Today, December 28, the Epic Games Store is giving away SKALD: Against the Black Priory for the next 24 hours. It is a 2024 retro-style RPG that looks like a lost Commodore 64 game but plays with modern mechanical polish. If you miss the giveaway window, you can still find it for 50% off on the Steam Store until January 5. For those looking for the absolute lowest price, G2A (affiliate link) currently has keys for approximately $4.20, which is a 72% discount from the standard retail price.
SKALD- Against the Black Priory
Pixels and Cosmic Dread
SKALD is a party-based RPG that leans heavily into Lovecraftian themes and gritty fantasy. You lead a group of mercenaries through a world filled with body horror and ancient, awakening gods. The combat is turn-based and tactical, but the story is the real draw here, featuring branching dialogue and dice rolls that actually matter for your survival.4 It avoids the hand-holding common in modern RPGs, forcing you to manage your party’s resources and sanity in a world that feels genuinely dangerous. It is a dense, high-quality experience for anyone who values strong writing and a specific, lo-fi aesthetic.
SKALD- Against the Black Priory fr Free on Epic Games Store
Free Mobile Hits: Monument Valley 1 & 2 For Mobile
Beyond the PC giveaway, you should also head to the mobile Epic Games Store to claim Monument Valley 1 and Monument Valley 2 for free until January 1. These are iconic perspective-based puzzle games inspired by M.C. Escher’s impossible architecture. They are short, polished, and rely on visual storytelling rather than dialogue. To get them, open the Epic Store on your phone and add them to your library. They usually cost around $4 each, so grabbing the pair for free is an excellent deal for your mobile library.
Monument Valley 1 – Free on mobile Epic Games Store
Final Claim Details
You have until December 29 at 11:00 AM ET to secure SKALD for your PC. The Monument Valley games will remain free for a few more days, giving you time to set them up on your Android or iOS device. This lineup is particularly resourceful because it offers a mix of high-stakes RPG mechanics and relaxing puzzle logic. Whether you are rolling dice to survive a pixelated cult or shifting golden towers on your phone, these titles offer more creative value than most of the big-budget releases that filled the rumor lists earlier this month.
Monument Valley II – Free on mobile Epic Games Store
If you’ve spent the last few days trapped in a house with family, Epic Games has the ultimate stress test for your relationships. Today, December 26, the mystery vault has opened to reveal We Were Here Together, a strictly two-player cooperative puzzle game. This is not a title you can play solo with an AI partner; you need a second human, two microphones, and a lot of patience. It’s a perfect pick for a post-Christmas afternoon with the kids or a friend, provided you’re prepared for the inevitable communication breakdowns that happen when you’re separated in a frozen wasteland.
We Are Here Together – Free on Epic today
A Test of Verbal Precision
The brilliance of this series lies in how it handles information. You and your partner are often split up into different rooms, each seeing only half of a puzzle. Your only link is a virtual walkie-talkie. Because only one person can talk at a time, you have to be extremely precise when describing strange symbols or mechanical parts to someone who can’t see what you’re looking at. This third entry in the series adds more meat to the experience by starting both players together at a base camp before dragging you into the depths of a sinister Antarctic castle. It creates a genuine sense of dread and reliance on the person at the other end of the radio.
We Are Here Together – Good Coop game
The Best Way to Buy if You Miss the Window
While the game is free on Epic for the next 24 hours, the developer has also launched a massive 62% discount on the Steam Store that runs until January 5. Interestingly, this official Steam price is currently even lower than what you’ll find on many grey-market sites like G2A(affiliate link), making it the best time to pick up a permanent copy on your preferred launcher. If you are planning a long-distance session, remember that the game supports cross-play between Epic and Steam, so you aren’t locked into a single ecosystem to play with your friends.
We Are Here Together – Communication is the key
Final Technical Check for Players
Before you dive in, make sure both you and your partner have working microphones, as trying to play this via text chat is essentially impossible. While the in-game walkie-talkie adds a lot of “found footage” style immersion, many players switch to a clear Discord call for the more complex alchemical and mechanical puzzles later in the game. You have until December 27 at 11:00 AM ET to claim your free copy. It’s a small, $13 investment normally, but for free, it’s one of the most rewarding social experiences you can find this holiday season.
