Steam and Steam Decks

[Jesse]

I am not immune to propaganda. Picking up almost everything that is on sale from my wishlist. Only thing discounted I'm not picking up is Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance because I'm not sure if I actually want it or if I just miss Starcraft 2

[Chris B]

45 minutes ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

This seems like an opportune moment for @RedTwoster to magically appear and recommend Steam games in the Black Friday sale.

I've picked up some very fun games due to his recs.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/oddworld-complete-collection

I did find a bundle of Oddworld games for the stupid price of £1. There’s also a Star Wars bundle on the same site for around £15. It’s got both of the KOTOR games, as well as a dozen others. 

It’s about time I dug my Steam Deck out again. I’ve ordered one of those R36S AliExpress handhelds mentioned in another thread and that’ll take care of my retro games itch. But I really need to check out some indie games on the Deck, especially when they sometimes cost silly money. 

[Devon Malcolm]

I've genuinely set aside the whole of Friday to go through my wishlist and the sale as a whole.

[RedTwoster]

22 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

This seems like an opportune moment for @RedTwoster to magically appear and recommend Steam games in the Black Friday sale.

Consider me summoned!

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 

£1.74 each, was £4.99

Bethesda’s Indiana Jones game is out this month, but these point-and-clic classics are the benchmarks for Indy games. Fate of Atlantis is an original story (and, in my opinion, the better game) but both are worth picking up. Be warned though, while you can get them working on Deck, you have to do a bit of tinkering. I include them anyway as you don’t need a high end PC to run them, even if you can’t be arsed taking the steps to run them on Deck (understandable).

 

UFO 50

£17.84, was £20.99

Not a huge discount, but you’re getting 50 full games for £17, which is great value. The vast majority are excellent (there are a few stinkers) and there are some that I would happily have paid full price for alone - such as Rail Heist (pictured) where you’re trying to sneak your way on and off a train to steal loot. The premise is that this is a retro games compilation for a fictional games company, and the games are made to look like they would fit on platforms from the time they’re supposed to be from - and you see their evolution throughout this compilation. Not all games are excellent, but as I say, most are and this is one of my games of 2024. 

 

Chained Echoes

£17.49, was £24.99

Again, not an enormous discount, but this is one of the best JRPG-style games in recent memory, so I’m going to include it. I genuinely don’t know how much awareness there is of this game, but I feel like it’s lower than it should be for the quality you are getting. It pisses all over Sea of Stars. The story is decent, but it probably would have benefited from an editor. The gameplay is seriously fun - with some unique mechanics and puzzles; something you can rarely apply to a JRPG. I really enjoyed it, and if you like the genre, I suspect you will too.

 

Tales of Arise

£12.94, was £34.99

Not an indie game, but the Tales JRPG series never really gets its due. Each game is a standalone title so, like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, you can dive right in at any point. This, the most recent game in the series, is also the best, in my opinion. The combat is action based rather than turn-based, and the story is strong; with the premise being that you play a mysterious masked slave who does not feel pain; and a co-lead who is unable to be touched without magic thorns appearing from her body. The story tackles some dark subjects, and I found it to be genuinely gripping. At just over £12, it’s an easy recommendation. 

I’ll pop some more recommendations up later!

Edited November 29, 2024 by RedTwoster

[Jesse]

+2 to UFO 50. The first game on that (Barbuta) was so much fun it's what made me go play the classic Castlevania's

[RedTwoster]

3 hours ago, Jesse said:

+2 to UFO 50. The first game on that (Barbuta) was so much fun it's what made me go play the classic Castlevania's

I bought it shortly after launch and I’ve played the game loads, yet I have barely touched any of the games. It’s absolutely crazy that it even exists - Barbuta is a game I only played for a little while, so I’ll need to go back to it. Rail Heist is what hooked me, it’s so much fun.

[FLips]

I got the 1997 Blade Runner Point n Click game including both the original and remastered versions, and both the Star Wars Dark Forces Doom-clone style games on GOG for something like £4.57 combined. Gonna sink my teeth into them over the weekend.

[gmoney]

Such fond memories of the Blade Runner game. Not sure I'd want to play it again today, in case it didn't hold up, but it blew my mind when I was younger. 

[Onyx2]

3 hours ago, FLips said:

I got the 1997 Blade Runner Point n Click game including both the original and remastered versions

Oh that's cool, I always thought that was one of those titles that wasn't able to be made again due to lost code. Neat.

11 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis / Indiana Jones and the Las Crusade 

£1.74 each, was £4.99

Bethesda’s Indiana Jones game is out this month, but these point-and-clic classics are the benchmarks for Indy games. Fate of Atlantis is an original story (and, in my opinion, the better game) but both are worth picking up. Be warned though, while you can get them working on Deck, you have to do a bit of tinkering. I include them anyway as you don’t need a high end PC to run them, even if you can’t be arsed taking the steps to run them on Deck (understandable).

 

I replayed both of these earlier this year and I can confirm they're both still excellent. Such wonderful, witty writing (the less said about the hand-to-hand combat in Crusade the better).

[FLips]

8 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

Oh that's cool, I always thought that was one of those titles that wasn't able to be made again due to lost code. Neat.

I replayed both of these earlier this year and I can confirm they're both still excellent. Such wonderful, witty writing (the less said about the hand-to-hand combat in Crusade the better).

I started the Fate of Atlantis one but never finished it. I really enjoyed it and got quite far in (past the point of where you can openly travel to the different countries) but doing so meant that an already vague game now gave me multiple areas to be vague in and I drifted away and gave up.

When it comes to point and clicks, I don't think there's any beating Beneath a Steel Sky for me. Absolutely adore that one.

[Merzbow]

I'd play the original version of Bladerunner over the blurry AI upscaled remaster, it looks pretty awful and is a rare L from Nightdive. They seemingly just shoved the pre-rendered backgrounds through an app. A lot of new bugs were introduced too, some were arguably game breaking.

It was so bad GOG had to start selling the original again, glad they're both in the package now though.

Edited November 29, 2024 by Merzbow

[Onyx2]

4 minutes ago, FLips said:

When it comes to point and clicks, I don't think there's any beating Beneath a Steel Sky for me. Absolutely adore that one.

Ooh tough category. OG Gabriel Knight, Monkey Island 1, Day of the Tentacle hold special places for me. But I'm sure they are all dated beyond belief now.

[FLips]

13 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I'd play the original version of Bladerunner over the blurry AI upscaled remaster, it looks pretty awful and is a rare L from Nightdive. They seemingly just shoved the pre-rendered backgrounds through an app. A lot of new bugs were introduced too, some were arguably game breaking.

It was so bad GOG had to start selling the original again, glad they're both in the package now though.

I'll keep that in mind thanks!

[Dr. Alan Grant]

14 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

Ooh tough category. OG Gabriel Knight, Monkey Island 1, Day of the Tentacle hold special places for me. But I'm sure they are all dated beyond belief now.

Monkey Island 1 and 2 definitely hold up. I can still play them some 30-odd years later and enjoy them. I’m sure a kid brought up on Fortnite would think it was utter shite, but kids don’t deserve Monkey Island anyway.