Highlights
- Epic Games Store offers free games every Thursday morning, with the next one going live at 8 AM CT next Thursday.
- Dakar Desert Rally is the upcoming free game, focusing on rally racing, a niche genre that hasn't been offered much in the past.
- Dakar Desert Rally features over 130 stages, 150 vehicles, single-player and multiplayer modes, and dynamic weather, offering a fulfilling racing experience.
As Valentine's Day comes and goes, the Epic Games Store is still offering freebies for those who want a little surprise after the holiday. Epic Games has a promotion where it offers one or two free games every Thursday morning. This means that February 15 will mark a new title being offered at no extra cost to those with an account on the storefront, but fans should note that the times have changed between weeks rather often as of 2024. Fans can expect the next Epic Games Store freebie to go live at 8 AM CT next Thursday.
The free games promotion has been on the digital storefront since 2019, and it has regularly offered numerous titles of different genres and experiences. The Epic Games Store has a habit of getting into the holiday spirit, and the most recent free games cover a wide variety of experiences and niche tastes just like a box of Valentine's Day chocolates. While February 15 only has one title to offer players, the next freebie focuses on an unsung genre of video games through racing game Dakar Desert Rally.
The Epic Games Store Free Games For February 8 Are a Box of Chocolates
The Epic Games Store is offering two free games for February 8 that can make lots of users happy due to how many bases they cover collectively.
Epic Games Store Free Game Dakar Desert Rally Explained
Dakar Desert Rally is an important game to give away on the Epic Games Store for a number of reasons, with the biggest being that racing fans haven't gotten many freebies to claim. While December saw Art of Rally being given away as a Mystery Game, the only other time after that was with Horizon Chase Turbo back in May. In terms of what fans can expect from these free titles, racing isn't one of the more common selections.
On top of that, Dakar Desert Rally lives up to its name as a rally racing game in particular, which stands as one of the more popular experiences in the genre but somehow still remains rather niche against kart racers and arcade racers. This means that once Dakar Desert Rally is made available for free, those who enjoy the thrill of racing without a set track can explore new areas in Saber Porto's game adaption of a real-life rally race.
Dakar Desert Rally
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- October 4, 2022
- Developer
- Saber Porto
- Publisher(s)
- Saber Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Racing
- ESRB
- E For Everyone
- How Long To Beat
- 12 Hours
- Metascore
- 69
Dakar Desert Rally's Features
Indeed, The Dakar Rally is designed to be an "off-road endurance event," originally taking place between Paris, France and Dakar, Senegal. However, 2020 saw the event move to Saudi Arabia. The Dakar Desert Rally video game specifically adapts the more recent races from 2020, 2021, and 2022. Dakar Desert Rally is actually the sixth video game adaptation of the event, and it boasts a number of features that make it stand out.
- Over 130 stages that were designed based on real Saudi Arabia rally racing
- Uses over 150 official vehicles, teams, and pilots from previous Dakar Rally events, including bikes, trucks, quads, and SUVs.
- Single-player and multiplayer modes
- Support for multiple different steering wheel peripherals
- Dynamic weather that impacts fans' driving in real-time
- Offers Road Books from 2020 to 2022 Dakar Rally events with extended options in arcade mode's free-play
With everything offered to players in Dakar Desert Rally, the single-player campaign alone can easily take 12 hours if fans sit back and don't rush through the races. This means that fans have a great chance to snag a fulfilling rally racing experience at no extra cost, which is certainly a steal for those who enjoy the genre.
The only downside to a rather niche gaming experience getting the spotlight means that players who might enjoy other experiences like RPGs, shooters, and so on might be disappointed by Dakar Desert Rally. Thankfully, those who enjoy rally racing have a week to grab the game before it's swapped out for something different. This will likely once again be an entirely different experience, but hopefully more racing games are in the Epic Games Store's future.
