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Epic Games is giving away Subnautica for free, if you use its new store

The game studio behind Fortnite is pushing to get more people using its Steam competitor.

Gordon Gottsegen CNET contributor
Gordon Gottsegen is a tech writer who has experience working at publications like Wired. He loves testing out new gadgets and complaining about them. He is the ghost of all failed Kickstarters.
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Gordon Gottsegen
subnautica-game-unknown-worlds

Subnautica is an underwater adventure game.

 Unknown Worlds

If you have a thing for aquatic-themed indie games you may have already heard of Subnautica, which recently won the 2018 Gamers' Choice Award for Fan Favorite Indie Game.

But if you haven't played it yet, you can get it now for free (the game usually costs $25). Epic Games, the creators of the smash-hit Fortnite , is letting people download Subnautica for free through the Epic Games Store on PC.

Epic Games unveiled its new games store earlier in December. While Valve's Steam has been the go-to place to download PC games, Epic is looking to get in on the action.

To make the Epic Games Store even more appealing, the company has promised a new free game every two weeks -- Subnautica is the first, with Super Meat Boy coming Dec. 28.

Epic Games has also made its store more competitive by sharing 88 percent of the revenue with game developers (Steam shares 65-70 percent of revenue with devs). This tactic is likely an appeal to game developers to sell their games through Epic.

Epic Games isn't the only one battling Steam. Gaming chat platform Discord also launched a PC games store earlier this year.