Epic's freebie of the week is: Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, if you like Total War.
Gaming deals, half price caplets
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Green Man Gaming has a new bundle out - INDIE ADVENTURES
$14 gets you:
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
The Thaumaturge
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
For the King 2
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
Of those, I've played Disco Elysium (which was excellent), but haven't heard of any of the others.
$14 gets you:
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
The Thaumaturge
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
For the King 2
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
Of those, I've played Disco Elysium (which was excellent), but haven't heard of any of the others.
The Thaumaturge is a fun RPG/Adventure game. You can speak to ghosts and wander about healing hauntings. The main story is investigating your father's death. I haven't finished it, but I like it and it plays well on the Steam Deck.
Shadow Gambit is an X-COM style turn based tactics game, where you and the rest of your cursed pirate crew get up to nonsense in a fantasy caribbean. If you liked "Lamplighter's League" it feels very similar to that.
EGS has Styx: Master of Shadows and Styx: Shards of Darkness for free this week. They are thief-likes, featuring Styx, the goblin from Of Orcs and Men.
Quite good, from what I've played in the past; I got derailed by motion sickness (and in one attempt to counter this, I discovered that uncapping the framerate causes the occasional holy shit physics issue, which is at least endearing).
Quite good, from what I've played in the past; I got derailed by motion sickness (and in one attempt to counter this, I discovered that uncapping the framerate causes the occasional holy shit physics issue, which is at least endearing).
Star Wars: Outlaws is $21, is it worth getting? I used to play a lot of star wars games but fell off with battlefield and never got back into it though tried a bit with the more recent (unleashed, fallen survivor, etc). I was also a fan of Freelancer and to a lesser extent the Privateer games. Thanks!
Smart Factory Tycoon is free until Jan 20th. Seems revies re mixed but it's free so worth a shot
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1755300/Smart_Factory_Tycoon/
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1755300/Smart_Factory_Tycoon/
I bought it for the PS5. It’s an action/adventure game with stealth portions set in the Star Wars universe. Without Jedis. For ~$20 yeah it’s a fun games and I do not regret my purchase for $25.
I did go ahead and buy it. It's installed and waiting for me to finish playing "Blue Prince"! THanks!
I agree, at least based on the little I played of the PS5 version.
I may need to give the Starfield Star Wars mod a go and see if its more enjoyable
FYI, gaming.amazon.com is still offering D&D Classics... they have been including 1-2 each week for the last few months. I had no idea there were so many of them. I don't know that I will ever even get around to playing any of them but still grab them. They are added to your GOG library.
No Rest For the Wicked is 40% off until Feb. 5th. Considering it's the Ori developers and still in Early Access, that's a considerable discount. Looks like they tried to convert their free weekend into sales and it worked.
Game reviews started off rocky but have been steadily climbing as it's continued through EA.
Game reviews started off rocky but have been steadily climbing as it's continued through EA.
Aaero: Complete Edition is 80% off ($3) on the Nintendo Eshop:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/aaero-complete-edition-switch/
Looks interesting enough for me to grab it at that price.
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/aaero-complete-edition-switch/
Looks interesting enough for me to grab it at that price.
Green Man Gaming Bundle sale, $10 , looks like some fun casual games. I have played Breathedge, great game.
https://www.greenmangamingbundles.com/
Crafted Worlds:
Havendock
Wildmender
My Little Universe
Primal Planet
Breathedge
https://www.greenmangamingbundles.com/
Crafted Worlds:
Havendock
Wildmender
My Little Universe
Primal Planet
Breathedge
Breathedge is a lot of fun, but I think my (mostly positive) thoughts about the game are due to the first exploration/survival portions of the game, rather than the walking simulator that the game becomes later on.
Subnautica... IN SPACE! WITH CORPSES! (so many corpses!)
The game is roughly broken into three or four parts. First, you start off in your shuttle, with no equipment or resources - it's basically Subnautica, if you could only restore your oxygen in your escape pod. Eventually, you'll make your way to the second chapter, where you'll upgrade your equipment to drastically increase your oxygen capacity, ability to and duration of your thruster burn, and eventually get vehicles that allow you to move at 5x and 10x your initial movement speed; drastically increasing your range. It's actually rather fun going back to the initial area - things that required multiple oxygen waypoints and additional supplies are easily accomplished in just a single air tank.
Thankfully, there are multiple areas in the second section where you can recharge your oxygen, so you're not stuck constantly going back and forth from your shuttle. You'll also get oxygen candles that can entirely refill your supply, giving you the ability to stay somewhere that doesn't have a handy recharge station while you look for whatever resources / mission objectives you need.
