Steam Free Weekend — Over The Top: WWI and Front Mission 3: Remake (until Aug 23)
Steam is running a free weekend until Saturday, August 23 (closing at 15:00 UTC, or noon Eastern Time). Two very different titles, each representing a different side of what makes free weekends compelling.
Over The Top: WWI — tactical first-person combat
Over The Top: WWI (Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2778610/Over_The_Top_WWI/) is a tactical shooter set in World War I, developed by Realtime Games Studio. The game places players as squad commanders who must coordinate movement, cover, and suppression fire on maps based on real terrain. Unlike the arcade shooters that dominate the store, here every firefight requires reconnaissance, communication between units, and battlefield reading — the same type of decision a 1916 infantry officer would make.
What makes the free weekend valuable is that Over The Top has an ambitious scope. The single-player campaign features a linear narrative across the major theaters of operation, while the multiplayer mode supports up to 16 players, allowing friend groups to replay the same situations with team-based dynamics. The developer, a small French studio that first showed the prototype in 2014 via Kickstarter, has learned from community feedback to create an AI system that makes allies and enemies react believably — retreating under fire, seeking cover, and flanking.
The most frequently cited limitation by critics is the learning curve: commanding a virtually untrained squad in combat requires patience and tolerance for mistakes. But that is also the game's greatest strength — Over The Top doesn't give you superpowers; it gives you responsibility.
Front Mission 3: Remake — the tactical mecha that defined a genre
Front Mission 3: Remake (https://frontmissionremake.com/front-mission-3/, https://store.steampowered.com/app/3795900/FRONT_MISSION_3_Remake/) represents a completely different genre — and a heavily loaded nostalgia. The original was released in 1995 for PlayStation, developed by MegaPixel Studio and published by Square (now Square Enix). It was the third entry in the Front Mission series and has since become one of the best tactical RPGs with wankers (wanzers, mecha combat vehicles) of the decade.
The remake version, now under development by Forever Entertainment, brings modernized pixel art graphics, remastered soundtrack, and redesigned interface for modern screens, but keeps the original story intact — a fictional geopolitical conflict where nations dispute resources with army wanzers. What the remake reveals is how the design of Front Mission 3 influenced games like Tactics Ogre and Disgaea in its use of hexagonal maps with vehicles as the central strategic element.
The free weekend is particularly significant because the original Front Mission was one of the few mecha titles that prioritized politics and narrative over spectacular battles. Each wanzer is built piece by piece — legs, arms, armor, propulsion system — and each combination alters not only the visual but the strategy of each match. It's a depth of customization that few successors have matched.
Xbox Game Pass — August Wave 2
The second wave of August arrived on Game Pass on August 18 with three distinct releases:
- Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (https://www.xbox.com/pt-BR/games/store/resonance-a-plague-tale-legacy/9ppbncxp0096): A narrative RPG inspired by the atmosphere of A Plague Tale: Innocent, but with open-world exploration and puzzle gameplay. Square Enix is using the wave to test the ground before potential sequels. - Vapor World: Over the Mind (https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/vapor-world-over-the-mind-game-preview/9N5VHX8KMVNV): An independent souls-like that combines challenging combat with fragmented narrative in a dystopian cyberpunk world. The developer is a small Japanese studio that gained prominence in 2025 for its minimalist approach. - Blood Dungeon (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2431080/Blood_Dungeon/): Arriving on Game Pass on August 25, already listed in the previous wave. An action roguelike with 2D autoshooter elements, developed by Mockingjay (the team behind Nidhogg). The game combines frenetic combat with roguelike progression, where each descent into the dungeon is a new cycle of escalating difficulty.
Game Pass continues to be the subscription service adding the most quality indie titles to the market. The decision to include Resonance — which would be a direct port to consoles — shows Square Enix exploring the catalog as a way to give life to niche titles.
Games Radar — August 21, 2026
Summary of this week's news:
| Platform | Game | Type | Until | Link | |---|---|---|---|---| | Steam | Over The Top: WWI | Free Weekend | Aug 23 | https://store.steampowered.com/app/2778610/Over_The_Top_WWI/ | | Steam | Front Mission 3: Remake | Free Weekend | Aug 23 | https://store.steampowered.com/app/3795900/FRONT_MISSION_3_Remake/ | | Game Pass | Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy | New | Aug 18 | https://www.xbox.com/pt-BR/games/store/resonance-a-plague-tale-legacy/9ppbncxp0096 | | Game Pass | Vapor World: Over the Mind | New | Aug 18 | https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/vapor-world-over-the-mind-game-preview/9N5VHX8KMVNV | | Game Pass | Blood Dungeon | New | Aug 25 | https://store.steampowered.com/app/2431080/Blood_Dungeon/ |
Over The Top: WWI and Front Mission 3: Remake can be played for free on Steam until Saturday, August 23 at noon (Brasília time). After that, you'll need to purchase the key or wait for the next free weekend. The three Game Pass titles are available until the next cancellation, typically at the start of September.
Sources: Steam Store, Front Mission 3 Remake Official, Steam Store (Front Mission 3), Xbox Wire, Xbox Store, Steam Store (Blood Dungeon)
✓ Independent sources cross-checked and verified before publishing
