Demonic JRPG Disgaea has shed its price for the weekend on Steam, letting everyone play for free until July 28. A weekend doesn't give you much time to sink your teeth into what is an impossibly huge game, but it should be enough to help you decide if you want in for the long haul.
The series only started to make its way over to PC a few years ago, after spending decades on consoles and handhelds. If you're not au fait, they're tactical RPGs where you recruit a ragtag army of demons and assorted pals, nurture them and then get in thousands of tactical brawls. The max level is 9999, but even after that you can still make your characters stronger. It's big.
One of the more peculiar features is how you go about empowering items. Every item you find has a level, and you can level them up by hitting up the Item World and its randomly generated dungeons. And no matter where you're fighting, battles have plenty of neat quirks, like being able to pick up, stack and throw allies and enemies.
We're onto Disgaea 5 now, but the first one still holds up and boasts one of the better plots. And while there have been plenty of improvements over the years, the original is still a rich, complex time-killer.
If it tickles your fancy, Disgaea is also 70 percent off until July 30. It's free to play until July 28, 9 pm BST/1 pm PT.