The videogames on sale thread

[RedRooster]

Some of the games I've picked up on the Steam sale so far - keep in mind, I've not played most of these yet so I can't vouch for anything other than the fact they look interesting. I'll include the Steam reviews info to give you something to go by. 

 

Boomerang X (£6.70, 60% off)

Steam reviews (Overwhelmingly Positive - 95% out of 804 reviews)

I actually can vouch for this one, although I've only played a small amount of it. It's a fast-paced arena shooter where you're a mummy with a boomerang. From what I've played, it seems fantastic. I had a lot of fun with it and knew pretty quickly that I was going to have a good time with this one. Unfortunately, the studio behind it seems to have folded recently; having only made this one game. But from what I can tell, what a game it seems to be. 

 

OTXO (£6.83, 40% off)

Steam reviews (Very Positive - 94% of 1,380 ALL TIME; Overwhelmingly Positive - 97% of 375 RECENT)

I seemed to have inadvertently deleted what I'd originally written here, damn. Anyway, here's take two - this game appealed to me as it's said to be inspired by Hotline Miami; with attempts to improve on the mechanics - which, according to some reviews, it succeeds at in many areas. Unlike Hotline Miami, it has fairly significant boss battles - things like giant lizards and other fantastical creatures. It's an interesting sounding game and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. 

 

BAD END THEATER (£5.83, 30% off)

Steam reviews (Overwhelmingly positive: 95

The appeal of this one to me was that, according to reviews, it's inspired by Hotline Miami but attempts to improve on its mechanics. According to a lot of the Steam reviews, it actually succeeds in many ways. Unlike Hotline Miami, it contains some pretty mad looking boss battles, with giant lizards and the like. 

 

Meg's Monster (£10.23, 20% off)

Steam Reviews (Overwhelmingly Positive - 98% of 688 ALL TIME, Very Positive - 85% of 21 RECENT)

I've had my eye on this one for a while. You play a monster who stumbles upon a lost little girl called Meg. If she cries, the world you live in ends. It's a JRPG in which you try to reunite Meg with her mother. Reviews on and off Steam speak very positively about the story, and as a new dad, this one certainly has the potential to resonate with me. 

 

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon (£19.99, 30% off)

Steam reviews: (Very Positive: 81% of 1,564 ALL TIME; Very Positive: 85% of 243 RECENT)

This one is in early access, so I feel like the recent score is worth paying attention to more than the all time score; due to the nature of early access titles. This game is apparently a Skyrim-inspired open world game with more challenging, almost Souls-like combat. The world is far from finalised, so I assume there's the potential for it to feel empty in places as the creators build the experience that they're looking to build. I don't buy early access games often, but I've decided to take a chance on this one. 

 

BAD END THEATER (£5.83, 30% off)

Steam reviews (Overwhelmingly Positive - 97% of 5,614) 

I genuinely have no idea what to expect with this one. It seems to be a visual novel that is short, but the idea is to make decisions and explore a variety of bad endings; helping the protagonists escape their negative fate. This summary might be wrong, but the reviews are so positive I've decided to take a chance on it. 

 

Bang-On Balls Chronicles (£14.69, 30% off)

Steam reviews (Overwhelmingly Positive - 97% of 2,943)

This one is apparently based on a meme, and even though I think all memes are shit, I bought this game because it's apparently very good. It's a 3D sandbox platformer, and I'm a sucker for those. The trailer makes it look almost Mario or Jak & Daxter-like (the original one); with missions to complete to achieve your goal and clear a level. We'll see if it lives up to my hopes. 

Edited November 23, 2023 by RedRooster

[Dr. Alan Grant]

I’ve got my Steam Deck back out, having not used it for a while. I’m sorely tempted by quite a few of your recent Steam write-ups, Rooster, especially that open world Final Fantasy one. I thank you, my wallet does not.

[Merzbow]

Remember when The Walking Dead games were good? The ones based on the comic, at least.

This looks like a good bundle for 16 quid, all the TWD Telltale games and a whole bunch of other stuff including WrestleQuest on Steam.

 

[CleetusVanDamme]

Saints and Sinners (only played the first one) was ace and deserves to be mentioned with the Telltale games. Surprisingly interactive level design that sometimes gave me Dishonored/Prey vibes and gives you freedom to approach things in varied ways. Plus all the immersive, fun physics stuff you'd want out of a VR game. It even keeps a bit of the Telltale soul in there with all the choices you can make. Would love to play it (and Blood and Truth!) again one day with a better solution than those Move controllers. Am I fuck buying a PSVR2 any time soon though!

 

[RedRooster]

So I’m sharing another one of these. It’s an early access game, and I’m writing the post on my phone while playing the game. So no screenshot or usual format with this one. And it’s a one game post, because I am fucking LOVING it and I want to emphasise how strongly I’m recommending this game.

 

Shadows of Doubt (£12.79, 20% off)

Shadows of Doubt is a voxel style procedurally generated detective game, where a city is generated and murders take place. Ignore the procedural generation part - it’s not a bad thing here, and actually adds to the whole thing. Every building is fully explorable, it’s really impressive.

Now, when I say you’re a detective, you’re actually just some random solving crimes who has nothing to do with the police. You also have to eat, drink and even shower. Mechanics I normally hate, but I’ll describe a real scenario I experienced to show you how it works here. 

