If you’re one of the five people in the entire world who hasn’t played Sid Meier’s much loved hex strategy Civilization 5, then it’s your lucky weekend. To celebrate upcoming expansion pack Gods and Kings, publishers 2K Games and developers Firaxis Games are letting the great unwashed play the game for free until 1pm PDT (9pm GMT) via Steam.
In addition, the entire Civilization franchise will be discounted by 75% until Monday, which is also when Gods and Kings will be released for pre-order. Weirdly, it seems that you’ll only be able to continue your progress from the free weekend if you buy Civilization 5 before 10am PDT (6pm GMT) on Monday.
I just can’t get over how awful the Gods and Kings boxart is. It makes one of the best strategy titles ever look like a match-3 puzzle game you’d find in the bargain bin at Morrison’s, or a straight-to-DVD erotic thriller.