The Epic Games store has seen continuous updates since its launch in 2018 adding various additional features, now surpassing many other game launchers such as Origin, Uplay, and battle.net in terms of features and hot on the heels of Steam. In the latest update to the platform Epic has added support for five new local currencies, users in Canada, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway can now pay for games on the launcher in their native currencies. This addition is one of many Epic have been releasing from their public roadmap which lists trending pages, mod support, and offline sign-in all as features coming soon.

Beginning today and ending on May 21, we will periodically require two-factor authentication prior to claiming free games on the Epic Games Store. We are making this change in an effort to encourage our players to take steps to strengthen their Epic account security. If you do not have two-factor authentication enabled on your account, you will see the following message when attempting to claim a free game:

"Two Factor Authentication Required, Claiming this free game requires you to have Two-Factor Authentication setup on your account. Two-Factor Authentication provides an additional level of security to your Epic Games account and will help prevent unauthorized access."

GSC Game World announced the second chapter and latest entry to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The survival horror FPS made its debut in 2007 at a time when PC graphics were taking a technological leap. The Kiev-based game studio since dished out the "Clear Sky" prequel and "Call of Pripyat" sequel last decade, but has since been a recluse to the AAA gaming scene. The development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 appears to be already underway. The game will leverage Unreal Engine, and there's a fairly high possibility of it being Epic Games Store exclusive given its sweet revenue-sharing model that directs 88% of the sales to the game publisher.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developers (or at least a Twitter handle claiming to represent them), posted two key tweets. One shows a teaser screenshot of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in development; and another with a message from the developers to fans of the game franchise. "The second chapter of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. saga will be our most ambitious game so far. It will live to the legendary legacy," the statement reads. The developers didn't, however, state any timelines. "Consider it (the teaser screenshot and announcement) our humble present, with more to come in 2020," the statement concludes.

The EPIC Games Store has been a great source of free weekly games, with such offerings such as Observer, The Witness, and Surviving Mars all seeing their way into players' libraries without spending a penny. Now, a juggernaut of last year's releases comes our way as well in the form of Kingdom come: Deliverance, the immersive open-world sim from Warhorse Studios. If you'll remember, our own W1zzard has taken a look at this game, and even in its release state, found it to be hugely engrossing. Now, with months of active bug fixing behind it, it should be an even better, more polished experience.

The other title on offer, Aztez, is described as a hybrid beat-them-up and turn-based strategy game, with striking black, white and red visuals (and developed by Team Colorblind, so that might have something to do with the aesthetic choice). The game actually looks like a lot of fun, and the visuals are what they are already, so why not get yourself another game for your already endless waiting list?

Well, this is something new. Human Head Studios, who have developed and just released Rune 2 yesterday on the Epic Games Store as an exclusive release, today announced their studio was shutting down. At the same time, Bethesda announced it was founding a new game studio, Roundhouse Studios, which would be fully populated by the Human Head Studios' staff, left unemployed from the closure of that developing label. While it's obviously great that in effect nobody was left unemployed... Does this "make sense much"?

It does. However, there are some interesting tidbits to this story. One of the more pressing questions is: how will Rune 2 be supported in the future? That question wasn't addressed by now Roundhouse Studios Creative Director Chris Rhinehart - we just assume the game has been released in an "as is" state and it doesn't matter whether there are some breaking bugs in that release. Any reported bug will be filed under "no developer found; won't fix". There are also some more interesting nuances to this deal, though. You might remember Human Head Studios previously worked on Prey 2, with Bethesda acting as publisher, but was removed from the project after the studio declined Bethesda's offer to buy Human Head Studios. This action cost the studio the IP, and led them towards development of Rune 2. However, all of that bad blood has seemingly been left behind them, according to press releases from both parties. You can read those after the break.

Free games are always hard to pass, so if you are craving some meaty releases to tide you over until something new and fresh that catches your fancy comes along, this Epic Games Store might (and might not) be for you. From October 17th through October 24th, the digital storefront so many love to hate is offering two generally well thought-off games i the form of Observer and Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

Whether you crave a meaty, cyberpunk-inspired detective story in Observer, or a not so meaty, all-hell-broken-lose experience set in the excellent Alan Wake universe, you can drop by your Epic Games Store Launcher (we know you have it installed, come on) and just add them to your cart for free. They're yours to keep forever. And if you don't have the Epic Games Store launcher, perhaps you should. Observer might very well make it worth all the hassle of downloading and clicking through a menu three or four times. And as a very relevant footnote, the Epic Games Store has just started its Halloween Sale, which goes from today, October 18th, through November 1st. You can find some older games discounted up to 70%, with the discount decreasing somewhat linearly according to release date.

