Black Friday 2021 Deals: A Gaming Buyer's Guide
Updated November 23, 2021
It’s that time of year, time to build up a massive library of games that can see you through the long, dark winter to come.
Black Friday is easily the most important day, week, month of deep discounts on all things gaming, from the hardware to build out your dream PC to the wonderful games it can play. And we’re here to help you sort through it all, finding the best deals on the Epic Games Store.
Perhaps the best way to do that is to explain what Black Friday is, where you can find the best deals, and detail what to expect from the Epic Games Store Black Friday sale itself.
We’ve put together a small list, taken from the 900 games, editions, and add-ons on sale, with discounts ranging from 10% to 95% off. There are AAA blockbusters here that have never been on sale until now, classic titles we’ve loved for years and believe you will too, and lots in-between. If you have everything here, something on your wishlist will have a deep discount. Go on, treat yourself!
Alien Isolation - Recommended for thrill seekers
There have been plenty of Alien and Aliens video games since the movies helped to reshape what sci-fi horror could be in cinema. But few have you as deliberately helpless and on the edge of your seat as Alien: Isolation. In this stealth survival horror game, you play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, who works to discover what happened to her mom and make sure it doesn’t happen to her.
Alien Isolation is 75% off.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - Recommended for Viking anglophiles
Eivor and her band of Vikings land in ninth-century England, planning to take over the whole country. It’s the ultimate Viking raid. From ‘Lunden’ to ‘Jortvik’, you’ll sweep the swamps and cities of the warlords and kingdoms, building a settlement into a seat of power for your Viking ruler. It’s a tale worthy of epic poems, but also filled with smaller, personal adventures. Like meeting a man who doesn’t realize he has an axe stuck in his head.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and its Add-Ons are up to 50% off.
Back 4 Blood - Recommended for team players
The spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead franchise offers a varied take on its source material. Mission-shaping player and corruption cards, a cast of specialized “cleaners.” and some surprisingly atrocious infected, make this first-person survival horror a blast to play with friends.
Back 4 Blood is 30% off.
Borderlands 3 - Recommended for gun nuts
Got friends? Get this. Borderlands 3 is a fully-loaded RPG shooter with bazillions of guns and plenty of characters to pick. Go on vast raids across the solar system, hunting the best, or silliest guns in the game’s vaults. If you’ve ever wanted a game that casually tosses you an SMG that fires rounds in a heart shape, or a gun that fires other weapons, this is the one for you.
Borderlands 3 is up to 75% off.
Chivalry 2 - Recommended for knightly hackers
The heavy armor and big swords of Chivalry II belie the dexterity and deft tactics required to succeed in this hack and slash multiplayer game. The first-person and third-person action game has players cut and parry their way through massive battlefields packed with fluid, cinematic experiences.
Chivalry 2 is 20% off.
Conan Exiles - Recommended for fantasy fighters
The multiplayer survival game set in the world of Conan. Conan himself sets you loose on the sandbox, where you’ll build your own base and fight for power among other players. No guns, but mounts, swords, bows, and even siege weapons are all available for you to assert yourself.
Conan Exiles is 70% off.
Control - Recommended for sci-fi fans
Jess Faden finds herself the Director of a secretive agency in New York City, where she must use her newfound abilities to regain control in the mayhem that seems to thrive within its halls. Created by Remedy, the same team behind Alan Wake, Control is a vibrant action adventure game steeped in the supernatural and memorable story telling.
Control is 70% off.
Crysis Remastered Trilogy - Recommended for PC builders
The classic, PC challenging series returns with new specs for those who want to once again ask, “But can it run Crysis?” The one-man vs everything approach in Crytek’s shooter series makes you feel like a predator, cloaking yourself, grabbing soldiers out of patrols, throwing turtles at helicopters. It wouldn’t be Crysis without some attempt to set your PC aflame with all of the graphics. The remasters include an experimental ray-tracing mode that once again tests the very best PCs.
Crysis Remastered Trilogy is 20% off.
Crysis Remastered is 50% off.
Crysis Remastered 2 is 20% off.
Crysis Remastered 3 is 20% off.
