Prince Jerian launches today on Steam, Sir Brante free to keep through July 23

The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian, the follow-up to 2021's acclaimed black-and-white narrative RPG, goes live on Steam today, July 20, and to mark the launch its predecessor The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante (89% positive on Steam, Metacritic 82, normally $19.99) is free to keep through Thursday, July 23 at 10am PT. Plus Steam Train Fest opens at 10am PT this morning, the Steam free-play weekend ends two hours after this lands, GTA Online stays free on Xbox through tomorrow, and the forward calendar. Every end date checked.

Steam: Prince Jerian launches today, and Sir Brante is free to keep through July 23

The genuinely new thing today is a launch, not a giveaway. The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian, developed by Schisma Games and published by 101XP, released on Steam today, Monday, July 20. It is a paid game set in the same universe as 2021's The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, but with a new protagonist, a crown prince of the Blessed Arknian Empire, and new political-system mechanics reflecting his role. It is not a sequel or spin-off so much as a parallel story, and a free demo covering the first two chapters is live on its Steam page. Because it just launched, it has no user review score yet, so there is no consensus to cite. A free demo is the low-risk way to try it.

The actionable freebie is the original. The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is free to keep on Steam through Thursday, July 23 at 10am PT (5pm UTC), down from its usual $19.99, per gg.deals' freebie tracker. Once you claim it, it stays in your library permanently. The giveaway is timed to the sequel: claiming Sir Brante also unlocks a launch discount on Prince Jerian, so if you are curious about the new game, grabbing the free predecessor first is the cheaper path in. Sir Brante is the safer bet on quality alone: 89% positive across roughly 2,700 Steam reviews and a Metacritic 82, praised for its writing and monochrome art, with the caveat that it plays more like a "calculate your adventure" than a choose-your-own-adventure. Sir Brante also lands on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 today, though that is a paid console release, not a freebie.

This is the same Sir Brante free-to-keep we flagged yesterday, so if you already claimed it, the only new development is that the sequel it was promotionally tied to is now live. If you have not claimed it, three days remain.

Steam: Train Fest opens at 10am PT this morning, runs through July 27

Steam's next themed sale is Train Fest, running Monday, July 20 through Monday, July 27, and it opens at 10am PT today, about two hours after this issue lands. Valve describes it as a week of discounts across the train-game catalogue, covering rail sims, station builders, transport-management and tycoon games (TheBigBois, GameGrin). It replaces the Social Deduction Fest that closed July 16.

The honest caveat: because the event does not go live until 10am PT, the specific deals and any historic-low claims could not be verified at press time. One confirmed participant is The next train is, a real-time railway-dispatch strategy game, discounted 20% for the duration, but that is a modest cut on a small indie title, not a standout. Known train games likely to surface include Train Sim World 6 (which hit 80% off during the Summer Sale), Unrailed! (currently 85% off at $2.99 on Steam, matching its recurring low), and RAILGRADE (currently 70% off at $8.99, also a recurring low), but treat those as likely participants rather than verified Train Fest prices until the sale page is live. The right move is to check the Steam Trains category at 10am PT for the actual discounts. The next Steam sale after this is Cyberpunk Fest, August 3 to 10; no major seasonal sale until the Autumn Sale, October 1 to 8.

Deadlines: the Steam free-play weekend ends this morning, GTA Online free through tomorrow

Two deadlines hit today and tomorrow.

Steam free-to-play weekend ends today, Monday, July 20 at 10am PT (5pm UTC), the same moment Train Fest opens. Super Battle Golf (89% positive, roughly 6,500 Steam reviews, 1-8 player co-op), Empyrion - Galactic Survival (79% positive, roughly 18,000 reviews, space survival crafting), and MindsEye (53% positive, the divisive 2025 action game) are free to play, not keep, through that window. That gives you roughly two hours from when this issue lands. If you want to keep one, Super Battle Golf is $5.59 (30% off) and Empyrion is $7.99 (60% off) through July 23; MindsEye is not discounted on Steam.
GTA Online is free for all Xbox Series X|S members through Tuesday, July 21, no Game Pass subscription required, per the official Xbox Wire Free Play Days post. It is a free trial of the standalone online mode, not a keep-forever giveaway, and it is $9.99 on sale if you want to keep it. The same round's Game Pass titles (Crisol: Theater of Idols, Planet Zoo, Looney Tunes) closed Sunday night.

Still free right now and what lands next

The rest is status and the forward calendar, all previously covered and restated here only as end-date reminders.

Epic Games Store. Echo Generation: Midnight Edition (OpenCritic 77, 90s-nostalgia turn-based RPG, $24.99) and Luto (OpenCritic 77, Metacritic 79, P.T.-style psychological horror, $19.99) are free to keep through Thursday, July 23 at 8am PT (Epic's free-games page, PC Gamer). The surprise dev freebie Together After Dark ($2.99, 4-player co-op horror, Mixed on Steam) runs longer, through Monday, July 27. Next up is Foretales ($19.99, narrative card game), offered solo from July 23 to July 30, which breaks the roughly three-month streak of two freebies per week.
Steam DLC. The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu - Lost Explorers' Swords Pack ($4.99, a cosmetic sword-skin pack) is free to keep through Wednesday, July 29 at 10am PT, but it requires the base game The Mound ($29.99), so it is a free-with-purchase item, not a standalone giveaway.
Xbox Game Pass. The Planet Crafter, an open-world terraforming survival game with a Very Positive Steam consensus, joins Game Pass (Ultimate, Premium, PC) day one tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21. Shift at Midnight, a gas-station management horror game about spotting doppelgangers, follows day one Wednesday, July 22 (Xbox Wire). Halo Campaign Evolved arrives day one July 28.
Prime Gaming. The next Amazon Luna batch lands Thursday, July 23, led by In Sound Mind and Mystic Academy (Amazon Game Studios). Escape Academy and the current July games remain claimable until then.
PlayStation Plus. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, For the King II, and CrossCode are the July monthly games, claimable through Monday, August 3 (PlayStation Blog).