I like Epic as much as anyone but why would you want your library filled with bloat?
You can use this FOSS tool to automatically claim those games.
https://github.com/vogler/free-games-claimer
Some even work pretty well on Linux using the Heroic Launcher.
What the hell, I had no idea such a tool existed... I do not intend to use it... But it is so cool regardless.
That's actually pretty awesome, thanks!
Does that still work? Last updated over a year ago and the free games are usually protected by some rather creative captchas.
lol, it was last updated 3 days ago
Initially I, too, claimed those, but ultimately I never ended up playing them and often I’d just end up buying them from steam instead. It’s funny how I’m willing to pay for something I can have for free, if it’s convenient and easy. So I didn’t claim them for very long, stopped a long time ago, and still just ignore it if a game I thirst for is available for free.
But that’s also a pretty dark prospect: Because I have my entire extensive library on steam, I’m kind of stuck with them. And while they are not abusing that presently, I’m fairly confident they will someday. And I, along with most everyone playing on pc, will be shit out of luck then.
It’s hard to diversify at this point, when I’m too far gone, and knowing changing or adding services will increase the complexity of using it all and keeping mental track of all the games and where they are.
Ugh.
If Steam ever fucks over consumers I will pirate 100% of my games from that day on unless an indie company allows me to buy directly from them or through GoG.
Because I have my entire extensive library on steam, I’m kind of stuck with them. And while they are not abusing that presently, I’m fairly confident they will someday.
Yeah. I am confident that long term access to classic games is a torch only sufficiently carried by software pirates.
Don't get me wrong, I adore things like the Atari 50th Anniversary collection, and what Evercade is doing with esoteric arcade titles. (And I delight in throwing money at them.)
But only a small fraction of the greatest games get that kind of loving licensed treatment.
For the rest of gaming history, software pirates are essential.
While I don't disagree with anything you said, I think this comment descended into nihilism with alarming rapidity and I hope you're okay.
Just enshittification fatigue. Every service being provided is hostile to us, so it makes us uneasy if one isn't.
There's programs that keep track of all your libraries... GOG Galaxy is one of them.
I too have over 200 games on Epic and have purchased non of them. This is none news. I buy my games on Steam and get my free games on Epic.
And the once or twice a year Epic offers a free game I actually want to play, I enjoy it just as much as if I'd bought it elsewhere.
That's literally the only reason I have Epic on my PC.
Free games every week.
i went a couple years, pretty steady. now it's whenever i remember--and it's not been that often. only one during the winter deals.
You can just claim them on the webpage, no need to install the launcher.
I stopped claiming epic freebies when I realized I ended up buying the game on steam anyway.
Just use Heroic launcher to play the free Epic games.
Of course i know him that's me.
This is the point though. They have beefed up my Epic Games library to the point where if I got banned from Steam, I would have a viable fallback.
That cannot be understated. It has a network effect and makes adopting it as a new platform versus a legacy one with two decades behind it, far easier to adjust to.
I love that at least someone is really trying other than MS with their poorly supported windows games store attempts.
It's pretty easy to avoid being banned.
No shit.
You have to be a dick to even be remotely worried about this kind of thing.
Absolutely. But if someone got you in one of those steam inventory scams or stole your access token, it sucks if you lose your entire game library and have all your eggs in one basket.
So having a bunch "backed up" so to speak with Epic gives some peace of mind. VAC bans aren't common for most users, but they do make mistakes sometimes.
It will always be weird to me that microsoft sells some games both on the microsoft store app and the xbox app, but other games exclusively through the xbox app.
I'm thinking even farther back to their wretched Windows Live and then Games for Windows Live platform (now dead). MS is one of the biggest companies on earth and couldn't find a cohesive way to migrate that game ownership forward.
Yup, I'm at 372 free games on epic, plus 3 bought ones, and 2 key activations. It's amazing.
And never plays any of them.
The whole UX is just so bad
Use Heroic. It’s GPL.
If this added itch.io it'd be a fantastic filler for managing all the non-DRM off-Steam stuff.
Epic and GoG I've not bought a single thing from either of them, that's all free shit. For Steam, most of that is stuff that's been accumulated from Humble Bundles and just from having an account for ~20 years now. If I were to just quit my job and game full-time for the rest of my life, there's probably more games to play in my collection than I have years left to live.
Only 200? Try harder, noob.
(I'm at 410, and my Epic library is now three times the size of my Steam one, lol.)
There's no way I'd catch up to my Steam library, there's like 1,200+ games in there at this point. 2nd biggest is GOG with ~300 but I've been using Steam since HL2
Hmm. Let's see here...
Steam: 147
GOG: 174
Epic: 286
I've paid for about 2/3 of the Steam games, probably a quarter of the GOG ones, and maybe two or three of the Epic ones.
I too have basically all of them. A few have caught my interest on PC. More than a few were a big pain to get working on Steam Deck even with Heroic Launcher.
My friend too have over 100 games. He never even play them but thankfully to him I don't have to make Epic Account.
And thats exactly why Epic is untrustworthy. Its like a shady guy on the corner saying "Hey i will give you 500 bucks if you just do this easy little thing for me. Will be done right away no worries".
Epic needs to pump their MAU stats to look like a legitimate platform. They know what's going on and are happy to pay.
What I don't know is what they actually pay the publishers.
That makes GOG untrustworthy as well, I guess, since I have 300 games on there, but never bought one.
I'm pretty sure there are tons of people like that. It's the same for me.
Yeah, that's pretty common. 200+ games and they don't even have payment info for me.
I have 10 free games from GOG too and without DRM!
Meh.. Piracy is still better 🏴☠️
So he didn't claim even half of them?
I bought Alan Wake 2, and glad I did. Accidentally decided to buy Red Dead redemption 2 on there because of a discount code making it much cheaper than steam a couple of years ago.
Huge mistake. I added it as a non-steam game so now to launch Red Dead redemption 2. I need to launch steam which then launches epic which then launches Rockstar Games launcher which then launches the game.
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