I picked up Phoenix Point because I was feeling that XCOM itch and knew if it wasn't this I would start a Long War game of XCOM2 which would probably take 2 years to finish if I did at all.
Far Cry 5 is $6 and though I'm not particularly tempted I've heard good things.
Mad Max is $2 and if you haven't played it I would say it most certainly a bargain at that price. It is fairly boilerplate open world where you take towers and bases to gather resources for upgrades and eventually unlock tougher and tougher zones. The vehicle combat is really the standout and your car is the star of the show. Just tearing around the desert is fun in itself. Taking caravans is particularly cinematic and satisfying to eventually bag one that you just weren't quite able to before your latest upgrade. Unfortunately the base assault and dismounted fighting is pretty forgettable with batman arkham-style auto-target with quicktime blocking that doesn't change very much as you unlock new abilities. My 2nd favorite open world game after shadow of mordor/war.
Reminder to everyone that basically any and all games on sale on Steam are usually on a better sale on Greenmangaming, which gives you a Steam key anyway. Heck if you are certain of buying a new game at full price on release its usually 10-20% off there to begin with.
The "deep discount" games Steam has right now is one of the rare times I've seen games cheaper on Steam itself and is a good sign to have alternating and competing discounts again across multiple fronts.
But me personally, I've not bought anything this go around. I'm still wrapping up the Romancing Saga 2 Remake (for an example of my point, Steam has no discount on it as its brand new, but GMG has 20% off) which I highly recommend as an all around good JRPG experience with minimal woke anything I noticed.
I would suggest using GG Deals which shows multiple storefronts. Not all of them are trustworthy though.
And for me I bought Guild Wars 1 which is actually cheapest on Steam at a historical low. I also picked up Deadly Premonition 2 and Alice Madness Returns which are also on historical lows.
I usually go with Isthereanydeal to comb for discounts across multiple storefronts. Its shown me some that look like they'd be iffy, but all of them have checked out fine with no risk factors or nonsense.
GMG is just my solid choice for consistently discounted newer stuff. Because anything cheaper than what they are offering is usually a scam. And since I've had an account for so long I already qualify for all their "Gold XP" deals, which is usually an additional discount on everything.
The downside of using key sites like GMG is that if you don't like the game for whatever reason, you can't refund it on Steam. I learned that the hard way by preordering Guilty Gear Strive, and when the game fucking sucked balls and they started censoring the word Taiwan from the game... I couldn't do anything about it.
That is a very true risk. I usually only buy from there when I'm certain I'm going to enjoy it (which is the only way I'll buy a brand new game anywhere near full price) or its on such a deep discount I can consider it a lost gamble if it sucks.
Though GMG is pretty good on refunds themselves if something else comes up. More than once I've had a game where they legit ran out of keys and couldn't give a lot of people their game, and they just refunded us no question on it.
Xenonauts is a better XCOM experience than Phoenix Point. The latter has a lot of strange design decisions that were compounded by all the DLC they added.
Phoenix Point also did one of the biggest 'fuck yous' to gamers in history.
They, to my knowledge, handled Epic exclusivity the worst of anyone, ever, anywhere. Lied to everyone, didn't honor it, told their backers to get lost, basically.
That's hard to do, because there have been so many legitimately awful handlings of it.
Its almost impressive how many companies managed to find a unique way to destroy their own games by taking Epic's money and then making sure to burn it on bad PR.
"You [the backers, who funded us to build this game] could all refund, and we'd be fine." - Those fuckers, paraphrased.
"Also, we never promised Steam keys [they did.]" Same fuckers, paraphrased.
Steam exclusivity isn't much better. At least at the start of Epics exclusivity lots of games were DRM free.
Phoenix point is definitely... Something. I tried it when it first came out, so I have no idea about the dlcs, but it felt really awkward to me. Power scaling felt off in general, some of the mechanics didn't really click (at least for me, some people might enjoy them), and the setting felt... Meh. Could have been cooler, but didnt end up being that meaningful to me.
Will give Mad Max a try thanks
Regarding Mad Max, I have a question about the Steam version of the game. The Steam sales page for it claims that it uses Denuvo, which doesn't sound right for an older game being sold for $1.99. Further, Mad Max is being sold on GOG without Denuvo, so there isn't any consistency about this between vendors. Can someone who owns the Steam version please confirm whether it actually uses Denuvo or not?
If they ever updated it to remove Denuvo on the Steam version, there's no sign of anyone saying so. The Steam forum even still has a post stickied from some random shill talking about how awesome and necessary Denuvo is, full of retarded arguments. The curator 'Games That Hate You' still lists it as having Denuvo and that curator has been pretty reliable for me in tracking games that have it removed post-release.
