Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is next week's Epic Store freebie

And Crying Suns is free right now.

Epic Store's weekly video game freebies keep on coming, and next up is DICE's space shooter Star Wars Battlefront 2, which will be free to download starting Thursday, 14th January.

Star Wars Battlefront 2's highly anticipated launch in 2017 was, of course, forever tainted by the controversy surrounding its pay-to-win monetisation and loot box systems - both so roundly criticised that publisher EA and DICE ultimately reversed course, dramatically reworking the game's progression system and shifting to cosmetic-only microtransactions instead.

With those changes complete, it was far easier to appreciate the strengths of DICE's shooter, which, as Eurogamer's Martin Robinson pointed out in his initial review, was always capable of some genuinely dazzling moments of action, despite its unnecessary fussiness. "When it clicks into place...there's nothing quite like it," he wrote, "and all the drama and dubious decisions made elsewhere shouldn't eclipse DICE's often incredible achievements".

Star Wars Battlefront 2 launch trailer.Watch on YouTube

The developer continued to build upon Battlefront 2's solid, if somewhat muddled, core in the years that followed - adding the likes of new multiplayer maps and modes, and ultimately delivering a decently enjoyable Star Wars romp, in spite of its disastrous launch.

Epic's freebie - the Celebration Edition of Battlefront 2 - features all those post-launch additions, as well as all cosmetic content previously available as in-game purchases, right up to and including those released as part of the game's Rise of Skywalker update.

Players will be able to add Star War Battlefront 2's Celebration Edition to their Epic Store libraries at no cost for one week starting next Thursday, 14th January. Before that, tactical sci-fi roguelike Crying Suns can be downloaded for free on the store.