Death Stranding is available for free on the Epic Games Store right now

Update: The site has reopened after Epic's servers suffered the kind of damage last witnessed when it gave free Grand Theft Auto 5. Only now, instead of the director's cut, the Christmas offer is for Death Stranding's base version (opens in a new tab).

Sam Porter Bridges is the real Santa Claus, according to the original narrative.

Every day for a few weeks in December, Epic offers a brand-new free game on the Epic Game Store (opens in a new tab). Great purchases from this year have already been made, such as the vintage Fallout games and the Christmas Eve present of Metro: Last Light Redux. But Christmas Day is really delivering: On December 25, Epic made Death Stranding: Director's Cut available without charge.

We chose Death Stranding as our 2020 Game of the Year (opens in new tab) and were grateful for all the extra features the Director's Cut gave this already outstanding title. Even while the main game is now somehow a full three years old, it was only launched on PC this year, making this a very recent giveaway for Epic.

We talked about the pandemic's impact on Death Stranding earlier this year.

Now that we know a sequel is in the works, we can hope that it will feature even more outrageously named characters (opens in a new tab).

Although the Death Stranding Director's Cut offer seems to be straining the Epic Games Store, it is still accessible as of this writing. Give it some time to load, then try again if you're having difficulties. Death Stranding will remain on sale for another day before returning to its regular $40 pricing. If you already purchase the main game on Steam, you can upgrade to the Director's Cut for only $6 as part of the current Steam promotion (opens in new tab).