Steam free game is The Witcher meets Hogwarts Legacy, but you don't have long

If you’re a fan of both The Witcher and Hogwarts Legacy, you may be interested in checking out Black Desert Online - and the good news is that it’s now totally free for a limited time.

Developed by Pearl Abyss, Black Desert Online originally launched back in 2014 in Korea, following in Europe and North America in 2016. In this sandbox-style fantasy MMORPG, play centres around the warring nations of the Republic of Calpheon and the Kingdom of Valencia, both of whom are trying to obtain ‘black stones’ - a lucrative currency. There are 26 classes players can choose from, allowing them to pick a playstyle that’s appealing but for the most part, think of Black Desert Online as combining third-person shooter elements with crafting and survival gameplay.

Take a look at the game in action below.

While in some territories, Black Desert Online is free-to-play, in others it is not. Most English-language versions do not fall into the free-to-play category, but you can currently grab a free copy thanks to Alienware Arena. The site is holding a giveaway where they have 5,000 codes available. I don’t mean a giveaway in the sense that you have to enter a competition. I mean you can quite literally click ‘get code’ and once those 5,000 have run out, it’s over.

At the time of writing, just under 1,100 codes have been redeemed. There are currently 3,931 left to nab. That could have changed by the time you’re reading this so if you do want to nab the game, I’d act sooner rather than later. The giveaway is to celebrate the newly-added class of Scholar which launches today, on 20 December.

They giveaway keys grant access to the ‘Traveler Edition’ and will only work with North American and European copies of the game. It’s a tad confusing but the ‘free copy’ essentially works by ‘activating’ the game. You’ll need to create a Black Desert account, download the game client, visit the website’s shop, click redeem coupon, and then enter your Traveler Edition code. Happy playing.