This Weekend's PC Game Deals: The Banner Saga for free, bundles of Civilization for cheap

By Neowin · · Hot!
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This Weekend"s PC Game Deals is a roundup of games - old, new, or soon to be released - that are available at a great price and can be activated on Steam, Origin, or Uplay - sometimes even good old games that are DRM-free.

After a year of relatively modest “on the house” offers, the Origin store is finally offering a more modern game for gamers to download for free. Mass Effect 2 is regarded by many critics as the best of the original trilogy, and all you need to grab it is an Origin account and the Origin client, which you can set up here. Also, if you happen to like Bioware’s space opera and are willing to spend $10.59, you can get the entire series from Games Planet, and Mass Effect: Andromeda - the next installment into the series - is on the horizon as well.

We live in an era where many good games are eclipsed by those backed by big publishers. The “Humble Monthly” subscription is a good way for passionate gamers to discover hand-picked indie games and timeless classics. The monthly package sets you back only $12 (even less if you choose a recurring plan), and also includes a AAA title to spice things up – the March offer is Total War: WARHAMMER, a real time strategy game that will have you command one of the four races – the Empire, the Dwarfs, the Vampire Counts and the Greenskins - in battles of impressive scale and epicness.

There are a number of other perks to Humble Monthly, such as indie games developed exclusively for subscribers, a 10% discount on purchases from the Humble Store, and the fact that 5% of the proceeds go to a charity. If you’re wondering, the previous Humble Monthly package included: XCOM 2, Ryse: Son of Rome, ABZU, SteamWorld Heist, Okhlos Omega, Project Highrise, and Husk.

The ‘Civilization Bundle’ is for those of you who enjoy building virtual empires and wish to add more of the franchise to your collection. For just one dollar, you can grab Sid Meier’s Civilization III and IV, and stepping up to the average of $8.75/€8.29/£6.99 adds the fifth installment into the mix, along with a 20-25% discount on Civilization VI, should you decide to buy that as well.

You can always spring for the top tier ($14.99/€14.19/£11.99), which adds Sid Meier"s Civilization: Beyond Earth on top of everything else, and a 10% discount on the monthly subscription detailed above.

If you’re interested in tactical RPGs, know that you can grab The Banner Saga for free until Feb 28. All you have to do is use your Twitch Prime account, or signing up for a free trial. In this beautifully-crafted game you immerse yourself in an interactive story where you lead a caravan in a dangerous journey to build a future for your clan.

Unlike most other games, you won’t be able to save obsessively – you’ll have to live with the consequences of your decisions and push forward regardless of whether they are glorious or tragic. The second installment will also be part of an upcoming giveaway, and for every person that downloads one of the two games, Twitch will pledge a dollar towards the development of the final installment in the Banner Saga trilogy. You can find more details about the giveaway here.

If the previous promotions weren"t enough, we’ve also hand-picked some of the best deals on PC games that you can find across all online stores. Some of them are flash sales, so act quickly if you don’t want to miss them. Also, if you happen to be looking for console games as well, check out the list of Xbox games that you can grab with Gold.

Preorder rush

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands – If you’re looking forward to Ubisoft’s next tactical third-person shooter game, and are drooling over the idea of having the freedom to explore the Bolivian landscapes where the missions take place – unlike all the other entries in the franchise – you can pre-order the standard edition for a little over $39.89 (about €37.74/£31.99) from Games Planet.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Season Pass Edition– Contrary to the fast-paced action of games like Call of Duty, this one will force you to calculate your every move, blend in the environment, and do a lot of damage with carefully placed, surgical shots from your trusty sniper rifle. The developers have also made this entry more like open-world games such as the Far Cry series, which means that you can tackle your objectives as a special ops sniper during the Georgian civil war in the order of your choosing, instead of following a scripted series of missions.

If you are a Sniper Ghost Warrior veteran, or are looking for an alternative to the Call of Duty’s and the Battlefields of the world, you can pre-order the Season Pass Edition (a.k.a the non-ask-you-later-for-more-money-edition) for $39.89 (about €37.74/£31.99) from Games Planet.

Syberia 3 – In the era of release-now-patch-later, Microids has chosen to make sure that it comes out as polished as possible, even though this means a delay of several months – which makes this worth pre-ordering, if only to encourage more publishers to do the same. Syberia 3 is a continuation of Kate Walker’s adventures in Europe and Russia, and can be pre-ordered for only $31.99 (€30.29/£25.69) from DLGamer.

AAA Bombs

There are a number of popular AAA titles on sale, but we’ve only selected a few of them that are currently priced near or below their historical low:

Indie Gems

Sang-Froid - Tales of Werewolves – an unconventional, brain-teasing game from Artifice Studio, that features a mix of tower defense and strategy elements – which is now free on Steam. In this indie gem you take control of one of the two O’Carroll brothers who must protect their sister from folkloric creatures and spirits that have come to claim her. The graphics are a little rough, but Eurogamer thinks the gameplay is rewarding despite such shortcomings, which are mostly due to a limited budget.

Barrier X – A superfast racer from HypeTrain Digital in which you have to guide a space ship to avoid flat shaded walls while following a neon track. This will test your reflexes, and it is currently free on Steam – although you can pay its $3 price if you want to support the developer.

The Expendabros – A ridiculously fun crossover between the famous Broforce and the infamous The Expendables 3, and also one of the few indie games on Steam with over 10000 positive reviews. It’s free, so you have no excuse not to try it. You can also buy it for $13.99 if you want to support the developer.

DRM-Free

Shadow Warrior Classic Complete – If you’re bored with Shadow Warrior 2 and its ultra-realistic graphics and want to experience the original, know that you can grab it for free on GOG. It’s not the Redux version – which features GOG Galaxy achievements and remastered graphics, but the gameplay is unchanged, and you can run it on pretty much any PC from the last decade.

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