Tropico 4 is free on GOG to kick off the 2024 Back to School sale

It's the last week of August, another summer is slipping away, the kids will soon be back to school, and for some reason that means Tropico 4, the banana republic management sim, is free for the next three days on GOG.

Tropico 4 is not the latest and great addition to the long-running city-and-politics simulator: That honor goes to Tropico 6, which came out in 2019. But you know what Tropico 4 has that Tropico 6 (and, for that matter, Tropico 5) doesn't? It's free. Come on, we've already covered this.

It's also a pretty good game: "It's not a great leap forward, but growing bananas and rigging elections remains remarkably entertaining," we said in our 72% review. And if you dig the Tropico 4 experience and want even more, GOG also has the Tropico 4 Complete DLC Pack on for half-price. That's a whole lot of Tropico for less than a tenner.

I don't think there's any sort of direct connection between back-to-school and Tropico, but GOG is also having a Back to School sale, which somewhat ironically appears to be targeted at people who don't actually have to go back to school: "If those days are behind you, then it just means more time for gaming!"

More than 5,800 games are discounted to varying extents—a few that immediately catch my eye include the Alien: Isolation Collection (80% off), Gris (80% off), Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 Master Collection (80% off), The Night of the Rabbit, which I will never not recommend (90% off), and—throwing one out for my man Joshua—Alpha Protocol (20% off). There's a lot more than just that to dig through obviously, but we don't have all day here. (That said I would be remiss if I didn't note that Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut is 85% off and that, my friends, is a steal.)

GOG's Back to School sale runs until September 10, but Tropico 4 is only free until August 29. Snag it while you can.