Controversial Ex-Epic Games Store Exclusive Now Free On Steam

If you’re like me and feel life is entirely too short to spend on important, self-congratulatory games (or people, for that matter), might I recommend 2020’s Sludge Life? Once exclusive to the Epic Games Store, it arrived on Steam about a year later where you could buy it for 15 bucks. Right now, though, you can grab it for free (for a limited time) as a part of a promotion for the game’s just-announced sequel which, believe it or not, is titled Sludge Life 2.

A trippy, low-risk platformer where you bounce around a world ravaged by pollution and work-induced alienation, Sludge Life has you tagging up various bits of property as you chat with disaffected locales who are going all-in on pessimistic readings of Nietzsche, are terrified of pigeons, or are really impressed that some random lady just straight up stole a washing machine. Upon its release in 2020, it caused a bit of a stir in Australia, where it earned the “RC” (Refused Classification) rating for its blatant ribaldry, thus making it ineligible for release on Nintendo Switch in the region (you can buy it on Switch in other regions for the standard $15 asking price). The game saw a brief exclusivity window on the Epic Games Store, but you can nab it now on Steam for the cool price of fuck all.

If you played, and enjoyed, the recently released High on Life, this game will be right up your alley—and hey, at least I’m recommending a game to you this time that isn’t voiced by someone who’s done some deeply reprehensible things, to put it mildly. In fact, it would be hard to believe High on Life didn’t take some inspiration from this game. The vibes are very similar and even the soundtrack, though composed by different artists, has a nice chill taste to it that fits the sentiments of this game perfectly. And had I known about it before, it would absolutely have been included on my list of games to play after that trippy experience; consider this entry number 13 on that one.

Read More: 12 Games To Play After You’ve Finished High On Life

Despite some potentially dizzying visuals with heavy aliasing and one instance of what I’m pretty sure is a depiction of self-harm (arguably much of the drug use in this game is also potentially triggering for some, so take caution), Sludge Life is a chill, amusing take on how much it sucks to be alive in this—a world that’s barely kept together by the coercive nature of economically-enforced labor. What an escape!