this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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Like what the title says. There's always a catch unless it's FOSS. So, what is the catch with them giving games for free that you can keep forever? What will the developers of the games get as a thank you?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

They also for sure get revenue from the hardware companies, seeing recent game releases like Doom -The Dark Ages or ILL, where you need a GPU with at least 32 GB to run it with more than 20 FPS in standart resolution, while you grill bacon on the power supply

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Standard resolution for me is FHD. Heavy duty games O.o If it is true, that is. Any source? DOOM: The Dark Ages requires 16 GB in GPU on recommended and ILL's system requirements are TBA.

When I read your comment, I could not stop thinking about those exclusive games that Epic Games have every now and then. I highly dislike that!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Hardware companies need money. Yes, Doom need at least 16GB Ram for running the game in 1024x768 pxs, as said windowed and ILL for sure need more when the release it. It's programmed onsolence, while current PC can survive almost 15 years or more, they try it with the soft to make these obsolete. Apart of the prices for these games, DOOM>€100 and ILL for sure isn't cheaper. OK. the graphics are stunning, but this don't make a game better than others, these games anyway, apart of the graphics, offers normally an gameplay pretty lineal.

My favoritefirst person game since almost 10 years is The Dark Mod, nice graphics, not worse as in commercial games, intelligent gameplay, it don't need an NASA computer to run it, almost any cheap Laptop is enough, works on Windows, Linux and Mac and is 100%free. 170 community made missions, more released every few month, you can download and add these in the same game menu.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

2 great new TDM missions released

  • The Last Night on Crookshank Line
  • The Lieutnant 4 - A Reciprocal Gambit
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Thanks! Will try them out sometime :) Last time I tried download missions (which was maybe 2 months ago), I got 404. Hopefully that issue will be fixed now.

Edit: the error was not 404, but "Cannot connect to server". I had to execute a command to make it work. Will give one of these missions a shot now.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

I've claimed probably 70% of the free games for the past four or five years. I've noticed some of the titles disappear. So one catch is, you may not get to keep the free game(s) you grab.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

Nah that's pretty weird I've not heard of that before. I've snagged a fair number and still got them as far as I can tell.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I hadn't noticed this, and I've claimed a ton of them as well. Do you have an example?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't even remember the name of the game, but it was one that was next to a title I do play often when sorted by "recent" which is based on purchase (or redemption) date. Might have been that underwater exploration title.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hm, the only underwater ones I can think of are Subnautica and Abzu, both of which are still in my library (although I wouldn't mind if Abzu went away, as it was basically just an underwater walking sim). I couldn't find anything on the list quickly, despite a couple ones sounding like underwater ones, like Stranded Deep and Submerged: Hidden Depths, which didn't look like they actually were underwater games.

https://gamerjournalist.com/epic-games-free-games-list/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I was wrong that it was water-themed. It was "Pacific Drive" which I guess made me think of underwater. I never got a chance to play it, and it's no longer in my library. I think there was another one, but I can't remember now. It was a while back that I discovered it.

EDIT: I agree with you 100% about ABZU. Boring after the first five minutes. Also, I don't see Pacific Drive on the free games list. I need to try to remember the sequence of events. I know I never bought it, because I've never bought any games from EGS; all my titles were free ones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

One catch is that Epic's mystery code is allowed to execute on your computer.

Note that I don't mean just their launcher. Often, if not always, the games themselves are linked with Epic code, ostensibly for license checks and/or integration with Epic services. This gives them the ability to snoop on stored data, installed/executing processes, biometrics, etc.

Running those free games with an alternative launcher does not protect against this.

It's not just a theoretical concern, either. Epic has already been caught copying Steam files, collecting friends play history, and scanning running processes.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/developing-epic-games-launcher-appears-to-collect-your-steam-friends-play-history-up2-valve-responds-see-threadmarks.105385/

https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/wakewr/epic_games_spyware_vs_steam_vs_as_comparision_ea/

https://www.pcgamesn.com/epic-launcher-spyware

I don't trust them, their CEO, or Tencent (which owns a significant chunk of Epic), so I don't run games that come from them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

The catch is downloading the Epic Launcher. Or not even that if you are on Linux.