Since its start in 2018, the Epic Games Store has grown its library. The developer has partnered with many indie companies to publish games exclusively to the store. This created a backlash from Steam fans, but there is no denying they have great titles available to be purchased. Some exclusives would eventually make their way to the Steam library.
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The publisher acquired exclusive rights to many major titles over the years, but which titles stand out in their library as their best? Furthermore, which exclusives should players avoid? Here’s a list of the five best and worst exclusives in the Epic Game Store library.
10 Best: Journey To The Savage Planet
A colorful adventure game, Journey To The Savage Planet brings with it a fun world to explore and learn about. Players are an employee from Kindred Aerospace, an exploration company that labels itself as “4th best.” The goal of the game is to travel around the planet and catalog the various creatures and flora discovered along the way. There is some combat where hostile creatures may attack, but there are plenty of weapons available to use. The best part of the game is that it can be played cooperatively with a friend.
9 Worst: SnowRunner
Driving around in a truck in bumpy terrain can be frustrating. SnowRunner does a good job of presenting that experience in a fun way. Players can choose up to 40 vehicles to drive in. The game is more about the journey than the destination as players need to avoid losing control of their vehicle. It throws snow, mud, and many other terrain issues at the player that they need to overcome. Despite the game being well-received overall, some players felt the game to be slow and for the controls to be far from perfect.
8 Best: Dauntless
Free-to-play games are often scrutinized, but Dauntless is a wonderful action RPG experience. In a fantastical world, players become Slayers that are tasked to take down Behemoths. These creatures were unleashed after the world was torn apart.
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Defeating Behemoths allows the Slayers to collect loot and upgrade items that can be used to take down more powerful creatures. Players can work with a team of up to four Slayers as they take on these enemies in various hunts. The game also supports cross-platform play for those who have it on consoles.
7 Worst: The Sinking City
Detective games are always fascinating. Finding clues and solving mysteries can easily get players immersed. However, The Sinking City falls short of that full immersion. This open-world action-adventure game has players traveling to seven different districts to solve the mystery of a flooded town that has driven citizens mad. The game has fun investigative mechanics, but it is held back by the writing and dreary look. There’s also combat in the game that involves dark spirits, but its rollout is considered clunky by many reviewers.
6 Fortnite (Best)
How could the best game by Epic get left off this list? Fortnite captured the world by storm back in 2017 when its battle royale mode came out. The unique twist of the format was the ability to build structures in order to avoid foes or get high ground on them. There are also various character skins players can choose from, including some from famous media. The game is more than its battle royale though as it has a zombie shooter called Fortnite: Save The World and a sandbox mode called Fortnite: Creative.
5 Phoenix Point (Worst)
When it comes to strategy games, X-COM is considered among the best. It’s spiritual successor Phoenix Point fails to live up to the classic. Set in 2047, the game revolves around an alien invasion that threatens to destroy humanity. Using the turn-based tactic system, players need to figure out how to solve strategic and tactical challenges. Along the way, aliens will mutate and adapt to what the player does, forcing them to figure out new ways to stop them. While the ideas for the game are interesting, the game’s lack of fine-tuning and technical execution makes it fall short.
4 The Outer Worlds (Best)
From the developers of Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds is an open-world action RPG that brings elements of the classic Fallout installment back to life. Players are tasked with reviving members of their colony ship “Hope” by a mad scientist, Phineas Welles.
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The gameplay revolves around gathering materials to successfully revive them and recruiting other NPCs to help them in fighting alien creatures they encounter. All the while, the various stories of the characters and the exploration of Halcyon makes playing the game a worthwhile experience.
3 Maneater (Worst)
The anti-hero is always a fun character to play, so the idea of playing as a blood-thirsty shark hunting humans excited a lot of people. Unfortunately, Maneater fell short of expectations. The player is a baby bull shark taking revenge against an evil fisherman named Scaly Pete who killed its mother. The shark has a variety of abilities to attack other humans and can use its environment to its advantage. The game is very fun, but the big criticism of it is that it lacks the ability to retain the player’s attention with its simple mechanics and lack of constant evolving action.
2 Manifold Garden (Best)
For those who enjoy first-person puzzle games, Manifold Garden is the under-the-radar game to play on the Epic Games Store. The game takes place in a different world where gravity can be manipulated so that way the environment can be adjusted in six different directions. Objects in the world used for the puzzles are specific colors to indicate to the player what gravitational direction they need to be in to solve the puzzle. The game’s abstract art style and ability to use its environment makes the gaming experience unique.
1 Totally Reliable Delivery Service (Worst)
Physics-based games can be funny. Totally Reliable Delivery Service‘s main goal is making players laugh. However, the hilarity can only mask the poor elements of the game for so long. Players take on the role of delivering packages to various locations in insane ways. There are a plethora of ridiculous tools available to achieve this goal, from golf carts and helicopters to jetpacks and cannons. The game is fun with friends, but the horrendous controls and shallow environment makes it harder for players to stick around after one play session.
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