Total War and Pac-Man Offered as Free Games to Play While Staying Indoors

Most people are staying indoors and practicing social distancing right now due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For some, this means a lot more time to play games, and two companies are providing some free games to help fill the time.

Both Total War: Shogun 2 and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 will be free to own for a short time over the next week or so. Bandai Namco announced the latter on Twitter, with the Pac-Man title available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Creative Assembly announced Shogun 2's free-to-own period on the Total War blog, alongside a sale of other Total War games due for the same time.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 will be free from April 24 through May 10. Meanwhile, Total War: Shogun 2 will only be free-to-own from April 27 through May 1, so if you're eager for some grand strategy, you might want to mark the calendar.

Publishers in the past have done special giveaways and sales centered around campaigns to stay indoors and "flatten the curve" of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. With social distancing practices carrying on for the foreseeable future, it seems like we might see a second wave of these campaigns, as other games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare are hosting free weekends.

As we're seeing the short and long-term effects of COVID-19 on the games industry, at least some companies are supporting good health practices. Stay indoors, wash those hands, and wakka-wakka your way through a maze of fruit and ghosts.