Epic Games announced that Shenmue III is the first of several games that Epic Games Store users can pick up for free and permanently add to their libraries. Epic will give away fifteen games until the end of the year, one for each new day. You've got until December 17th at 5 PM to grab Shenmue III, then the free game promotion will switch to the next title, which is still a mystery as of writing.
Shenmue III launched two years ago, eighteen years after Shenmue II. Nathan rated it 8 out of 10 in his review.
Is Shenmue III dated? Absolutely, but the game proves that, like most genres, open-world adventures still have a thing or two to learn from the past. Shenmue III isn’t always as player-friendly as it could be, but its lively, uniquely-handcrafted world is truly absorbing. Here’s hoping this isn’t the end of Ryo and Yu Suzuki’s epic journey.
Beyond the free games promotion, the Epic Games Store is also hosting its Holiday 2021 Sale with dozens of discounted (anywhere from 10% to 95% off) games. The infinite $10 coupon is also back with a vengeance.
Every full game you buy over the cost of $14.99 will receive a $10 off coupon applied at checkout, with no limit on how many games you can purchase. That means that no matter how many games are in your shopping cart, at least up to the 50 item transaction cap, any that cost over $14.99 after a sale discount has been applied will have an additional $10 off coupon applied. If you were to buy ten full games at exactly $14.99 each, your coupons would stack to $100 off your current purchases. You can do this as many times as you’d like. The coupons are limitless until the sale ends.
Lastly, there are some free in-game items available as part of the so-called Epic Deals. Fortnite players can get the free Blizzabelle Outfit by redeeming it from the Item Shop; Warframe fans get a set of weapon skins, the Oscira Longsword Skin and the Oscira Staff Skin; and Rocket League players will be gifted the Twista: Special Edition Inverted Wheels skin as soon as they log in.
Do note that the latter two promotions are only available as long as you run those games through the Epic Games Launcher, of course.