Shit is indeed about to get real, but separate from all that Valve has kicked off the first Steam sale of 2025 in the form of the Real-Time Strategy Fest, a week-long extravaganza of deals, demos, and free stuff in the Steam Points Shop, all of it geared at—you guessed it—real-time strategy games.
It's not all RTS games, to be clear. If grand strategy is your thing, Europa Universalis 4 is 90% off ($5/£4/€5) and Victoria 3 is half price ($25/£21/€25).
If you enjoy misery and don't especially care for children, Frostpunk 2 is down to $35/£30/€35—that's 22% off the regular price—or you can do some medieval city building with Manor Lords, 30% for the duration of the RTS Fest ($28/£24.49/€28).
There's 4X games (Stellaris at 75% off is a good choice), tower defense, at least one typing game—if there's some kind of strategy connection, then it's probably in this sale.
Naturally, there's plenty see in the way of conventional RTS games too: If you want to get in on the big sale action but aren't sure where to start, take a dive into our list of the best strategy games on PC.