Epic’s next free game is a cyberpunk tale of a hardboiled detective who loves cats

YouTube

Tales of the Neon Sea is a 2D point-and-click adventure that sets players off as Rex, a cop-turned-PI in a grimy cyberpunk world. That may not be the most unique videogame setup you've ever heard, but it's got a "very positive" rating across more than 1,100 reviews on Steam, and that's nothing to sneeze at. For the next seven days, it's also free for the taking on the Epic Games Store.

It sounds like Tales of the Neon Sea goes places, based on the description and trailer. You'll investigate murder scenes, examine evidence, and solve cases, as all good hard-boiled detectives should. But there are also cats, including a playable cat "assistant" named William the Black who can go places and see things that you can't, and apparently a whole society of robots, who have some pretty deep stuff of their own going on.

"If robots had their own god, what would it look like? And if they had the same rights as humans... would they betray us?" the Epic listing muses. "When there are no boundaries between flesh and machine... what is life? This eccentric cyberpunk world holds all the answers."

These are all good questions! Will Tales of the Neon Sea answer them? I don’t know, but I think it looks intriguing (and awfully pretty) and you really can't beat the price. Tales of the Neon Sea is free until April 8.

Next up from Epic's free game bag will be the newest chapter of the "playable sitcom" 3 out of 10, Terrible Posture Games' episodic tale of "life at the world's worst game development studio."

For more free games, don't miss our lists of best free PC games, best free games on Steam, best browser games, and all the free games you can grab right now.

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.