Sometimes I enjoy playing games that are just perfect to relax. And since I was a bit under the weather lately, I needed an amazing casual game to play. So, in today’s article, I’m going to give a quick overview of some casual games I played during my time under the weather. Maybe I’ll do a more in depth review of these games later, but now… I quickly want to touch upon them. If you know any great casual games I should try, give me a comment on this article, and who knows… Maybe in the next article, they will appear. But, you can also leave a comment with your thoughts and/or opinions on the content of this article and/or the games.
In Tropix… Your Island Getaway, you have to play several classic mini-games like a bubble popper, mahjong, blowing, a word making game, Sudoku…
You earn sand dollars to decorate your island. If you fill up the fun, comfort and food bars, you can go on the next island and unlock more mini-games.
I used to play this game quite a lot when I was a child, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. My sister and I tried to be the fastest to finish a mini-game set or get the highest score.
I recently rediscovered this game. It’s a great one to quickly play a few rounds of the mini-games and the theming of your island getaway is very nicely done.
While writing this article, I have discovered there is a sequel to this game. I’ll for sure try out that game and maybe mention it in another article. But, if you enjoy solid mini-game collections that are quite relaxing and charmingly made, I’d highly recommend to give Tropix … Your Island Getaway a try. I recently also bought a Nintendo DS copy, and I’m comparing it to the PC version. And that sounds like a fun future article so hold tight.
A big subgenre in the casual game scene are the time management games. One of my favorite time management games is Sally’s Salon. In this game, you run your own beauty salon, and you have to make your clicks matter. Since, the order matters.
It’s both a management sim and a puzzle. The further you get in this game, the more hectic this game becomes.
This screenshot explains quite a lot of the basic mechanics of the game. You have to move your clients to the right stations and preform the action at the set station. The faster you guide them through the salon, the higher their pay at the end will be.
Also, you can earn back hearts by choosing the things they like. You lose them, by choosing the things they dislike or letting wait for too long. Also, you can hire staff with your profit to automate some tasks since otherwise it really get hectic in the later levels.
This game can become a bit repetitive in long play sessions. The PC version can also be very picky with hitboxes. But overall, it’s pretty fun. The sequels are a lot of fun too. I have played Sally’s Spa and Sally’s Studio. The other games in the series I haven’t played.
There are a lot of casual games where you need to fill in a certain shape and don’t let the conveyor belt at the bottom get filled. But Fiber Twig does a unique twist on the genre. In this game, you have to connect tree branches, and you can only continue if the light energy doesn’t escape.
This game is a true puzzle game. It’s also a high risk/reward game. Since, you can’t see the rest of the level. So, is it wise to save certain pieces, or should you use them right now?
Also, power ups are quite rare. So, undoing mistakes or filling in dead ends… Use your power ups wisely.
It’s a game that looks boring if you only judge it on the screenshots, but it gets quite intense and enjoyable to play. The charming theming and lore give this game a unique quirk that gets my hooked very time I boot the game up.
Shopmania is also a game like Fiber Twig, where you have to place all the items from the belt to the playing field. But the twist in this game is that you have to keep things like color, shapes and other things in mind.
The idea is, that you work for a super mega store to buy medicine for your sick hamster. And in this store, the employees shop for you. So, you have to fill the customers their carts.
If you fill the cart with the item that the customer is thinking off, you get bonus cash. If you fully fill the cart, bonus cash. All items the same color? Well, bonus cash of course.
The more profit a certain line brings, the more you can upgrade for a bigger cart. This brings in more money but also more risk. Since, it gets tricker to get those combos and bonuses going to reach the higher and higher quota. Oh, and three items going into the shredder, and it’s game over for that level.
The story is quite silly and I love the theming. Even just writing about this, I hear the sound effects of this game in my head.
Final thoughts
Honestly, playing these casual games while I was under the weather felt like reconnecting with a simpler time. Whether it was racing my sister in Tropix, strategizing my way through Sally’s Salon, getting absorbed in the puzzles of Fiber Twig, or smiling at the quirky humor in Shopmania, each game brought back a small but meaningful spark. It reminded me that sometimes, it’s okay to slow down and just enjoy a bit of playful chaos or quiet thinking.
I could go on for quite a while about other relaxing games I’ve discovered over the years—but I’ll save that for another article. Who knows, maybe the sequel to Tropix will make an appearance next time. Thank you for reading and spending this little slice of time with me. If you have your own favorite casual games or thoughts to share, feel free to leave a comment. I always enjoy hearing what others are playing.
Until next time—take care, and may your sand dollars stack high and your cart combos never break.
And with that said, thank you so much for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I look forward to welcoming you back in a future article. Until then, have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care.