Even if I had it still installed, I wouldn't know how to check for Denuvo implementation. I played it on an older rig (gifted from a friend, since I hate Denuvo) but didn't notice any of the stutters or huge loading times that sometimes make Denuvo's presence obvious. Or if I did, I attributed them to that ageing rig, before I later learnt the game had Denuvo.
Thanks!
I'll just drop some recommends here. I don't really play AAA story games.
Pseudoregalia N64 style 3D platformer with very compelling movement mechanics. I recommend turning off the low framerate animations in the options.
Novadrift Asteroids style arcade game with an upgrade tree.
Neverlooted Dungeon (Demo) First person exploration and looting with physics puzzles and some combat.
Lovish (Demo) Single screen platforming with some hilarious cutscenes in between.
Devil Daggers If quake and robotron had a baby. Very good sound design and graphical style, will test fps skills. Ignore the sequel as it is shit.
The Messenger I have played several ninja gaiden inspired games and this is the best one.
Gunlocked Auto shooter/upgrade style shmup. Basic presentation, but it's priced to match and I had fun unlocking everything.
Hedon I have played all the boomer shooters and this one is my favorite. If you can get past the somewhat amateur character art, it has really cool map design, satisfying weapons, and some unique presentation for a doom engine game.
30XX It's megaman x with procedural levels. It's got some late game design issues, but the jump and shoot is fun.
Receiver 2 Manually operate a pistol in extreme detail (ie button to toggle safety, cock hammer, rack slide, etc) while being hunted by drones and listening to strange tapes. Entertaining for firearms enthusiasts and cult enjoyers.
Primordia My favorite point and click adventure. Unique world and art style, puzzles that are interesting but still solvable without a walkthrough.
I'll second The Messenger as being a top quality experience, both in gameplay and in terms of its writing. It's an extremely well designed platformer and should be played by anyone who enjoys the genre.
You might be interested in Metal: Hellsinger. Picked it up last night and in terms of gameplay loop, it's probably the most satisfying shooter I've played in recent memory. Essentially Doom: The rhythm game, with none of the rogue-like elements or jank found in BPM.
Only game I got is POE2 early access
It's not on sale
It's also a free to play game when it exits early access
No regrets
edit: brain no so good today
I'm at nearly 2k hours into PoE. I can't let myself start again until I'm sure I've accomplished everything else I want to do in life.
I'm not gonna lie, I felt the same way, asking myself "do I really have time in my life for this timesink?" answer: Hell no, but also, it is December... 30 bucks early access when you know that's when most men have a lot of downtime? Pretty sneaky Grinding Gear Games, take my money.
I did get another game during the sale, Twitter Premium at 50% off or something so I can play with Grok and give a tiny bit of support to a free speech platform.
Mass Effect legendary edition is 4,79 dolars.
And requires an origin account
I picked up Ixion(I saw someone playing it and the intro/tutorial interested me enough to actually add the game for when it went on sale), though I haven't played it.
And, much to my shame... I gave into my boredom and picked up Warhammer 40K:Rogue Trader.
I'm honestly surprised how much I'm enjoying it so far. The combat reminds me of X-com(both original and the remake) in a sense that you have to be tactical enough in terms of pacing, environment, and distance that you just can't barrel through brainlessly. The drawback is that combat can take so long it's a bit of a pain if you wipe accidentally, or fuck up on what you have to do, or...
Mind, I've just passed act one. Supposedly things get easier, but, eh.
Thematics-wise, I'm honestly surprised so far. They really do make no apologies for the setting. Being a Rogue Trader is a big fucking deal, and being full-on 'The God-Emperor was right and you can't prove otherwise' IC is often the best choice you can make. Seeing a Chaos Marine is utterly horrific and everyone expects that they're going to die horribly and are utterly shocked when they pull through.
Plus, the one apparent diversity hire among the early NPCs is easy enough to sideline the moment you start filling out the party slots.
But, eh. We'll see how the game plays out.
I don't know what act I'm on but eventually combat in rogue Trader became trivial at some point, but I'm playing on normal difficulty and I've heard it generally recommended to play on a harder one.
I'm there for the story and atmosphere though so I don't mind. The ship combat gets pretty rough but maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I started it a couple weeks ago. Definitely enjoying it but I did follow a guide for builds because I heard the combat gets easier if you just spam officer abilities.
Same for me with guide and the builds. If I have any gripe, it's the leveling system - not that it's bad per se, but you have so many options that if you pick a bad one, you're pretty much stuck with no way to correct it.
...unless there's a respec option that I haven't noticed due to being a retard.
Granted, I did replay the intro part a few times to finally settle on a playstyle I like, so, eh.
A random video about Spacebourne 2 popped up on my feed yesterday and I decided to check it out. It's still early access, but it's being done by one guy and it's in the same vein as Stanfield. It's pretty fun so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what else the developer puts in.
I'm considering Humankind and Old World to scratch my 4x itch.
