In an era before indie games were widely accessible, or even that popular, Cave Story managed to pierce through the fog and become quite a phenomenon. For good reason too, because its combination of storytelling and hectic Metroidvania action was and still is highly compelling. So if you've somehow never given it a try but you're a fan of Metroidvania games, consider this your lucky day!

I say this because Cave Story+, the newer and more polished version, is free to grab over at the Epic Games Store. The catch, as you might guess from the title, is that the giveaway will only last for one more day, so you might want to hurry before it's too late.

That said, even if you do end up missing the deadline, it's worth mentioning that the original is still entirely free over at the Cave Story website. You'll need to download a translation patch in order to properly play it, but they're all nicely laid out on the website itself, so it should be no hassle.

My recommendation would be to go into Cave Story completely blind as there some gameplay (and story) twists that will be far more impactful if they catch you completely by surprise. However, if you're curious what the whole thing is even all about, I'll leave you with the brief launch trailer. That one should clue you in quite quickly without spoiling any of the fun. Enjoy!