To celebrate Prime Day 2023, Amazon is giving away a foursome of games via its often-overlooked Prime Gaming service, and the new selection includes a popular action game set within the Star Wars universe.
From July 10 (Prime Day officially starts on July 11), Amazon Prime members can claim a free copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on PC. Released in 2008, The Force Unleashed is one of the best-selling Star Wars games of all time and continues to make waves to this day. It was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2022.
Alongside The Force Unleashed, Prime Gaming is also giving away Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition, 2017’s Prey reboot and Shovel Knight: Showdown (starting July 6). The service’s regularly-scheduled monthly games are also still available to claim for free and currently include Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition and SteamWorld Dig 2.
If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you already have access to Prime Gaming so be sure to claim all these free games over the Prime Day period. And remember that once claimed these games are yours to keep. So, even if a particular game doesn’t appeal to you right now, you should still grab it for a potential playthrough at a later date.
Why you should play Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, The Force Unleashed tells an original story that is now classified as part of the non-canonical Star Wars Expanded Universe. You play as Starkiller, a powerful force user that has been trained since childhood to become Darth Vader’s apprentice. And it’s your job to hunt down the last remnants of the Jedi order and quell any rebellion against the Galactic Empire — all while keeping your very existence a secret.
Players are given a sizeable arsenal of powers including lightning, telekinesis and Vader’s iconic force choke. Plus, when your force meter is depleted, you can always swing your trusty lightsaber to carve through your foes. The real joy of The Force Unleashed is combining your powers together to create devastatingly damaging combos that even the likes of Yoda couldn’t pull off in their wildest dreams.
While the levels are highly linear, you get to visit a variety of iconic Star Wars locations including the Wookie home of Kashyyyk and the shiny hallways of Cloud City. Star Wars lovers will get a real kick out of all the fan service within, and you might want to consider the game’s various DLC chapters that allow you to hunt down iconic characters from the original trilogy including Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.
There’s no denying that The Force Unleashed lacks the exploration and combat depth of the more recent Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. But even 15 years after its release it remains a total blast, primarily thanks to its seriously impressive physics — the way enemies bounce off walls and objects when you force blast them never stops being darkly humorous. And as my colleague Tom Pritchard found last month when he replayed The Force Unleashed for the first time in years, it’s a Star Wars game that still holds up pretty darn well in 2023.
And if you enjoy playing The Force Unleashed via Prime Gaming, you can pick up its sequel afterward. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 offers more of the same over-the-top action, and while it was criticized at launch for its weak story and its short length, fans of the original Force Unleashed will appreciate all of Starkiller’s new powers. Not to mention the sequel lets you wield multiple lightsabers at once and, as proven by General Grievous, the more lightsabers at your disposal the better.
