If You Love Star Wars, The Epic Games Store Has The Free Game For You
In order to compete with Steam and its massive userbase, the Epic Games Store has regularly made certain games available for free to all of its users. These must be claimed within a relatively short window of time, but remain in users' libraries permanently. A portion of the Epic Games Store's home page is even devoted entirely to these freebies. The most recent free title to be offered by Epic is sci-fi rogue-lite Crying Suns. However, up next, and currently being teased on the store's homepage, is a big one: EA's Star Wars Battlefront 2: Celebration Edition.
When it was first released in 2017, Star Wars Battlefront 2 was poorly received by fans and critics alike. Since then, thanks to hard work from its developers at EA DICE, the game has been turned around entirely into a beloved virtual Star Wars experience. Some websites even updated their review scores for the game years after its release in order to assess its changed state, generally finding that the alterations made to it amounted to significant improvements.
This isn't the first time players have been able to download Star Wars Battlefront 2 free of charge. In June 2020, the game was one of the two free titles that could be claimed for free that month by PS Plus subscribers.
The Celebration Edition subtitle tacked onto the version of the game that will be offered on the Epic Games Store refers to the inclusion of DLC content that was added to the game amidst its years-long improvement process. Its Epic Games Store description specifies that this means "the complete collection of customization content acquirable through in-game purchase from launch up to – and including – items inspired by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."
Content from The Rise of Skywalker was implemented in December 2019 in order to coincide with the film's release. It added the jungle planet of Ajan Kloss, which served as the location for the Resistance base in The Rise of Skywalker, in addition to a few playable character types.
Leading up to the start of the New Year, Epic gave away different free games on 15 consecutive days, including critically-acclaimed titles like Night in the Woods and Inside. With the addition of Star Wars Battlefront 2, Epic shows no signs of pumping the brakes. Star Wars Battlefront 2: Celebration Edition will be available for free through the Epic Games Store from Jan. 14 to Jan. 21.