Steam has been the dominant PC gaming platform for nearly two decades, and soEpic Games Storehas had to be aggressive to draw in users. The primary waysEpic Games Storehas convinced PC gamers to use its service over Steam is by securing timed-exclusivity deals, but another way it’s accomplished this is by offering free games regularly. The Epic Games Store gives away free games every week with absolutely no strings attached beyond needing to use the Epic Game Store launcher to play them.
The way theEpic Games Store free gamesusually work is that Epic lets users know what free games are coming a week in advance. This way, when Epic Games Store users go to claim the latest free games, they can see what’s coming next week and make a plan to return and claim those games as well. However, there are times when Epic deviates from this, most notably when it launches one of its free mystery game promotions.

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To help promote Epic Games Store sales, Epic hosts special mystery game promotions. The idea is that curiosity will get the best of Epic Games Store users, and so they’ll return to the Epic Games Store every week to see what the new mystery game has in store. With the latest iteration of theEpic Mega Sale now live, Epic Games has brought back its free mystery game promotion, giving away a free mystery game for the duration of the sale.
Epic Games Store Free Games for May 2022
Epic Games kicked off this year’s Epic Mega Sale by giving awaylooter-shooterBorderlands 3for free. For the uninitiated,Borderlands 3is the latest main series entry in Gearbox Software’s massively popularBorderlandsfranchise. Most of the games that Epic Games Store gives away are indie titles or generally lower-profile thanBorderlands 3, which is whyBL3being free on the Epic Games Store is exciting even though it’s a few years old at this point.
Those who have been good about claiming the Epic Games Store free games regularly should have a near-complete collection of theBorderlandsgames available to play on their PC by now. Previously, theEpic Games Store gave awayBorderlands: The Handsome Collection, which includesBorderlands 2andBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel. It’s possible the otherBorderlandsgames will be given away for free through the Epic Games Store at some point down the line, but plans to that effect have not been announced at the time of this writing.
Borderlands 3being the first free Epic Games Store mystery game for the latest promotion sets the bar high, and while there’s a chance the rest of the mystery games will be disappointing, it could also very well be a sign of things to come.
Epic Games Store Next Free Mystery Game
Traditionally speaking, the Epic Games Store kicks off its Epic Mega Sale free mystery game promotion with a big budget title, but then tones things down in subsequent weeks. It’s possible that will happen again, but it’s also possible that Epic Games will be more aggressive this year. In any case, fans will have a much better idea of what Epic Games intends to do with this latest free game promotion once the next mystery game is revealed on Thursday, May 26 at 10:00am CT.
So far, there haven’t been any leaks regarding the next Epic Games Store mystery game, but there are theories. One of the prevailing theories is that the next Epic Games Store mystery game will beSleeping Dogs, based on a teaser image, but that remains to be seen. Really until Epic Games itself decides to reveal what the next Epic Games Store mystery game is, all fans can do is speculate about its identity.
As for how many mystery games there will be, that’s also not 100% clear at this time. The mystery games are expected to continue throughout the Epic Mega Sale, which is scheduled to conclude on June 16. That meansEpic Games Store userscan likely expect free games this coming Thursday, May 26, then again on June 2 and 9. It’s possible that there will be one last mystery game given away on June 16 to cap off the sale, but it’s also possible that day will mark the Epic Games Store getting back to business as usual. Fans will have a much clearer idea of what to expect when June 9 rolls around, as that’s when the June 16 Epic Games Store free game will first be teased.
Regardless of what happens with the latest mystery game promotion, Epic Games Store users can expect the free games to keep coming. TheEpic Games Store free games will continue for the rest of 2022, and while most won’t be mystery games, there should still be plenty of free games for fans to add to their digital libraries.
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