Subnautica will be free on the Epic Store for a limited time

After building a spectacularly large audience with Fornite, Epic is turning its game launcher into a Steam-like store—though one that offers developers a larger revenue share. The first games it's offering are now visible on the Epic Store .

First of all, Subnautica and Super Meat Boy, both great games, are going to be free for a limited time, starting later in December. Obviously, by creating an account, downloading Epic's launcher, and redeeming your free games, you become another person they can try to sell stuff to in the future. But also: free games. We recommend Subnautica big time, and it's normally $25, so it's an outstanding freebie if you enjoy singleplayer survival or alien squid encounters.

Another surprise is from Bastion and Transistor developer Supergiant. We'd never heard of a game called Hades until now, and yet here it is, available on the Epic Store in Early Access right now. We'll give it a look soon.

And what's that a little further down the list? It's Journey, the beloved PlayStation 3 exclusive we never thought we'd see on PC.

While it isn't long, there are other promising new games on the list. Satisfactory, which was shown at our own PC Gaming Show earlier this year, is especially interesting.

Here's the Epic Store's full starting lineup:

Ashen by A44 and Annapurna Interactive (now available)
Darksiders III by Gunfire Games and THQ Nordic (available Dec 14)
Hades by Supergiant Games (now available)
Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek by tinyBuild (now available)
Genesis Alpha One by Radiation Blue and Team17 (coming soon)
Journey by thatgamecompany and Annapurna Interactive (coming soon)
Maneater by Tripwire Interactive (coming soon)
Outer Wilds by Mobius Digital and Annapurna Interactive (coming soon)
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw by Double Damage Games (coming soon)
Satisfactory by Coffee Stain Studios (coming soon)
Subnautica by Unknown Worlds (available for free from Dec 14 - Dec 27)
Super Meat Boy by Team Meat (available for free from Dec 28 - Jan 10)
World War Z by Saber Interactive (coming soon)

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.