The Epic free games next week are Sker Ritual and Home – A Unique Horror Adventure, both free to claim on the Epic Games Store for PC from October 22 at 15:00 UTC until October 29 at 15:00 UTC. Epic’s own promotions data lists both as 100% off for that window, so it’s a horror double bill just ahead of Halloween: a four-player co-op horde shooter and a small pixel-art mystery.
Until then, this week’s pair, Bad Cheese and Agent A: A puzzle in disguise, are still free. Grab them before Thursday (details below).
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Epic free games next week: start and end times
Epic’s freebies switch over at the same instant worldwide. One wrinkle this time: UK clocks go back on October 25, so the giveaway starts at 4pm BST and ends at 3pm GMT. US clocks don’t change until November 1.
| Starts (Thu, Oct 22) | Ends (Thu, Oct 29) | |
|---|---|---|
| UTC | 15:00 | 15:00 |
| US Eastern (EDT) | 11:00 a.m. | 11:00 a.m. |
| US Pacific (PDT) | 8:00 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. |
| UK | 4:00 p.m. BST | 3:00 p.m. GMT |
What is Sker Ritual?
Sker Ritual is a round-based co-op survival shooter from Welsh studio Wales Interactive, published by Skybound Games. It’s a spin-off of the 2020 horror game Maid of Sker, and its story picks up from that game’s “evil” ending. You fight waves of the Quiet Ones across six maps on Sker Island, solo or with up to four players online.
The twist on the formula is “Miracles”: Celtic gods drop power-ups mid-match, and each drop offers a choice of three random upgrades to your shots, melee, grenades or healing. Weapons can also be “Super Charged” into steampunk versions, and the game has elites, boss fights, hidden Easter eggs, and free progression systems called Dread Levels and the Sker Pass.
Sker Ritual pits up to four players against waves of the Quiet Ones across six maps on Sker Island. Image: Wales Interactive / Skybound Games
- Developer / publisher: Wales Interactive / Skybound Games
- Full release: April 18, 2024 (Steam)
- Normal price: $24.99 on Epic, $19.99 on Steam
- Steam reviews: Very Positive, about 81% of 6,016 reviews
The giveaway is the base game. Sker Ritual’s paid add-ons on Steam aren’t part of it.
What is Home – A Unique Horror Adventure?
Home is a much smaller, older game: a pixel-art horror adventure from BancyCo, first released on Steam on August 31, 2012. You wake up in a dark room in a house that isn’t yours as a storm rolls in, and piece together a murder mystery. The hook is that your choices decide what actually happened, and the game shifts subtly to reflect your take on events.
Home's 2012 pixel-art mystery plays out in near darkness, and your choices decide what happened. Image: BancyCo
- Developer / publisher: BancyCo
- Normal price: $4.99 on Epic and Steam
- Reviews: Metacritic 69 (PC); Mixed on Steam, about 67% positive of 1,776 reviews
- System needs: tiny; Steam lists 100 MB of storage
It’s worth your time if you like short, story-led horror where the scares come from what you read and imagine rather than from combat. If you want something to play with friends, Sker Ritual is the pick.
How to claim the free games on Epic
- Sign in to your Epic Games account on the Epic Games Store website or in the Epic Games Launcher.
- From October 22 at 15:00 UTC, open the Sker Ritual and Home store pages.
- Click Get, then Place Order. The total should be $0.00.
- That’s it: claimed games stay in your library for good, and you can install them whenever you like, even after the promotion ends.
If you’re curious about the launcher itself, we covered Epic’s new games launcher and Fortnite’s move to Linux earlier this week.
Still free until October 22: Bad Cheese and Agent A
This week’s games are free until October 22 at 15:00 UTC, the moment Sker Ritual and Home take over: Bad Cheese (normally $12.99), a psychological horror game styled after 1920s cartoons, and Agent A: A puzzle in disguise (normally $19.99), a spy-themed puzzle adventure. Our guide to Epic’s free games this week, Bad Cheese and Agent A, has the details. For more freebies, see this weekend’s free games, including the Battlefield 6 free weekend, and if your idea of spooky season is gentler, try our cozy Halloween games list.
What’s next
Epic usually reveals the following week’s games when the new ones go live, so expect the October 29 lineup on October 22. Epic’s data also shows a separate batch of discounts starting October 19 at 15:00 UTC and running to November 2, including Castlevania Anniversary Collection (60% off), Monument Valley (65% off) and Eternal Threads (80% off). Those are sales, not giveaways. Times and prices in this post were checked against Epic’s promotions data on October 17, 2026, 13:30 UTC.
Sources: Epic Games Store promotions data (free games page), Sker Ritual on Steam, Home on Steam, Game Rant.
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Featured image: Wales Interactive / Skybound Games