I heard a murder had taken place, so I walked into the apartment building where this had happened, the police were setting up a cordon. Stupidly, I didn’t realise I wasn’t welcome, so I broke past the cordon, the police whipped out their guns and started shooting me. I panicked, smashed a window in the house with my fists, and leapt out of it, breaking my leg in the process. I woke up in hospital. After paying my bill, I decided to head back to the flat. The police had gone, so I went in. 

I noticed the body, but realised I needed to eat, so broke into the victims fridge and started stealing their food and drink. Problem solved. I found out who the victim was, and where they worked. Bingo, I thought - I went to their workplace to search for clues as to who might have done it. I learned my lesson from last time and sneaked in, rather than brazenly barge in. I managed to get to a computer, read some suspicious emails - but then I was caught by a security guard, who detected me because I was so smelly, having not bothered to shower at this point. I ran away, then broke into a stranger’s flat in order to shower. Then it was back to trying to solve the crime…

I’ve had loads of stupid adventures like this, and while in a long post like this one it’s probably sounding incredibly boring, honestly, I was pissing myself laughing throughout. It may be early access and, as a result, a bit buggy; but it’s fucking BRILLIANT. I couldn’t recommend this highly enough. Off I go to play some more, and maybe beat a few confessions out of suspects…

[RedRooster]

Sorry for the double post! If you’ve been holding off on getting Baldur’s Gate 3 like I was, there’s a nice 10% discount on Steam right now as part of their winter sale. That brings the price down to £44.99, which isn’t bad at all for what you’re getting. 

[BigJag]

Grid legends is £5.99 on PSN. I'll have to get it. Unless there's some hidden micro transaction nonsense.

Edited December 22, 2023 by BigJag

[DavidB6937]

https://www.cdkeys.com/pc/hogwarts-legacy-pc-steam-eu-na

£18.99

[FLips]

You can get the newest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox for £39.99

https://www.cdkeys.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-iii-cross-gen-bundle-xbox-one-xbox-series-x-s-uk

Both myself and my brother got it and can confirm it's legit.

[DavidB6937]

Fallout 3 GOTY PC is free on Epic Games if there's anyone that doesn't have it.

[Loki]

On 11/22/2023 at 4:13 PM, Jesse said:

If Her Story appeals then I can't recommend Immortality enough. It's another Sam Barlow joint but really pushing this format about as far as it can go.

You're piecing together three films, including table reads, rehearsals, and other incidental video material - and uyou unlock new footage by selecting objects in the scene (faces, paintings, furniture, ashtrays etc) and getting a match cut to another piece of footage. Has some meta stuff pulling it all together but I could have spent hours without that just meticulously combing through footage and getting overjoyed when I found a clip I hadn't seen before. Truly fascinating game.

The second game, Telling Lies, is good too and an extremely handsome man did the sound design for it too.

 I’ve done two games with Sam so far, more to come as well hopefully.

[SuperBacon]

EA FC is £28 on the PlayStation store.

How do I know? Because my little shit of a 10yo has asked me maybe 5 times an hour today if we can get it and has been told the same every time "Wait until Xmas and see if it gets cheaper" (we've bought it already)

She is determined to find out we've got it already.

 

[BrodyGraham]

If you buy it through Fifa23 it's £21, or at least it is on Xbox.

It is what it is, but I'm enjoying it well enough.

[FLips]

The main Christmas sale on Xbox has finished and so the sale that has just started is pretty slim pickings. That being said there are a couple of little hits in there (including one I'm finally buying) that might be of interest to people. These are all on the Series S/X though definitely check Xbox One if you have that as I'm sure some if not most aren't next-gen exclusive.

Train Sim World 3 - £29.99 - £5.99.

Not my type of game but I know there's some on here enjoy them. Used to really enjoy watching @jazzygeofferz live stream the train games back during Covid. This one comes with 3 expansions included too (Cajon Pass, Kassel-Wurzburg and Southeastern Highspeed).

Pumpkin Jack - £24.99 - £6.24

I've been on the fence about this one for a while. Widely hailed as a "90's style platformer" and "spritual successor to Medievil" it's never looked as polished as that era's best or as unique and interesting as Medievil to warrant a full price buy. For just over a fiver though and the next-gen upgrades it feels like the right time to give it a try.
It does look decent if you're looking for a simple platformer but all the Medievil comparisons are just because it has pumpkins and spooky stuff in it. Hopefully it plays well and lives up to the minor hype it has, I'll report back.

Gunbird/Gunbird 2 - £7.49 - £5.99

Again, not my bag but both classic arcade vertical shoot em ups are available for just over a fiver each. I don't know what changes they've made from previous console versions on the Saturn/Dreamcast/etc but I know they have online leaderboards.
All I know is they're both fairly well regarded and fairly cheap so some of you might snap at the chance.

Sol Divide - Sword of Darkness - £7.49 - £5.99

Another classic 90s shooter. Not a huge discount but if you're in the market for Gunbird I feel this is worth bringing to your attention. Beautiful artwork at least.

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by FelatioLips

[Keith Houchen]

50 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

Train Sim World 3 - £29.99 - £5.99.

Hello!

Cashed in my points and got NHL24. Does feel like an upgrade from last years what with different controls and not just yer bog standard updated squads.