If this news isn’t a sign from fate that I was meant to write today, I don’t know what is. The Platinum Edition of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is free-to-play on Steam between February 22nd and 26th, 2024. If you’ve never tried Civ VI at all and you want to give it a test run before buying it, now’s your chance to do so with access to most — though not all— of Civilization VI’s downloadable content included. So, how much of Civ 6 can you try out this weekend, and what DLC isn’t included in the Platinum Edition?

The Platinum Edition of Civilization VI includes the base game, its two expansions known as “Rise & Fall” and “Gathering Storm,” as well as the following Scenario and Civ Packs that are separate from those expansions: Australia, Persia & Macedon, Vikings, Khmer & Indonesia, Poland, and Nubia. The Platinum Edition will allow you to test out quite a bit of what Civ 6 has to offer. I’d say trying this version while it’s free will give you a pretty solid idea of whether or not you want to buy the full game, especially since most of what Civ VI presents to you is discounted this weekend as well.

However, there are two notable collections of extra content for Civilization VI that are not included in the Platinum Edition, which means you won’t have access to them if you take advantage of Civ’s free-to-play weekend. These are the “New Frontier Pass,” which adds a slew of new playable Civs, new leaders for existing Civs, and quite a few optional modes to help you shake up any rounds of Civ VI you’ll play in the future; as well as the Leader Pass, which gives you eighteen alternate leaders for several existing Civs to freshen up the play styles commonly associated with those empires.

I know it can be confusing to keep up with all the new content released for Civ 6 over the years, which is precisely why I’m pleased to tell you there’s an easy way you can make sure you have access to “the whole Civilization VI shebang,” so to speak: The Civilization VI Anthology, which includes the base game and every last bit of DLC it has, is currently discounted to $24.93 USD. I’d imagine Steam will offer you a further discount on the Anthology bundle if you already own the base game and you’re just missing some or all of the available DLC.

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