The Epic Games Store has officially announced Cardpocalypse as its free game for August 20. The Pokemon-inspired title will mark the sixth freebie that Epic Games Store users can claim in August 2026.
Developed by Irish studio Gambrinous, Cardpocalypse is a story-driven collectible card game that originally launched for consoles and iOS devices (via Apple Arcade) in December 2019 before making its way to PC in October of the following year. Set in a heavily embellished version of the 1990s, it follows Jess, a 10-year-old wheelchair user whose school bans a trading card game craze called Mega Mutant Power Pets, only for students to begin playing it in secret. Things take a turn for the worse when the game’s mutants begin appearing in the real world, prompting Jess and her friends to embark on a whimsical quest to stop their invasion.
Epic Is Making Cardpocalypse Free for the First Time Ever
The Quirky CCG Will Be 100% Off for Exactly One Week
Once the Epic Games Store’s Beacon Pines and We Were Here Together giveaway formally concluded on August 13, the platform immediately announced Cardpocalypse as its limited-time freebie for next week. The humorous CCG will be free to claim from August 20 at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET / 5 p.m. CET through August 27 at the same time. Despite being nearly seven years old, Cardpocalypse has never previously been available for free, either on Epic’s platform or elsewhere. Regularly priced at $24.99, its all-time low is $4.99, a price it has reached roughly a dozen times since first dropping to that level during a mid-2024 sale. $4.99 was also the effective cost of playing the iOS version of Cardpocalypse through Apple Arcade before it left the service in July 2022.
Epic Games Store Free Games Right Now
Although Cardpocalypse is openly influenced by the Pokemon Trading Card Game, its inspirations are mainly thematic. Its distinctive battle system revolves around 20-card decks and Champion cards with a powerful, berserker-like comeback mechanic that makes them stronger as they take damage. As is usually the case with games featuring multiple editions or add-ons in Epic’s weekly giveaways, the upcoming Cardpocalypse promotion will only apply to the base game. The 2019 CCG also offers two add-ons sold separately: a digital soundtrack and the Out of Time story DLC, each priced at $7.99.
In the lead-up to the Cardpocalypse giveaway, Epic Games Store users are able to claim cozy exploration game Caravan SandWitch. Created by France-based Studio Plane Toast, the title holds a 72 average score on OpenCritic, a 4.5-star rating on the Epic Games Store, and more than 1,600 “Very Positive” user reviews on Steam as of August 13, nearly two years after its September 2024 release.
