Elder Scrolls Online is free on Epic Games Store this week

Bethesda's MMO is joined by a murder mystery puzzle indie

It's Thursday again, so it's time for another free game or two on the Epic Games Store. This week it's two titles - Elder Scrolls Online and Murder by Numbers.

Elder Scrolls Online is Bethesda's popular MMO set in the same world as Skyrim and Morrowind, and featuring a story that's lightly connected to the other games in the Elder Scrolls series.

The other free title this week, Murder by Numbers, is an indie murder mystery game where you solve sudoku-like pixel puzzles to uncover clues and interrogate murder witnesses. It's a cute game with a '90s aesthetic and a visual novel narrative between the puzzles.

As this week's two games became available to get free today, Epic Games announced its freebies for next week. Homeworld Remastered Collection and Severed Steel will be up for grabs from July 27 to August 3. 

Homeworld Remastered Collection combines the remastered versions of Relic Entertainment's acclaimed space strategy games Homeworld and Homeworld 2. The genre-defining titles put you in command of a fleet of starships, as you make decisions about fleet formations, unit types and flight tactics over the course of more than 30 missions. An excellent compilation to revisit as you wait for the delayed release of Homeword 3, now set for February 2024.

Severed Steel is a stylish first-person shooter with a wireframe and neon art style, reminiscent of the Tron movies. Gameplay is all about fluid stunts and lots of Max Payne and Matrix-style bullet time.

Last week's Epic Games Store freebie, railway network builder Train Valley 2, is now gone from the free offers, but can still be purchased at 65% off.

You have until July 27 at 11 a.m. ET to claim the current two games, when they will change to next week's freebies and the free games for the week after will be revealed.