The excellent spacefighter sim Star Wars: Squadrons is free on the Epic store

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There was some interesting commentary about the pricing of Star Wars: Squadrons ahead of its release in 2020. It was coming in at $40, considerably lower than other big-name games (like, for instance, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order), which Electronic Arts attributed to a relative lack of "breadth" compared to other, more expansive games. It turned out to be quite good, though, and the whole pricing thing doesn't matter right now anyway because for the next week you can get it completely for free from Epic.

"We designed this game to really focus on what we heard from consumers, which is one of their greatest fantasies, and that's to be able to fly an X-Wing fighter or TIE Fighter, and be in a dogfight," EA's chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen explained at the time. "And so it doesn't have the breadth of some of our games, but it's still an incredible game."

He was correct on both fronts. All due respect to KOTOR, the best Star Wars games are the ones that let you hammer around a snub fighter and blow stuff up in space—something that Star Wars: Squadrons is very good at.

"Star Wars: Squadrons succeeds where it's most important," senior editor and intergalactic joystick jockey Wes Fenlon wrote in his 83% review. "It's a thrill to pilot these ships a hair's breadth above the surface of a Star Destroyer, and through stunning nebulae and war wreckage more vivid than I could've possibly imagined while playing TIE Fighter in the late 1990s. The campaign, which took me about 10 hours to complete on the default difficulty, never really surprises, but it does manage to accomplish something noteworthy: This feels like being in Star Wars in a way no game has in a long, long time."

That sounds like a pretty solid pickup to me, and especially at the price, which is zero.

Unsurprisingly, Epic Games is also having a Black Friday sale, and since you haven't spent any money on Star Wars: Squadrons, maybe you'd like to browse some deals?

As always, be sure to check around to ensure you're getting the best price possible before committing your wallet: Steam and GOG are having Black Friday sales too.

Star Wars: Squadrons is free on the Epic Store until December 1. Epic's Black Friday sale will wrap up just a little before that—it comes to an end on November 29.

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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.