'Ghost of Tsushima' a Playstation masterclass in open world design
Ghosts of Tsushima did that rare thing that great games do, which is to make me rethink what, truly, makes a title great.
The Tech Deck Kip Hill
MONDAY, DEC. 7, 2020
FRIDAY, AUG. 21, 2020
This week's free game: "Enter the Gungeon"
Publisher Devolver Digital is having something of a moment, with "Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout" taking over the world. The publisher released "Enter the Gungeon" with developer Dodge Roll in 2016.
SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
This week's free game: Yarntown (Bloodborne as a Zelda game)
Do you like Souls-like games but find them a bit too dark and difficult? Indie developer Max Mraz has a game for you!
TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2020
This week's free game: "Watch Dogs 2" (with some caveats)
You'll have to log in to a livestream Saturday and sign up for a Ubisoft UPlay account, but once you do, you'll have access to one of the better open-world follow-ups in recent memory on PC.
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2020
This week's free game: Injustice: Gods Among Us
Netherealm's fighting game set in the DC Universe is free for PC through Steam if you download it before Thursday.
SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2020
This week's free game: Civilization VI
The Epic Games Store lives up to its name with a free copy of the latest in Sid Meier's nation-building simulation game, Civilization.
SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2020
This week's free game: PAC-MAN Championship Edition 2
The self-isolation video game giveaway tree bears some more delicious fruit, with Bandai Namco's PAC-MAN Championship Edition 2 free for Xbox, Playstation and PC players.
SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2020
This week's free game(s): The Nathan Drake Collection (Playstation) and Crackdown (Xbox)
Both Sony and Microsoft are offering free titles to their console owners this month, regardless of whether you are subscribed through their premium online service.
SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020
This week's free game: Drawful 2
A good game of Pictionary in 2020 doesn't require a sandwich board, a sharpie and a digital timer. The folks from Jackbox Games, makers of You Don't Know Jack!, have an online version that is free to download from the Epic Game Store, Steam and Xbox One right now.
MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2020
This week's free game: Call of Duty Warzone
The latest Call of Duty gets a battle royale mode, and it's free for players on all platforms.
MONDAY, FEB. 24, 2020
This week's free game: Assassin's Creed Syndicate
The Epic Store delivers with a AAA action title as its final free game for February.
SUNDAY, FEB. 16, 2020
This week's free game: Haunted PS1 Demo Disc
Get ready for some throwback thrillers with this free collection of independently designed demo levels.
MONDAY, FEB. 10, 2020
This week's free game(s): All the Flash you can handle!
I wrote a few weeks back about a game built in Flash called N+, which will soon become impossible to play because of the lack of support for Flash. Well, a programmer calling himself BlueMaxima is trying to save those titles for you, and you can download them all for free right now!
MONDAY, JAN. 20, 2020
This week's free game: DuckTales: The Quest for Gold
Scrooge McDuck is out to prove he's the richest foul on the planet. Literally.
MONDAY, JAN. 13, 2020
This week's free game: Sundered: Eldritch Edition
The Epic Games store offers one free game per week, including this hand-drawn Metroidvania title available until Thursday!
MONDAY, JAN. 6, 2020
This week's free game: Stargunner
The horizontal shoot 'em ups were all the rage in the 1990s, and 3D Realms/Apogee developed their own title in the genre.
MONDAY, DEC. 30, 2019
This week's free game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rescue Palooza
Fan-made games are hit and miss, but this title released earlier this year by Merso_X is a faithful adaptation of the beat-em-ups that made the heroes in a half-shell arcade favorites in the 1990s.
MONDAY, DEC. 23, 2019
This week's free game: Merry Gear Solid: Secret Santa
Prepare to infiltrate a neighborhood home in an effort to preserve that Christmas magic.
MONDAY, DEC. 16, 2019
This week's free game: N
Metanet Software's expansive, yet simple, 2D platformer can be played for free in your browser using Flash. But it won't be supported for long, so play it now!
MONDAY, DEC. 9, 2019
My 2010s in Gaming - The rise of the co-op experience
There were a ton of great single-player experiences to be had in the past decade. But, for my money, the decade will be remembered for the options to team up in games tl
MONDAY, DEC. 2, 2019
This week's free game: Jetpac
Developers Tim and Chris Stamper would later go on to found Rare video game studios and develop the classic platformer "Donkey Kong Country" for the Super Nintendo, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
MONDAY, NOV. 25, 2019
This week's free game: Gahan Wilson's Ultimate Haunted House
Prolific macabre illustrator Gahan Wilson, who drew for Playboy magazine, the New Yorker and the Matthew Looney series of sci-fi books, died last week at the age of 89. In the early 1990s, he provided the artwork for a quirky horror adventure game that rivaled the brilliance of LucasArt's finest entries to the genre.
MONDAY, NOV. 11, 2019
This week's free game: Metal Gear Solid (demo)
Hideo Kojima's latest epic, "Death Stranding," may have just released and divided fans of the longtime game designer. But you can play a chunk of arguably his greatest work to date, 1998's "Metal Gear Solid," for free online!
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 6, 2019
My own most important video games of the 2010s list
The A.V. Club has included video games in their decade wrap-up media column. How'd they do?
MONDAY, NOV. 4, 2019
This week's free game: Diablo
The first game in the classic dungeon-crawling series is available to play, in a shareware version, in your browser. Give it a try as you await the release of Diablo IV, announced by Blizzard last week!
Kip Hill joined The Spokesman-Review in 2013. He currently is a reporter for the City Desk, covering the marijuana industry, local politics and breaking news. He previously hosted the newspaper's podcast.