Steam‘s Free-to-Keep Promotion is back with its first official game for August 2026, meaning players are able to claim, download, and keep this title forever, as long as they do so before August 9. What’s interesting is that if fans enjoy their time with this Steam game, its sequel leaves Early Access with its 1.0 release on September 1. In other words, players can spend time in the original game for free before delving into its sequel (should they like it).
Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion is popular because it takes paid, premium games and makes them completely free for a limited time. That’s usually a few days up to a week, although some last longer, because the entire promotion is publisher-initiated. While Steam’s operations are clearly involved, the buck ends with them, so it’s smart to see publisher 11 bit studios leveraging the promotion.
Beginning on August 5 at 12 pm CT and lasting until August 9 at 12 pm CT, Steam users can download Moonlighter for free. For those unaware, Moonlighter is a dungeon crawler/shop management game hybrid where players take on the role of Will, a shopkeep who wants to be a hero. There is a core story that unfolds, but the core gameplay loop is essentially crawl dungeons, find loot, sell for profit, upgrade, and repeat. It’s a solid game for anyone looking for something new to play, especially at the cost of free, and this is reflected in its 80% Very Positive review rating on Steam (after 7K user reviews).
The initial announcement of this free-to-keep promotion, before its availability, came alongside the release date confirmation of Moonlighter 2’s 1.0 release. Moonlighter 2 has been in Early Access since November 2025, but it’s fully launching into 1.0 on September 2. It is obviously available on Steam but is also available on PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S (with Game Pass, too). Moonlighter 2 is a textbook sequel that improves upon everything in the first game, while also making the jump to 3D. As of this writing, it currently sits at an 86% Very Positive review rating on Steam, though with fewer reviews. It currently has almost 1,200.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.
For those looking for more free Steam games, if Moonlighter isn’t exactly their cup of tea, it’s worth mentioning that Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion had confirmed Moonlighter‘s eventual addition beforehand in July. Sometimes these are surprises (and the dates almost always are), but most get a little confirmation via SteamDB typically. As such, it’s worth noting that Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion has also confirmed Deponia will be available at some time this month. It is a hand-drawn comedy adventure game that’s sure to get a few laughs at least.
Otherwise, fans can find more free games across the internet, and more will no doubt be announced and/or added to this promotion (and others) before August comes to an end. Free game lovers should keep their ears to the ground for more news, then.