Darkest Dungeon II - Recommended for hardcore tacticians
Maybe Darkest Dungeon II isn’t quite as dark as the original, but it’s still a harrowing tale of survival, PTSD, and impending doom all set in a world teetering on annihilation. Tweaks to the combat, cast of characters, and end goal, though, give this role-playing roguelike a distinct look and feel.
Darkest Dungeon II is 10% off.
The Eternal Cylinder - Recommended for Sir David Attenborough
You’re in charge of a herd of creatures in a very alien ecosystem. You explore the bizarre planet, growing your little aliens into a tribe, selecting choice mutations to survive. Oh, and there’s a huge, cylindrical machine the size of the horizon slowly, steadily crushing everything in its path. Flee to survive! Then flee some more! Nope, you still have lots more fleeing to do.
The Eternal Cylinder is 25% off.
Far Cry 6 - Recommended for animal lovers
Ubisoft’s revolutionary open-world shooter pits your guerrilla fighter against a charismatic South American dictator (played by Giancarlo Esposito). Rid the tropical paradise of his corrupt regime by battling the army with Compact Disc launchers, explosive backpacks, and home-made helicopters. It’s loads of chaotic fun, and full of quests and collectibles. More importantly, you can pet the dog.
Far Cry 6 is up to 20% off. 
FTL: Faster Than Light - Recommended for Star Trek fans
This space roguelike puts you in charge of a fleeing spaceship, doing everything it can to keep ahead of an overwhelming alien force. It’s an unpredictable game, where your tactics involve bursting your own airlocks open to flush out invaders, even if that means half your ship is left uninhabitable and a crewmate joins the invaders in space.
FTL: Faster Than Light is 75% off.
Grand Theft Auto V - Recommended for budding criminals
Never let it be said that Rockstar skimped on any aspect of their criminal enterprise. Three protagonists form the heart of the story, but even with a number of narratives driving things forwards, the player is still in charge. GTA V has something for everyone. Fast cars, jets, alien conspiracies, yoga… You can even play a round of golf before buying the whole damn course.
Grand Theft Auto V is 50% off.
Hades - Recommended for mythology scholars
Easily one of the best games released in 2020, Hades has you controlling the son of the eponymous Hades as he tries to escape the Underworld and reach Mount Olympus. Each attempt at escape in this roguelike action RPG changes up the route out of Hades and the rewards you receive.
Hades is 30% off.
HITMAN 3 - Recommended for patient psychopaths
Hitman 3 is an assassination simulation. Each kill, across the six giant levels, is a carefully orchestrated work of deadly art. A golf fanatic can be killed with an exploding golf ball, or disgruntled employees can be manipulated into deadly corporate sabotage. In any other game, Agent 47 would be the villain. But in this? He kills people while disguised as Santa, and we love it.
HITMAN 3 is 60% off. 
Humankind - Recommended for potential dictators
All of history is in your hands in Humankind. The strategy game lets you build the world up from the beginning of time to the current era of humanity. You know, the one that’s on fire right now. But it needn’t be. With careful guidance, you can build a better humanity. Guide your grunting Neolithic tribe into an age of prosperity and wonder, even if you need space lasers to do so.
Humankind is 20% off.
Into The Breach - Recommended for 4D Chess masters
Into The Breach’s cute facade hides a brain-draining strategy game. As Kaiju wreck your cities, you have to out maneuver them, planning three moves at a time. You can see the enemies next move, and the game’s interwoven systems means each move has a dizzying number of variables. Uppercutting a giant hornet into a civilian building to protect a train is a drastic step, but you might have to do it for the greater good.
Into The Breach is 50% off.
KENA: Bridge Of Spirits - Recommended for fans of floof
Come for the Pixar-like animation style of developer Ember Labs’ freshman effort, stay for the wonderful blend of puzzle-solving and action that evokes games like The Legend of Zelda and Jak and Daxter.
KENA: Bridge Of Spirits is 10% off.
