Sonic Mania and Horizon Chase Turbo are free on the Epic Store

Sonic Mania
(Image credit: Sega)

The Epic Games Store is giving away two games this week, and both of them are all about going fast: The arcade racing game Horizon Chase Turbo, and Sonic Mania, an old-school platformer starring a blue hedgehog who runs real good.

Horizon Chase Turbo is "a tribute to classic arcade racers" that trades realism for speed and a 16-bit-inspired visual style. It offers 111 tracks and 48 cities to race through, 33 unlockable cars, and 12 different cups to compete for. If multiplayer is more your thing, it supports local split-screen racing for up to four and an "Online Competitive Ghost Mode" with friends and global leaderboards.

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Sonic Mania is a retro-speedster in its own right, with familiar 2D gameplay brought into the modern era in an all-new adventure featuring new bosses and highly-detailed levels. We called it "the best Sonic game in years" in our 82% review: "A breakneck platformer that uses classic Sonic as a foundation for something fresh and exciting." 

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Horizon Chase Turbo and Sonic Mania are free until July 1. Next week's giveaway is The Spectrum Retreat, a near-future narrative-driven first-person puzzle game set within the walls of The Penrose Hotel, "peaceful yet unsettling refuge from the outside world."

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

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.

Read more
A screenshot of the listing of most-played games on the Epic Games Store, as of January 2024.
What's free on the Epic Games Store right now?
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, showing various racing competitors hurtling through the air
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds looks like a return to the over-the-top arcade fun of All-Star Racing Transformed, and we'll get to play it this month
A Straftat screenshot.
Free games to grab over the holidays
The Local gameplay
The Local is a free and blazingly-fast tribute to surf maps and bunny hopping
Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles art
You should definitely grab today's free Epic Store giveaway: this 'dicebuilder' might quietly be the best freebie of the season
Taking money for an octopus that's about to get the chop in Dredge
Dredge, the horror-fishing game with immaculate vibes, is free on the Epic Game Store
Latest in Action
Assassin's Creed Shadows Imai Sokyu location - Imai Sokyu sitting down at a table with his head turned to his left.
Where to find Imai Sokyu in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows Makino Kurumazuka Kofun - Yasuke holding a large red explosive jar.
How to enter Makino Kurumazuka Kofun in Assassin's Creed Shadows
A man holding a gun drives a boat as money flies out the back in GTA Online
Rockstar hornswoggles lapsed GTAO players with $3 million welcome-back offer that actually requires you to spend money to get most of it
Screenshots from Half-Life 2 RTX, showing the various new effects delivered by full ray tracing and enhanced assets.
The Half-Life 2 RTX demo is out now and well worth a go… if your graphics card can take it
Assassin's Creed Shadows rations upgrades - A close-up of Naoe with a worried expression.
How to get and upgrade rations in Assassin's Creed Shadows
assassin's creed shadows yasuke riding a horse
Don't expect to unlock Yasuke for a while in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Latest in News
Inzoi - A character with a long bob in the character creator
Inzoi will cost as much as a Sims 4 expansion pack and until it leaves early access 'all DLCs and updates will be free'
Inzoi -
In good news for Sim-murdering sickos, Inzoi has '16 different types of deaths'
A photo of Nvidia's Zorah graphics demo running a large gaming monitor
Nvidia's expanded Zorah demo tells us how AI is the future of graphics: 'There's no rasterization going on at all. This is all ray traced and the amazing part is that it's actually faster than rasterizing'
Ghoul in sunglasses
After years of playing as stupid, boring humans in Fallout, you can finally channel your inner Walton Goggins and become a ghoul in Fallout 76
Astarion, after being asked whether he'd like a kiss, winces in the opposite of anticipation in Baldur's Gate 3.
Hasbro will be ready to share news about the future of Baldur's Gate 'in pretty short order'
WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
World of Warcraft Classic’s Season of Discovery may be teasing a legendary weapon that players have speculated is in the game for two decades