$1,499.00

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Civilization is a series in thrall to the illusion of endless incremental progress, and what more bruisingly poetic way to refute that narrative than by sticking two fingers up at this year's ailing Civilization 7 and opting to play 2016's much better-regarded Civilization 6 instead. Conveniently, you can currently get Civilization 6 for free on the Epic Games Store - the giveaway runs till 24th July.

Of course, if you're mad about Civ 7's failings, there's a fair chance you already own Civ 6. But the freebie does include access to all of the game's DLC and expansions, so might be worth bagging if you only ever bought the base game from a different store. For clarity, you do not need to stick two fingers up at Civ 7 while downloading the free version of Civ 6. It is a piece of software and cannot respond to your hatred.

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"I'm not a perfectionist," says the guy who makes niche puzzle games that turn me into a gibbering wreck obsessed with efficiency. And I feel a wave of comical fury. If like me you've been whirring and clicking your way through very good engineering puzzle game Kaizen: A Factory Story, you're probably a fan of previous work from the same developers. The creators of Opus Magnum and Infinifactory may have dissolved their old studio Zachtronics and chemically regenerated as Coincidence Games, but there are still large traces of a Zach present. I caught up with designer Zach Barth to ask about perfectionism, the Factorio-like automation game he gave up on out of boredom, and how the team managed to make a story about factories in 1980s Japan feel human.

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BoJack Horseman was a show about Horsin’ Around.

There was a good thing that had once been and a horse man who was now years removed from it, but still clung on to the idea that the magic was still there. I’ll not stray into spoiler territory, but that clinging generally didn’t go too well for old BoJack. He was a bitter, selfish, washed-up star who so often looked back, rather than looking forwards. It was to his detriment.

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