In the past year, Twitch Prime Membership, included with an Amazon Prime subscription, has given users free games such as The Banner Saga, but the offerings have been sporadic — until now. Twitch has announced Free Games with Prime, a program in the vein of PlayStation Plus and Xbox Games with Gold that will give users a collection of free PC titles each month.
The program will replace the originally planned Twitch Prime Indie Amplifier promotion which would have allowed users to cast votes to determine which game would be given out for free.
The first batch of free games will be available starting March 15, headlined by the innovative puzzle shooter Superhot and supernatural adventure Oxenfree.
Along with those two critically acclaimed indies, Prime subscribers can also nab Shadow Tactics, Mr. Shifty, and Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation. Shadow Tactics, a stealthy real-time strategy game, actually won the Indie Amplifier Vote before Twitch decided to give them all away instead. Mr. Shifty is zany a 2.5D beat ’em up, and Tales from Candlekeep is a turn-based dungeon crawler set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
All five games will be available for free until the end of March. It’s unclear exactly when April’s collection will be up for grabs, but we already know the games. Leading the way is the excellent 2017 platformer SteamWorld Dig 2 and Telltale’s heralded episodic series Tales from the Borderlands. Kingsway, Tokyo 42, and Dubwars round out April’s list.
Considering the collections pulled from the Indie Amplifier initiative, expect to see Tumblestone, Treadnauts, High Hell, and I, Hope, on the docket in the coming months.
Unlike other subscription programs, you will still be able to play the free games even if your Amazon Prime membership lapses. As with other games given away via Twitch Prime, you probably need to download the Twitch desktop app to secure each month’s collection.
If you want to see any of these titles in action, Twitch streamers seriouslyclara and ElegyofGames will stream each month’s offerings every week through July. ElegyofGames will play each Sunday at 6 p.m. PT starting March 25, while seriouslyclara will play each Monday starting March 26 at 8:30 p.m. PT.
