Controversial Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy is currently free to claim and keep, but it's about to fly away on its magical broomstick if you don't move fast.

Just yesterday, the Epic Games Store announced that the blockbuster open-world fantasy game would be available for free on its similarly divisive storefront. All you need to do is log into the store, go to Hogwarts Legacy's page, and download it - it's then yours to keep forever (or for as long as the Epic Games Store is a thing.)

The Epic Games Store offers free mystery games every week on rotation, so if you'd like to dabble with some in-game witchcraft, you'll need to do so before December 18, 2025, at which point Hogwarts Legacy will be replaced with another free mystery game.

Earlier this year, we learned that Hogwarts Legacy's DLC and Director's Cut, which was reportedly co-created by Batman Arkham's Rocksteady, had been cancelled because the studio wasn't sure if it would be worth players' money. There's been no word on a sequel, but Hogwarts Legacy was an absolute sales juggernaut, so it wouldn't surprise me if developer Avalanche was working on a follow-up as we speak.

Elsewhere, Netflix announced its intent to acquire Warner Bros, including its subsidiaries like DC, HBO, and WB Games, which are responsible for Rocksteady, most LEGO games, Avalanche, NetherRealm and Mortal Kombat, and more. It's unclear how or if the historic acquisition will affect WB's gaming division.

The release of Hogwarts Legacy has been the subject of criticism and debate due to J.K. Rowling's public stance on gender identity, which continues to challenge the inclusivity at the heart of the Harry Potter community. Here is our explainer on the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.

As a kid I grew up on the Isle of Man, and near where I lived was a town called Castletown. In Castletown there was, predictably, a castle, and in the castle gatehouse was a model of an archer, standing with his bow drawn as if to aim through an arrowslit. Whenever someone passed through the gatehouse, the fake archer would yell "Who goes there?" in a big, booming voice.

It's a phrase that has always stuck with me for some reason, one of those weird bits of mental detritus that rolls around at the back of the old braincase. Anyway, it got jostled right to the front when I first encountered Gate Guard Simulator, which is basically an entire game about asking the question "Who Goes There?"

A Papers, Please variant wearing Kingdom Come: Deliverance's codpiece, Gate Guard simulator puts you in the plate mail of the latest recruit to the castle guard, charged with vetting entry into your lord's domain. Each in-game day, you must stand at the threshold between civilisation and the wilderness, checking the paperwork of everyone from monks to minstrels.

At a basic level, this involves assessing documentation to ensure that a citizen's family crests are authentic and not forged. But as you can probably guess, matters will quickly become complicated. According to the game's Steam page "no two citizens are alike, and you'll need to choose the right set of tools to verify their story."

For example, you'll need to watch out for criminals as depicted on wanted posters, and check citizens for signs of disease, lest you inadvertently set a plague upon your lord's house. Citizens who are denied entry may be turned away or, as is suggested by the game's trailer and screenshots, subjected to more creative punishments like being pilloried or tossed into the moat.

You'll also need to keep a watchful eye out for smugglers, checking haycarts and carriages for potential contraband like, er, rabbits. Geese seem to feature prominently in Gate Guard Simulator too, though their legal status is currently unclear. Like Papers, Please, there's an ethical undercurrent at play, with your watchman able to choose to uphold the law or enrich themselves by accepting bribes. Coin earned from wages or otherwise can be used to buy better weapons and gear for yourself.

Gate Guard Simulator is expected to arrive on duty sometime next year. I'm always up for a bit of document-based deduction, and this game looks like a fun take on it. Developer Redox Interactive has no visible prior history on Steam, but the Austrian outfit has previously developed games such as the turn-based tactical RPG Dromenon. Publisher Forklift Interactive is more familiar, having handled publishing duties for this year's minor hit Cash Cleaner Simulator.