time, the Last Survivor DLC is bundled with it. That’s the one where you play as Ellen Ripley, with Sigourney Weaver returning to voice the role, and get to relive the finale of the original movie—racing to set the Nostromo’s self-destruct and escape the doomed ship.
Even if you already own Alien: Isolation on Epic, you can go to its page on the store and grab it again. This time, you’ll get the DLC for free.
Original story: Another week brings us another pair of free games on the Epic Store, and they’re very different from one another but both very good.
First up is Alien: Isolation, an older (it came out in 2014) but outstanding horror game set 15 years after the film that started the xenomorph ball rolling. As Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen, you must escape the grim, steamy corridors of the space station Sevastopol, which has been overrun by alien horrors. The game world is a wonderfully true-to-form recreation of the retro-future world of the movies, with “chunky keyboards, phone receivers, distorted CRT monitors, and blinking coloured lights,” while the alien stalking you is a perfect predator.
“You can shoot it, but it’ll just get angry and pounce at you. You can burn it, but that’ll only scare it away for a few seconds,” we said in our 93% review. “Isolation’s magic lies in the fact that you have to outsmart its single alien rather than kill it. This turns what could have easily been yet another FPS with xenomorphs into a thrilling, drawn-out game of cat-and-mouse with the scariest cat imaginable.”
Hand of Fate 2 is a very different sort of game: A roguelike, dungeon-crawling, deck-building RPG in which you’ll take on a series of challenges given to you by the mysterious Dealer. But it’s not just cards. Different quests play on different genres, while “companion cards” provide unique combat powers and a new narrative layer “told through a series of companion-specific cards, compelling tales of heartbreak, betrayal, and redemption.”
“Companions are also woven into other cards’ stories and frequently chime in during BioWare-style cutscenes,” our 82% review says. “These moments made the world feel much more vibrant and interactive despite how much of it is text.”
Alien: Isolation and Hand of Fate 2 are free until April 29. After that, you’ll have a chance to snag a “$100 value add-on” for the free-to-play strategy idler Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms. For more free games, have a look at our lists of best free PC games, best free games on Steam, best browser games, and all the free games you can grab right now.