What’s free on the Epic Games Store this week?

PC gamers with an Epic Games Store account (it’s free) can pick up Rise of Industry, a city-builder/management game that puts the player in the role of an early 1900s industrialist. Rise of Industry is free to download, play, and keep from the Epic Games Store, beginning Thursday, March 2.

Rise of Industry, by Dapper Penguin Studios and publisher Kasedo Games (Project Highrise) launched in May 2019. The game takes place in a procedurally generated world set in the 1930s; players must build factories, efficient supply chains, move and export finished goods, and trade with developing markets. Random events will throw a wrench into their best-laid plans, and a hostile takeover of their business is on the table.

Rise of Industry is available to claim now, but only for the next seven days. Last week’s free game, Duskers, is back in the marketplace at its regular price.

The Epic Games Store freebies are available to anyone who has an Epic Games Store account; they’ll be added to your library and launched from there. Epic has been giving away free games on a weekly basis, as an inducement to join the store (and play Epic’s own games, such as Fortnite), since it launched in December 2018.

The next free game coming to Epic Games Store account-holders will be Call of the Sea, a puzzle/adventure game that launched in December 2020 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X (later coming to PlayStation 5). Call of the Sea will be available beginning March 9.

When does the Epic Games Store update with free games?

Typically, Epic refreshes its lineup of free games every Thursday at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT.

Epic Games Store 2023 free games history

• March 2 to March 9: Rise of Industry
• Feb. 23 to March 2: Duskers
• Feb. 16 to Feb. 23: Warpips
• Feb. 9 to Feb. 16: Recipe for Disaster
• Feb. 2 to Feb. 9: Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and City of Gangsters
• Jan. 26 to Feb. 2: Adios and Hell is Others
• Jan. 19 to Jan. 26: Epistory – Typing Chronicles
• Jan. 12 to Jan. 19: First Class Trouble, Gamedec – Definitive Edition, and Divine Knockout
• Jan. 5 to Jan. 12: Kerbal Space Program and Shadow Tactics – Aiko’s Choice
• Jan. 1 to Jan 5: Dishonored – Definitive Edition and Eximus: Seize the Frontline