Whether you’re a fan of amassing giant hordes of goblins, arranging your battle lines of World War 2 tanks just so, or exploring the far reaches of space, there’s a strategy game for you. And for the next week, a bunch of them are on sale during the Steam Strategy Fest, which ends on September 4.
The trailer above has more details, but the key here is that just about the whole genre is at a discount at the moment. Some of my favorite games like Civilization 6, XCOM 2, and Triangle Strategy made the list with pretty massive price cuts. If you haven’t experienced the joy and terror of world renowned peace activist Mahatma Gandhi dropping a nuclear warhead on you while you’re still trying to research how to get oil out of the ground, your time is now.
Alternatively, you could dive into PC Gamer favorite Crusader Kings 3 (awarded a 94%). This game’s been on my wishlist for basically forever, and the only thing preventing me from attempting to turn the Holy Roman Empire into a rollicking Irish Viking beer party is the seventeen other games I already have in my backlog. This isn’t the cheapest CK3’s ever been, so if you’re a true value hunter, you might want to sit this one out. (SteamDB is a good way to check price histories.)
Some of the on-sale games are at their lowest prices ever, though. If you’ve already polished off Baldur’s Gate 3 and need to keep scratching that isometric itch, you can check out Pillars of Eternity 2 for $10. The HD remaster of the 1999 classic Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is less than four bucks, and the digital version of one of the coolest 4X board games of all time, Scythe, is also in the bargain bin.
If you’re looking for a bit more meat on the bone to help you determine what to get, check out our list of the best strategy games in 2023. A number of the games covered there are included in the event, although sadly not Total War: Warhammer 3, one of my top games of 2022.