Play a Bunch of Great Steam Games for Free This Weekend, Including XCOM

Steam is routinely home to "Free Weekend" events where you can download and play a game as much as you want for free over the course of a few days. This week will be home to not just one of these, but 10, in what Valve is calling the "largest 'Free Weekend' ever."

Lest you think that number is indicative of low-quality games being included, think again--there are some excellent games you'll be able to play (so long as you have a free Steam account). Company of Heroes 2 and XCOM, in particular, stand out to me, but you can't go wrong with most of these games. If co-op games are your thing, there are plenty for you and your friends to try out this weekend, including CoH2, Killing Floor, Payday 2, and Trine 2.

Calling this a Free Weekend isn't entirely accurate, as you won't have to wait until the weekend to start downloading and playing. You'll be able to do so beginning at 10 am Pacific on Thursday, October 16. Over the weekend, the games will be offered "at tremendous savings" should you decide you want to keep playing them after the promotion comes to an end.

Today's announcement doesn't mention when you'll be able to play until, but these promotions typically run until Monday morning at 10 am Pacific. We've followed up with Valve to find out if that's the case this weekend.

The full list of games:

• Awesomenauts -- read our review
• Blade Symphony -- read our review
• Company of Heroes 2 -- read our review
• Don't Starve -- read our review
• Grid 2 -- read our review
• Injustice: Gods Among Us -- read our review
• Killing Floor -- read our review
• Payday 2 -- read our review
• Trine 2 -- read our review
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- read our review