Rockstar Games revealed that its hotly anticipated PC version of "Red Dead Redemption 2" will launch across three digital platforms. Pre-orders for the game will open on Rockstar Games Launcher on October 9th. At launch on November 5th, the game will be available on the Epic Games Store. This "exclusivity" will remain for a month, when in December, the game becomes available on Steam. Both Steam and Epic Games Store form concentric DRM layers to the Rockstar Games Launcher, and the game will be available on this launcher throughout, including pre-orders. Buyers are expected to be drawn to Epic Games Store or Steam to take advantage of regional pricing.

Well, Quantic Dream has been on a roll launching its formerly PlayStation-exclusive titles in a remastered form on the PC platform. I hope you've been having fun with them - if you crave strong, cinematic storytelling and complicated, branching choices and dynamic narratives, David Cages' brainchilds will be right up your proverbial alley. And it seems the PC versions of the games are well optimized and have more than adequate compatibility and stability - and I might be making the ports a disservice by using those particular adjectives. Just keeping your expectations in check.

I'd say this is one of the more aspiring stories told by Quantic Dream - easily. The scenarios that play out in the course of the game are all too real (at least in my own personal view of society and our systems) not to take a look at. It's a human dream, this one game. Take a look at the trailer after the break. Detroit: Become Human will be available for the PC platform via the Epic Games Store, and is expected to drop before the end of this year.

Ubisoft posted its FY2019-20 financial report recently, and made a very interesting disclosure: PC has surpassed PlayStation 4 to become Ubisoft's most revenue-generating platform. For the quarter ending June 2019, PC accounted for 34 percent of Ubisoft's "net bookings" (a unit of sale of a product or service). This figure stood at 24 percent last year. With PC at 34 percent, PlayStation 4 takes the second spot at 31 percent, Xbox One at 18 percent, and Switch at 5 percent.

The surge in revenues from PC are attributed to "Anno 1800" and the UPlay application that rivals Steam in providing direct sales, DRM, updates, and social networking for gamers. "The 34 percent was pushed by Anno, which is a PC-specific game, but even with that launch, we had a very good performance on PC overall," said CEO Yves Guillemot, in the post-results investors call. "Anno 1800" is distributed both on UPlay and Epic Games Store. Ubisoft will be pushing out two expansion packs for "Anno 1800" this year.

EPIC today announced their first ever EPIC Mega Sale, which brings a pretty linear discount across the games catalogue the online store has available for purchase. The company announced it is slashing at least $10/£10/€10 from every game priced above $14.99/£13.99/€15.99. This includes preorders on their own page, which means you can pre-purchase one of those soon to be released Quantic Dream games on the cheap (Heavy Rain and Beyond: two Souls can be yours for €9.99 right now, for instance), and Close to the Sun for €19.99. So if you are looking for some Epic Games Store exclusives (such as Metro Exodus for €34.99), go on and run.

The former PS4 exclusives Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human have had announcement dates for their releases on the PC platform. The games, developed by Quantic Dream for the PlayStation platform, are considered some of the best in terms of narrative-focused, visual storytelling experiences in the industry, and have previously been locked behind platform exclusivity that meant Xbox and PC players were being left in the cold regarding these titles.

Heavy Rain will see its release on June 24th for the PC platform, closely followed by Beyond: Two Souls on July 27th - a month difference so gamers can get them across at least two different paychecks. Detroit: become Human will be released in the Fall of 2019, though at an unspecified date (so far). The games will be Epic Games Store exclusives, and free demos will be made available for all titles. A trailer has been released for these demos, which you can catch after the break.

Update: A clarification was sent out earlier today where Epic said that they won't stop supporting Rocket League on Steam, as they never could actually do, since legions of players that had already purchased the game on that platform would pick up their pitchforks with a vengeance. However, wording on Epic's clarification leaves much to be desired, and seemingly confirms that the game will not be available on Steam:

"The PC version of Rocket League will come to the Epic Games store in late 2019. In the meantime, it will continue to be available for purchase on Steam; thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers. (...) "Rocket League remains available for new purchasers on Steam, and long-term plans will be announced in the future."

Epic Games has announced the acquisition of Rocket League developer Psyonix, which created one of the most addictive non/Battle Royale game of recent times. The move by Epic will see the games- introduction to the Epic Games Store, with platform exclusivity confirmed for late 2019 / which means that anyone looking to purchase the game on a PC/centric digital storefront will have to go to Epic's, since Steam will be leaving the vendor equation.