Sometimes the Epic Games Store clues users in on its next free game a week in advance, and other times it likes to keep things secret, usually when it's giving away more high profile games. Recently, the Epic Games Store started hyping its mystery game giveaways again, starting with NBA 2K21 on May 20 and following it up with the social deduction game Among Us on May 27. The Epic Games Store is currently counting down to next week's free game, scheduled for June 3, but it seems as though it may have already leaked online.
As spotted by Reddit user KekanKok, the French Epic Games Facebook page had an advertisement for the ongoing Epic Games Store Mega Sale event that also claimed that Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration would be free starting June 3. The advertisement was reportedly pulled offline, but not before users could snag a screenshot and share it on Reddit. It's possible that the advertisement was pulled because it has inaccurate information, but it's also possible that it was pulled because it was prematurely revealing next week's free game, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration.
This wouldn't be the first time that Epic Games Store mystery free games leaked online. In fact, the Epic Games Store hosted a countdown to 2021 event last year that included new free games daily. Unfortunately for the Epic Games Store, every single one of those games leaked online ahead of time, so users always knew what to expect from one day to the next. This ruined the surprise, but at least Epic Games Store users still get a bunch of free games.
Meanwhile, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration is one of the bigger games that the Epic Games Store is giving away, assuming the leak is correct, that is. For the uninitiated, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration is a rerelease of the original Rise of the Tomb Raider game, adding new cosmetics, gameplay features, and a handful of new game modes to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary.
Rise of the Tomb Raider itself is the sequel to the Tomb Raider reboot from Crystal Dynamics, continuing Lara's adventure and leading directly into the events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Rise of the Tomb Raider earned critical acclaim at the time of its release and is considered by many to be the best game in the Tomb Raider reboot series. So even though it's fairly old by video game standards, it would still be a solid free game for the Epic Games Store to give away.
Of course, it's always possible that this Epic Games Store free game leak is inaccurate, and so users will just have to wait until next week to find out for sure if the next free game is Rise of the Tomb Raider or something else entirely.