In brief: Looking to grab one of the most underappreciated games in years for nothing at all? Then head over to the Epic Games Store, where the current freebie is Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, a hugely enjoyable space opera that lives up to the franchise's movies and comics.
Following the giveaway of A Plague Tale: Innocence, Epic's last free Holiday Sale mystery game has been revealed. From now until January 11, you can download and keep Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy gratis.
GOTG is mostly a third-person shooter with players taking on the role of Star-Lord himself, Peter Quill, but they can also issue commands to other members of the galaxy-saving gang, who have unique abilities that can be chained. It reminded this writer of Final Fantasy XV and the Final Fantasy VII Remake at the time. There are also plenty of story elements to enjoy.
One of the combat highlights is the huddle, in which you must pick the correct dialog options for a burst of improved damage; few things are as satisfying as getting it right and hearing the opening bars of 'The Final Countdown' (or another 80s classic) as the team pounds the enemy.
While it is linear, GOTG is emotional, nostalgic, and enormous fun, as reflected by its Very Positive Steam rating and Metascore of 80 (8.6 user score). The game features upscaling tech such as FSR1 and DLSS 2, and it runs well on lower-end hardware, with a GTX 1660 Super / Radeon RX 590 recommended and a GTX 1060 / Radeon 570 as the minimum GPUs.
Now read: The Best PC Games (You Should Be Playing)
Despite the positive reviews, Square Enix later said that sales of the Guardians of the Galaxy game "undershot initial expectations," which may have been due to it arriving so soon after the very disappointing and now delisted Marvel's Avengers.
The Epic Games Store's holiday sale continues until January 10, with discounts on the likes of Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and many more titles. Shoppers also get a coupon for 33% off every time they spend $14.99 or more.