Epic makes two oddball genre mashups free for the week

A pair of new games are now free for the week on the Epic Games Store: The oddball zombie construction game Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, and Ironcast, a turn-based tactical match-three game inspired by Victorian sci-fi.

We called Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead "the year's weirdest crossover" when it came out in 2020. It's physics-based bridge building, as you'd expect, but instead of anonymous avatars the builders are characters from The Walking Dead, like Daryl, Michonne and Eugene, who create bridges and other structures across the ruins of the US as they haul ass from hordes of zombies. It sounds silly, but I can think of worse reasons to build a bridge. (And it's clearly not meant to be taken too seriously, a nice break from the usual non-stop bleakness of TWD.)

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Ironcast is an unusual mashup in its own right. In an alt-history 19th century, you'll pilot a steam-driven mech against the enemies of the British Empire (of which there are many), powering your weapons and defenses by making matches on a Bejeweled-style game board. The gameplay is reminiscent of games like Puzzle Quest (or my personal genre favorite, Bret Airborne, and yes I actually enjoy match-three games quite a bit), but with an added layer of light systems management and some 2D mech-on-mech pyrotechnics.

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As always, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead and Ironcast are free for one week, which means you've got until July 15 to make them yours. After that, they'll be replaced by the Myst-alike adventure Obduction and the Martian merchant sim Offworld Trading Company.

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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.