The freegames community has been going for a year and a half now, probably time I updated the info.

What to post

This is a place to post limited-time giveaways of full video games that are then yours to keep forever at no cost. Please use the search to check what you're posting hasn't already been posted, and start your posts with [Source] so that people can ignore giveaways they're not interested in. For example, if Fanatical were giving away a Steam key for Pong, I'd title the post [Fanatical/Steam] Pong.

I post deals as I find them (sometimes spread out over a few days or bundled together so it doesn't get too noisy) but feel free to post them if you find them first.

If you have keys that you'd like to give away then [email protected] and [email protected] are the best places to post.

Forever-Free Friday

The main exception to the limited-time giveaways only rule is for the occasional posting of games which are always free. On Fridays you can post a game that's permanently free if you think it's worth showcasing to everyone. Maybe it's a FOSS project, maybe it's a game that's gone free-to-play, just make sure that the post starts with [Forever-Free Friday] and that it's something worth playing and not just the publishers trying the freemium model instead!

Interesting links

Where to look for free game giveaways

• GOG Giveaway will show a current giveaway on GOG if there is one, or you can use this link to claim it in one click
• IndieGala Freebies and Showcase list freebies on IndieGala
• Freetchio and ItchClaim, tools showing anything 100% off on itch.io
• SteamDB Free Promotions and Free Packages list freebies (including DLC and free weekends) on Steam
• Epic Games lists freebies (including DLC and free-to-play games)
• IsThereAnyDeal lists freebies (including DLC) from various sources
• gg.deals and gg.deals news lists freebies (including DLC, free weekends, and game-adjacent giveaways) from various sources
• Epic Freebie Games Radar is an Android app which notifies about freebies (including DLC and game-adjacent giveaways) from various sources

Where to look for games which are always free

• itch.io
• GOG or just ones you don't already own

Subscriptions you may already have which give access to free games

• Amazon Prime Gaming
• Netflix Games

Non-free but otherwise notable sales

• itch.io
• Steam
• Humble Bundle
• Epic Games
• Android
• Zoom Platform

Notifications

If you want notifications for new posts you can subscribe to the community's RSS feed, and if you want more granular notifications you can use Lootscraper to get site-specific RSS feeds and skip the need for this community entirely!

No such thing as a free lunch

Nothing is ever completely free, and there's a definite hierarchy to the kinds of giveaways posted here:

1. Free open-source software is pretty hard to beat, it's the free-est lunch you can get!
2. Indies being given away directly by their creators on sites like itch.io, they may ask you to pay what you want or message you about their other games but that's about it
3. DRM-free storefronts like GOG, you can download the installer and keep it forever but obviously they're hoping that you'll start using their site for making actual purchases too
4. Steam, Epic Games, IndieGala, Fanatical, Microsoft, Google Play, etc. will offer freebies which could theoretically disappear at any point (this doesn't happen often, but always remember that you don't really "own" most digital items), they also hope that giving freebies will encourage you to spend money on other games of theirs
5. Subscriptions like Amazon Prime Gaming cost money but you do get to keep the games even after you cancel
   • They offer free trials (supposedly only requiring a unique email) so you can sign up, claim all the games you want, then cancel
   • This is basically where I draw the line as you can still keep games forever if you're willing to jump through the required hoops
6. Subscriptions like Netflix, GamePass, PS+ and Switch Online are more like renting games, you lose access to them when you stop paying so I don't count them as free games even if you are somehow able to access them for free
7. Freemium/pay-to-win games which you can play for free as a second-class citizen don't count, and they generally have enough marketing budget that you're aware of them without the need to have them posted here!

We're all adults here and I hope you don't need to be told to be wary of blindly installing dodgy software or not to support companies you don't like. If you don't want to see giveaways from a particular source and you use a Lemmy client which supports filters then you can block specific strings from showing, for instance if you didn't want to see anything from Amazon then you could hide the string [Prime.