Your inventory is your constant enemy. The game is great in that, while it is better to put things into containers, you can totally just dump all your crap onto the floor and it'll stay there. The biggest problem is that both food and water inexplicably take up 2 slots each in your inventory, and the game gives you tons of the stuff. You'll routinely find yourself dumping bottles of water and/or packets of food to grab two more shards of titanium.
Speaking of, it's worth noting that although you've got both food and water bars, the only time you might (might) end up starving or dehydrating is the very, very, very start of the game. There's just too much ice and water goblets (which are used to make food and water), and just straight up food packets and water bottles lying around for it to ever become an issue. It's not unrealistic - you're exploring the wreck of a luxury liner, of course there's going to be plenty of food and water around - but it does almost entirely eliminate that survival aspect of the game.
After you've played the survival simulation for a goodly amount of time... it ends. You enter a working ship and blast off into the walking simulator portion of the game. It's sort of funny, because the game is still technically a survival game, so the game dutifully makes sure that there's plenty of food and water scattered throughout the maps you're walking through. They also don't assume that you've kept any of your tools, so there's so many resources scattered everywhere. If you're a packrat like me, you'll probably end up with multiple suitcases full of crap in your spaceship - way, way more than you'll ever need.
Finally, there's a boss battle (technically, there are several, but only one of them is actually difficult). Luckily, the game gives you about half a dozen medkits before the fight. As long as you're not like me and prioritize the medkits over the refined metal (sweet, sweet refined metal), you'll be good.
The game tries to be "funny"... I'd say that it misses the mark more often than it hits it. It also tends towards the juvenile. Still, your companion AI does manage to keep up a good stream of quips and remarks that, at very least, manage to drown out the oppressive silence of deep space.
Final tally: First part was good. Second part was great. Third part was underwhelming. Forth part was annoying until I went back, dropped all the crap I was carrying and traded it out for medkits. Worth a purchase.
The game is roughly broken into three or four parts. First, you start off in your shuttle, with no equipment or resources - it's basically Subnautica, if you could only restore your oxygen in your escape pod. Eventually, you'll make your way to the second chapter, where you'll upgrade your equipment to drastically increase your oxygen capacity, ability to and duration of your thruster burn, and eventually get vehicles that allow you to move at 5x and 10x your initial movement speed; drastically increasing your range. It's actually rather fun going back to the initial area - things that required multiple oxygen waypoints and additional supplies are easily accomplished in just a single air tank.
Thankfully, there are multiple areas in the second section where you can recharge your oxygen, so you're not stuck constantly going back and forth from your shuttle. You'll also get oxygen candles that can entirely refill your supply, giving you the ability to stay somewhere that doesn't have a handy recharge station while you look for whatever resources / mission objectives you need.
Your inventory is your constant enemy. The game is great in that, while it is better to put things into containers, you can totally just dump all your crap onto the floor and it'll stay there. The biggest problem is that both food and water inexplicably take up 2 slots each in your inventory, and the game gives you tons of the stuff. You'll routinely find yourself dumping bottles of water and/or packets of food to grab two more shards of titanium.
Speaking of, it's worth noting that although you've got both food and water bars, the only time you might (might) end up starving or dehydrating is the very, very, very start of the game. There's just too much ice and water goblets (which are used to make food and water), and just straight up food packets and water bottles lying around for it to ever become an issue. It's not unrealistic - you're exploring the wreck of a luxury liner, of course there's going to be plenty of food and water around - but it does almost entirely eliminate that survival aspect of the game.
After you've played the survival simulation for a goodly amount of time... it ends. You enter a working ship and blast off into the walking simulator portion of the game. It's sort of funny, because the game is still technically a survival game, so the game dutifully makes sure that there's plenty of food and water scattered throughout the maps you're walking through. They also don't assume that you've kept any of your tools, so there's so many resources scattered everywhere. If you're a packrat like me, you'll probably end up with multiple suitcases full of crap in your spaceship - way, way more than you'll ever need.
Finally, there's a boss battle (technically, there are several, but only one of them is actually difficult). Luckily, the game gives you about half a dozen medkits before the fight. As long as you're not like me and prioritize the medkits over the refined metal (sweet, sweet refined metal), you'll be good.
The game tries to be "funny"... I'd say that it misses the mark more often than it hits it. It also tends towards the juvenile. Still, your companion AI does manage to keep up a good stream of quips and remarks that, at very least, manage to drown out the oppressive silence of deep space.
