Kingdom Hearts, Axiom Verge 2, and more coming to Epic Games Store as exclusives

By Giovanni Colantonio February 11, 2021

Epic on Thursday hosted a Spring Store Showcase, which revealed a new round of exclusives coming to the Epic Games Store this year.

The biggest news is that the Kingdom Hearts franchise is coming to the Epic Games Store on March 30. This is the first time the series has been available on PC, and it will be exclusive to the storefront. A trailer showed a few different games, including Kingdom Hearts III and the recently released Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

Indie 2D action game Axiom Verge 2 made a surprise appearance on the stream. The anticipated indie will be a PC exclusive on the Epic Games Store and is slated for a 2021 launch. News on the game has been sparse since it was announced during a Nintendo Indie showcase in 2019.

Looter slasher Godfall gets a new free update today. The Primal Edition of the game raises the current level cap and makes some overhauls to the game’s loot and UI.

Free-to-play games were a major focus during the short presentation. The stream showcased new updates to Warframe, Dauntless, Rogue Company, and more. Fortnite made a brief appearance, but only to show off its previously released Predator update.

Chivalry II got a major spotlight during the showcase ans is slated for a June 8 release. The medieval combat game will hold a closed beta from March 26 to March 29. Players can pre-order the game now for early access.

Other highlights include Binary Smoke, a new action-adventure game set in a dystopian future. Magic the Gathering MMO Magic: Legends made an appearance as well. The Epic Games Store exclusive game will receive an open beta on March 23.

Epic Games Store is currently running a sale where players can grab discounts on games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Squadrons.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Giovanni Colantonio

Section Editor, Gaming

Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…

Gaming

Frostpunk 2 will come to PC Game Pass when it launches this year

A city in Frostpunk 2.

11bit Studios confirmed that Frostpunk 2 will be released on PC sometime during the first half of 2024 and will be on Game Pass from day one alongside the first full gameplay reveal for the highly anticipated survival city-builder.

The new gameplay trailer for Frostpunk 2 is just over two minutes long and gives the public a first look at the game's city-managing mechanics. Frostpunk 2's gameplay significantly departs from its predecessor in some ways, as it's more focused on the macro management of a city that's survived an apocalypse rather than the micromanaging of resources for basic survival. After getting an extended hands-off look at Frostpunk 2 in action last year, I said it "scales its challenges and gameplay systems up while also holding on to the ethical dilemmas and emphasis on consequences that made the original so great (and depressing.)."

Gaming

Our favorite Switch games of 2023: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario, and much more

Link stands behind text that says Best Switch Games 2023.

If 2023 was our last full year with the Nintendo Switch, what a heck of a sendoff it got.

The rumor mill has been buzzing for months now, claiming that Nintendo plans to reveal and release its Switch successor next year. While that’s a rumor you should take with some skepticism, there’s good reason to believe it may happen. Nintendo reportedly showed off the system to developers behind closed doors at Gamescom this year, and the Switch’s current 2024 lineup feels like the final drop we’d get right before a new system. The Switch could be old news this time next year.

Gaming

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn’t our Game of the Year, but it’s the strongest No. 2 ever

Link giving a thumbs-up with a smile.

When we asked our writers to give us a list of their favorite games of 2023, everyone had a different game in the top spot. We saw votes for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Alan Wake 2, Hi-Fi Rush, and even Sonic Superstars. Baldur's Gate 3 ultimately won out, but what stuck out to me the most following that process was how, on almost everyone's list, the same game was in that No. 2 slot: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Released by Nintendo in May after a long wait, Tears of the Kingdom would have been the industry's unequivocal game of the year in any other year. Although its competition was too stiff in this packed year for that to be the case, that doesn't make Tears of the Kingdom any less of an experience. In fact, I think that earning a spot near the top on almost everyone's personal list at Digital Trends demonstrates how widely appealing Nintendo's latest Zelda game is and that end-of-year gaming conversations should be about uplifting great games, not nitpicking their flaws to determine which one's the best.
Recognizing great games
Tears of the Kingdom is a monumental achievement in open-world game design. It essentially has three worlds stacked on top of each other. From almost any point in Hyrule, it's possible to stop, look around, and find several points of interest around, above, and below yourself. That alone makes it a game that consistently delivers a sense of awe and discovery, even after dozens of hours of playtime.