Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The best demos, betas, and free-to-play games you can try this weekend

By Mike Epstein January 26, 2018

Gaming can be a notoriously expensive hobby if you indulge the impulse to play all the latest and greatest games. It doesn’t have to be, though! These days there is a wide range of new betas, demos, and free game trials available every week. If you are looking for something new to play but don’t want to commit, we have a list of the best demos, betas, and free games that you can try out this weekend.

‘Fallout 4’ free weekend (Xbox One)

Fallout 4 - Official Trailer

Fallout 4 has been out for well over two years, but if you haven’t had a chance to try it out, you’ll be able to do so for free this weekend on Xbox One. The game will be free to play for Xbox Live Gold subscribers until Sunday, January 28. During the free weekend, all Fallout 4 content is discounted. The full game is 33 percent off ($20), and the Game of the Year Edition, which includes the game and all its DLC, is 40 percent off ($36). The season pass is also available for half-price ($25). Any progress you make will be saved should you choose to purchase the full game.

If you’d prefer to play the game on PC, don’t fret: You’ll be getting your own free weekend, beginning Thursday, February 1.

Grab both Amnesia games for free on PC

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Trailer

Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent helped to usher in a new wave of horror games with an emphasis on atmosphere rather than action, and if you haven’t played it yet, it’s absolutely free through the Humble store until Saturday, January 27 at 1 p.m. ET. The offer also includes the sequel Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, developed by The Chinese Room, and it’s playable on PC, Mac, and Linux. The games only require 2GB of RAM and an Intel Core i3 processor, so you should have no trouble running them, even with a dated PC.

Free Xbox Live Games With Gold for January

Xbox - January 2018 Games with Gold

A new month brings new games to Xbox Live’s subscription program. Three games are available this weekend for Xbox Live Games With Gold.

Xbox One owners can currently download The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III, which released alongside its Games With Gold debut this month. Ubisoft’s Zombi — a port of the Wii U game ZombiU — is also available until February 15.

Until the end of the month, Xbox 360 owners can grab the original Army of Two. The cooperative third-person shooter is, like all Xbox 360 games released through the program, backward compatible on Xbox One.

Shop Games with Gold now

Free PlayStation Plus games for January

January 2018 Free PS4 Games Lineup | PlayStation Plus

January’s free PlayStation Plus games are also here, including six games across three Sony platforms and a competitive PlayStation VR title.

PlayStation 4 owners are in for a treat this month, getting free access to Deux Ex: Mankind Divided. The immersive sim is a sequel to the sleeper hit Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and uses a “play as you want” model, which option available for stealth, action, or just talking your way out of a conflict.

The first season of Telltale’s Batman is also free for PlayStation 4 owners, meaning those who own an Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will have access to two free Telltale games this month. It uses the same choice-based story structure of other Telltale games, with a decidedly different tone than that of the Arkham series.

PlayStation 3 owners have access to the role-playing game Sacred 3 throughout January, as well as The Book of Unwritten Tales 2. Vita owners get the PS4 cross-buy games Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness as well as the retro-inspired survival-horror game Uncanny Valley, which doesn’t ever actually go into the titular valley.

Lastly, PlayStation VR owners can pick up the competitive aerial shooter Starblood Arena. While the game was criticized at launch for being too shallow, its influx of players this month should make it easy to find a multiplayer match.

See more Free PlayStation Plus games

Update: Updated with Fallout 4 free weekend and The Amnesia Collection Humble offer.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…

Gaming

PlayStation Plus is getting a major price hike following Game Pass changes

PlayStation Plus art highlighting the essential, extra, and premium tiers.

Sony confirmed that 12-month subscriptions for PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium will all see price increases alongside the reveal of September's new Essential games on the PlayStation Blog.
Starting on September 6, 12 months of PS Plus Essential goes up in price from $60 to $80, PS Plus Extra's yearly price increases from $100 to $135, and an annual subscription to PS Plus Premium will rise from $120 to $160.

Sony says it needs to increase the price of all three versions of PlayStation Plus "to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service" and that buying a 12-month subscription is still cheaper than subscribing to any of the shorter-term plans over the same period of time. The price hikes comes just a couple of months after Microsoft raised the price of Xbox Game Pass.
When it comes to the games PS Plus Essential subscribers can expect this month, first up is Saints Row, a 2022 reboot of an open-world crime franchise that garnered mixed reviews upon its release. Next is Generation Zero, an open-world sci-fi shooter where players fight evil machines. Finally, those who have not already purchased a version of the MMO Black Desert on PS4 can redeem Black Desert - Traveler Edition, which comes with some additional items; if you have bought a version of Black Desert, you can just redeem the Traveler Item Pack.

Gaming

Sony’s cloud handheld, the PlayStation Portal, will only stream certain games

Astro's Playroom booting up on the PlayStation Portal.

Sony has unveiled the price for its upcoming cloud gaming handheld, as well as an official name for the device: PlayStation Portal. However, one significant caveat to its functionality might sour people's interest in the handheld: It only supports PS4 and PS5 native games that the owner purchased.
PlayStation VR2 games can't be streamed to PlayStation Portal, which does make sense. More bafflingly, though, is the fact that the PlayStation Blog post states that "games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming are not supported." That means you shouldn't pick up PlayStation Portal expecting to stream some PS3 and PS4 games available through PlayStation Plus Premium to the device. That's certainly an odd omission when it's currently PlayStation's most notable cloud gaming effort.
Although Microsoft is more closely associated with cloud gaming, Sony beat it to releasing a dedicated cloud gaming device. PlayStation Portal was first teased as Project Q during May's PlayStation showcase, but now, a PlayStation Blog post more clearly explains what we can actually expect from the handheld. Most importantly, we learned that PlayStation Portal will cost $200, which puts it underneath the cost of a Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S, and other cloud gaming devices like the Logitech G Cloud Handheld.
As for what you're getting for that price tag, it's essentially a decent screen attached to two halves of a DualSense controller. The controllers on each side share all the functionality of the DualSense, including things like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. In-between is an 8-inch LCD screen that streams games over Wi-Fi at up to a 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. All in all, that's fairly solid for a cloud gaming handheld that is this cheap.
Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Portal will have a 3.5mm audio jack, but also used the same blog post to unveil two new wireless audio options. There's the Pulse Elite wireless headset that features a retractable boom mic and a charging hanger and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds that offer similar audio quality in earbud form.
None of these products are available for preorder or have a specific release date just yet, but they are all expected to launch before the end of the year.

Gaming

The best PS5 games for 2023

A knight with a gun in a burning square.

The PlayStation 5 is looking to dominate the console landscape with its incredible library of games. Like the rest of the industry, Sony saw several major game delays in 2022 (and more this year), but has since dropped several new hit games like God of War Ragnarok, the Resident Evil 4 remake, and Forspoken, among others. There are plenty of games out on PS5 for every kind of gamer.

And there are plenty more great titles on the way — don't forget to check out our list of the best upcoming PS5 games that will come out later this year.