Final tally: First part was good. Second part was great. Third part was underwhelming. Forth part was annoying until I went back, dropped all the crap I was carrying and traded it out for medkits. Worth a purchase.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
GOG has some new total war games. If you go to one of the newly added game's store page, there is a button to add 8 total war games in the series for $29.45.
Shogun, Medieval, Rome and Medieval 2 seems to be full versions. Attila, Rome 2, Three Kingdoms and Pharaoh seem to be base version with countless DLCs to be bought separately.
Shogun, Medieval, Rome and Medieval 2 seems to be full versions. Attila, Rome 2, Three Kingdoms and Pharaoh seem to be base version with countless DLCs to be bought separately.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
A massive bundle of great indie games on itch.io! Baba Is You, A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build, Chico and the Magic Orchards DX, Apico and many, many more.
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It's available here, for those curious. I've got mixed thoughts on these kind of hallmark itch.io bundles - on the one hand, they're usually absolutely massive. On the other hand, they're usually absolute massive, and it can be nearly impossible to figure out what's actually worth downloading, because there's so much dross in there - and this is from a proud supporter of the 2022 Bundle for Ukraine and the 2020 Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
Sorry, forgot to add the link (now added). I agree, it's a treasure trove with lots of rough gems and also more gravel. I just mentioned a few that jumped out immediately, but I might add more to my suggested list when there's time.
This is exactly my experience too. There are so many games in these bundles that I don't care about that I'd almost rather just give them the money as a donation this time. It tends to be the same games included in these massive bundles, but the way Itch.io organizes them makes it difficult to sort through them. As I recall, they're not just added to your library the way you'd see in other game stores. The last time I looked, they had a special page that you had to use, and no method to de-duplicate your purchases.
Still, Celeste was included at least once, so that made the whole thing worth it.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
Yes, the managements/selection of items is tedious. I recommend using the sort by game/physical/book/asset and then just browse A-Z for the games, pick maybe 20 that sound cool, add them to your account and be done. You can always go back in the future and find other stuff in the treasure (and duds) trove of items.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
Paragnosia is currently free on Steam - a "very positive" rated horror experience.
And there's also BROTHER!!! Save him! - Hardcore Platformer for those that want to try another "hardcore 2D-platformer in retro style".
And there's also BROTHER!!! Save him! - Hardcore Platformer for those that want to try another "hardcore 2D-platformer in retro style".
White Shadows, 90% off ($2):
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158890/White_Shadows/
I bought it a while ago based purely on the aesthetic, though I have yet to play it.
Togges, 90% off ($2):
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1550270/Togges/
Also bought this one a while ago based on a recommendation from other GESCers. Looks like a very cute puzzle platformer, though again, it’s still in the backlog so I haven’t played it. The worlds give me Mario Galaxy vibes, even if the gameplay does not.
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158890/White_Shadows/
I bought it a while ago based purely on the aesthetic, though I have yet to play it.
Togges, 90% off ($2):
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1550270/Togges/
Also bought this one a while ago based on a recommendation from other GESCers. Looks like a very cute puzzle platformer, though again, it’s still in the backlog so I haven’t played it. The worlds give me Mario Galaxy vibes, even if the gameplay does not.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
That's an amazing deal, thanks to the release of the sequel tomorrow, part of their marketing push. Great to see!
alterSchwede
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Bloodshed is basically a Vampire-Survivor-like in boomer shooter shape.
When I played the demo some time ago I thought it was neat enough for when it's cheap.
And now it is. 77% off or 2.98 €. No idea what that's in dollars.
Played it a bit already and I stand by my earlier opinion. Neat.
Not playing it for hours on end but a short session here and there is quite fun.
When I played the demo some time ago I thought it was neat enough for when it's cheap.
And now it is. 77% off or 2.98 €. No idea what that's in dollars.
Played it a bit already and I stand by my earlier opinion. Neat.
Not playing it for hours on end but a short session here and there is quite fun.
Just tried the demo. Its neat. I turned auto-shoot off, because I'm not sure how one even plays an FPS where it automatically shoots for you? Perhaps this is a function of the above, but I had to max out the mouse sensitivity setting in game and jack it wayyyy up on my mouse to get the speed to a tolerable level.
Too many games on my list at the moment, but I might come back to this at some point. I've wanted to try a good rouge-lite/like FPS game. Last time I tried Doom Infinite it was a bit glitchy.
For $3 it's well worth it. I played a couple of hours over the weekend (Steam Deck and PC) and had a blast with it.
macosandlinux
Ars Praefectus
Deponia is currently free on Steam. 3000 mostly positive reviews for this point & click game from 2012.
