We’ve got a real grab-bag for you today, folks. Sure, you thought that time we recommended Resident Evil: Village and Regency Solitaire in the same article was a smorgasbord, but you ain’t seen nothing yet. Today’s pick from the rich crop of deals over at Fanatical takes you from the androids of the French Revolution through Sven-Göran Eriksson. Don’t say we never surprise you anymore.
Remember, if you’re picking up either Steelrising or Football Manager 2023, you can get an extra price cut if you use the vouchers listed in the headings for each entry (that’s STEELRISING26 for Steelrising, and FAN5 for Football Manager). Just put the codes in the coupon box at checkout and you’re good to go.
Top Pick: Steelrising—23% off (26% with voucher STEELRISING26)
£26.94/$38.49 | Fanatical link
Spiders’ latest game is a soulslike that sees you—Marie Antoinette’s personal robotic bodyguard—defend the French Revolution from the predations of an android army headed by Louis XVI. So basically just a straight retelling of history. Steelrising lets you spec your android down a variety of paths, whether a hard-hitting tank or a spooky mech-mage, and the addition of a grappling hook adds a dash of Assassin’s Creed Unity-style verticality to the game’s version of 18th century Paris. Plus, you’ve gotta imagine there’s at least one excellent “infernal machine” joke in there, right?
You’ll be engaging in plenty of tête-à-metallic-têtes with historical icons like Maximilien Robespierre and the Marquis de Lafayette and changing the course of history by hitting it a bunch. We rather liked Steelrising in our review, giving it 75% and praising its world and encounter design.
Football Manager 23—25% off (29% with voucher FAN5)
£33.74/$44.99 | Fanatical link
This one’s a pre-order, but judging by how much we liked Football Manager 2022, we’ve got high hopes for this next edition. If you want to manage a football team and lead them to glory without any of that mucky “actually playing football” part, the Football Manager series was made for you.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI—85% off
£7.49/$8.99 | Fanatical link
A bit like Football Manager except there’s the tantalising possibility someone might violate the Geneva Conventions. Civ VI is the brilliant latest entry in the standard-setting 4X series that’s only been enhanced by its two big expansions.
Wasteland 3—73% off
£8.36/$10.79 | Fanatical link
An isometric CRPG in the vein of the pre-Bethesda Fallouts (for which the first Wasteland was actually the inspiration), Wasteland 3 sees you guide a squad of Rangers across the frozen tundra of post-apocalyptic Colorado. If you’re into turn-based tactics and many, many dialogue choices, you’ll probably enjoy Wasteland 3 as much as we did.
Blasphemous—77% off
£4.59/$5.74 | Fanatical link
Put on a spiky hat and go to war with God. Blasphemous is a Metroidvania drenched from head to foot in the Catholic aesthetics that its Spanish developers grew up with. It’s one of the most visually arresting games I’ve ever played. A bit of rickety platforming aside, we gave it 70% and praised it for its “doomed and miserable world” (but in a good way).