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EA's Next Free PC Game Now Available on Origin

Jade Empire replaces Red Alert 2 as the next On the House freebie.

49 Comments

Electronic Arts has announced the next PC game that's free on Origin through the On the House promotion. Everyone can now download a free copy of Jade Empire Special Edition. It replaces Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, which had been free since September.

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Developed by EA-owned BioWare, Jade Empire was first released for the original Xbox in 2005. The Special Edition arrived for PC in 2007, getting a 7.8/10 score from GameSpot.

"It's set in a marvelous mythological land of monstrous demons and martial arts that's inhabited by hysterical and heartbreaking characters, each with his or her own fascinating story," our reviewer said at the time. "If you cherish strong narratives in games and have appreciated the developer's previous efforts, this one won't disappoint you."

In the game, you create a character and battle all types of human and supernatural enemies on your quest to become a martial arts master. The game gives you the choice to act for good or evil, and your choices affect how the game plays out.

Head to Origin here to download the game for free. There is no set time table for when the game will be replaced with a new one, so if you're interested, you may want to act quickly.

Games previously made available through the On the House promotion include Syndicate (the original), Peggle, Battlefield 3, Dead Space, Plants vs. Zombies, and Dragon Age: Origins, among others.

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Avatar image for katerinafm
katerinafm

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Already have it but if you have Origin anyway you should definitely get it! Wish it'd get a sequel or even a remake.

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ughz

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Oh thanks EA, this game I bought years ago on GOG and have on Steam as well. Nope.

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factory_666

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Edited By factory_666

Jade Empire is an amazing game, wish I had finished it back when my Xbox worked!

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JesusCondom

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This game is absolutelly a gem, i played it back in the day on the Xbox. I would say it was a decent buy before, now that it is free, it's a must!

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JesusCondom

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@orchidinverse: Well probably you will see Jade 2 when you see kotor 3... i feel your pain :(

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BattleStarX

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I've heard so much about this game. Now is a REALLY good time to get it, it seems.

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rasterror

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This game needs a sequel or at least a remake. One of my favorite games of all time.

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misternathan

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One of the best RPGs of all time, for free.

Yes, okay, that will work for me.

<plays through yet again>

7 • 
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peekaboo0

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Bioware really need to make Jade Empire 2 instead of another cringeworthy DA: Inquisition

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GreyViper

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@peekaboo0

I think most of the old talent is gone or moved on. EA Bioware is not what it used to be , years back. Because EA management works bit differently. Sad to say, but their RPG era is over, now expect just action adventure games.

Thre is a dialog in DA:O with the blacksmith that explained their relationship with EA at the time. Now that by EA SW KOTORO was a failure of somewhat and the doctors are gone, they are just another department in EA. Also recall Bluffrog, Maxis, Orgin & Westwood.

2 • 
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dostunuz

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@GreyViper: Now i'm curious, what kind of dialogue is that?.

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GreyViper

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@dostunuz

Listen to Wade @ Denerim - Market district - Wade's emporium: Replace Wade with Bioware and the sales rep as EA and dragon scale as games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtV1_9OUoyk

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Zloth2

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@peekaboo0: DA:Inquisition is a great game!

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dostunuz

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@Zloth2: ıt's a great game for LGBT community, yes.

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ReaperFifth

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@Zloth2: No it isn't

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Fartman7998

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Already own it on PC, but anyone should get it if they don't have it.

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NorseLax09

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Hopefully a lot of people download it and get EA's attention, because I would love to have a Jade Empire 2.

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Smaug317

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Woot! Just snagged this. It's a great game from back in the golden (pre ea) days of bioware.

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OniLordAsmodeus

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Cool!

But I don't game on PC.

Make available on Xbox One please...

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Zorlac

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@OniLordAsmodeus: Probably not happening. How are you posting this?

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Spartan_418

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@Zorlac: "in this day and age, a gaming PC is the only device capable of posting in online comment sections"

u wot m8

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Zorlac

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Edited By Zorlac

@Spartan_418: I'm betting he was posting from his PC is the point, and no I didn't make an assertion, I asked a question.

