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Free is free, that’s what I always say. For video games, that’s doubly so. Everyone’s felt the sting of buying a full-priced game just for it to disappoint, but any game of any size is worth checking out when it comes at the price of free. Steam has seemingly embraced this philosophy even more lately, too. While its competition in the Epic Games Store has given away free games every Thursday (and sometimes more often), Steam has been a little less reliable. Still, this year it has seemingly increased the number of games it makes free for a limited time, while plenty of always-free or free-to-play games have come to the store too.
Right now, Steam’s newest offerings are just free games. Players can claim them now, completely free of charge, and they’ll be able to do so as long as they’re available on the storefront. While they all have the benefit of being free, there is a nice variety here as well, should anyone feel the need to window-shop them all the same.
Steam’s new free games include Galactic Brawl, a multiplayer brawler described as “absurd”; Witch You Want, a game about running a witch’s potion shop; The Empathy Algorithm, a visual novel about conversing with an Android; Cellchemist, a physics-based sandbox game where players combine cells; DJ Bunny, a 2D adventure game where players create songs for a festival; Another Day with You, an adventure game with tons of mini-games as players explore a town on a date; and The Plant, an interactive narrative game about a researcher and their experimental plant.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
List of Free Steam Games This Week
In more detail, Galactic Brawl is a multiplayer brawler game like Party Animals where players compete in free-for-all matches, as well as mini-games, to claim victory. It’s a silly fun time with friends, complete with just about any whimsical mascot you could imagine and an array of weapons ranging from a giant slippery fish to a fly swatter. Meanwhile, Witch You Want combines a visual novel with light management gameplay, alongside plenty of dialogue choices and character interactions to shape the witch’s shop, her confidence, and a possible romance.
The Empathy Algorithm is a less magical visual novel and a more sci-fi visual novel, where conversations with an android explore human emotion, consciousness, identity, ethics, and what it means to feel. In a world of generative AI, it has plenty to say and discuss. Joining it is Cellchemist, a physics-based sandbox puzzle game where players use 100 cell types (with unique properties and reactions) to solve open-ended science-oriented challenges.
Sci-fi games aren’t for everyone, and DJ Bunny isn’t that. It’s a 2D music-puzzle adventure game focused on rhythm, where players will remix beats and piece together tracks for a major music festival. Just as much of a cozy game is Another Day with You, a narrative game focused on mini-games and interactive moments on a date (with multiple endings). Finally, The Plant is another narrative game exploring relationships—this time between a researcher and an intelligent plant. Players must decide how to interact with its intelligence, which can lead to multiple endings in turn.
Epic Games Store Users Have Until February 19 to Claim 2 Free Games, More Coming the Same Day
Check Out via Epic Games Store
While Steam’s ever-rotating list of freebies is a great source of new games, it’s always worth keeping an eye on the Epic Games Store’s new free games too. Until February 19 at 10 am CT, Epic Games Store users can claim Nobody Wants to Die and The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark for absolutely free, too. At that time, they’ll rotate out and be replaced with Return to Ash and a starter edition for STALCRAFT: X.
For fans of cyberpunk games, Nobody Wants to Die is a narrative-first, first-person noir adventure set in a dystopian New York. Players take on the role of Detective James Kara as he investigates a serial killer, while exploring themes of immortality and technological decay—classics in the genre. In the second title, players take on another detective role but for paranormal mysteries. In The Darkside Detective, a pixel-art point-and-click adventure game, players as Detective McQueen (and his partner) investigate the cursed town of Twin Lakes.
- Nobody Wants to Die (Free Now Until February 19 at 10 am CT)
- The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark (Free Now Until February 19 at 10 am CT)
- Return to Ash (Free from February 19 to February 26)
- STALCRAFT: X Starter Edition (Free from February 19 to February 26)
Following those 2 games will be Return to Ash and a starter edition for Stalcraft X. Return to Ash is a visual novel game about choices and relationships, and ultimately how they impact someone’s afterlife. Finally, the starter pack includes weapons, gears, and other premium boosts for the open-world MMOFPS set in a post-apocalyptic Chernobyl. Reviews for it are mixed, but its offerings can be enticing: a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-inspired atmosphere, PvPvE gameplay, artifact hunting, and an emphasis on faction warfare.