The Epic Games Store is giving away Return to Ash and Stalcraft X for free this week

The Epic Games Store is offering two very different games for free this week. If you don’t like one, you may like the other — and even if not, free is free.

• Return to Ash
  • Release Date: July 10, 2025
  • Game Type: Visual Novel, Choices Matter
  • POV: 3rd person
  • Party: Single player
  • DLC: None.

Return to Ash is a visual novel where you play as Ash, a person who wakes up and finds herself (maybe) dead, in a weird place which seems like purgatory. She meets other souls that are trapped there, and can make friends with them as they all try to figure out what’s next. This is a relatively short one — most reviews indicate you can play through it in an evening. But even if short, it’s very cute, with a handdrawn art style, and the price is certainly right.

• Stalcraft X
  • Release Date: December 9, 2022
  • Game Type: FPS, open world shooter, PVPVE
  • POV: 1st person
  • Party: MMO, co-op, PVP
  • DLC: None on-platform, but monetized within the game itself (season packs, speedups, cosmetics, etc).

This game is already free to play on other platforms, but this pack includes lots of little perks and equips, to celebrate this open world FPS finally releasing on the Epic Games Store. The reviews are highly mixed because, as with just about any game featuring power purchasing and PVP, the people who have the deep pockets to pay for this kind of thing tend to be a bit of a drag on your average player. This game is no different. It’s also fairly similar to every other PVPVE open world shooter you’ve ever played. Maybe encourage a group of friends to pick it up for free as well — having buddies to watch your back tends to improve the experience of playing this kind of game.