# Strategy Gaming on a Budget: Free and Cheap Ways to Play (Ep.94)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-moves-strategy-gaming-7033275/strategy-gaming-on-a-budget-free-and-cheap-ways-to-play-ep-94
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-moves-strategy-gaming-7033275/strategy-gaming-on-a-budget-free-and-cheap-ways-to-play-ep-94.md
Podcast: [Critical Moves - Strategy Gaming](https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-moves-strategy-gaming-7033275)
Published: 2026-08-14T15:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/criticalmoves/3065212
Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/324240/3065212/criticalmoves/2026_08_13_10_30_56_e0b3e173-fb9e-4922-8b05-083643831bf5.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3148

## Resource

Al is joined by Adam and Jack to work out how to build a strategy library on a budget, or for nothing at all. This one came straight from the Critical Moves Discord: community member Cooper asked us to revisit the cheaper alternatives after Episode 89, so here it is. We get into price tracking with GG.deals and whether the cheap key sites can be trusted, the best free games led by Beyond All Reason, free-to-play routes into Crusader Kings and the wider Paradox catalogue, and whether Xbox Game Pass and Prime Gaming earn their keep. From there it is the case for playing older titles, GOG and its preservation work, the games that never seem to leave the sale page, and the modding scenes that turn a cheap base game into hundreds of hours. Got an episode idea? Come and suggest one in the Discord. Beyond All Reason — https://www.beyondallreason.info/ 0 A.D. — https://play0ad.com/ OpenTTD — https://www.openttd.org/ OpenRCT2 — https://openrct2.io/ Unciv — https://yairm210.github.io/Unciv/ FreeCiv — https://www.freeciv.org/ OpenRA — https://www.openra.net/ OpenXCOM — https://openxcom.org/ Mindustry — https://mindustrygame.github.io/

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## Transcript

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