Mass Effect Legendary Edition is free for members of Amazon’s Prime Gaming service this week. It’s one of six games being given out by the e-commerce giant—which has struggled, despite pouring gazillions into various projects, to produce an acclaimed game of its own—for Prime Day, its annual ritual about bleeding you dry at the altar of capitalism. They join roughly two dozen other games Amazon put up last month as a promotion for Prime Day.
Every year, Amazon runs a series of promotions called Prime Day, meant to spur you into spending money on products you otherwise wouldn’t have looked twice at. In other words, as our friends at Lifehacker note, unless you approach the process thoughtfully and methodically, shopping on Prime Day doesn’t actually save you any money in the long run. But between the lines, there’s the occasional solid deal, especially when it comes with a $0 price tag. (Of the offers that do have a price attached, our colleagues at The Inventory will be monitoring to see what’s actually worth your time.)
Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a bundled 4K re-release of BioWare’s landmark trilogy of space RPGs, is the big one. Amazon is also giving out the racing games Grid Legends and Need For Speed Heat, alongside three Star Wars games: the terrific squad shooter Republic Commando, and two entries from the Jedi Knight series of action games, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. Amazon refers to the act of claiming these games as “freeloading” (how fun). You can grab them tomorrow and Wednesday.
Beyond roving space operas and two singularly competent racing games, Amazon is also giving away a handful of under-the-radar titles, including the excellent co-op puzzler Death Squared and two entries from the classic fighting series King of Fighters. They’re currently available—have been since the middle of June—and will continue to be through Wednesday. Here’s the full list:
- 8Doors: Arum’s Afterlife Adventure
- Addling Adventures
- Bang Bang Racing
- Clouds & Sheep 2
- Death Squared
- Fatal Fury Special
- Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
- Gone Viral
- HUE
- Manual Samuel
- Metal Slug 2
- Metal Unit
- Pumped BMX Pro
- Puzzle of the Year — 10 Pack
- Rain World
- Road Trip — 3 Pack
- Samurai Shodown II
- Serial Cleaner
- The Crow’s Eye
- The Darkside Detective
- The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
- The King of Fighters 2000
- The King of Fighters 2002
- The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor
The catch to all of this is that you need to be signed up for Prime Gaming, which costs $15 a month and includes all of the stuff, like the streaming service and the “free” shipping, you get with Amazon Prime. (You get Prime Gaming access at no extra cost with a standard Prime subscription; they’re…basically the same thing.) Amazon says games are yours to keep “forever.” Here’s where I point out you can register for a 30-day trial for free.
