If you've got some free time this weekend, then Steam has a couple of free games you might be interested in: the team-based space combat sim Fractured Space, and the pseudo-Lovecraftian naval exploration game Sunless Sea. Both are available now at no charge, and if you grab Fractured Space while it's free, you can keep it forever.
First up, Fractured Space: It's a five-on-five game of capital ship combat in space, being developed by the team (working under a new name) that made Strike Suit Zero. It's been kicking around on Early Access for more than a year, but development hasn't stalled—in fact, a fairly substantial patch was released today. We haven't looked at it in awhile, but Tyler took an earlier build out for a spin in December 2014, shortly after the Early Access release, and said it was “a good amount of fun” despite some serious issues.
Sunless Sea, developed by Failbetter Games, actually left Early Access a year ago. It puts you at the helm of a Steampunk steamship and sets you off to explore a great, dark, top-down sea in the faux-Victorian universe of Fallen London. The Steam description is succinct: “Lose your Mind. Eat your crew. Die.” Despite some flaws, it pulled in a very healthy score of 80 in our review, and we recently got our first look at the new Zubmarine DLC that's in the works
Sunless Sea will be playable for free until 5 pm EST on January 31—that's Sunday—while Fractured Space, as mentioned, is a keeper as long as you pick it up before 7 am EST on February 1. If you like what you see, they're also on sale for the weekend: The Fractured Space Forerunner Pack is half-price—that's $5/£3.50—while Sunless Sea is 40 percent off, taking it to $11/£8. Both sale prices are on until February 1.
Update: There's a new Fractured Space trailer, too. Here it is!
