You love video games, but you’re not made of money. Lucky for you, game studios and subscription services offer a handful of free titles every month. Don’t miss out. Here’s what you can download in May.
NBA 2K21 (Image: 2K Sports) Everyone loves free games. Steam has a hefty collection of them, but some places offer titles for only a limited amount of time. Epic Games gives away multiple games a week. Amazon’s Prime Gaming subscription service has new titles each month. But if you’re not paying attention, you’ll lose out on a PC game you could have kept forever. In an effort to help gamers know what’s out there to claim, we’re tracking the best free games available in a given month. While some titles are free outright, others are included as part of a subscription service. Here’s everything you can grab this month. Best Free Epic Games Store Games Epic Games gives away free titles every week; no need for a subscription. Head over to the Epic Games Store website or open the launcher, scroll down to the Free Games section, and hit the Free Now banner on the title you want. Then, go through the process as if you were purchasing the game. You won’t be charged, and the game will appear in your games library on the Epic Games launcher. NBA 2k21 (Until May 27) Play as your favorite professional basketball players or create your own in NBA 2K21. The MyCareer game mode allows you to follow the career of your own player in the NBA or WNBA. Build your ultimate team and collect virtual trading cards in MyTeam. Franchise Mode puts you in the position of general manager, allowing you to make trades, draft players, and play games. Sludge Life (Until May 28) This third-person 3D platformer with retro CRT graphics is really just a vandalism simulator in disguise. Sludge Life is short and sweet, allowing you to explore the game’s surreal world, meet a cast of crass characters, and tag areas with graffiti. Devolver Digital has made the game free to keep for the next year. Rocket League (Now Free) Rocket League combines high-speed racing with competitive sports gameplay as you play soccer with racecars. And last fall, the game moved exclusively to the Epic Game Store and became free-to-play for anyone who wants it. We previously gave it an Editors‘ Choice award, praising it for a fantastic concept and over-the-top fun while maintaining enough nuance to be a competitive esports title. We consider it to be one of the best PC sports games available, and now you can get it for free. Best Free GOG Games GOG doesn’t have regular giveaways like some other websites do, but there is a small collection of free games, which mainly comprises classic computer games. Titles like Shadow Warrior Classic Complete and Postal: Classic and Uncut, which you would have to pay for on Steam, are free on GOG. Other classics, like Ultima 4 (1985) and Akalabeth: World of Doom (1979), are not available anywhere else. Akalabeth: World of Doom (1979) Ascendant (2014) Beneath a Steel Sky (1994) Bio Menace (1993) Cayne (2017) Delores: A Thimbleweed Park Mini-Adventure (2020) Doomdark’s Revenge (1984) Eschalon: Book I (2006) Flight of the Amazon Queen (1995) Jill of the Jungle: The Complete Trilogy (1991) The Lords of Midnight (2013) Lure of the Temptress (1992) Postal: Classic and Uncut (2003) Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves (2013) Shadow Warrior Classic Complete (1997) Stargunner (1996) Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (2014) Teenagent (1994) Treasure Adventure Game (2011) Tyrian 2000 (1999) Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar (1985) Ultima World of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams (1991) Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire (1990) War Wind (1996) Children of Morta (While Supplies Last) This giveaway is a little different because it requires you to make a purchase, but you get a free game out of it. GOG and Visa are teaming up to give away 53,000 codes for the action RPG Children of Morta. Get the game by signing up at the giveaway page, then making a $25 payment using a Visa card. Save the card to your account for future purchases, and you will get your free copy of this roguelike tale of the Bergson family’s journey to free Mount Morta of the evil Corruption. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition GOG allows you to score a free copy of the first Witcher game if you download the GOG Galaxy desktop client. Go to the Recent view and click the giveaway button at the top of the screen. As long as you agree to let GOG send you news and offers, the game is free to claim. Best Free Microsoft Store Games Microsoft doesn’t usually give away games on the Microsoft Store, but there are a few titles the company has decided to make free moving forward (some you can find only on the web, and not the desktop app). If you have a game code to redeem, sign into your Microsoft Account, then enter the code at redeem.microsoft.com; from the web app, go to More > Redeem a code. If it’s a game for your Xbox console, you must first make sure remote install is set up on your console. Crackdown (Now Free) Initially released in 2007, Crackdown received praise as a sandbox style third-person shooter that lets you cause massive amounts of destruction to the environment as you fight a crime wave in a dystopic future. Crackdown 2 (Now Free) Crackdown 2 brings back much of the same gameplay as the first game but with additional superhuman abilities and expanded multiplayer. Set 10 years after the first game, the title has you fight terrorists and save the city from a mutant-creating viral outbreak. Farming Simulator 14 & 16 (Now Free) Farming Simulator is a popular game for those looking to grow crops, care for animals, and run a farm while operating true-to-life farming equipment. While a new edition is released every year, the editions from 2014 and 2016 are now free in the Microsoft Store, giving you a good chance to try out the games before investing in the newest version. Phantom Dust (Now Free) Released in 2004 for the original Xbox, Phantom Dust combines third-person combat with card collecting to create a unique real-time strategy experience. Complete missions to gain new skills and equip unique builds for each new battle. The game was supposed to get a remaster on Xbox One, but it was cancelled and instead the original game was made free for Xbox and Windows. Too Human (Now Free) The action RPG Too Human is a science-fiction retelling of Norse mythology, where all the gods are cybernetically enhanced humans who must stop Loki’s machine army. Best Free PlayStation Plus Games PlayStation Plus is Sony’s online multiplayer and games subscription service that costs $9.99 for one month, $24.99 for three months, or $59.99 for a full year. As part of the service, you can claim two new games to keep every month. They’ll be accessible as long as you have an active PlayStation Plus subscription. Subscribers who own a PS5 will also be able to keep games from a curated selection of titles. There are two ways to claim these games from your console.
