Elite Dangerous & The World Next Door Free Next Week On Epic Games Store

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Next week's Epic Games Store freebies include both Elite Dangerous from developer Frontier Developments and publisher VIZ Media's The World Next Door. Yes, even as gamers everywhere spend marathon sessions playing thr0ugh the launch library of the PlayStation 5 and the many backward compatible games of the Xbox Series X, PC gaming is still chugging along as usual. Steam is having its seemingly biweekly genre sale (offering discounts on fighting games this time) and Epic is continuing its long-running quest to give gamers a library of worthy but perhaps overlooked games from years past.

Of course, even though it's an eternal platform that can still theoretically run everything from Colossal Cave Adventure to Cyberpunk 2077, the PC is not completely immune to the movements of the industry. Alongside the next generation, PC part manufacturers like Nvidia and AMD rolled out their own "next-generation" hardware. While there's a closer race between PC and consoles this time around when it comes to power, manufacturers always want to stay one step ahead. Also, some players are finding it just as hard to procure the new video cards as a PlayStation 5, so they don't miss out on that authentic next-gen experience of hitting F5 on a digital storefront at 8 AM.

Players won't need to invest anything else in their gaming PCs to try out both Elite Dangerous and The World Next Door for free on the Epic Games Store next week. The former is a space sim created by Frontier Developments, which already made its mark this week with the release of the excellent Planet Coaster: Console Edition. Elite Dangerous is the fourth entry in the Elite series, which started on BBC Micro computers in the mid-1980s. Players start off with their own spaceship and a handful of cash and complete odd jobs around the galaxy to upgrade the ship and further explore the great beyond.

On the other side of the spectrum, The World Next Door is an indie title that combines puzzle solving with visual novel storytelling. Developed by Rose City Games and published by anime company VIZ Media, the game originally released early in 2019 to some tepid reviews. While many critics appreciated the Stranger Things aesthetic and the storytelling bits, the puzzle gameplay seemingly felt like an afterthought. It's a game that may be interesting to some, even if it's fewer than those interested in Elite Dangerous. Regardless, it's hard to beat the price of free to experience either title.

The Epic Games Store continues to give away big releases from the last few years like Elite Dangerous as well as smaller indie titles worth some additional attention. Gamers on PC almost always have more options at their disposal due to giveaways, massive sales, freeware, and decades of inherent backward compatibility. It's never going to gather the public's attention like a new console launch, but some games play best on PC even with a console version out there. So, if the PlayStation 5 and/or Xbox Series X continue to be distant dreams, at least it's easy to hop into a spaceship and sail the galaxy on the old reliable personal computer.