Outer Wilds - Recommended for space explorers
Every 22 mins, your sun goes supernova. As the loop restarts, you take what you’ve learned before and try to stop it. Outer Wilds’ packed little solar system is full of wonders: twin bodies circling each other, a planet made of twisted vines. You can be forgiven for letting the world end when you’re enraptured by the game’s wonderful settings. Besides, another one will be along shortly.
Outer Wilds is 40% off.
Prey - Recommended for brave astronauts
Arkane’s incredible immersive sim is a mixture of horror, hacking, and paranoia. As you awaken onboard Talos space station, it’s clear that something has gone wrong. Not only are there bodies everywhere, but shape-shifting aliens are hiding in plain sight. Mugs, chairs, and more come to life as inky death spiders and skitter towards you. How you deal with them is largely up to you.
Prey is 70% off.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - Recommended for posses
From quiet, lonely nights on the prairie to the bustling streets of Saint Denis, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the biggest, prettiest, and most chaotic cowboy simulator ever. It’s a lot of things. A tragic tale of the end of the American West, a bank robbery simulator, and a place to gather a posse of friends and free roam in the online mode. Saddle up and grab Rockstar’s masterpiece.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is up to 60% off.
Rocket League: Red Hot Bundle - Recommended for car tuners
The soccer game’s biggest bundle will make you stand-out during a 3v3 Rumble. The bundle adds 12 items, including two new cars: the sleek, squat Nimbus (Crimson Painted), and the growly Dominus GT (Purple Painted). And when you score a cracker of a goal, you can show off with the Electroshock Goal Explosion.
Rocket League: Red Hot Bundle is 50% off.
Severed Steel - Recommended for hyper shooter fans
This stylish single-player shooter was inspired by SUPERHOT and Hotline Miami, and it shows. The game is a run-or-die voxel shooter steeped in neon landscapes with an anti-establishment twist that rewards over-the-top bullet-time runs and punishes stopping to think or strategy. All the more amazing is that it was made mostly by a solo dev.
Severed Steel is 20% off
Subnautica - Recommended for survival experts
The excellent under-water survival game has you crash-land into an alien world. To survive, you need to build a base, gathering bits of the crashed craft and local fauna to keep the oceans from swallowing you whole. There’s a larger story going on in Subnautica than you’ll initially realize, but you’ll need to chew a lot of fish to get to the mystery at the heart of planet 4546B.
Subnautica is 40% off.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory - Recommended for slapstick spies
You drop from the shadows, unpeeling from the ceiling behind an unsuspecting guard. You grab him, and threaten to kill him if he says the word “monkey”. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory has all the spy gadgets and all the neck snaps you’d expect, but it has a script where Sam becomes a sardonic, silly human. Every guard interrogation is a dark, comedic skit.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is 75% off.
Find all of these deals and more on our Black Friday Sale page, right here!
When is Black Friday 2021?
The notion of Black Friday, the bonanza of sales that sweep across retailers online and in-person the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, got its start back in the ‘60s as a way to describe the heavy traffic of that post feasting day. But these days, Black Friday describes the kick-off of the winter holiday shopping season and some of the year’s biggest discounts. Among them, of course, are some amazing deals on both video games and the hardware that drives them. This year, Black Friday lands on Nov. 26, but the sales these days often start well before then.
What does Black Friday mean for video games?
Expect deep discounts on gaming hardware and software not just on Black Friday but also in the weeks leading up and away from it. That said, it’s not likely we’ll see deep discounts on gaming consoles this year, as the systems are all struggling to maintain stock in the wake of chip shortages. Instead, it’s more likely we’ll see game discounts, bundles, and some great deals on accessories for consoles.
What should you expect for Black Friday PC gaming deals?
While you may struggle to find a deep discount on a gaming console, there should be plenty of deals on computer rigs and the components used to build your own.
In the U.S., Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, Corsair, Dell, HP, iBuyPower, Microsoft, Newegg, Razer, Target, Secretlab, Staples, Walmart will likely all have discounts on a plethora of gear, including pre-built laptops and desktops, monitors, accessories, components, and games.
In Europe, there’s Amazon, Box, CCL Computers, Corsair, Currys, Cyberpower, Dell, eBuyer, HP, Newegg, Overclockers, Scan, Very.