The Epic Games Store cycles in a new set of free PC games every week, and when it does, we get a peek at what’s coming in the following week. So, while you’re snagging free copies of horror game Darkwood and the colourful roguelike adventure ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove, you may notice that starting October 20, you’ll be able to get a free copy of Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, one of the best RPG games ever made.
Fallout 3 was a major inflection point for the series: it was Bethesda Game Studios’ first crack at the franchise, which up until that point had been developed by Interplay and Black Isle. It also marked the series first foray into 3D – the previous Fallout games had all used a Diablo-style top-down isometric view, and Fallout 3 dramatically switched the perspective to first-person.
That meant we got to experience the Capital Wasteland – what remained of Washington D.C. – in a completely new way for the Fallout series, and the transition proved to be a revelation. However, it stayed admirably true to its turn-based roots, and included the first iteration of the first-person V.A.T.S. turn-queuing system that has been a mainstay of the series ever since.
Being that this is the Game of the Year edition of Fallout 3, you’ll get the base game plus all five add-on packs. These include Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt (which you can now visit again in Fallout 76), Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and Mothership Zeta (which features an invasion by space aliens).
Fallout 3 will be accompanied by Shiro Games’ transforming RPG Evoland when it goes free on the Epic Games Store October 20 – 27.