The base-building, horde vaporizing Diplomacy is Not an Option left early access last year to a pretty warm reception by those who'd followed its development. In it you build up little medieval town-fortresses and use that economic engine to defend them from copious hordes of attacking fantasy invaders.
You also vaporize the invaders with laser beam magic from the sky, if that's your thing.
Now, to celebrate the release and success, developer Door 407 has made a free "shareware" version of the game that's basically a standalone demo with stuff to do that's only in it.
If you were on the fence, basically, you can now comfortably try Diplomacy is Not an Option for free. It's a cute nod to the days when software companies would release partially-complete versions of their stuff for people to swap amongst themselves with the tacit understanding that, if you liked it, you'd later buy the real thing.
The shareware version is about three hours long across a couple exclusive story missions that are set up as a prequel to the full game. There's also a version of its endless mode, so you can sample that for as long as you like.
That three hours seems deliberate, because it's longer than Steam's own refund period: If you don't like the demo after those missions you probably would have quit and refunded the full game by then.
Diplomacy is Not an Option's big appeal is the thousands upon thousands of physically-simulated enemies and allies and arrows and catapult stones that get tossed around its battlefields. Positioning your troops to create kill zones, knowing when to fall back, and choosing just when to rely on your walls for protection or meet the enemy in the open are key parts of strategy.
You can find Diplomacy is Not an Option: Shareware on Steam, where you can also find the base game.
