The society-building strategy game Victoria 3 is free to download and play on Steam for the weekend. Paradox’s industrial era political quagmire simulator is also half price for the duration. Normally the game costs $49.99, but you can pick it up at 50% off, for $24.99, from November 16 to November 20.
However, we’ve found an even better deal over at Fanantical, where the current Paradox sale has it at 55% off, just eking out Steam’s offer.
The Steam free weekend on this grand strategy game comes just a few days after the launch of Colossus of the South. This Victoria 3 DLC pack, released on November 14, includes new events and content for South America, like exploring the Amazon and the fall of the Brazilian Empire.
As you can see from our Victoria 3 review, we had a great time with this game. I was particularly enamored with its economic systems, and the balancing act required to stay politically stable. If your favorite PC strategy game is Hearts of Iron IV, however, you may not get along with Vicky 3 – the military systems are pretty lackluster.
Judging by the Mixed 67% positive rating on Steam, Victoria 3 hasn’t gone down as well with general audiences as it seemed to with most reviewers. It looks like lots of Vicky 2 fans found the successor to be much prettier, but rather shallow in comparison. It wasn’t an Imperator Rome level disaster of a release, but nor was it a crowd pleaser like Crusader Kings 3.
Either way, with the chance to try it out for free, and selling at $24.99 on Steam and $22.49 on Fanatical, the game presents a much more tempting option. That’s especially true as its systems are further fleshed out and added to with patches and the free updates that come alongside DLC (as is the Paradox way). Don’t forget to check it out before the sale ends on Monday.
Fanatical’s sale has a bunch of Paradox 4x games going cheap right now, with many slashed in price by 50-70% for the next three days. After trying Victoria 3 out with the Steam free weekend, you should probably head to Fanatical to save yourselves a couple dollars.
Need a break from map-painting? To find different types of strategy game to play on PC, check out the best turn based games, the best games like XCOM and the best games like Slay the Spire.