My Steam review (TL;DR: Overall: A great purchase for any point-and-click adventure game lover)
I've always been a fan of point-and-click adventure games, and I'm happy to count this as one of the better examples of the genre.
Now, it's not perfect - however, some of my complaints are my own fault for skipping the tutorial.
Important tips to anyone starting off:
1) Double clicking on any 'arrow' location will warp Rufus to that location, which is great, since some of the maps are big, and Rufus doesn't run. (Figured out on my own ~1/2 of the way though the game)
2) Hitting space will highlight all interactive objects. (I never found this one out, and one of my complaints was going to be that some of the puzzles were a little pixel-hunter-esque.)
Generally, I found that the game was really superb for the first 2/3rds or so - the puzzles were just straightforward enough that you could figure out most of them through intuition or through the somewhat-subtle clues that characters would say when you tried the use the objects. I was able to make it through this entire section without having to hit the internet.
The final area, however, was definitely not as polished as the rest. Puzzles weren't nearly as clear, a lot more pixel-hunting (again, my own fault for not knowing about using space), and some of the solutions were much more "you have to know what drugs the creators were on when they thought this one up." I did have to hit the web a couple times for this part (stupid whale bait.)
The story was excellent throughout, and although the humor wasn't always up to Monkey Island standards, it was always enjoyable. Most of the voice work is good. Good cast of memorable characters.
I only ran into the most minor of errors - some graphical glitches where Rufus would, instead of walking to an object to interact with it, just reach out from where he was standing. No crashes or other problems.
Overall: A great purchase for any point-and-click adventure game lover.
Now, it's not perfect - however, some of my complaints are my own fault for skipping the tutorial.
Important tips to anyone starting off:
1) Double clicking on any 'arrow' location will warp Rufus to that location, which is great, since some of the maps are big, and Rufus doesn't run. (Figured out on my own ~1/2 of the way though the game)
2) Hitting space will highlight all interactive objects. (I never found this one out, and one of my complaints was going to be that some of the puzzles were a little pixel-hunter-esque.)
Generally, I found that the game was really superb for the first 2/3rds or so - the puzzles were just straightforward enough that you could figure out most of them through intuition or through the somewhat-subtle clues that characters would say when you tried the use the objects. I was able to make it through this entire section without having to hit the internet.
The final area, however, was definitely not as polished as the rest. Puzzles weren't nearly as clear, a lot more pixel-hunting (again, my own fault for not knowing about using space), and some of the solutions were much more "you have to know what drugs the creators were on when they thought this one up." I did have to hit the web a couple times for this part (stupid whale bait.)
The story was excellent throughout, and although the humor wasn't always up to Monkey Island standards, it was always enjoyable. Most of the voice work is good. Good cast of memorable characters.
I only ran into the most minor of errors - some graphical glitches where Rufus would, instead of walking to an object to interact with it, just reach out from where he was standing. No crashes or other problems.
Overall: A great purchase for any point-and-click adventure game lover.
Amazon Luna has Total War: Rome II - Emperor Edition as the giveaway + a few other games.
Total War: Rome II - Emperor Edition
Total War: Rome II - Emperor Edition
Peggle is ninety-nine cents on Steam right now. The bundle with Peggle Nights is $1.78
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3480/Peggle_Deluxe/
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3480/Peggle_Deluxe/
Speaking of excellent old-school popcap games, Insaniquarium is also on sale for $.99
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3320/Insaniquarium_Deluxe/
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3320/Insaniquarium_Deluxe/
I believe there’s a large Square Enix sale on Steam currently. I never got into FF games, except one time with my xbox360 (XIII??) and when I was much of the way through it, I got the RRoD and by the time I got my Xbox back from repair the magic was lost and I never revisited it :-(
The game feels like a dream to me now, I can’t remember any of it at all which is unusual for me for a game I played a lot and was enjoying so much when I lost it for a while.
The game feels like a dream to me now, I can’t remember any of it at all which is unusual for me for a game I played a lot and was enjoying so much when I lost it for a while.
It wasn’t promoted on the home page, at least for me. Here’s a link:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/1012195/view/535497844504658852?l=english
Huge number of games on sale. Nothing is crazy discounted, but there are some fairly solid deals. I picked up FFX (because it’s been just long enough for nostalgia to accrue), Chrono Cross (which I’ve never played), and Forspoken.
thank for posting that link! Crazy they wouldn't shout it from the rooftops though!
I just picked up Just Cause 2 and 3 for just under 5 bucks. Scorpio! Scorpio! Scorpio!!!