Two more games land on Epic’s free shelf on March 12: Isonzo (normally $29.99) and Cozy Grove (normally $14.99). You have until March 19 at 11 a.m. ET to claim both. That’s about $45 of games for zero dollars, and it takes thirty seconds per game to add them to your account permanently.
Claim both. Isonzo is the interesting one — a realistic WWI tactical shooter that’s nothing like modern military games. Cozy Grove is the cozy one — ghost bears and watercolor and Animal Crossing vibes. They’re completely different games for completely different moods, which makes this a genuinely solid week.
Isonzo: WWI Tactical FPS With Real Teeth
BlackMill Games is a small Dutch studio that has done exactly one thing for a decade: make World War One shooters. Verdun (2015) covered the Western Front. Tannenberg (2019) moved to the Eastern Front. Isonzo (September 2022) brings you to the Italian Front — the mountainous Alpine warfare between Italy and Austria-Hungary along the Isonzo River. If you’ve never heard of this theater of WWI, that’s kind of the point. These are battles that other games don’t touch.
This is not Call of Duty. One bullet from a bolt-action rifle ends your run. Magazines hold 5 rounds. Reloading takes several seconds of animation you can’t skip. There’s no kill streak system, no regenerating health, no minimap pinging enemy positions. What there is: 48-player team-based matches on historically inspired maps, a flare system for calling in artillery strikes, and a class system that actually requires coordination to work.
The six classes are Marksman, Assault, Engineer, Medic, Scout, and Officer. The Officer class issues tactical orders and calls in artillery — ignoring it costs your team coordination. The Engineer physically shapes the battlefield by placing sandbags, barbed wire, and ammo crates. It’s mechanically closer to Hell Let Loose or Squad than anything in the Battlefield series. The learning curve is real: if you sprint around corners expecting to win gunfights, you will die constantly and not understand why.
The maps are built around real battles — the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, the Strafexpedition — with hillside fortresses, mountain trenches, and Alpine city streets. Stone paths wind between ridgelines. You can flank through terrain that actually looks like it came from photographs of the Italian Front. Spending two minutes prone in tall grass and then ambushing an enemy squad is a legitimate strategy that works.
What the Scores Actually Mean
Metacritic: 67. OpenCritic: 71. Steam: 7,600+ Very Positive reviews. The gap between critic scores and user scores is explained entirely by the learning curve. Critics reviewing a new game every week didn’t enjoy relearning how to play a military shooter from scratch. Players who committed to it rate it significantly higher.
PlayStation Universe gave it a 90 at launch, calling it “one of the best tactical multiplayer shooters full stop.” IGN Italia scored it 73. The Dutch Game Awards gave it Best Audio in 2023 — the sound design is genuinely exceptional for a game at this budget level. The crack of a distant Mannlicher carbine, the thump of artillery landing 50 meters away, the hiss of a gas canister — it’s all accurate to period recordings and meticulously mixed.
The negative reviews are mostly: “I died too fast,” “it’s not like Battlefield,” and “the console controls are clunky.” Those aren’t wrong observations. They’re also not reasons to skip it when it’s free.
Things to Know Before You Download
Multiplayer only. No campaign, no bots, no offline mode. If online military shooters aren’t your thing, Isonzo won’t convert you — there’s no solo content to ease you in.
Playerbase timing matters. Peak hours have active servers. Off-peak hours can be thin. Check Steam Charts before sitting down for a session at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday.
There are 8 DLC packs: Elite Units, Alpine Units, Reserve Units, Veteran Units, Royal Units, Expedition Units, Glacial Units, and Third Wave. All of them are cosmetic — different uniforms and accessories for each class. None affect gameplay balance. You don’t need them, especially when you’re just starting out.
The Epic version gets you the base game. That’s everything you need to play all the maps and modes. The DLC packs are sold separately on Steam if you ever want them later.
Cozy Grove: Ghost Bears and Real Chill
Cozy Grove came out in April 2021 from Spry Fox, and PC Gamer’s review put it better than I can: “the closest thing to Animal Crossing on PC.” You’re a Spirit Scout who washes up on a haunted island. The island is home to ghost bears — literal bear ghosts — each with unfinished personal stories that you help resolve through daily quests, crafting, foraging, fishing, and decoration.
The structure is deliberately slow. You have a set of daily tasks for each bear spirit, and the island unlocks new content over real-time days. Sit down for 20-30 minutes, do your tasks, come back tomorrow. Metacritic positive across the board. The watercolor art style holds up four years later, and the ghost bear writing is surprisingly good — the bears are funny and melancholy in equal measure, which is a difficult balance to pull off.
The big caveat: if you hate the Animal Crossing pacing model, this will frustrate you. Cozy Grove does not work as a marathon session game. It’s designed to be a daily ritual, not a binge. Know going in which type of player you are.
It’s also worth noting that DLC exists — New Neighbears (April 2022) and Camp Spirit (June 2024) add more bear stories and content. Both are paid. The base game at $0 gives you the full original experience, which is substantial on its own.
How to Claim Both
Games go live on the Epic Games Store free games page March 12 at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET. They stay free until March 19 at the same time. You need a free Epic account. Add them to your library and they’re yours permanently — no subscription required.
If you haven’t grabbed this week’s free game yet, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank ($14.99) is free until March 12 — the window closes right as Isonzo and Cozy Grove open.
Bottom Line
Isonzo is the most historically authentic WWI shooter you’ll find anywhere, and it has a dedicated community that still plays it three years after release. Free is the right price to try a niche tactical multiplayer game — you find out in 30 minutes whether it’s for you, and you’ve lost nothing if it isn’t. Cozy Grove is genuinely good if you want something slow and story-driven, and the ghost bear writing will catch you off guard.
Both claim. Neither skip. This is one of the stronger Epic weeks in a while.
For more free gaming deals, check out Prime Gaming’s March 2026 lineup (13 free games including Total War: Rome II) and the Humble Choice March 2026 (Tempest Rising + Chants of Sennaar for $14.99).
