Steam Autumn Sale 11-29-13

All right, so I've done my best to track some of the sales, but it's been a hectic 24 hours, mostly because I have a ton of family, and I need to sleep at some point. But here we go:

Green Man Gaming had How to Survive for $7.49, Crusader Kings II Collection for $19.99, Super Street Fighter IV for $10.19, Dishonored GOTY for $19.99,  with Jack Keane II as the bonus game in one set. Then you could get  Sniper 2 Ghost Warrior for $5.99, Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn for $14.99/$24.99, Thunder Wolves for $2.49, Europa Univeralis IV for $19.99/$22.49, with Citadels at $19.99 as the bonus game for another set. This was followed by Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion for $9.99, Deus Ex pack for $8.98, LA Noire for $7.49, Teleglitch for $3.24, and The Dark Eye Demonicon for $19.99 in a third set. Then there were two more sets that I didn't catch because I am human and need to sleep. After that, you could get Tomb Raider Collection for $11.99, Kings Bounty for $5.99/$6.59 , The Bureau: XCOM Declassified for $16.99, Rage for $4.99, and Cargo! for free with the purchase of another game. Currently it's Final Fantasy VII for $5.99, The Walking Dead for $6.24, a Max Payne Bundle which includes the whole franchise for $22.49, Payday 2 for $14.99, and 50% off all Valve digital games. Additionally, and I just found this out, you can use this code to get an extra 20% off the sale price: TAREM-4PLAY-VOUCH

Amazon is still doing it's thing. The Humble Store has reshuffled it's offerings, bringing in a few more titles to the mix, but mostly leaving things unchanged. Then there is GamersGate, which has it's 8 main games on sale, those several of those are redundant at this point, such as Bioshock Infinite, which is the same price on Steam, or Final Fantasy VII, which is less than GMG, but still more than it was on Steam. So apparently it's go Steam right now.

Main Sale

State of Decay - So many zombie games. This is an action RPG simulation game where, if I recall correctly from when my roommate was playing it a few months ago, you can do things like alternate between several different characters with different attributes as you go about searching for supplies, survivors, etc, while trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. It's supposed to be a decent game, with a variety of mechanics, such as evil survivors, loud cars that attract zombies, etc, but also somewhat brief. Personally, I'm a bit burnt out on zombies, so I'll pass, as it's less than a month old and already 50% off, bringing it down to $9.99.

Call of Duty Ghosts - I haven't been much of a COD fan since 4, unless it was a console version with 4 player split screen, because then you can add things like food and alcohol to the mix to make things more enjoyable. While I'm told this one is pretty good (I wouldn't know, because they decided to make split screen 2 player only on the 360), I will certainly be passing on it. While it's a whopping 17% off on Steam, bringing it down to $49.79, or the price games used to be, you should probably head over to Amazon instead. There you'll find Ghosts for $44.99. So take your $5 and buy some other game instead.

Contagion - Today's early access game. Also, another zombie game. Certainly an ambitious attempt, if the informative video is to be believed. However, as a mutliplayer game, I'm not interested that much, and this won't be one of those games I plan on playing any time soon. Even though it's early access, you can still get it for 75% off, which brings it to $3.74 today.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 - I'll be honest, I don't get it. But you can, for $6.24.

Counter Strike - One of the Valve games that is always on sale for this price. You can pick up Global Offensive for $3.74, while the Complete pack is $7.49, just in case you want to get into the whole 1.6 vs. source. vs. GO debate as you plant bombs or rescue hostages.

Bioshock Infinite - This one has been on sale, and current is, on a few different sites. I loved the original Bioshock, and some of the mechanics, though not the story, of the sequel. I've heard very good things about this game, and $9.99 isn't a bad price at all, though you'll probably want to shell out a but more for some of the DLCs, none o which are on sale (note, the Season pass is already the same price as the two released DLCs it includes. As an alternative to buying the shooter here, you may want to consider Amazon, where you can find the entire franchise for $14.99. That will save you about $5 over what it would be to be the games individually on Steam.

Saints Row IV - The over the top GTA like sandbox game. Steam has it down for $19.99 for the base game, but if you spend just $27.19, you can get the franchise pack, which includes Saints Row 2, 3, 4, and a ton of DLC for 3, though none for 4. Guess if you really want that dubstep gun, you're going to have to buy it seperately.

Surgeon Simulator 2013 - The quasi joke game with the QWOP controls. I'm still pretty meh on the whole thing, though today's all time low price of $2.49 is a bit of an incentive. That, and the certainty that it'll be on sale again during the winter and I'd like to know a bit more about it so I can actually write something of substance instead of having a day go by where I have only played 1/9 games in depth.

Dishonored - In case you're wondering, this is the 1/9 games I've played in depth. Dishonored is an interesting FPS/Stealth game. I've put about 20 hours into it, though I'm not done yet. Part of the reason it's take me so long is that I'm choosing to go the Stealth route, so I have to wait for people to pass by, since I'm attempting to complete levels without being detected or killing anyone. The game certainly has some interesting features to it, such as a chaos system that will change your game depending on how you fall on the stealth/kill everything spectrum. I like the world, and the overall gameplay, which feels somewhat like it takes from Bioshock and perhaps the faster pace of Half Life, should you decide to go that route. Unfortunately, the game is lacking in certain aspects, such as the variety of abilities (there are 5, but only 2-3 cater themselves to stealth, while violent blasts of wind or summoning a swarm of rats are more useful for combat), but almost makes up for this with the variety of ways you can move around levels or complete missions. The base game is $7.49, while the GOTY is $13.59, which is still less than I paid when I picked up the DLCs separately earlier this year. I do recommend it, but be prepared to be frustrated by some of the really stupid mechanics, like non existent rats eating corpses.

Flash Sale

Trine 2 - Reviewed! Look, 2 is 90% off, which brings it down to $1.99. And the franchise is only $2.49. Really, why are you even debating this. Go buy this now, because it is that awesome.

Half Life 2 - Another common sale item, at it's usual $2.49. Well worth it if you've never played it before. Episodes 1 and 2 are also available for $1.99 each.

Spelunky - The randomly generated worlds and generally unforgiving nature of this game seem like too much to me. But hey, I've managed to make it through both FTL and Hotline Miami, so maybe I can handle this. It's $3.74.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Platinum! - Sorry, can't tell you anything about this one but that it's $5.99.

In case you missed it, past flash sales included: Cities XL Platinum for $5.99, Starforge Alpha for $11.99, Tropico 4 for $5.59, The Binding of Isaac for $1.24, Might and Magic Heroes VI for $7.49, Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 for $4.99, Gunpoint for an all time low $3.39, and Limbo for $2.49.

***

Well, a bit different selection of games today, one that, unforunately, I'm not terribly familiar with. Still, I can at least point out that I can save you money on COD Ghosts, that you absolutely must buy Trine 2, and that Dishonored is okay, but not the great game I was led to believe. Thankfully that last one hit a new low price, so maybe it's better at that price. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.