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Kunakai

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@Spartan_418: The game is over a decade old, it shouldn't require much in the way of specs, let alone a gaming PC.

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Spartan_418

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Edited By Spartan_418

@Kunakai: I know that (though an old-ish PC that lacks a graphics card or has only integrated graphics might still struggle with it). Zorlac made the assertion that "posting a comment" = "you have a PC", when one could easily be posting from their phone, tablet, Mac, etc instead.

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Dawg9000

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@Spartan_418: Hey, PC bashing moron, just reminding you, typing on a keyboard will always be quicker than all those except Mac. Just you mentioning Mac's show how much of a moron you are by the way. Mac is just the OS, games are the same. They're ostracized, but PC gaming on a Mac works. PC=Personal Computer lol. Guy asked a question

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mrbojangles25

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Edited By mrbojangles25

@OniLordAsmodeus: the game is not very demanding, I am sure a basic bargain PC can play it. Worth a shot, at least.

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skipper847

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Free is free. :P

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Avatar image for randuir
randuir

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So, just out of curiosity, I've seen a lot of comments complaining on steam that the game doesn't work properly anymore on pc, otherwise I would have picked it up during one steam sale or another (it's bioware, after all). Does anyone know if it works on windows 10?

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sdevmanny

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@randuir: I have Windows 10, and it runs just fine on my computer. Seems like they fixed some compatibility issues with the Special Edition.

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jj2112

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@randuir: Well I had it on my PC recently and it ran fine... on Windows 8.1. But I think you had to fiddle around with the settings to get higher resolutions.

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NorseLax09

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@randuir: I played a bit of it just about a month ago. worked perfectly.

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No_one

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@randuir: Have the GOG version, seemed alright - only played a little bit.

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Zorlac

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@no_one: The purpose of gog is to make games run on modern systems, so that one's not really a good example when asking if it'll run since the steam/origin versions won't get that treatment.

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Megawizard

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@randuir: I remember the main issue was just that the controls using the KB/M were incredibly broken and using a controller fixed it. Not sure if there was anything else that was a part of that, or at least none that I had. Eh, if nothing else, it's free. May as well download it and see if it works on 10. I'm sure there's people that worked fixes out for it if they haven't already.

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Avatar image for Wolfkcing
Wolfkcing

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Wow. Didn't play this until it was a number of years old but really enjoyed it. I remember wishing the combat was better though. I think I just found myself wishing the enemy AI was more challenging. I wonder if there is a mod community for this.

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Kunakai

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@Wolfkcing: There are a few mods on Nexus, I'd expect most of them to be skins and such though.

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Wolfkcing

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@Kunakai: Yeah. I see. And it seems there was different difficulty settings all along? That should take care of my one gripe. I only played threw once and I don't even remember if I looked at difficulty settings on the version I played which was the first xbox console.

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PETERAKO

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really?!

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LionInk

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Wow, Jade Empire? And here I remember when they first introduced the program, people complained that they'd only release games nobody would play. Great game, you should check it out if you like martial arts.

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Avatar image for mrbojangles25
mrbojangles25

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@lionink: the story/lore is also great. Loved the Chinese-like mythology.

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theduckofdeath

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I already have JE for XBOX and Steam, but I'll take it. One day I promise to start and finish the game.

2 • 
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SaintYamato

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This game was one of the first games I grew up with, hats off to you EA.

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Attitude2000

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Interesting move. Previous titles have all been Electronic Arts.

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deactivated-5a1d4b615a3a3

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@Attitude2000: The game technically belongs to EA now because they own Bioware

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Attitude2000

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@pspearman: I thought it was more complicated than that since Microsoft published it for the Xbox and 2K Games put it on PC, but I might just be overthinking it.

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mrbojangles25

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Very generous of them; Jade Empire is an amazing game, I feel a lot of people overlooked this game for some odd reason.

5 • 
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deactivated-5a1d4b615a3a3

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@mrbojangles25: Only available on Xbox and PC, most people were gaming on the PS2 back then

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