Stepping into the shoes of a power hungry dictator might feel a little close to home when your own real-life government is boasting about breaking international law at the moment, but at least Humble’s new Totally Tropico bundle might provide a few laughs along the way. Running from now until September 29th, Tropicos 1-5 are up for grabs here, along with a bunch of DLC for each game, all for a very agreeable sum of £9 / $12. Here’s how it works.

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Winter brings out a part of me that immediately seeks a mountain of blankets in which to burrow. Even in my seasonally confused state of Texas, the weather has tended towards the chilly and left me with little excuse not to have a kettle boiling interminably as I layer on socks and pull the biggest comforter from the top of the closet. But this presents a problem likely familiar to other cozy connoisseurs: how does one game while properly bundled?

I will admit it does limit possibilities considerably. That’s why I’ve curated a small selection of games perfectly playable while your other hand keeps coffee or tea always within sipping range.

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Ahoy there, you salty sea dog! We ‘ear that ye want to be a filthy cutthroat pirate. All right, but you don’t become a pirate just by asking. You’ll ‘ave to play, the best pirate games! In each one, you’ll have to master the sword, the art of thievery, and the quest. What? That be treasure hunting, ye sea urchin!

So if ye want to prove yerself that yer pirate material, ‘ere be the ten best pirate games that we think are good trials. Aye, even being a pirate in space counts, because swashbucklin’ ain’t reserved for just the seven seas.

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Sure, sure, Tropico games are about as indistinguishable from each other as the founding staff of a PC games website circa 2007, but I can forgive that. There’s just something about their sun-kissed, low-stakes, silly-but-not-too-silly take on city-building. Every couple of years I really feel the itch to comfort-blanket myself with one, and lo and behold, every couple of years there’s a new one. That itch? I feel it RIGHT NOW.

Alas, alack, woe is me, Tropico 6, originally billed for 2018, won’t be out this year after all. I shall have to console myself with this eerily familiar trailer instead.

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If I were going to steal the Eiffel Tower, I’d definitely strap a giant rocket to it and launch it into the sky. Once it was airborne, I’d remotely pilot it back to my volcano lair and then park it in the Monument Chamber next to the Statue of Liberty (also rocket-propelled) and the Great Sphinx of Giza (trundles around on little wheels).

It’s not clear how El Presidente nicks the various monuments scattered around his archipelago nation in Tropico 6, but a new video shows the Eiffel Tower standing in tropical climes, as clear as can be. You’ll be able to organise raids to steal them, we’re told, but the biggest change is in the lay of the land. Rather than managing a single island, you’ll be connecting several islands together, which means you’ll need new tech and transport infrastructure to keep everything running smoothly.

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