Free game fans have got a bumper selection right now, as you can get not just one but two free games right now, if you know where to click.
We, of course, know where to click. If you want a little sci-fi exploration then narrative adventure Tacoma, developer Fullbright’s follow-up to the cracking Gone Home, is available for the low low price of no pennies on the Humble store.
Tacoma has a little more interaction than Gone Home, but it’s still primarily a narrative exploration game, littered with thoughtful environmental design and a host of audio and visual logs for you to uncover.
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Our Jade wasn’t super enthusiastic about it, although she praised the characters, setting and atmosphere, even if the plot doesn’t do a good enough job of tying things together: “Fullbright has crafted an impressive yet ultimately unfulfilling narrative adventure in Tacoma. Its characters and setting are some of the best in the medium in terms of dialogue and atmosphere, but the overarching plot is far too weak to hold them altogether. That being said, exploring the lonely space station is a journey I don’t regret taking.”
You can get this for free, if you hustle over to the Humble Store and sign up for the newsletter before March 24th at 5PM in the UK. Technically it’s “yours to keep and play together” but having snatched free games from the Humble Store before, the download link to the game that you receive sometimes expires after the weekend is up, so you might want to back up the installer somewhere.
Sci-fi now your bag? Why not pick up Oxenfree, the spooky “teenagers on a creepy island” horror that has sat with me for years, since I played it in a Berlin AirBNB on a cold winter evening.
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Oxenfree is a game about casual conversation and quiet exploration. The dialogue system, which has speech bubbles that pop up and disappear throughout the conversation, elegantly representing thoughts popping up or sentences fading away leading to silence. I like it, and if you’ve got five hours free, why not give it a go?
Stuart Andrews said: “if you’re happy to get caught up in a rich, fascinating piece of interactive fiction, Oxenfree will keep you hooked throughout your first playthrough – and thinking through at least one more.”
This one is going free on the Epic Games Store. You know how this works by now so go to the Epic Games Store, search for Oxenfree, get Oxenfree for no money by following the order process. Magic.
Both of these games are nice meditative experiences, where the solution is often to talk things over rather than get busy with gun or blade. The games may take different approaches: Oxenfree is a game about dialogue, both speaking and listening while Tacoma is a game about unpicking narratives and drawing meaning from conversations you’re never present for. But they have a lot in common. They both have a lot to say about human interaction, they can both be beaten over the course of just a couple of evenings, and they can both be yours for absolutely nothing right now.
Got your free games? Let us know what you think about ’em, why don’t you? We’re on Twitter at @TrustedReviews
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
