Epic Games Store free games just swapped into one of the strangest pairings of October: a claustrophobic Korean murder mystery and a remastered sci-fi horror classic that helped define the immersive sim. From October 1 through October 8, 2026 at 11 AM ET, both Windows PC games are free to claim and keep permanently. Their normal Epic prices add up to $69.98 USD.
This is not a “grab it because it is free” week. These Epic Games Store free games are worth claiming for very different reasons. One is built around suspicion, dialogue, social media clues, branching routes, and multiple endings. The other drops you into a dying starship where shooting is only one part of surviving. If either sounds remotely like your thing, the price of admission is currently a click.
BURIED STARS: a murder mystery where social media becomes evidence
BURIED STARS begins with a live survival audition show literally collapsing around its contestants. You are trapped under the wreckage with the remaining cast and crew, rescue is hours away, and then the situation gets uglier: there is a murderer among the survivors. Instead of turning that setup into an action game, it turns conversation itself into the battlefield. You question people, watch relationships shift, read the room, follow public reactions through an in-game social-media timeline, and decide which pieces of information are worth trusting. The 2D character art layered over 3D environments gives the whole thing the feel of an interactive thriller rather than a static visual novel. Claim BURIED STARS on Epic Games Store.
The real hook is that your choices can push the story into different routes, endings, and hidden revelations, so the mystery is not built around one clean straight line. That gives BURIED STARS replay value for players who enjoy pulling apart character motives instead of simply solving a final puzzle and walking away. The caveat is equally clear: this is narrative-heavy, single-player, and deliberately conversation-driven. If you want constant combat, this is probably not your Friday-night game. If you like Zero Escape-style suspicion, social pressure, anime-styled presentation, and mysteries where everyone looks guilty for at least five minutes, free changes the risk calculation completely. Its normal Epic price is $39.99. Get BURIED STARS free before October 8.
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster: survive the Von Braun your own way
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is the opposite kind of tension. You wake aboard the Von Braun in 2114 with mutants, hostile machines, missing crew, and SHODAN hanging over the entire nightmare. The game mixes first-person shooting with RPG character building, exploration, resource pressure, hacking, weapons, and psychic abilities. Your starting military branch, O.S.A., Marines, or Navy, nudges you toward different play styles, but the fun comes from building a survivor who can handle problems in more than one way. Nightdive’s remaster adds enhanced character and weapon models, controller improvements, quality-of-life work, ultrawide support, higher frame-rate support, mod support, and cross-play co-op. Claim System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster on Epic Games Store.
What makes System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster worth claiming is not nostalgia alone. Its abandoned-ship atmosphere, audio-driven storytelling, scarce resources, hostile systems, and freedom to improvise are part of the design DNA that later immersive sims kept borrowing. Playing it today still feels less like clearing shooter arenas and more like surviving a place that actively hates you. The caveat is that the remaster does not erase every old-school instinct in a game born in 1999. Expect more friction, more learning, and less hand-holding than a modern cinematic shooter. That is also exactly why it can feel so satisfying when your build finally clicks. Its normal Epic price is $29.99. Get System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster free before October 8.
Epic Games Store free games: $69.98 in normal value
These Epic Games Store free games total $69.98 USD at their listed normal Epic prices. More importantly, they cover two completely different moods: one is a character-driven mystery where every conversation can make you distrust someone new, and the other is a systems-heavy sci-fi horror RPG where every locked door, empty magazine, and strange noise can become a problem. Claiming both costs nothing, and once they are attached to your Epic account during the giveaway window, they are yours to keep.
If you missed the previous rotation, check our last Epic Games Store free-games roundup to see what just left the promotion.
Official links
- BURIED STARS on Epic Games Store
- System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster on Epic Games Store
- Epic Games Store free-games page
