Strap a gun to a giant bird and fly the fantasy skies in the latest free game from the Epic Store

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The latest free game on the Epic Games Store is The Falconeer, an aerial exploration-combat sim about mounting a gun on a majestic bird of prey and going to war for control over a huge fantasy waterworld littered with islands.

Epic freebies have become a bit routine. It was a big deal when the program first started but that was way back in 2019, and in the intervening years we've all grown used to having a new game handed to us every week. Even amidst that routine, though, The Falconeer giveaway is notable for a couple reasons.

One, this is the first time it's happened: Epic has been giving games away for so long now that repeats are inevitable, but The Falconeer has never been on the block before today. And two (and more importantly), it's really quite good. Despite some difficulty spikes and other inconsistencies, it "mostly shines," we said in our 2020 review.

"It says a lot that although optional missions are hollow instructions along the lines of ‘go here’ or ‘kill that’, I still eagerly dive into them for the extra cash. Any excuse to go back out into this intriguing world, I’ll take."

And of course there have been several updates released since, so The Falconeer should be even better now than it was then. Sadly, the most important question of all remains unanswered: Are the birds really big, or are the people really small?

The Falconeer is free on the Epic Games Store until July 11. After that, it's Floppy Knights, a too-cute deckbuilder about commanding an angry army of adorable plants.

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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.