My Night Job is free on Epic

Monday, World War I could be a great Canadian adventure with The Caribou Trail, and at this point, I’ll go to war just to bring down the price of RAM, as Steam Decks are out of stock. Tuesday, skate. (still a stupid name) has scummy EA-style monetization. Wednesday, Insomniac revealed when we’ll get to play as the angry little guy in yellow, and Tombwater‘s demo got an update. Thursday, the 3D mascot platformer-philes are rubbing the inside of their pockets at the announcement of Bobo and the Chest of Nightmares.

Moving on to the Epic Games Store, and it is a double bill, again, for the next two weeks. We’ll start with the 2D pixel art survival horror with enough nostalgia for the 80s to make me force feed it Stranger Things to shut it up, My Night Job. Yeah, don’t worry, I had never heard of it until last week either, despite its release in 2016 and being developed by Webcore Games, also the developer of The Final Exam. I’d love to give my zero thoughts on My Night Job, but The Final Exam is that free-to-play game that puts you in the middle of an active shooter scenario as a student.

Indeed, I find that a far more “fascinating” topic to rip apart than a side-scrolling action thing with about as much meat on the bone as Posh Spice. That’s kind of intentional, as it is more along the lines of arcade gaming and comparing scores against other players, something I can’t stand. My Night Job isn’t aimed at me, and that’s fine, but it makes recommending it at all difficult when the main/only gameplay mode is arcade-focused, and I’m just looking for something a bit more substantial. Think 2D Dead Rising without much in the way of progression or weird weapon combos.

Moving on to the offering that’s on mobile and PC this week, and we’re once again returning to the mansion to solve the puzzle boxes of Big Loop Studios’ Boxes: Lost Fragments. A casual puzzle game where you play as a thief lured in to steal something valuable, but are halted by Now You See Me sci-fi trickery. No, that’s harsh on Big Loop Studios, at least with their game, I don’t want to headbutt Jesse Eisenberg. I am, however, a little sick of talking about it because much like My Night Job, it isn’t my type of thing.

I love puzzle games, don’t get me wrong, and I do appreciate some casual ones like the Duck Detective series. However, Big Loop Studios’ Boxes and its predecessor Doors are the type of puzzle you look at once, and you solve it. Being pretentious and snobby, I like a little bit of thinking to my puzzles to give me that boost of “Oh, I really am smart, S-M-A-T!” Though to Boxes‘ (and Doors‘) credit, playing on mobile or iPad would give it a little more of a tactile feel than playing on PC with a mouse.

All this week, you can pick up My Night Job and Boxes: Lost Fragments on the Epic Games Store for PC, with the latter also available on mobile for Android and iOS, until the 5th of March. Onto next week, and yes, as I said, it is another double bill. If you’re one of those people who prefer idle gaming because effort is too much, it is another offering for Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms. For those of us who actually enjoy playing games and committing crimes, you’ll be able to pick up Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. Indeed, tax is theft, and the BBC should be defunded.