Throw-It-At-You Thursday is once again upon us, which means it's time to pop 'round to the Epic Games Store to get our latest fix of free stuff. This week is a two-fer, featuring Bloober Team's cyberpunk horror game Observer (opens in new tab), and Remedy's supernatural creepo-thriller Alan Wake's American Nightmare (opens in new tab).
Observer is an interesting game because it was generally quite well received—the Xbox One edition has an 86 aggregate score on Metacritic (opens in new tab)—yet we didn't much care for it. Despite some outstanding moments, it relies too much on repeated assets and layouts, and sacrifices cyberpunk cred for a too-familiar family story: "He's not Deckard in Blade Runner, he's Liam Neeson in Taken, and that's less interesting," we said in our 45/100 review (opens in new tab).
Interestingly, I feel the same way about Alan Wake (opens in new tab), a critical darling (83 on Metacritic (opens in new tab)) that really didn't turn my crank. The setting was interesting but the gameplay wore thin quickly, and with all due respect to Mr. Lake I had no idea what was going on through any of it. Evil or something, right? American Nightmare is a standalone sequel that pits Al against his dastardly doppelganger Mr. Scratch in the arid environs of Arizona.
You can't go wrong for free, though: It's literally a zero-risk opportunity to try something you might find interesting but iffy enough to avoid for one reason or another. Or maybe you're like me, and you just take whatever free stuff gets waved in your face because, hey, free stuff.
Observer and Alan Wake's American Night are yours for the taking until October 24. Next week is another two-game giveaway, featuring Layers of Fear Masterpiece Edition (the game Bloober Team did before Observer) and, because it's rated M, the family-friendlier first-person puzzle game Qube.
