It’s a busy day over on the Epic Games Store. On prime of the anticipated fortnightly giveaway – this time the wonderful horror-adventure Stories Untold – they’ve launched their first massive sale. You can snag Stories Untold here for free, and I extremely suggest it even when level & click on (and even parser-based) adventures aren’t normally your factor. Developers No Code’s upcoming followup, the space-disaster AI thriller Observation, isn’t out till May 21st however pre-orders are down from £20 to a stunning £7.99/€8.89/$12.49 on this sale. Many games are equally discounted till June 13th.
The reductions obtainable on this sale are noteworthy. Epic are clearly making an attempt to get clients within the door as we speak, and placing some enormous reductions (near 75% in some circumstances) on just-announced or just-released games. The solely games that don’t appear to be discounted are those that haven’t introduced costs on the shop but. It’s a daring transfer, and I can see these costs bringing in individuals beforehand cautious of the shop. Recent and quite good souls-like Ashen is below half value at £13.99/€19.99/$19.99, and early entry hit (updated yesterday, too) Satisfactory is down a few third to £16.99/19.99/$19.99.
Those who purchased stuff not too long ago aren’t being left within the lurch both. Epic’s director of publishing, Sergey Galyonkin, has stated on Twitter that for those who’ve purchased or pre-ordered something on the Epic Games Store prior to now two weeks, you’ll get the worth distinction refunded. A laudable transfer, however that’s to not say it’s all sunshine and lollipops on this sale. Regional pricing continues to be complicated and arbitrary. While the just-announced John Wick Hex is providing pre-orders for £4.39/€5.19/$7.99 (a barely steeper low cost within the UK than US), the wonderful Hades is £13.94/€14.86/$6.99, which simply doesn’t add up.
Bizarre pricing in some circumstances apart, this appears to be a very good deal for the builders concerned. John Wick Hex lead dev Mike Bithell has stated on Twitter that “we get paid in full.. this is Epic paying towards your bar tab, not the drinks being cheaper”. While I’ve my doubts that there’ll be many extra loss-leader gross sales like this in the way forward for the Epic Games Store, it looks like a robust play, and instantly useful for the individuals making the games, too.
Stories Untold is free here on the Epic Games Store, and you may read John Walker’s glowing review here. Everything else on the store, pre-orders included, is discounted till June 13th.