Keep it civil and keep it chill!

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/26228828

> Even though the polygons don't exactly merit much of a second look, I'm shocked by how smoothly it runs and just generally how well-implemented the engine is. Especially with the incredible diversity of the different factions, it sort of feels like a more relaxed but still tactical WarCraft 3-like RTS. You have gold, wood, stone, and a food quota to manage, but some factions function so differently; one sort of copies StarCraft's Zerg or Protoss in the way that it has existing units irreversibly upgrade and specialize in specific forms, and another summons some units on the fly instead of at a base building. > > I also see that it's extremely moddable and some people tried to make sci-fi total conversions, but I unfortunately see none that have had any recent work (sci-fi's really my jam).

Full discussion here

A bit of a non-standard post as I don't think you can actually play them for free yet (I can't see any binaries available and there's a disclaimer that you need to already own the games, presumably for assets/art), but a pleasant surprise and hopefully something to keep an eye on!

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/post/490628

> NEW RELEASE - Welcome Home > > Where home feels wrong, and you're anything but welcome

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> Widelands is a free, open source real-time strategy game with singleplayer campaigns and a multiplayer mode. The game was inspired by Settlers II™ (© Bluebyte) but has significantly more variety and depth to it.

Plenty of discussion on Lemmy too

Educational software for toddlers and kids.

Released under the AGPL. Multi-platform.

Great for kids 2-12.

Grapples Galore is a fast-paced online multiplayer arena shooter with physics-based grappling hook movement, active ragdolls, and thrilling gunplay.

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cross-posted from: https://swg-empire.de/post/2109620

> you're just imagining it - A Chronic Illness Game

I saw this posted a month or so ago:

> The game runs surprisingly well. You can download the DRM-free version of the game from BioMedia Project. The files are hosted with the permission of the LEGO Group. The only fix I did was enabling widescreen support with modern screen resolutions. The instructions for that are here.

I never played any of the Bionicle games but I have very fond memories of the Lego! As well as a (what I assume to be Windows) ISO, you can also play it on Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii, DS, GameBoy Advance, and even "Java (Phone)".

A bit of a different one this week as this is technically a subscription service with a free-to-play option, but put down your pitchforks and hear me out!

BGA is a platform for playing board games online, and about half of the games I'm aware of IRL are available, from simple classics like Carcassonne and Yahtzee to multi-day slogs like Unconditional Surrender and Scythe. Some games are free for anyone to play, "premium" ones require that the person who starts the game is a paying member (but that means that one enthusiast can pay a few quid a month and invite their friends to play for free). There are rankings and tournaments if you want to take it seriously, or you can exclusively play solo or with friends.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but still quite a cool site you can enjoy without paying.

As it's spooky season we have a creepy "vhs style" weird meta-game mystery about being trapped in a video game.

>traverse the digital wasteland of a shooter game long-abandoned. but don't let looks deceive you, the game is just a remnant distracting you from its real purpose.

The game has already been remastered (Windows only) though the original for Linux and Windows is also free, and it's apparently coming to Steam too. Pay-what-you-want on itch.io.

Blast, slide, and tear through waves of monsters in Harbinger's retro-inspired combat, a free boomer shooter bringing '90s combat into the modern era. Fight through waves of enemies in brutal arenas and regroup at the tavern to upgrade your arsenal.

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Hand-drawn indie platformer for Windows, originally released in 2013 but had an "anniversary edition" QoL update last year. Pay-what-you-want on Itch.io.

Decidit is a fast FPS roguelike in which you must use all the arsenal and movement abilities at your disposal in order to progress in an unstable demonic maze. Be fast, precise but also strategic using all the demonic weapons and abilities collected on the way to create powerful synergies.

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A shameless Vampire Survivors clone, most of the reviews say it's nothing special but good for half an hour of fun. Free on Steam.

>Tiny Survivors is a chill top-down autobattler with lots of enemies and randomly generated synergies.