Cyberpunk 2077 is free to try, among a slew of other indie sci-fi offerings to play this weekend

We’ve made it through another week, Watchers, and this lovely spring weekend the pollen isn’t the only bright yellow thing that’s caught our eye this week in gaming. We’ve noticed a trend toward the sci-fi among many of the new games and promotions in gaming this week.

So if you’re looking for something to play, here are some of the new game titles, content updates, and killer promos we’re suggesting you check out this weekend.

Cyberpunk 2077 is free to play this weekend!

• Cyberpunk 2077. MSRP $59.99. Available for Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 5, and PC.

From March 28 at 8 am PDT to March 31 at 11:59 pm PDT, you can drop in to one of our staff’s favorite games and give it a whirl for free. Unfortunately for us PC-only types, this promotion only applies to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, but it’s such a cherished title for us it’s still worth leading with.

If I got your hopes up and you’re a PC player, as an apology I’m going to inform you it’s 50% off on Steam, so it may be time to take the leap anyway. There’s also a smaller, but still considerable, discount on other platforms. If you’re still looking for something this weekend for the price of free.99, the upcoming Overwatch 2 Hero Venture will be available to play this weekend before they hit the game for real.

A trio of stellar indie sci-fi sandboxes

• Lightyear Frontier. MSRP $24.99. Available for Xbox Series X|S or Steam.
• Auto Forge. MSRP $19.99. Available on Steam.
• Terratech Worlds. MSRP $29.99. Available on Steam.

These recently released indies have very different aesthetics and gameplay options, but since we’re all about sci-fi this week, they caught my eye as fitting that particular bill en mass. As someone who adored Starbound and Terraria, Auto Forge is especially appealing, as it looks very similar to those two titles, only in addition to 2D exploration and materials gathering, you make a huge automated production factory with all the bits and bobs you collect. Terratech Worlds is billed as a spiritual successor to Terratech, and is an open-world survival colony game. Lightyear Frontier (pictured above) looks like a 3D Stardew in space, with lots of farming, but also some survival elements. And robots, of course.

All three look like great choices if you’re looking for something sci-fi, but a bit more outside the box.

No Man’s Sky Orbital Update

• No Man’s Sky (Orbital Update). MSRP $59.99, currently discounted to $29.99. Available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Mac, and Steam.

This is what I’ll be wading through this weekend. My ships needed a good dusting off to begin with, but now I can also decorate them and design them? Phenomenal. Missing out on a unique ship was always a huge downer, but at least this way I can make one of my crummy ships look like the cool ones I see showing up in these revamped space stations. The additions to space stations, and station types are going to be fun to explore my way through, too.

I’m curious just how much extra content I’m in for, but usually when I dip back into No Man’s Sky regardless of the reasons why I do, I get spreadsheets levels of obsessed for a month or two.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

• Dragon’s Dogma 2. MSRP $69.99. Available on PlayStation, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam.

If you’re just not feeling the sci-fi theme this week, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the new hotness I can’t stop hearing about on social media. Part of the buzz surrounded the extensive pre-release character creator (which you can still download and use for free) but now that the game is in full release, the generally positive buzz has continued — most of the negatives here seem wrapped up in the fact that’s the new hotness, so server stability leaves a lot to be desired. So, even if you’re interested in all the gory fun, maybe spend this weekend in Night City and come back next weekend.

Let us know what you’re up to this weekend in gaming! Are there any particularly juicy deals or promos we missed?