Borderlands: The Handsome Collection Is Free on the Epic Games Store

Borderlands:The Handsome Collection is free for a week on the Epic Games Store, as part of its four-week “Epic MEGA Sale.”

The game replaces last week’s free title, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, and is completely free to purchase from now until June 4 at 11 a.m., when it will be replaced by the last free game of the event. Seeing how the first game kicked the sale off with the wildly popular Grand Theft Auto V, it’s easy to say each selection has been a winner.

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection combines 2K’s zany first-person shooters Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel into one package, with updated visual and performance.

The Borderlands games are the epitome of “loot shooters,” for better or for worse. They rely on players’ desire for bigger and badder guns, drawing many into an addictive grind to constantly improve their loadouts.

Here’s what Mitch Krpata had to say about Borderlands 2 when in launched in 2012:

“[I]t’s still all about whetting a primal hunger for the next reward. As you traverse the wastelands with a laundry list of uncompleted mission objectives, a progress bar nearly filled with enough XP to nudge you up a level, and the infinite promise of undiscovered loot, you feel forever on the verge of something great.”

For some, this endless chase can feel draining and ultimately unrewarding. Cameron Kunzelman voiced these sentiments in his review of The Handsome Collection:

“Playing these games feels like chasing the horizon. There’s always more loot to gather. There’s always a plot complication that drives you further along a path. There’s always more interesting ways to do more damage to healthier enemies who you are racing against to prevent them from doing too much damage to you. Borderlands is a race to the bottom of quality. It is a system of demands that molds you into a very particular kind of player, and that act of discipline is one that strips the infinite play of infinite content of all of its potential joy. For me, what was fun quickly moved from tolerable to joyless.”

Still, if you’re looking for something to fill your time during quarantine, this is a great opportunity to check the games out at no cost to you. The Handsome Collection also makes its Switch debut on Friday, although you’ll have to pay the full price of $39.99 to play these games on the go. Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition and the Borderlands Legendary Collection launch on the platform on the same day.