Saturday, July 20, 2013

Steam Summer Sale 7-20-13

So you know how yesterday I pointed out that I had screwed up by not recording the overnight sales as a means to see what the lowest price a particular item might be during the course of this sale? Well, I forgot to record that same time frame again this morning. So obviously I'm becoming careless. That's okay, because we're at a point in the sale where everything has pretty much come up before. Case and point, for today's 10 main deals I'm pretty sure all but 3 have been on sale already, or they have at least been an option during a voters' choice. So there really isn't much to say about today's games, but I'll try anyways.


Main Sale

Prison Architect - This is actually an early access game that is still in the alpha phase, with alpha 11 having just launched on the 28th of last month. There are all kinds of purchasing options from $19.79 to $32.99 and varying features from copies of other Introversion games or the ability to name a prisoner. As far as the game goes I will admit that it is probably the most interesting early access game I've seen, having read several articles about it in the past as updates have been released. Build your own prison, manage cameras, deal with riots, and much, much more. Something I'll eventually pick up when its been full released, but not before then.

Starforge - Also an early release game in the alpha stages. It's one of those do whatever you want sandbox games like minecraft or terraria, both of which are cited as influences. It also looks like it has potential, but again, it's only an alpha, and I'd rather not pay for an unfinished project, even if it's $9.99.

Natural Selection 2 - An asymmetrical RTS/FPS hybrid where you take on the role of either aliens or space marines. Each team has a commander that plays from an RTS perspective, building structures to unlock new technologies, defending bases, or helping the other plays. The FPS players do things like capture resource nodes by building structures deployed by the commander, and, of course, killing each other. I put a ton of time into the original, as well as a little bit of time into this version during a free weekend a while back. The game is pretty good, but not something that really appeals to me due to it's multiplayer focus. Pretty sure today's price, $6.24, marks an all time low.

Sanits Row The Third - This was on sale earlier, just in case you missed it. The over the top GTA like game comes in two flavors - the standard edition for $4.99, or the DLC rich Full Package for $7.49. You can guess which one you should get, because this is an all time low price for the game.

Counter Strike GO - This was just on sale a few days ago. Returns again for $5.09. If you're into more "realistic" shooters, wherein there is a purchasing system for weapons and gear, and you only get one life per round, you might want to give this a try.

Assassin's Creed - While the store page only shows the latest game, Assassin's Creed 3, you can search for the other 4 titles and find that they are on sale as well. I have reviewed both Assassin's Creed and II, with II bay far being the better game there. The first 4 titles are all $4.99 each, which is the lowest they ever seem to get, while III is still $23.99. Revelations also has a gold edition for $7.49, which still makes it a better deal to get all 5 games separately rather than pay the $57.78 that the bundle would cost.

Sonic All Star Racing Transformed - Umm, it's $7.49. The 75% off discount does also apply to it's DLC.

Omerta City of Gangsters - A tactical turn based game set during the Prohibition Era. Take your gang all the way to the top as you form a strategy and execute a plan for success. The game certainty looks interesting, and I did recently finish another turn based tactical game, so I do haven an opening. Thankfully the game has a demo. It's $9.99 today, and the 75% off discount applies to the DLCs.

Star Wars Kings of the Old Republic II - This one had been on sale here not too long ago, and returns again for $3.39.  I feel like that isn't an all time lowest price, but it's pretty close. I still need to play through the first one, so I will just have to pass today.

Worms Revolution - Pretty sure this one had been on sale earlier as well. A couple of different purchasing options, with the base game being $3.74, associated DLCs at various prices, or a franchise pack for $22.49. Frankly I never really cared much for the turned based strategy series, but as I pointed out in the Omerta bit, I did recently finish a game in the genre, and this is certainly less serious than XCOM or Frozen Synapse.


Flash Sales

Strike Suit Zero - Honestly, I haven't heard anything really good about this game, but then I would also have to trust the word of anonymous people on the internet, and what do they really know? The game is $2.99, and Infinite is $1.74. A bundle is $5.99. As a word of warning, the game is less than 6 months old and it's already 85% off.

Sword of the Stars The Pit - Rogue like old school looking RPG. It could be interesting, though I've never been a fan of the whole 1 life thing. There is a demo. The game is $2.50.

Deadpool - Just released, and it's already 33% off. Man, I would be a little bit pissed if I bought it last month. The game does seem to be a more humorous take on superheros, but then again, I don't know anything about Deadpool anyways, so I'm not sure if that's just his normal character or what. $26.79 today.

Zeno Clash II - This game just looks odd, which is the same feeling I had with the original. Not sure about it, actually. It's $9.99 for the regular edition and $14.99 for the special edition.


Voters' Choice

Chivalry Medieval Warfare - At least the 3rd time this game has ben on sale.


*****

Not such an interesting sale today. Only thing that I would certainly pick up is Saint's Row 3, though I went ahead and snagged the Gold Edition of Assassin's Creed Revelations. Prison Architect is something that I inexplicably want, but I find it a particularly bad idea to purchase things before they are actually finished. A bit disappointing that pretty much everything on sale had already come up, making the main sale less intriguing. Today also rounds out the games featured in the card set for this sale, so I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow. Since the sale is supposed to last through the 22nd, which would be when all the games that went on sale today expire, it's likely that, if we get anything, it would probably be a collection of the best selling games. I really don't know, and frankly, because of the surprisingly large amount of funds remaining in my bank account, I don't think it'll particularly impact me.

If there is a new posting tomorrow, I'll cover that. If not, then I guess the sale is over, and I just want to say thank you for reading over the last few days. Be sure to stick around for reviews in the future, as well as the major Steam sale coverage I continue to do. The next couple of reviews will be as follows: Trine 2, Hamestown, Poker Night, Alan Wake, XCOM, and Hotline Miami. After that I need to start playing some more games, though I'm currently working through Sleeping Dogs, Sniper Elite V2, and Shank. Requests are always welcome, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to the right away/if they are a mutliplayer game I just may not do it at all. Think that covers it for now. See you tomorrow?

2 comments:

  1. I'll consider Prison Architect after it's released, right now it sounds much more good idea then good game.


    Omerta sounds great... reviews were pretty mediocre though.
    Played KOTOR 1 & 2 when they first released, I should go back and replay sometime but their apparently quite finicky under modern OS's :(

    Great games though. Highly recommended.

    Worms is always fun, Worms Reloaded is the best of the bunch IMO.


    I think everything has repeated several times already, so the encore day is pretty pointless.
    I'll be grabbing Kerbal though, I agree with it being foolish to buy unfinished games but.... a friend bought it and it sounded SO good. So I don't think I'll be able to resist.

    Aside from that, just time to snap up leftovers that didn't get a bigger sale.

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    Replies
    1. Omerta is interesting, but seems like it's got a pretty slow pace to it. It is certainly a larger picture strategy game like XCOM, where the tactical battles are just a bit of it. There is running your illegitimate businesses the rest of the time, which includes things like dispatching gangsters to "talk" to people, taking side jobs to sell booze at a profit, chasing down new leads, and redesigning your base.

      I'm of course giving you the descriptions based off the demo, but the game did not strike me as something that would be particularly engaging in the long term as, during this operations where you send people elsewhere, you really don't do much more than sit around staring at the screen and waiting for them to show back up.

      Tell me how Kerbal goes. I was a bit overwhelmed by the demo, but did at least manage to get a ship into orbit. Not that it was one that I actually built, but details.

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