Grab Filament for free on Epic Games Store this week
Light bulb moment.
Cable-based puzzler Filament is currently free to keep on Epic Games Store.
It's also joined by Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, a multiplayer FPS released in 2017 and developed by Tripwire Interactive, known for the Killing Floor games and Maneater.
Considering there's other, more recent online shooters most people are playing (cough cough, Overwatch 2 and Modern Warfare 2, cough), Filament is the star of this week's choices, but not without its own reasons.
Filament is a brilliant little game in which you play as a robot bringing power back to a spaceship. You do this by connecting nodes together with a wire attached to your back and watching them light up. There's only one rule and it sounds simple enough: the wire can't cross over itself. Clever puzzle design combined with a soothing soundtrack makes this a hidden gem you should try (and it's free!). After the game's release, our Donlan called Filament a "gentle, dreamy, quietly celebral" experience.
Next week's free games are excellent, too. First up there's Alba: A Wildlife Adventure from Ustwo, the developer of Assemble With Care. Ustwo describes the game as a "chillectathon", where your goal is to catalogue wildlife by taking pictures of them on your phone. Alba: A Wildlife Adventure received a recommended badge in our review by Donlan, for presenting the "pleasure and the privilege of fixing things".
The other free game up for keeps next week is Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. The isometric, real-time stealth tactics game received praise for its "unique blend of puzzles, action and experimentation" in our review. Despite some minor frustrations, when you manage to pull off a plan successfully the satisfaction makes it worth it.