Drive like a maniac for fun and profit in the Epic Store's next free game

YouTube

After putting the Destiny 2 Legacy Collection up for grabs for a week, the Epic Games Store appears to have drifted back into a daily rhythm of free games. Today's offering is Art of Rally, a stylized top-down racing game from the maker of Absolute Drift.

Superficially, Art of Rally is an arcade racer, but it offers a surprising amount of challenge for those who want to switch off the driver assist options and give 'er. Rally fans will also dig the impressive selection of cars from the 1960s to the '80s, including the infamous Group B cars that had a brief, exciting, and incredibly dangerous run through the mid-'80s before being banned by the FIA after a series of major accidents and deaths.

It's not Project Cars, but even with driving aids enabled Art of Rally is a tricky beast to handle, and I struggle to keep even the more manageable Group 2 cars on the road. Fortunately the damage modelling can be turned off, and the in-game crowds are quick on their feet and good at getting out of the way. (In my defense, a QWERTY keyboard is not the ideal thing for heel-and-toe action.)

Art of Rally is free on the Epic Games Store until 11 am PT on December 23. You know what happens after that: Another free game! Be sure not to miss it.

TOPICS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.