IGN Plus: Claim a Steam Key for Grid-Based Strategy Game, Dark Deity

We always love a good Steam sale, and now some of the best indie strategy games of the past few years can be yours for cheap, courtesy of publisher Hooded Horse. Responsible for publishing some of the most interesting games in the genre from smaller teams, including the likes of Old World, Terra Invicta, Against the Storm, Xenonauts 2, and much more, you can get ahead of Steam Next Fest with this Hooded Horse Steam sale.

Between Ara History Untold, Millennia, Cities Skylines 2, Civilization 7, and Total War Pharaoh, there are a lot of new strategy and management sims on the way. Solium Infernum seems different from all of them. A combination of Civ, Doom, and – according to its developer – a bit of Dark Souls, Solium casts you as one of several archfiends vying for control of the infernal throne after the sudden disappearance of Lucifer. Military might is important, but the key to victory in Solium is bureaucracy, politics, psychology, and manipulation. Imagine navigating the back-biting, gossiping, and fickle cliques of high school, but while simultaneously fighting a blood feud in the lowest reaches of damnation. After a lot of anticipation, we’ve finally had the chance to play Solium. Even better, you can, too, thanks to a huge new demo now available via Steam Next Fest.

The first word I think of, looking back on my first 20 turns of Solium Infernum, is anxiety. With all of Hell laid out before me, and so many ways to seize it for myself, I had to make the most of every turn and those precious two actions I could take. But that’s the appeal of Solium Infernum, a remake of a classic strategy game from Armello creators League of Geeks; it offers a plethora of options but limits their frequency, making each turn a hellish clash of subterfuge, cunning, and two-faced lies.

Many are the horror games that haunt the dark, but it takes a real gift for creepy-crawlies to pull off a horror game that's set in the light. I'm not sure The Fabulous Fear Machine - devised by Fictiorama Studios in partnership with AMC and Shudder - is quite that horrifying, but it's certainly chewing on my nerve endings in an engrossing way.

Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming Warcraft-themed strategy game Warcraft Rumble will be released on iOS and Android on November 3.Warcraft Rumble is a free-to-play mobile strategy game that blends tower defense, RTS, and autobattler elements. The game features a long-form single-player campaign that will take players across the world of Azeroth, as well as opportunities for co-op missions, PvP, guilds, raids, and dungeons. Rumble has also received a preview video, where senior 3D artist Justine Hamer, game producer Elhora Davis, and art director Jeremy Collins talked through their vision for the title in what proved to be a charming seven-minute presentation.     

Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar Games' long-gestating, manically anticipated sequel to Grand Theft Auto 5, has reached an almost mythic status in gaming. A decade after the release of GTA 5, we don't yet have an official teaser or trailer for GTA 6, even as the hype for the game shoots beyond orbit. There have been several leaks and rumours, most notably the infamous hack last year that released in-development footage from the game. Now, a promotional post from Rockstar has fans speculating over a GTA 6 announcement.

XCOM 2 is a classic strategy sim for dozens of reasons. It looks great. It sounds great. The story and atmosphere are incredibly strong. But what I love most – and what sets the Firaxis squad shooter apart from the likes of Civilization, Crusader Kings, Total War, and others – is the overwhelming sense of consequences. It’s a game design cliche – ‘every choice matters’ – but in XCOM 2, it’s absolutely true. Combined with how it engineers and facilitates organic stories, XCOM 2 is one of the best strategy sims of all time, and now it’s all yours for little more than $2.

Between the best RTS and strategy games, whether it’s Hearts of Iron, Command and Conquer, Age of Empires, and myriad others, there’s a recurring problem with how you manage your attention. At a certain point, the action gets so big and widespread that you’re torn between the big dramatic battle over here and the big dramatic battle over there, and everything becomes just scale and numbers. It’s still impressive and it can be spectacular but, beyond a certain size, the drama and the emotional connection you have to your soldiers start to go down. Enter The Troop, a WW2 strategy sim that takes the close-quarters, tactics-driven style of XCOM, Company of Heroes, and Commandos to the next level, and which you can try via a free Steam download right now ahead of its full release. PCGamesN speaks exclusively to one of The Troop’s creators.

The Lamplighters League launch is almost upon us, and if you’ve been awaiting the arrival of this stylish ‘30s XCOM rival then there’s some rather good news, as you’ll now be able to play the game yourself ahead of its full release – and, unlike many modern early access offerings, you won’t have to spend a single penny to try it out before launch.

Valve has failed to convince the European Union's Court of Justice that it did not infringe EU law by geo-blocking activation keys on Steam.

Team Cherry has quietly updated Steam assets for its highly-anticipated Hollow Knight sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Valve has once again dropkicked the dreams right out of anyone hoping a whizzier, more powerful Steam Deck might be happening soon; it's now provided a clearer timeframe for what it considers to be the current Steam Deck's minimum life span, saying not to expect any kind of performance upgrade «in the next couple of years».