Good morning everyone, or at least, good morning to everyone that lives in a time zone where it is still morning when a new set of games goes on sale. A few things to mention, as more and more retailers have joined the Autumn/Black Friday/Holiday sale train. Yesterday I mentioned that Green Man Gaming was going to launch a sale today, and they certainly have. What they have is a bit simpler, consisting of four games on sale for four hours, with the whole sale lasting 4 days. At the time of this writing, you can purchase Company of Heroes 2 for $19.99 (base edition), the Chivalry titles for up to 75% off ($6.24 for the original, $11.24 for the new game, or $17.49 for the franchise pack), a Grand Theft Auto bundle that includes 5 games starting with GTA 3 and ending with GTA 4 Lost Episodes for $12.49, as well as Bioshock Infinite for $9.99 and its assorted DLC for up to 50% off. Since the games rotate every 4 hours, there is no way I'll be able to keep track of all of these, considering things like, oh, sleep. Also, while the website does list the time frame on the left hand side, note that those hours are in UTC. Ah, time zone conversions.
Also joining the fray today is GamersGate, with a bit of a twist on its sale - buy four games in the same order, and only pay for 3 of them. Just like Steam, this one has a rotating set of Deals of the Day, as well as a ton of other titles on sale. Just a bit of full disclosure, I've not used this site before, but I've you've had positive experiences with it, please let me know. I don't want to be advocating for a service with a questionable reputation, after all (but I am promoting Steam?...).
The Humble Store is still going strong with the same 18 games as yesterday.
Amazon continues its sale, with the bundles making up some of the better deals you can get. There is even a Games for Steam filter, should you be so inclined. Bonus, Batman: Arkham Origins is up there for $20.
Alright, so that is a ton of games on sale, and it'll be a pain to list and comment on all of them. If there are redundancies, such as the same gaming coming up for sale on multiple websites, I'll try and find the one with the best price for you. But since my audience seems to be largely Steam related, and as the major digital distributor of games, I hope you'll forgive me if that's what I focus on.
Main Sale:
Dead Island - The zombie survival open world rpg game. Someone traded this to me a year or so ago, and I still haven't claimed it, mostly because I've heard, from a large amount of my close friends, that the game isn't that great. It's an interesting idea, but something fails in the execution. You can get the GOTY edition of the first game for $4.95, which is tied for the lowest I've ever seen it, or you get by the Franchise pack and pick up Riptide as well for $12.49, which, since Riptide is $7.49 itself, is basically saving you on less than $2 of DLC.
Game Dev Tycoon - I'll be honest, the only reason I've even heard of this game is because the devs intentionally released a pirated version of the game with a key change - everyone who played that version of the game would eventually find their game studio loosing too much money to piracy to be able to stay open. The results of that experiment were pretty funny, particularly when some individuals advocated for some type of DRM to stop the piracy. Only 50% off at $4.99 today.
XCOM Enemy Unknown - I've actually played, and completed, this game, yet I haven't reviewed it. Yes, I'm getting behind. It is a fun take on turn based strategy games, with the whole big picture portion of the game where you need to invest in expanding your base, researching new technologies, interrogating aliens you managed to capture in combat, etc. It took me 36 hours to beat, but I'll freely admit that I didn't play the hardcore mode where you would lose a soldier for good. Instead, I saved at the beginning of each mission and would replay it until I achieved a satisfactory ending. I do have criticism for the game, such as the sentiment that the game needs more maps, which is a common one in the community. Another one is that at times the game seemed to just drag on, particularly since there are only 3 tech levels. I would also point out that the start of the game is rough due to the lack of explanation about certain things, as well as being locked into what you must due to the tutorial mode, which you want so you learn, but you don't want so you have more freedom. The game will be getting an 8 or 9 from me, and I'll advocate picking it up under $10, which is good, because today it's $9.99. The just released expansion pack is not on sale. Also, as a final dig, Frozen Synapse is a much better game, so if you have to choose...
Van Helsing - An action adventure game in the vein of Diablo or Torchlight. There is a good amount of versatility in how you customize your character. It's a game I'm considering getting, and thankfully there is a demo to let me try it out. It hits the lowest price I can remember at $5.09 for the base game, but you can also pick up the Complete Pack for $6.79, which is nice, because those 3 DLCs aren't on sale themselves.
