Fancy your RPGs a little slower, a little fiddlier, and a little more isometric than today’s big release? Two stellar Obsidian adventures, Pillars Of Eternity and Tyranny, are this week’s free giveaways on the Epic Games Store. So if you’re not feeling up to jacking into your cyberware just yet, there’s a good week of free high-fantasy plundering and moustache-twirling villainy ahead before the free games lineup rolls over once again next Thursday.

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As though we didn’t already have several massive new games to get through this month, next week we’re getting a bunch of RPGs thrust upon us, too. Epic Games have revealed their free games for the week starting December 10th are two big Obsidian romps, Pillars Of Eternity – Definitive Edition and Tyranny – Gold Edition.

It just so happens that they’re free on the very same day that Cyberpunk 2077 launches. So, will you go for a new futuristic RPG that’s gonna cost you upwards of £50? Or two known very good fantasy RPGs that are completely free?

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Regicide is once again a topic at dinner, thanks to the release of Crusader Kings III. Your aunt passes you the gravy, and asks about council matters. Your mother comments on the rise in guillotine stocks. Your father, the king, chews his mutton with a rueful and distant glare, probably thinking about war. A cloaked advisor enters and hands you a note on parchment. “The ten worft kingf and queenf in gamef,” it reads. You cough politely, put it in your pocket for later, and continue pushing poisoned food around as if you are eating it.

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Today’s Humble Caffeine Bundle is chock full of very good games for very little money, but a little hard to categorise. United under the banner of Caffeine – a “social broadcasting platform for gaming”, not the life-giving stimulant – there’s eight games here, each one representing a wildly different genre. We’ve got the Metroidy Headlander, platform roguelike Gonner, party game tank shooter Treadnauts, a historical novel adaptation and even a ninja stealth sim all up in here. There’s only (in my opinion) one game that’s not immediately worth your attention. See the full lineup and trailers below.

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I’m not sure if Valve’s latest promotional wotsit on Steam knows whether it’s coming or going. On one hand, it’s nice that the Spring Cleaning Event (running until Monday, 28th May) is nudging players into trying out games they may have bought in sales and never touched, but pairing that with nine simultaneous free weekend events does somewhat undermine the message.

Ah well, it’s an excuse to play videogames all weekend. Can’t grumble about that. Plus, there’s an actual free game giveaway running – take a peek within. Oh, and yesterday’s big Steam giveaway is still live until tomorrow, so try that too. Oh dear, there’s just too many games.

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To coincide with the launch of the ‘Bastard’s Wound’ DLC chapter of Tyranny, Obsidian and GOG are offering up to 60% off of the various editions of the game today. The sale, at the time of writing, has only a matter of hours left on it.

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If finishing Tyranny [official site] has left a hole that can only be filled by subjugating peasants and acting like a magical Judge Dredd, don’t fret. Bastard’s Wound, the first — but hopefully not last — Tyranny expansion is due out today. Better dust off that gavel.

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When Obsidian Entertainment started work on Pillars of Eternity [Official Site], the studio had two goals in mind. First, it wanted to recreate the style and tone of the classic Black Isle RPGs particularly Baldur’s Gate. Second, it wanted to modernise that style, taking advantage of today’s technology, and avoiding mistakes made the first time around. (more…)

Most games that put you into the shoes of the bad guys are about reveling in evil, gleefully causing havoc and destruction like a toddler who’s got into the stationary box. Obsidian’s RPG Tyranny [official site] is different.

I find a lot of fiction that centers around good versus evil tends to be unsatisfying, as evil always exists as a strawman for the ill-prepared underdogs to beat up with the power of na ve violence and good intentions, says Matt MacLean, narrative designer for Tyranny. I think video games often try too hard to make sure you don t relate to your victims, and so villains are made unrelentingly villainous, and allies are made into some combination of saccharine hangers-on or tear-jerker red-shirts waiting to be killed in order to shock you into thinking death means serious storytelling.

But how did it all work out, and what new cruelties will the upcoming expansion expose us to?

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Oh so it’s fine for Obsidian to name the first Tyranny [official site] expansion Bastard’s Wound but it’s “inappropriate” and “a sackable offence” for me to rename the RPS news section to Horace’s **** Shower of ****shack Bucket**** [that is correct -ed.]>. Wow, what a double standard! Fine then. Bastard’s Wound, you may already know, is off to a new area for ten or so hours of questing and to better get to know several companions. Now publishers Paradox have announced that Bastard’s Wound will launch on September 7th, two weeks away. (more…)