SAN FRANCISCO, May 23 — This week’s Epic Games Store giveaway of Civilisation VI lends credence to a leaked schedule of upcoming freebies, while Amazon’s big pitch Crucible launches on console and PC, and Hitman Sniper targets iOS and Android users as it temporarily drops to zero.
Now that the Epic Games Store has gone live with Civilisation VI as its latest weekly giveaway (and the latest with a hefty slate of optional, paid-for add-ons), it would seem that the second two Borderlands games and then ARK: Survival Evolved will be next in line.
That’s because a purported leak suggested that the May 14 server-crumpling giveaway of Grand Theft Auto V would be followed first by Civ VI on May 21 — now verified — then Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (i.e. Borderlands 2 plus add-ons and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel) on May 28 and 2017’s dino-survival sensation on June 4.
The Civ VI giveaway coincides with the historical, educational, immensely absorbing game’s third major paid expansion, the New Frontier Pass, which will add eight new civilisations and several new game modes by March 2021.
Virtual peashooting gallery Hitman Sniper, which replaces the straws, rounded legumes, and fairground targets of youth with realistic weaponry and humanoid features, is once again temporarily free on iOS and Android, as it has often been before.
Less temporary, one would hope, is Amazon Game Studios’ first big budget original property, Crucible, which launched this week on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC.
The free team action game has been positioned to overlap with a clutch of popular contemporaries: not only Fortnite, Apex Legends and Free Fire with its spin on a smaller-scale Battle Royale, but also Dota 2 and League of Legends thanks to AI enemies and resource gathering as well as Overwatch and the extremely well anticipated Valorant thanks to character-based special abilities. — AFP-Relaxnews
