Why You Can Trust CNET Friday freebie roundup: HBO, 1Password, PC games, Marvel comics, Cards Against Humanity
Tons of totally free stuff, there for the taking.
HBO's free streaming lineup includes the first two seasons of the genuinely fantastic series Barry.
I continue to look for upsides to this pandemic nightmare. One: I get to spend plenty of quality time with my family. Two: Free stuff everywhere. You may have already seen my post on free entertainment to help you survive social distancing, as well as Dave Johnson's mega-roundup of all the freebies you can get right now.
But today I thought I'd break out a subset of the latest and greatest giveaways, starting with this truly amazing one: free HBO. Starting now, you can stream hundreds of hours' worth of programming, including every season of Barry (yes!), Silicon Valley and Veep. There are also some family-friendly movies including The Lego Movie 2 and Pokemon Detective Pikachu.
Next up: games. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, don't miss these five free PC games worth over $100. You have to jump through a hoop or two (creating and then connecting a Twitch account), but it's all pretty easy. Meanwhile, Epic just rolled out its latest selection of free games, including the delightful indie puzzler Hob and captivating walking sim (yes, that's a thing) Gone Home. GOG is now offering the sci-fi strategy sim Symmetry for free, though reviews of that one are pretty mixed. But, hey, it's free, so who cares?
Read more: The best gaming router of 2020
Grab a dozen high-profile Marvel comics, free from Comixology.
Love comics ? Dark Horse is offering a ton of free first-issue comics, with titles including Hellboy and Stranger Things as well as a nice selection for kids: Frozen, The Incredibles, Disney Treasure Island and more. Next, head to Comixology to find a dozen free Marvel comics -- Avengers vs. X-Men Collection and Civil War among them.
Need a new game to play with the family? Here's a surprising option: Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition, which is not only free to play, but also something you can download and print. (Take note, however, that you'll have to click through a couple pages of "agreements," including one that may offend you politically.) You'll need a decent amount of paper and ink -- the two versions span 21 and 47 pages, depending on the card size you choose. Consider raising your game, so to speak, by printing on card stock instead of plain paper.
Speaking of your family, this might be the ideal to get everyone started with a password manager. Normally I recommend LastPass, which is always free, but here's something to consider instead: 1Password Families is free for 12 months. (After that: $5 per month.) It has a number of useful, practical family features, which is part of the reason it made CNET's list of the best password managers.
That's it for now. Stay safe, everyone. Stay healthy, and try to stay optimistic.
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