Skulls of the Shogun hits Steam next week, as devs' Faustian pact comes to an end

Skulls of the Shogun has been out on PC for a while now, but unless your computer has Windows 8 all up in its grill you won't have been able to play it, because reasons. Developer Borut Pfeifer recently admitted that the game's Windows 8 exclusivity was a "deal with the devil" and that he'd "go back in time and kick [himself] in the balls" if he could, but that dark chapter in the history of strategy games has finally come to a close. Skulls of the Shogun arrives on Steam next Monday, and Pfeifer's balls remain unkicked. Everybody wins!

Monday July 29th is the date to mark in your calendar, assuming people still use calendars these days. In addition to its best feature - being playable on Windows XP/7 - the Steam version comes with six extra maps and a new epilogue. There's still time to buy into Skulls' Early Access for a 20% price reduction - when it launches the game will set you back £11.99.

Here's what we thought of Skulls of the Shogun, back when it was saddled with that Windows 8-shaped albatross.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.