PC users can save $20 on free sci-fi game you can complete in 10 hours

The weight of the top-heavy calendar of releases is just about to tip out a bucketload of AAA titles that will drain your pocket money pot set aside for gaming.

No matter your favoured genre of games, the last quarter of 2026 is sure to be a burden on your finances and immersion time, with a huge wealth of massive titles on the way.

So, as we gear up for an expensive road to Christmas, scouting for the top free games is quickly becoming an essential tool.

While services like Xbox Game Pass have been strengthening their freebie portfolio, our attention has now landed on the Epic Games Store, as one $20 game has just had its price removed entirely - and, if time is money, this title is worth its weight in free gold.

State of Mind is free to download until September 10, and here's what all the buzz is about...

Narrative dystopian attention-gripper, State of Mind, is free for two days

The premise is one that is becoming increasingly scary with the advancement of AI - humanoids are everywhere, serving as surveillance and public servants, but investigative journalist Richard Nolan has a gut feeling that something is awry.

"Governments and companies promise remedies through technological progress. Drones and humanoid robots replace humans in the public sector, everything is interconnected, surveillance has become omnipresent. Richard Nolan is one of the few journalists openly criticising this development," reads the description.

"This domestic drama evolves into a thriller about a worldwide conspiracy, which at its core aims to determine the fate of humanity: Could a perfect digital utopia be the answer? A virtual paradise not affected by material needs and quarrels? Could a super-AI be our saviour – or would it simply declare us as dispensable since it could not be taught the value of philanthropy?"

Daedalic Entertainment

State of Mind is an alarming attack on your moral compass with a stellar storyline to go alongside rich cyberpunk-y visuals, and has been met with a lot of positive reviews.

Read More: PC gamers given $60 of free games including 'surprisingly addictive' 9/10 gem

Completed in just under 10 hours (up to 11 for all side missions), on average, State of Mind could be one of those page-turners smashed in one day, a weekender that makes you cancel Sunday plans after getting hooked on the narrative, or a consuming weekday grind that has you thinking about the next mission when you're staring out of the window at work.

Now free to claim for the next two days on the Epic Games Store, you can download and keep it for a rainy day, or get stuck in straight away.

Either way, you're in for a short and tasty treat.

"Being a fan of the cyberpunk genre and graphic adventure games, this game was a blast. It has all I wanted on a game like this: Great locations. Original and simple, yet beautiful graphics. Great plot (with nice twists). Nice soundtrack. Interesting characters. Nice narrative," one reviewer said on the Epic Store.

Another added, "This is a very solid and lovingly made experience. The story feels like one of the early cyberpunk fiction works. The stylised polygonated graphics is unusual, and I think it works well for this game. The acoustic atmosphere is beautiful, and the voice acting [English] is perfect. The characters are well developed and feel like live people, with their own desires and imperfections."

The only flaws that appear in repeated reviews are that the side missions and minigames don't stand up to the same quality of the main questline, and that you can't explore the world further.

"But as always the characters (!), the writing (!!), the setting (!!!), the story (!!!!), the graphics (!!!!!)... they all single-handedly manage to make all those problems irrelevant. I am not disappointed, I got what I signed up for," a mixed review said.

A second negative review simply added, "Dammit why there's not any more of this?"

So, if you're looking for a real gripping tale that leaves you wanting more, State of Mind is you perfect choice this week.

Just hurry up, as it shoots back up $20 in just two days.