Dark Souls - Alright, so I'm about 8 hours into this game, which I figured I'd give a try just because I was certain it would come up during this season's sales, as well as to see how challenging this game, which only came to the PC after a massive outcry of public support/petitioning. If I had to rate it right now I'd give it a 5...maybe. The game isn't this fantastic test of your gaming skills, it's more an idiotic gamble where you fight gigantic monsters that attack so quickly and repeatedly that you cannot a) avoid their attacks, including some that have splash damage off of a club, even if you roll out of the way or b) can't get an attack in yourself, all the while dealing with some terribly place world geometry that you'll get stuck on it. The game does not explain anything, so you'll need to make friends with a wiki or buy a guide just to know what the symbols under you weapon's equip requirements are, as well as figuring out where to go in this open world RPG. Also, you absolutely most download a slew of mods, and get an Xbox 360 controller to make the game playable, if you want to do things like, say, run the game in the resolution you'd like to actually view it in any decent resolution and not in a window. Sure, the game has some interesting points, and is more engaging than plenty of other titles, with things like the whole invasion/online thing being an interesting idea, but it also suffers from some glaring flaws that make the game distinctly not fun, such as where I'm currently stopped, with is the 4th or 5th boss, because you engage a 15 foot tall demon with 10 foot swords in an 8 x 5 alleyway, with enough rubble that you can't step over it and you constantly get stuck. It is $5.99, which makes it an all time low, but honestly, I don't think I can recommend this game unless you really, really, really want to try it.
Baldur's Gate - The updated and released classic. There were some issues when it launched, and I'm not sure those were resolved. Still, if you're interested, it's $7.99 for 1, while 2 is still full price at $24.99.
Final Fantasy VII - I never owned a Playstation, so I never game this game a try (I also didn't game on the PC at the time that version was released). That actually makes this more of an interesting buy for me. It's $3.99 today.
Don't Starve - I have been told by a friend that I must buy this survival sim, but I've been waiting for it to hit the 75% off mark, so I haven't actually given it a shot yet. It is down to $5.09 today though.
Papers Please - As bizarre as this game looks, I can see it being one of those great games that I would enjoy. Not sure why though. It's 50% off at $4.99 today.
Flash Sales:
Skull Girls - This was just free to play during the last few weekends. Personally, I'm not a fighting games guy, so I passed even then. It's $7.49.
System Shock 2 - The classic game makes it back down to $2.49 today.
Sanctum - The original, which I have reviewed, is $2.49. The recently released 2 is $2.99, which seems like such a great deal there is no way I'll pass it up. DLCs for 2 are also marked down, including the Season Pass, though the information page for that one doesn't actually tell you what's included, which is a bit of a shame, though if you're diligent and click through the different DLCs, you'll find out that The Pursuit, Ruins of Brightholme, and Road to Elysion are all part of the pass (meaning one still needs to be released) while the Skin Pack is not. So put me down for the game and the season pass then.
Killing Floor - This is a fun shooter to play, assuming you can round of some friends to play with. I've mostly done it solo, and it simply is not as rewarding. It's a class based game that haves you surviving waves of mutant zombie things. There is a brief break between rounds where you can make it to a store to restock. There are a variety of enemies, such as a screamer that stuns you, or some giant guys that will enrage if you do too much damage too fast. The base game is $4.99, but you an get the bundle for $12.49, which includes a ton of DLC. Frankly, a lot of those DLCs don't seem to add anything to the game, being character packs and all, but it is certainly cheaper to go that route than spend $45.81 to buy them separately.
And in case you missed it, here were the over night flash sales: Super Meat Boy - $2.99, RPG Maker VX - $17.49, Prototype - $4.99 for 1, $9.99 for 2, Gone Home - $4.99, The Cave - $3.74, Evoland - $2.49, Trials Evolution Gold Edition - $4.99, and Primal Carnage - $3.74
*****
So that's it for today. Though you'll want to make sure and check back at places like Green Man Gaming, what with their flash sales and all. I think it's an interesting mix of games, with the biggest winner being Sanctum, though Killing Floor, System Shock 2, and XCOM would all also be excellent buys. Dead Island and Dark Souls are iffy, though cheaper than they have been, and most of the rest are either games that I'm not interested in (Skull Girls), or games that I would certainly like to try, but maybe for a bit less, which is easy to do when the next big sale is just a month away.
Go ahead and drop a line in the comments section to let me know what you think of the sale so far, or my expanded coverage of some of the other sites with sales out there. See you tomorrow!
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