The Epic Games Store has just released a new game called "Oh shit, what's the password for my Epic account? It's Guardians of the Galaxy, released by Eidos Montreal in 2021. The campaign will run from today through next Wednesday, January 10.

Crystal Dynamics' much-maligned "Avengers" live-service game, "Guardians," was a bit of a surprise as a high-quality single-player campaign. All of Disney's budget went into the story and set pieces, and it's a modest 15 hours long.

Despite being released with countless performance issues and glitches, "Guardians" cleaned up its act by the end of 2021, earning one of the "Best Character" awards in Game of the Year. At the time, PCG staff writer Morgan Park described the game as "basically like 'Uncharted' with better characters," and online editor Fraser Brown wrote, "A colorful alien planet, a spaceship full of cops, a space god skull in a . a city to relax in, it's an incredibly fun excursion, and beyond the popcorn-eating distractions of the Guardians themselves."

Despite the critical acclaim, I couldn't bring myself to play it. There are too many games to play and too many leftovers from Marvel's recent video games and movies (aside from "Midnight Sands"). It helps that with "Guardians of the Galaxy," I can squint and think "Fifth Element" or "Valerian. [no longer have to come up with $60, 150 gigs of storage (ouch!) and just a dozen hours of time. I'm a big fan of Eidos Montreal's "Deus Ex" reboot series, and I love the robot weaponry economy, etc. To buy "Guardians of the Galaxy" from the Epic Games Store, you have until January 10 to sign up.