This is the 10th anniversary of Amplitude Studios, and they are celebrating by making a handful of their games for free for the weekend. That includes fantasy 4X Endless Legend, 4X Endless Space 2, and the dungeon crawler Dungeon Of The Endless. All of their games are also heavily discounted on Steam.
This is a good selection of games, including the best 4X games from the last decade. Endless Legend is worth looking at again, and this was our game of the year back in 2014. Here is what Adam said at the time:
Amplitude has not been aimed at something that is broken in their intelligent redesign of the 4X strategy game, they have tried to expand on some ideas and it was necessary for them some of the accepted tips. scratched. It’s kind of an instantly recognizable game, as John got to his horror and reports below, but while he may be from the same stock as his ancestors, he is far from more informed and well-traveled. The uncle from that strange branch of the family tree who only visits once every ten years because he is away with events in parts of the world that you have never heard of.
I miss Adam.
Dungeon Of The Endless is a different kind of game set within the same universe. Through the interior of a spaceship, you defend a crystal against waves of enemies as you transport it from entrance to exit. It’s brilliant and subtle in design, turning tower defense and roguelikes just as good as Space and Legend as 4X traditions did.
It also gets a fan in the sharper Endless Dungeon, in development now. This is one of two games that Aplitude is making, along with their big 4X swing at Civ, Humankind, which is due in April. If you want to find out why these two games are so exciting, play their precessors for nothing this weekend.