Friday’s Free Games! Sonic Rumble, Three Games From the Epic Games Store, and More!

This week, probably the most surprising aspect about this Friday’s Free Games is that the Epic Games Store has three free games for us to play! Each represents a different genre so that’s pretty cool! Another shocking thing is that Sonic Rumble was just released, which is a free-to-play PVP Battle Royale game.

Beyond those, this post is also strong with narrative-focused games, a couple of Puzzle titles, and Platformers.

Finally, you’ll see that I have reincorporated organizing the post into categories. I used to do this before, but changed it to be alphabetical for simplicity reasons. With this post I am going to try categorizing games again.

I will see how much time it adds to my post preparation and decide to keep it here, or not. If I change it again, I will let you know in a future post. If you have any feedback about that, please let me know!

Note: All of the images below are from the respective game’s Steam sales page.

If you want to see what’s been available the last two weeks, previously there was a lot of diversity with horror games, twin-stick shooters, survivor roguelites, and more, and another post had a lot of horror games along with platformers and more!

Epic Games Store

ScourgeBringer (Roguelite Platformer)

The Epic Games Store is doing good this week with three free games! This one is a Platformer with roguelite elements.

Songs of Silence (Turn-based Strategy)

The Second is this turn-based Strategy game with real-time battles! The art style on this one looks pretty nice!

Zero Hour (Tactical FPS)

Finally, there’s this tactical FPS with online team-based gameplay.

Narrative

DateBoy (Conversation Simulation)

You’re on a date at an Italian restaurant, but to be honest, you’d much rather be playing your 1990’s portable game system. Of course, it looks a lot like a Gameboy with a color screen. This seems to be an intriguing first-person conversation simulation where you are very absent-minded when with the other person. 100% of 62 reviews are positive!

Death Drive (Visual Novel)

A visual novel game where you agree to drive a girl you’ve never met to somewhere after she hitches a ride with you. Meanwhile, a lot of weird things begin to happen. The game features branching paths with multiple storylines. I like the voice acting of the female lead in the trailer. 97% of 34 reviews are positive!

emerald (Interactive Fiction Adventure)

While watching the trailer for this game, the first thing that stood out about it was the strength of its music. Additionally, the graphical style is extremely stark with it being black and white. However, it doesn’t look like the Gameboy since a lot of it is black objects with white outlines. According to the tags for the steam page, it’s an interactive fiction adventure. 92% of 13 reviews are positive!

Platformers

Puddle (Platformer)

This is a minimalistic Vertical Platformer where you try and get to the top of the screen while piano music plays. I really like the combination of the pixel art with the piano music in the trailer, so here it is!

Rewoven Self (Narrative Puzzle Platformer)

Of the games this week, I think this one has one of the more interesting art styles. It’s a Narrative Puzzle Platformer that is focused on the concept of emotional healing. The title also has some connection with weaving and stitching as part of one’s healing, and the contrast between reality and other worlds. 92% of 26 reviews are positive!

Vaporwave Hardest Game (Platformer)

The Steam page for this says it is a Precision Platformer, but it looks more like you’re just moving your character on a board and trying to collect coins before making it to the exit. All the while there are obstacles that are rotating and moving around to avoid. One intriguing aspect is that there is a Vaporwave vibe about it. I also like that the backgrounds are weird with sculptures, keyboards, and flamingos visible. 100% of 17 reviews are positive!

PVP Games

HYPER DEMON PVP (PVP Shooter)

One of the things that’s really impressive about this game is its art design. It’s a PVP First-person Shooter that is 1v1 only. I like the fact that the game knows exactly what it wants to be and does it! Along with the graphics, the audio in the trailer stands out as well. 95% of 66 reviews are positive!

Sonic Rumble (PVP Battle Royale)

Okay, so this game is admittedly rated as mixed. Because of that, I normally wouldn’t showcase it here. However, I’m a fan of Sonic and SEGA, so I’ve made an exception! I like the trailer a lot, even if the game isn’t that great.