Key Highlights:
- There are a handful of free to play release scheduled for January 2026.
- We also have our usual series of giveaways from EGS.
- Consoles offer free games as part of their subscription lineup.
The new year begins, as does a fresh batch of upcoming releases in the video games front. January 2026 is no exception in this regard, offering a rather modest selection of free to play titles and massive giveaways, depending on the platform you are subscribed to at the moment.
We will be listing the best games to look out for in this month, sorted by platforms and sub platforms below.
Best Free Games to Get in January 2026
Before we begin the list, a few important reminders must be passed around. For starters, the contents of this list are indicative as of the time of writing this article. As such, some of these deals may expire at a later date, so make sure to ‘redeem’ them at your earliest.
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Additionally, most of these games will remain locked behind their respective subscription tiers (at least for consoles), so you will require an active PSN/Xbox Game Pass/Nintendo Switch Online sub in order to proceed with claiming the games.
With that in mind, here’s what we know so far.
PlayStation 5
Assuming that you have a subscription to PlayStation Plus Extra and/or Premium, you can go ahead and claim the following games, starting January 6, 2026:
- Need for Speed Unbound
- Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed
- Core Keeper
Need for Speed Unbound and Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed are likely your best picks here, and are pretty solid games for the subscription price. With the exception of Unbound, the other two games within the list are compatible with PS4 consoles as well.
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox consoles get their monthly dose of free games via the Xbox Game Pass app/subscription, which saw a few changes recently. For starters, the base (Essential) tier has a way more limited selection of titles on offer.
The Premium tier is the middle of the road option, but does not offer day one releases with it. As such, Ultimate remains the best option at present, largely thanks to day one releases, combined with EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classsics thrown into the mix.
January 2026’s games include:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- Bratz Rythm & Style
- Mortal 1 Kombat
- Ultimate Sheep Raccoon
- Winter Burrow
- The Crew Motorfest
- Marvel Cosmic Invasion
- Routine
- Stellaris Console Edition
- Brawlhalla
- Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
- MIO: Memories in Orbit (Upcoming!)
- High on Life 2 (Upcoming!)
Nintendo Switch 2
There’s not a whole lot to see here, and your ‘free’ games will be restricted to F2P titles (such as Fortnite) and a few classic titles seen within the Nintendo Classic bundles (for Gamecube, GBA, N64 and more).
PC
PC includes a plethora of platforms, but we will be listing the only two that really matter – Steam and EGS.
Epic Games Store
With last year’s New Year bonanza coming to a close, the Epic Games Store has exactly two games available to claim for free, as of the time of writing this article:
- Total War: Three Kingdoms
- Wildgate
Both games can be claimed until next week. That is, January 8, 2026 after which you will be required to purchase them. Bloons TD 6 is also scheduled as the next free game.
Steam
While Steam isn’t particularly known for its giveaways, the platform does host more than a few titles which are designated as F2P.
For starters, we have Highguard, a free to play PvP title from ex Respawn devs. This will be followed by a release of The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, an open world RPG much akin to Genshin Impact.
We also have Arknights: Endfield releasing on January 22, which is one of the more hyped games to be releasing (in terms of F2P releases) later this month.
