Free PC game giveaways: what you actually keep, and what to check first

Last updated: October 17, 2026

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This week two full games are free on the Epic Games Store: Bad Cheese and Agent A: A puzzle in disguise. Both are claimable from October 15 until October 22, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC, according to Indie Game Bundles. Free sounds like there is nothing to think about. There is a little, and it takes about two minutes.

What you receive is not the same thing as what you get when you pay, and giveaway lists on the web mix very different offers under one word. Here is what the sources we could open say, and a short list of checks.

The short version

A claimed free game stays in your library. Indie Game Bundles says of both current Epic giveaways that once you claim the game, it stays in your library after the offer ends. The deadline is for claiming, not for playing.
Free is still a license. Steam’s agreement says content is “licensed, not sold”. We could not open Epic’s agreement, so we do not say what it says.
Not every “giveaway” is a game. Giveaway lists also carry DLC, in-game loot, demos and keys. Check the type before you spend your time.
The cost is your account, your disk and your attention, not money. Two minutes to claim, and a game you may never open.

What a claim does

On a store giveaway you sign in, press a button and the game is added to your account. GamerPower’s page for Bad Cheese describes the same steps: visit the giveaway page, log in to your Epic Games Store account, then add the game to your library. The page lists the game as “Type: Full Game” with a $12.99 value. That value is GamerPower’s figure, not a price we tracked, and a “value” is not a saving unless you would have bought the game.

Indie Game Bundles gives the window for both games as October 15 to October 22, 2026, ending at 3:00 PM UTC. The time zone matters: 3:00 PM UTC is a different hour on your clock.

Free is still a license

The one store agreement we could read is Steam’s. Section 2.A says: “The Content and Services are licensed, not sold.” Section 9.B, as we read it, makes subscriptions non-transferable. The agreement has no special rule for free-to-keep promotions; it only mentions that Valve may offer a free subscription to certain content (section 3.G). So a free Steam game is the same kind of thing as a paid one: a license on your account, which you cannot give away. Our guide on Steam keys and DRM-free games covers the difference in more detail.

Two practical results:

A free game is only as safe as the account it sits on. If you stop using a store, or lose the account, the free games go with it.
Free is not a loophole. Steam’s refund page says refunds are “not as a way to get free games” (Abuse section). That is about refunds, not giveaways, but it shows the same idea.

GOG’s free games page lists free full games, demos, DLC and mods side by side. It does not say whether a free title is kept permanently or differs from a paid one, so we cannot say. Look at the individual product page.

Not every giveaway is a game

GamerPower says it lists “free games, beta keys, in-game loot, and in-game currency”. On the Bad Cheese page, the “you might like” section shows a free Steam key for a decal for the game Exoprimal and a loot claim for Magic: The Gathering Arena. Those are real offers, but a decal or loot is not a game. Before you claim, read the type label and the name of the store it is delivered to. A key for a store you do not use means installing another launcher.

Four checks before you click

What is it? Full game, demo, DLC, loot or a trial. Only “full game” means a game you can play for as long as you like.
When does the claim window end, and in which time zone? Write the UTC time down. October 22 at 3:00 PM UTC is the end for the current Epic pair.
Which account and launcher does it need? If it is not one you already use, decide whether you want it.
Will you open it? A library of unplayed free games costs nothing, but it also saves nothing.

What we did not check

Epic’s own pages (the free games page, its help articles and its license agreement) returned an access error when we tried to open them, so everything about Epic giveaways here comes from GamerPower and Indie Game Bundles, not from Epic. We could not read Epic’s or GOG’s license terms, so we make no claim about how they treat free games. We did not claim a game ourselves, and the giveaway dates will change next week.

How we handle this

Some store links elsewhere on our site are affiliate links, and we mark them clearly. This guide has none, and it is written from the sources listed below. Read how affiliate links work on our site.

Sources

Pages were read on October 17, 2026. Giveaway dates and store terms can change, so check the store before you claim. This is not legal advice.