It’s Thursday, and now that the Epic Games Store Mega Sale is over, we’re back to getting peeks at the upcoming free PC games that will be available next week on the Epic Games Store. This week’s free games are Overcooked 2 and Hell is Other Demons, and next week we’ll have the chance to pick up free copies of Horizon Chase Turbo and Sonic Mania.
Sonic Mania first launched in 2017, but it’s a lovingly made tribute to the classic 16-bit era Sonic platformers that first appeared on the Genesis in the ’90s. It’s full of all new levels capped off by brand-new bosses, but you’ll feel right at home if you played any of the original Sonic the Hedgehog games of the 1990s.
It’s also moddable, as we discovered thanks to the Knuckles Mania featuring Knuckles & Knuckles mod, which came out shortly after Sonic Mania appeared on PC. In the years since then, we can only imagine what Sonic fans have added to the game – they’re a notoriously prolific community when it comes to making new Sonic content.
The other freebie that will be available next week is Horizon Chase Turbo, another throwback to 16-bit and arcade classics of the ’80s and ’90s. It’s an arcade racing game meant to evoke the sense of speed that formed the core of games like Out Run, Top Gear, and Rush, but it’s presented in a more fully 3D visual style that shouldn’t be as tough on the eyes as the giant neon pixels of yore were.
Of course, there are always lots of free Steam games to choose from if that’s your preferred platform.