Godfall: Challenger Edition and Prison Architect are currently free on the Epic Store

Thursday is here, meaning a fresh batch of free games to download and keep courtesy of the Epic Games Store, which this week look an awful lot like Prison Architect and Godfall: Challenger Edition. And if that's somehow not enough to be getting on with, leaks are suggesting Epic will have plenty more freebies to give away over the festive period.

First up though, this week's offerings, beginning with developer Counterplay Games' Godfall: Challenger Edition. If that name sounds familiar, it's probably because it's the same title currently being given away, somewhat controversially, as part of PlayStation Plus.

Godfall: Challenger Edition is a truncated version of the beautiful but ultimately rather hollow action-RPG original, offering up three endgame modes, plus various bits of high-end loot and skill points so players can try out the experience at max level. Players have the option to pay and upgrade to the full game if they're suitably smitten.

As much as that might sound like a demo on paper, Counterplay recently spoke up to insist otherwise after its addition to PlayStation Plus caused a bit of a stir. It told Eurogamer the Challenger Edition was "not a trial", but a new cut-price, limited-feature edition which will - after its inclusion as a freebie on PlayStation Plus and the Epic Store - be sold for £11.99/$14.99 USD.

If Godfall doesn't appeal, your second freebie this week is the critically acclaimed Prison Architect, a deep, deeply satisfying - if inevitably rather grim - management game, tasking players with designing, building, staffing, and (ideally) efficiently running their own prison.

Since its release in 2015, Prison Architect has changed hands from original developer Introversion Software to Double Eleven, under the watchful eye of Paradox Interactive. It's also expanded massively with a whole bunch of paid DLC - all of which will be available on the Epic Games Store for the first time from today. The freebie, though, is the already very substantial base game, which should provide ample opportunity for newcomers to decide if they want to delve into their pockets for more.

Prison Architect and Godfall: Challenger Edition are available to add to your Epic Games Store library for free right now and will remain so until next Thursday, 16th December. At that point, Epic will reveal the first of its new 'mystery gift' giveaways.

Although Epic hasn't really addressed the mystery gift currently being promoted on its store just yet, the company did something similar last festive season, releasing a free new mystery game every day during its Holiday Sale.

According to a new leak - from Dealabs user Billbill-Kun, who has correctly leaked PS Plus and Xbox Live Games line-ups over several months in the past - this year's Holiday Sale will run from 16th December to 6th January, 2022 and will see Epic giving away a total of 15 games. The first 14 will be available for a day each while the last will be available for a week. Although Billbill-Kun didn't leak the full list, they claim the first giveaway will be Shenmue 3.

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