Get Observer and Alan Wake's American Nightmare for free on the Epic Games Store next week

The Epic Games Store is giving away not one, but two creepy games in time for Halloween - both Alan Wake's American Nightmare and Observer are available for free from October 17 to October 24. The psychological horror games will replace Surviving Mars and its DLC as the free weekly content offered in the Epic Games Store.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a spin-off of the classic thriller Alan Wake. Much of the game is structured around an episode of Night Springs, an in-universe show that's an obvious homage to The Twilight Zone. Alan Wake's friend is asleep in a motel room while the show plays on the TV, and a narrator explains the action as it plays out. In the episode, Alan is trying to chase down his evil doppelganger, Mr. Scratch, but gets stuck in a time loop and must keep repeating his actions.

Observer is a cyberpunk horror game from Layers of Fear developer Bloober Team that stars Rutger Hauer (you know, the guy from Blade Runner). It's set in a futuristic Poland, where you play as Daniel Lazarski, a detective who can hack people's brain implants in order to interrogate them. When Daniel receives an unexpected call from his estranged son, a fragmented, trippy mystery lays itself out before you.

When the Epic Games Store first launched its free game offers in December 2018, it was a bi-weekly event. In May 2019, Epic increased the frequency of free game releases to one a week. Both games offered as next week's freebies are great fun and ripe for the spooky season pickin', so hop on them if you're in the mood to be scared.

And if you want to stay scared, check out the 20 best horror games of all time.

Alyssa Mercante used to be a features writer at GamesRadar+ and is now a freelance writer and editor. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.