Everyone is so focused on how Epic Games’ launcher is a bad launcher in comparison to Steam and how all these epic exclusive deals are anti-consumer, that they totally ignore some of the awesome aspects such as the free games Epic Games gives out weekly (bi-weekly previously). I’ve gotten so many games over the past few months such as Transistor, Enter the Gungeon, For Honor, Celeste and many more.
Now, since this is the first of the weekly series, I’ll talk about how this will work. I will be spending a minimum of 2 hours with each free game that comes out and provide a verdict on whether or not it’s worth playing. While the games are free to claim within the week, there might be so many better games out there that’s worth your time than the free games given. Without further ado, here are the free EPIC games of the week, ABZU and The End is Nigh.
ABZU
ABZU is a popular game that came out in 2016 that’s often compared with games such as Journey. Similar to Journey, this game is not what comes to mind when they think about games. For starters, there isn’t a clear goal in ABZU. It’s more akin to exploration and trying to make sense of the world on your own while absorbing the amazing atmosphere in this underwater world, that is just spectacular to explore.
You may be wondering how does this game’s controls work if it takes place entirely underwater, a section of the gaming world with infamously bad control scheme? Short answer is that the controls of the game are quite intuitive, but will take time getting used to. It’s akin to flying an airplane in a simulator where you hold a button to swim and the ‘WASD’ keys to control your character’s pitch and yaw.
The highlight of the game, however, definitely goes to the atmosphere, music and environment. ABZU’s underwater world is absolutely beautiful with vibrant colours, interesting underwater creatures that swim alongside you. It’s as if no matter which section of the game you take a screenshot from, it is a wallpaper-worthy art. What this game lacks in interesting gameplay mechanic, it makes up for itself in the stunning beauty this game is able to achieve.
VERDICT: PLAY!
This is one of those games you have to play to believe it. I’ve only heard about how beautiful ABZU was and I am still stunned by the world’s beauty and this is even after I’ve experienced the beautiful world of the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The End is Nigh
If ABZU is calm and zen, then The End is Nigh is the polar opposite. Released 2 years ago by the same guy that developed Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, it has a similar vibe to those games. It is charming, weird and disturbing all at the same time.
The game controls very well, and the jumping feels solid, precise and grounded. There are new mechanics throughout the game, such as water, toxic water, monsters you have to bounce off of and so on.
However, this game can get really frustrating to say the least, as most of these games tend to be. Most stages are relatively straight forward and the execution isn’t too hard, but attempting to get the ‘tumour’ (bonus collectibles in the game similar to the strawberry item in Celeste) just adds so many more layers of difficulty in terms of precision and speed.
VERDICT: Meh.
Give it a go if you’re a fan of platformers, it will definitely be quite challenging to complete all the levels while collecting the bonus. If not, you might want to pass this in favour of other better platformers out there such as Celeste.
If these games caught your attention, you can claim it for free in the Epic Games store here until the 12th of September 2019. Do let us know what you think about ABZU and The End is Nigh, and stay tuned for our next article on EPIC Games of the Week. Till then!
