Play Borderlands 2 for free this weekend on Steam

By Will Fulton August 21, 2014

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Gearbox Software’s fantastic RPG shooter Borderlands 2 is free to play on Steam from now through Sunday, August 24 at 1pm PT.

By no coincidence, the free weekend is part of a larger sale for games published by 2K that is also running this weekend, reducing the price of the publisher’s entire catalog by up to 80-percent. That includes some of our favorite (and most universally praised) games from the last few years, such as Civilization V, BioShock Infinite, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Within.

It is now also possible to pre-order the next iteration of the Borderlands franchise, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. If you’ve never played Borderlands 2, there’s no better time to check it out. With a complete cycle of DLC already out in the wild, there’s more than enough gameplay to keep you occupied for the rest of the summer before the fall 2014 release madness begins.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Steam launches new trial service featuring a free 90-minute Dead Space demo

Isaac Clarke aims at a necromorph in Dead Space.

Steam is rolling out a new feature that allows developers and publishers to offer limited-time free trials for their games. The first title to have one is EA Motive's Dead Space remake.

Motive released its remake of Dead Space in January to critical acclaim. Now, almost four months after launch, EA announced it is running a 20% off sale for Dead Space on Steam and is offering a free trial through May 29. Over the next two weeks, anyone with a Steam account can try out Dead Space for an hour and a half for free. Players do have to download the full game before starting the free trial and can then choose to purchase the full game once their 90 minutes are up.

Gaming

You need to read this free Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 prequel comic

Miles Morales and Peter Parker stand together in Spider-Man 2.

While Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is supposed to come out sometime this fall, we don't actually have that much information on the video game's narrative or any other differences from its predecessors. That's why those looking forward to the game should check out the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 prequel comic, which was previously released physically, but is now available for free on Marvel's website.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023) No. 1, which was written by Christos Gage and illustrated by Ig Guara, was released physically on May 6 for Free Comic Book Day. Now, just a few days later, Insomniac Games and Marvel have followed up on their promise to make the book available digitally for free, so you can easily read it on Marvel.com.
It's a breezy read that doesn't contain many shocking revelations, but gives more context on what Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Mary Jane Watson have been up to since the events of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. In terms of new villains introduced here that could show up in the game, the Spider-Men fight The Tarantula, an arachnid-themed assassin, and The Hood, a gang leader who's trying to use magic for personal gain.
On the more character-focused side of things, we learn that Peter, Miles, and MJ are now all working together as a tight crime-fighting unit. Peter is now trying to get a teaching certificate and to convince MJ to move in with him. As Peter now lives in Aunt May and Uncle Ben's old house in Queens, that could mean we'll get to explore more boroughs of New York City in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Meanwhile, Miles decides to pursue a Music Technology major at Empire State University, and J. Jonah Jameson decides to buy back ownership of the Daily Bugle.
There's little more than a passing mention of Norman Osborn, and we don't see Harry Osborn, Kraven, or Venom in action, so there aren't any must-know reveals from this free comic. Still, it's worth a read if you want to get reacquainted with this Marvel universe, the headspace of the heroes within it, and the gadgets they use ahead of Marvel's Spider-Man 2's launch.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will release exclusively for PlayStation 5 sometime this fall.

Gaming

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn’t the only game to check out this month

may 2023 games not zelda tears of the kingdom holding

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out this Friday, May 12. And after the disappointing launch of Redfall, it might seem like the only game that matters this month. The highly anticipated sequel will have all the open-world magic of Breath of the Wild while further deepening the playful sandbox possibilities with its Fuse and Ultrahand systems. It’ll be the talk of the game industry for a while as soon as it comes out. Still, if you don’t own a Nintendo Switch or aren’t that interested in what Tears of the Kingdom has to offer, you may feel a bit left in the dust.
You shouldn’t, though, as many exciting games are still coming out this month across all platforms. Over the past couple of weeks, quite a few titles, spanning a wide variety of genres and franchises new and old, have confirmed late-May release windows. If you aren’t too busy playing through Tears of the Kingdom, keep your eye on some of these neat-looking games.
The week after TOTK
The week following Tears of the Kingdom's launch will undoubtedly be the weirdest feeling for those who aren’t playing it. Your social media feeds will likely be dominated by impressions of the game, wacky Ultrahand builds, and other neat discoveries players are making. This may activate a bit of FOMO if you aren’t playing, but alternatives are launching the week after Tears of the Kingdom.
On the exclusives front, PlayStation players will have a console and VR exclusive game called Humanity, published by the team that developed the excellent Tetris Effect. Don’t think that building Tears of the Kingdom’s contraptions to overcome obstacles is the only way to scratch that puzzle-game itch this month.
Humanity is a puzzle game where players must overcome challenges by commanding large crowds of people as a Shibu Inu dog. Yes, this game looks as weird and trippy as that premise sounds, and it will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, and PlayStation VR2 on May 16, making it the first big post-Tears of the Kingdom release.

Continuing on the puzzle game note, Cyan, the developers behind Myst, are finally releasing Firmament on May 18, so that’s a rarity fans of the classic PC and Mac games should check out.
One other game this May is also going to let players build their own vehicles and explore an open world is going to try and follow up Tears of the Kingdom: Lego 2K Drive. As its name suggests, this is a Lego racing game where players build and collect Lego vehicles and then complete challenges throughout an open-world Forza Horizon-style.