By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
If you didn’t know, your Amazon Prime subscription includes access to a bundle of curated games and in-game assets each month.
Most of these games or assets require you to claim and download the game to play or, in the case of assets, to claim and associate them with the account for the game. For the games you either use a code to claim and download the game from a third-party like GOG.com or Electronic Arts’ Origin game service, or you download the game through the Amazon Games launcher for PC.
Usually these are lesser known, older, and indie games, especially if you have to claim them through the Amazon Gaming portal. But in recent months the Prime games have included some AAA titles; like EA’s Battlefield V, and the Star Wars games Jedi Fallen Order and Star Wars Squadrons. If you miss your window for claiming them, though, you miss out.
Luckily you usually have up to a month to claim these games or assets. And while they aren’t technically free – you pay for Amazon Prime after all – they are a nice perk of the service.
So, what free games does Amazon have on deck for March?
To start with, the latest version of EA’s Madden NFL franchise, Madden NFL 22, is currently available to claim through the end of the month. While it’s nearing the end of that game’s seasonal life-cycle – Madden NFL 23 will be launching later this summer – there is still a chance to have some fun with the current entry before the next season launches. (And no reason you can’t continue playing this game even after the next entry is out, though it may be more difficult to find online matches.)
The rest of the games might not be as high profile, but at least two should be somewhat familiar to hardcore gaming fans.
SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is the fifth entry in the SteamWorld series, and like the others uses the familiar setting of SteamWorld to bring in a new style of gameplay. The first entry in the series was a tower defense game, but the break-out hit for the franchise, SteamWorld Dig, introduced the game to a broader audience with the popular and familiar platforming action-adventure format on a variety of platforms, including all major consoles and PC. (The first game was for Nintendo DS only). Other entries have explored turn-based strategy (SteamWorld Heist) and a return to the platformer (SteamWorld Dig 2), but the one currently available for Amazon Prime subscribers, Hand of Gilgamech, is a turn-based roleplaying deck-builder.
If you’ve played any of the Magic: The Gathering video games or Blizzard’s HearthStone, you should get the idea pretty quickly. If not, Hand of Gilgamech gives you the opportunity to learn in a charming steam-punk world populated by cute steam-powered robots. It’s a self-contained story too, so you don’t necessarily need to have played the other games in the series to jump in and enjoy this one.
Surviving Mars is a city-builder sim, set on the red planet, from developer Paradox Entertainment. Paradox’s PC strategy game, Stellaris, was an Amazon freebie last month, and fits the pattern for most of the publisher’s titles, but Surviving Mars breaks out of that mold and should appeal to fans of city-builder sims, especially if they like sci-fi settings.
The other four games on offer – Crypto Against All Odds, looK INside, Pesterquest, and The Stillness of the Wind – are somewhat less exciting, but still decently rated and reviewed. Crypto is a hacking based tower defense game, while looK INside and Pesterquest are story based exploration games – a point and click family adventure and “visual novel” respectively – and Stillness is a farming sim with a good Metacritic score.
Amazon has also finally taken the leap to offer access to games from their Luna streaming service to Prime members beginning in March. It’s something I’ve been expecting and hoping would be added since the streaming service was first announced, and is yet another added value for Prime membership.
Until April 1, you can stream the adventure games PHOGS, rated E for Everyone, and Flashback, rated E 10+ through Luna on any PC, tablet, or mobile device. For adult games you can also stream the M for Mature rated action game Devil May Cry 5, or the horror adventure game Observer: System Redux. Those last two are definitely not recommended for children, but are a lot of fun for the grown-ups in your home.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
