July 19, 2026
Sir Brante (89% Steam, Metacritic 82) goes free to keep on Steam through July 23, KeepUp Survival ends today at 10am PT, and Xbox Free Play Days close tonight
Subscribe
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, a narrative RPG that's been on Steam's free-to-keep schedule all month, finally goes live at zero dollars (normally $19.99) until Thursday, July 23 at 10am PT, timed perfectly to Monday's sequel The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian. Plus a free Mound DLC, four weekend deadlines (KeepUp Survival ends today, Xbox Free Play Days close tonight, the Steam free-play weekend and NoRush! end Monday), and the forward calendar. Every end date checked.
Steam: an 89-rated RPG is free to keep through July 23
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is free to keep on Steam until Thursday, July 23 at 10:00am PT (5pm UTC), down from its regular $19.99. Claim it and it stays in your library permanently; you don't have to install it now.
The consensus is strong. The Steam page lists 89% positive across 2,717 English reviews (Very Positive), and Metacritic sits at 82. It's a narrative-driven hardcore RPG from Sever and Schisma Games, published by 101XP, set in a gritty empire ruled by unrelenting gods where every choice carries a price and a resurrection system lets you revise your strategy after death. A first playthrough runs roughly 15 hours, with branching paths to a noble judge, inquisitor, or revolutionary. (ComicBook.com notes it's Steam Deck Verified.)
The timing isn't random. The same developers launch The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian on Monday, July 20, a new story in the same universe with a new protagonist (the crown prince, not a sequel to Sir Brante's commoner), and claiming Sir Brante now also unlocks a launch discount on the sequel. Sir Brante also lands on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 the same day, per TheGamer. The first two chapters are additionally free on GOG as a standalone sampler if you want to try before committing, per Notebookcheck. This is the highest-quality free-to-keep game Steam has offered in July, and the deadline is hard.
Also free to keep: a Mound DLC, with a catch
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu - Lost Explorers' Swords Pack is free to keep on Steam until Wednesday, July 29 at 10:00am PT, down from $4.99. It's a cosmetic pack with two sword skins for the co-op Lovecraftian expedition game that launched July 15.
The catch, per GameRant: you must own the base game The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu to claim the DLC, and the base game is $29.99 (currently 20% off at $23.99 as an introductory offer through July 29). So this is a free-with-purchase flavor of freebie, not a standalone giveaway. Worth grabbing only if you already own or plan to buy The Mound.
Deadlines today: KeepUp Survival and Xbox Free Play Days
Two promotions end today, Sunday, July 19.
KeepUp Survival ($14.99) is the last of Epic's surprise developer freebies still running, and it ends today at 10:00am PT (5:01pm UTC), only hours from delivery time. It's an open-world survival sandbox from Witte Studio with a Mixed 63% rating across roughly 670 Steam reviews after five years in early access, per GameRant. Grab it only if you're curious about a rough-edged survival sandbox, not because it's a hidden gem.
Xbox Free Play Days closes tonight for the three Game Pass-member titles: Crisol: Theater of Idols ($17.99, the Blumhouse Spanish-folklore survival horror, Steam 87% positive across about 3,654 reviews with Sixth Axis 9/10 and IGN Spain 8/10), Planet Zoo: Console Edition ($49.99, on sale at $4.99 for 90% off), and Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports ($49.99, on sale at $14.99 for 70% off). These are free to play, not keep, for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and Essential members through Sunday.
Two free-for-all-Xbox promotions run past tonight, per the same Xbox Wire post: GTA Online (Series X|S, $19.99, on sale at $9.99) is free with no Game Pass required through Tuesday, July 21, and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 ($19.99, on sale at $4.99) is free for all Xbox members during the Free Play Days window with no hard end date posted.
Deadlines tomorrow: Steam free-play weekend and NoRush!
The Steam free-to-play weekend ends Monday, July 20 at 10:00am PT (5pm UTC). Three games are free to play, not keep, per GG.deals and Polygon: Super Battle Golf (89% positive across roughly 6,500 reviews, 1-8 player co-op, $7.99 at 30% off), Empyrion - Galactic Survival (79% positive across roughly 18,000 reviews, space survival crafting, $19.99 at 60% off to $7.99), and MindsEye ($34.99, 53% positive, the "hot mess of 2025" per Polygon, not discounted on Steam but 50% off on GOG). Super Battle Golf is the easy recommend if you only try one; it's short enough to finish inside the window.
NoRush! Tower Edition ($2.49, a casual 3D platformer from FiveStar with only about two Steam reviews and no consensus) ends Monday at 10:00am UTC (3:00am PT). It's the weakest of Epic's July freebies, but it's two and a half dollars free to keep.
Also Monday: Steam Train Fest opens at 10:00am PT and runs through July 27, a week of discounts on train sims, builders, and transport tycoons. And The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian launches on Steam (paid, with a launch discount for Sir Brante owners).
Forward calendar
- Tue Jul 21: The Planet Crafter joins Game Pass day one (solo, after Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 was pulled over licensing). GTA Online's free-for-all-Xbox window closes.
- Wed Jul 22: Shift at Midnight joins Game Pass day one.
- Thu Jul 23: Prime Gaming's next batch drops (In Sound Mind, Mystic Academy). Epic's weekly swap replaces Echo Generation and Luto with Foretales ($19.99), offered solo and breaking the roughly three-month two-freebies-per-week streak. Sir Brante's free-to-keep window closes the same morning at 10am PT.
- Mon Jul 27: Steam Train Fest closes. Together After Dark (Epic, $2.99, Mixed about 56%) ends its free-to-keep run.
- Tue Jul 28: Halo Campaign Evolved joins Game Pass day one.
- Wed Jul 29: The Mound DLC free-to-keep window closes.
- Mon Aug 3: PlayStation Plus monthly games (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, For the King II, CrossCode) leave the lineup.
Still claimable now: Epic's weekly pair Echo Generation: Midnight Edition (OpenCritic 77) and Luto (OpenCritic 77, Metacritic 79) are free to keep through July 23 at 8am PT, and Together After Dark ($2.99) runs through July 27. Prime Gaming's July lineup is live, headlined by Escape Academy. PlayStation Plus's July monthly games run through August 3.
That’s the reading for this issue.
- Three Steam games are free to play through Monday (Super Battle Golf leads at 89% positive), KeepUp Survival ends tomorrow, and The Planet Crafter joins Game Pass Tuesday Jul 18
- Two day-one games land on Game Pass today, Tony Hawk 1+2 is quietly pulled from July's lineup, and Foretales becomes Epic's next free game Jul 17
- Echo Generation and Luto go free on Epic today, Escape Academy leads Prime's July 16 drop, and Mavrix launches on Game Pass Jul 16
- Today is the last day for 10 Game Pass games, a Devolver zombie sim joins Xbox today, and two well-reviewed games go free on Epic tomorrow Jul 15
Want the next one?
Every new Free Games & Deals Daily issue by email. One tap to unsubscribe.