The Epic Games Store has done some severe business in the last several months by giving away freebie games. Even with the schedule of freebies once a week, they’ve all been titles which were previously released on other platforms. But things will be changing on August 13, if only briefly.
The Creative Assembly has announced that their newest title, A Total War Saga: TROY will be available for free for the first 24 hours on the Epic Games Store when it launches on August 13. The game is contracted for a one-year exclusivity deal with EGS, so Steam players will not be getting the opportunity to play until Summer 2021. This, of course, leads into some of the caveats that come with the release.
First, there will be no mod support at launch, since EGS does not currently support mods of any sort. Creative Assembly has mentioned that mod support is part of the EGS roadmap, but does not offer up any insight into when that functionality will be available. There is a planned DLC pack titled “Amazons,” which is also slated to come out at launch, but there are currently no details on this. So, if you’ve had your heart set on recreating Xenophon’s Anabasis, you’re going to be disappointed.
Second, even after the game comes out on Steam next year, there are no plans presently to allow cross-platform play. Given that Civilization VI currently allows for cross-platform play, it’s not a technical impossibility for Steam and EGS players to get together. And a lot can change in a year, so take this particular point with a grain of salt.
Third, and potentially most troublesome, Creative Assembly will be using Denuvo DRM software at launch. Historically, Denuvo is not a permanent portion of games and often gets patched out after some time. Nevertheless, some gamers may be bothered by its inclusion, though it should be pointed out that the Denuvo software is only installed when the game is installed.
Creative Assembly has put together a FAQ to go into greater detail about the game itself, and a blog post explaining the reasoning and conditions behind the exclusivity deal.
