Next Up Hero is an arcade-style, beat-'em-up adventure where you choose from a large selection of adorable heroes, fight your way through Rogue-esque levels and, inevitably, die.

Choose from nine Legendary Heroes with an assortment of weapons and abilities to suit your playstyle, from swords and rocket launchers to laser turrets, bongo drums, and boomerangs. When you die, you’ll leave behind an Echo of your hero on the battlefield. The next in the line of heroes will be able to resurrect your Echo as an AI battle companion. Take turns continuing friends’ games, fighting and dying until you have an entire army of Echoes by your side, and enough strength to finally defeat those jerk monsters. Everyone dies. Heroes continue.

So you think can slay all the monsters and win eternal glory, is that it? Bad news, hero. In the Spiral Shards, we can only send in one hero at a time to fight the Ceaseless Dirge. At some point, a flaming blue fireball, mech mortar rocket, or giant spike of doom is going to hit you in the face, and you’re going to die. That’s when the fun begins.

When you die, you’ll leave behind an Echo of your hero on the battlefield. The next hero in line will be able to resurrect your Echo as an AI battle companion. Take turns continuing each other’s games, fighting and dying with friends until you have an entire army of Echoes by your side. Everyone dies. Heroes continue.

Once Tacoma and Next Up Hero, the current free games on the Epic Games Store, have run their course, it will be up to 20XX, Barony and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, which will be gratis starting July 23 until July 30, 2020.

20XX

20XX is a co-op-friendly roguelike that plays like Mega Man X, where you explore procedurally generated levels, collect new weapons, abilities, purchase upgrades, and battle mighty bosses in the name of saving the human race maybe!

If you are a fan of roguelikes or Mega Man, 20XX is for you!

20XX is a game built to feel like Mega Man X, but with random levels, random powerups, permanent death, and multiplayer. The game uses a procedural level generation algorithm that pieces together levels from a certain number of mechanics at a time; it switches rapidly between playing like an action game and playing like a platformer, mixing precision jumping with fevered combat.

Add in permadeath and over 100 powerups to find in between agonizing deaths and you've got hours of nail-biting jumping-and-shooting goodness on your hands.

Barony

Barony is a first-person roguelike with co-op. Cryptic items, brutal traps and devious monsters, like those found in classic roguelikes and CRPGs, await you. Conquer the dungeons alone, or gather a party in co-op with iconic and exotic RPG classes.

Get ready to tackle vicious roguelike dungeons in first-person. Barony is a blast alone, but it's a party when you bring your dungeon-running buddies with you in cooperative multiplayer.

Slay baddies, collect arcane treasures, invoke powerful spells, and tally up your death count on your way to defeating the forces of supernatural evil.

Barony is a love-note to RPG classics like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, & Daggerfall, created by fans of the classics.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Traverse a mythic little realm, use a sword to do battle & evoke 'sworcery' to solve mystical musical mysteries.

Sword & Sworcery is an album-meets-adventure chronicling the woeful errand of The Scythian. In Sword & Sworcery, players will wander in the woods, solve strange puzzles & occasionally battle beasties as they seek to re-unite The Trigon Trifecta.

Experience a videogame world that is affected by moon phases & help a wandering warrior monk complete her woeful errand.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is set to an award-winning musical backdrop created by celebrated composer and wonderful human, Jim Guthrie.

Tacoma

In Tacoma you will uncover the mysteries held by Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma and its crew, living at the edge of humanity's reach.

Tacoma puts you in control of Amy Ferrier, an independent contractor sent to Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma to recover sensitive data. As she explores the station, she unearths why the previous crew of six have been evacuated, gathering clues to what exactly went wrong.

Like Gone Home, it’s a game where you pull details of the narrative from the environment, both physical and digital.

Tacoma is a story about people and relationships, even in the isolation of outer space.