Offworld Trading Company's free multiplayer client is open for business

Has Offworld Trading Company, the combat-free RTS about big businesses competing for a slice of Martian pie, now become renowned enough that we don't need to stick 'Soren Johnson's' in front of it any more?

The Civ 4 designer's bullet-free strategy game always did a smart job of recreating the tension of conflict and agonies of decision-making within the world of science-fictional business, but if you've long been unconvinced from afar, here's a late chance to sample it for no-pennies. Its promised free multiplayer client, acting as a demo of uncommon largesse, is out today.

You don't need a copy of the full game to play the multiplayer client, and nor does anyone you play against. It constitutes the full multiplayer mode, but with the singleplayer campaign, AI skirmish modes and daily challenge side of things neatly sliced away. Clearly, you can then fork out for the full game if you have a grand enough time of things.

Offworld absolutely makes sense as a multiplayer game - in a lot of ways, it's a boardgame at heart - so definitely give this a go if the whole "death-free RTS" concept hasn't made sense to you before now. You can grab it from Steam and GOG from today.

If you were already a convert, you may be wanting the also-new Market Corrections DLC (no GOG page up for that yet), which adds a dozen new maps and three new character campaigns, including a robot seeking redemption for all robot-kind, a former prisoner and a scientist who knows a thing or two about the crises which made mankind up sticks to Mars.

That's also out today, but it'll cost ya $4 - I don't know the UK price yet, but I'll guess it's around £3.