Steam Winter Sale 12-20-13

Day 2 of the Steam winter sale. I’ll be completely honest with you – I feel like I’ve been here before. It does seems like all of these games were just on sale for the very same price a few weeks ago, which isn’t giving me much of a reason to pick up new ones. There are a few changes (Hard Rest hit the lowest price I’ve ever seen it on Steam), but generally not much is different.

Green Man Gaming has several games up for sale, as well as a 20% off voucher you can use, but frankly, it’s not that great of sale, particularly compared to this time last year. Though, Batman Arkham Origins for $25 with a 20% off voucher wouldn’t be too bad…

Amazon hasn’t changed much in the last day, and still requires a pretty deep search of what’s out there.

Gamers Gate has its selection of daily deals, though I’ll point out that Assassins Creed Revelations is $4.99 there. Not sure, but that’s either the lowest I’ve seen the game ever, or tied for the lowest I’ve seen it at.

The Humble Store a new set of titles up,  with a couple at the lowest price I’ve ever seen, such as Dear Ester for $1.99 instead of the usual $2.50.

Main Sale:

Omerta City of Gangsters – I tried out the demo for this one back in the summer, having at the time developed a growing interest in turn based strategy games. Granted, I was exposed to only a limited portion of the game, but I was still able to develop the opinion that my time would be better spent elsewhere. The game seems like it’s decent, taking a multi-tiered approach to strategy not unlike XCOM, where there is the basic turned based combat strategy (using energy to power movement, abilities, etc.), character acquisition and development, moving in on certain businesses to provide liquor during prohibition, and a fair chunk more. It looks like it would genuinely offer a deep experience as you play through the story (probably much more than XCOM). It’s $9.99 today.

Final Fantasy VII – The classic RPG that seemed to really bring JRPGs to the forefront in the US. Unfortunately, I wasn’t into PC gaming at the time and did not have a Sony Playstation. That, and I wasn’t into RPGs either. It’s $4.03 today.

Total War – The store page shows Shogun 2 as the game on sale, but if you dig deeper you’ll find that nearly every Total War title is 75% off, which is far too many games to comment on or price out. Collections are available for purchase at various prices, ranging from $12.49 for the Shogun 2 Collection, to $441.24 for the Grand Master Collection.

Fez – The 2D in a 3D world platformer game returns for its usual $2.49 today. I still haven’t gotten around to giving it a try, though it is highly rated.

Chivalry – Another game that is usually featured in these sales makes its return for the typical price of $6.24. This game does seem fun enough, but at the time I tried it out (thank you free weekends) I was actively engaged in a similar medieval war game, specifically War of the Roses. I found that Chivalry, while a fulfilling game on its own, was a little too much insta kill happy than I’d like, appealing more towards the same niche that modern shooters where you drop someone in 2 bullets cover. I personally like the longer, more drawn out battles of parrys, blocks, ripostes, charges, knockdowns, and strategic aiming that Roses offers, so I will not be buying this. It’s also worth noting that the Deadliest Warrior game is on sale for $10.04, though you can get both for $13.99.

Nether – An early access game that was on sale during the last sale. It's a survival FPS mmo type game, set in a post apocolyptic world that thankfully isn't inhabited by zombies. Three teirs of access, which vary from the ability to play the game and use the forums up to extra "Nether Gold," range from $11.99 to $29.99.

Train Simulator 2014 – There are two versions of this train sim game on sale. First is the Steam edition, which is $9.98 and includes 6 items. Then there is the Standard Edition, which is $23.99 and includes 4 items, all of which are found in the Steam Edition. That’s right, you would actually be paying more for the standard edition while receiving less. Awesome.

Crysis – Really three different items here. You can get the original Crysis for $4.99, Warhead for $4.99, and Crysis 2 for $7.49. There is a package that puts them all together for $17.49, which is unfortunately more than it would cost to buy them separately. A) Math is hard, and B) That information is at the bottom of every bundle, so it seems like it would be a pretty easy thing for some price setter to realize that the bundle price is broke. Still, the first Crysis was much talked about, but as an enjoyable sci-fi shooter, and as a rig melting test of your computer’s gaming power. There was also a second and third game, but those never garnered the same attention, largely because the environments shifted into a more corridor feel, part of changes made to include consoles.

Far Cry – Speaking of shooters, here’s another classic series. Both 1 and 2 are half off at $4.99, while the third title can be had for $7.49 or $9.99, depending on if you want the Deluxe Edition or not. Additionally, you can pick up the stand alone Blood Dragon game for $7.49. That actually looks to be the most interesting one in the series, but that just may be my overwhelming interest in Sci-Fi talking. That, and I never finished the first game because I found it kind of underwhelming and directionless. Or the second game because I had no idea why I was locked in a closet, blocked by a guy that wouldn’t move, and no ability to interact with him or anything else. But hey, there is always room for improvement, right?

Flash Sales:

Music Creator 6 – It’s $16.99.

Divinity Dragon Commander – A game that is incredible gorgeous. Beyond that, I had never heard of this thing before it was on sale last time at the same price of $19.99.

Project Zomboid – One of the first Greenlit games on Steam, though still not fully released, making this another Early Access game. It’s an isometric zombie survival game that as garnered a bit of attention on the few sites I’ve followed, and it’s certainly something I’m interested in giving a fair shake when it gets to my price point. It has a demo, which will be nice before you decide to spend $11.24.

Eve – The decade old mining/alliance/economic/PvP space MMO is only $1.98 today. I have a friend who has been harping on me pretty bad to try it out lately, though I don’t think it’s my kind of game. Still, the $2 gets you one free month of play, which starts right when you make your purchase. There is a 14 day free trial if you’d rather go that route, but considering this is a flash sale, you don’t have a large amount of time.

The flash sales since the last update were Mirrors Edge for $4.99, Electronic Super Joy for $0.79, Recettear for $4.99, Toki Tori 2 for $2.49, Spore for $4.99, Speed Runners for $3.30, Torchlight II for $4.99, P-51D Mustang for $13.59.

Community’s Choice:

Hard Reset – Reviewed! This one is a pretty solid, fast paced Sci-Fi FPS. I do highly recommend it, though when I reviewed it, it was only half a game. You have two main weapons (energy and bullets), each of which can be upgraded into a total of 5 per weapon, allowing you wall penetrating seeker balls of energy or just a plain old rocket launcher. At $2.24, it’s the only game on today’s list that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

The two Community's Choice games between updates were FTL for $3.39 followed by Alice Madness Returns for $4.99.



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So I went ahead and looked through my posts from the last sale, just to see how the prices compare. On Far Cry, everything is the same except Blood Dragon, which was $5.09 last time (more now), Chivalry is the same, Total War appears to be similar (with so many titles, I didn't record individual prices), Train Simulator 2014 was the same, Dragon Commander was the same, and Crysis and Fez are (I swear) the same, but I didn't record the price last time for some reason. Really, at the rate this is going, I'm not sure I'll pick anything up. Maybe just Van Helsing (played the demo after it was on sale last time), and Eve is someone can convince me. Anyways, I'll shoot for an earlier update tomorrow. See you then!