If you’re a gamer, or you just visit The Cheapskate occasionally, you already know that Epic Games gives away a free game every Thursday. Each week is a new treat, with past weeks including such gems as GTA V, Borderlands 2, Hitman, Watch Dogs 2 and more. In other words, Epic is helping you pass the time while you wait for a coronavirus vaccine. This week’s free game? None other than Star Wars: Battlefront II, which usually sells for $40.
Anyone who tried Battlefront II when it debuted in 2017 can tell you that it was a little rough. The single player game was okay, but critics and gamers alike railed against the multiplayer campaigns — microtransactions and the general leveling grind made it feel like a free-to-play game dressed up in a fancy full-retail-price tuxedo.
But EA has radically remade the game since then, and that’s all gone. What’s left is a gorgeous, expansive Star Wars universe in which you can jump into any character or class right from the start and when you grow and level, it’s all completely earned. The game spans every Star Wars epoch depicted in film, and you can play any way you like — with a light saber, blaster, or space ship. Want to know more? Check out the original review from our friends over at GameSpot, but be aware that a lot has happened to the game since this pretty dour review, and you should definitely grab a copy if you are a Star Wars fan.
Incidentally, this isn’t just Battlefront II — this is the Battlefront II Celebration Edition. So you also get a slew of additional content including 25 new hero appearances (including Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren), 125 trooper and reinforcement appearances and over 100 hero and trooper voice lines not in the original game.
If you’re new to Epic’s weekly giveaway, here’s how it works: If you don’t already have one, sign up for your free Epic account. Then just get your free game — yours to keep forever. You don’t even need to install it right away if you don’t want to.
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This article is updated regularly with the current week’s free games.
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