I know Humankind is woke and really bombed, but it's finally cheap enough to waste a few dollars on to experience it myself after following its development and release fairly closely 4 years ago.
If you like a fantasy setting, I'm a big fan of Endless Legend, which is the earlier project from Amplitude, who went on to make Humankind. The base game is also half the price of Humankind right now.
Also, I saw they recently parted ways (i.e. got kicked out, probably) with Sega, and are independent again, which could be good.
Thanks.
I don't know much about it, but I used to watch the Armchair Admirals of the Yogscast play Civ6 and constantly complain that it wasn't Endless Legend
Word of warning. Endless Legend is a really good 4X overall, but its famous for how horrible its combat is. Its over complicated and never satisfying. If I remember right (its been a long time) you can mostly auto-resolve it and not get involved, but that leaves you at a permanent mercy of the AI judge.
But its a testament to how good it is otherwise that people still love it despite such a huge hole in it.
I just bought and finished the Resident Evil 4 remake. I still think the OG is better, even with tank controls and turret aim. Leon moves slow as hell in the RE Engine, which might have worked in the survival horror RE2 remake, but not in an action game like RE4.
I don't care for crosshair bloom and the flinch nerf either. What would've been risk-reward to shoot a Ganado in the face with a TMP and kick the entire crowd down is instead a fleeting bonus, assuming Leon's wooden legs can reach the Ganado in time.
Bitching aside, it's still a good game, but it feels like a slog to replay instead of a joy like the OG. Putting bonus weapons behind a GOTTA GO FAST ranking system doesn't help.
The original is a lot more arcadey, which means its such a joy to play that you can just redo your favorite little sections and then stop playing and be satisfied.
REmake wants you to do the multitude of "challenge" runs for its Checklist of achievements. A lot of which are fun to do, but have to be done on an immediate replay as trying them after a year gap will be far less fun than just playing normally, not to mention way harder with forgotten knowledge.
And, as you said, the speedrun requirement on many of them (and nearly all the ones with good unlocks) basically ruins the fun as speedrunning a game is often the worst way to enjoy it. Doing Prof on the original was a game of replaying sections to be smarter and more deliberate in my actions to make them count, while doing the Prof Rank S+ was a game of praying shots landed because I didn't have time to aim.
Resident Evil 4 remake's story was changed for "modern audiences" https://kotakuinaction2.win/p/17r9pHHlIm/the-resident-evil-4-remakes-cult/c/
I got Elin. It's not on sale, but hear me out:
It's a prequel to the free roguelike Elona. The big selling point of the game is that it's got the mechanical depth of long-developed roguelike JRPG, but you get to build a base and own land/found settlements. The two ways I'd sell it are "Stardew meets Rimworld" or "Play both modes of Dwarf Fortress at once."
The problems are that it's Early Access, launched Nov. 1st, and the base base building & village mechanics (while functional) are not quite done. Logging and Blacksmithing villagers, for instance, merely generate ingots or logs as raw materials for you to craft with, rather than producing goods. For lumberjacks, they seem lackluster compared to farmers, who tend and improve their crops' quality over time. Not improving tree seedstock is a big hole right now. There needs to be a Forester element to the job for there to be parity.
This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the solo-developer, who has been at Elona since 2006, is actively developing Elin and pushing nightly builds. I think there's promise here, and even if you don't want to shell out for Elin, Elona is still free and Sseth approved.
If you're interested, have some wiki links to check out what you're getting into:
Elin Wiki
Elona Wiki
And here's a tutorial on how to manipulate the crafting system of Elin to transmute your plastic ore, through nails, into bones, then powder, to finally cook into some delicious microplastic soup: via Youtube.
Father Forgive Me 2: Man this game is awesome. It's a Lovecraftian themed horror-FPS. It's like Hexen combined with Call of Cthulhu combined with Doom.
It has excellent level design, mixing more traditional level layouts with the truly bizarre. The game does a fantastic job of escalating into the otherworldly. Plus, the cel-shaded art-style and graphic-novel esque art design really makes it standout.
It's an excellent boomer-style shooter made by Polish developers, so there is zero wokeness. Has a unique slate of awesome and equally disgusting guns, and you can tell the devs really wanted to make an authentic FPS experience without all of the inauthentic irony that flagrantly ruins so many of today's modern games.
And on to the list it goes. That said, I'm still uncomfortable with the term "boomer shooter." As an aging millennial, it seems like a term for FPS games that don't suck balls.
Yeah I'm not fond of the term "boomer shooter" either, but it's become synonymous with quality FPS games for the most part, so it's not all bad. Though a lot of the newer ones do seem to be falling into the whole ironic subversive nonsense, but yeah.... Forgive Me Father 2 definitely feels like it could have come right out of the 1990s alongside Shadow Warrior, Corridor 7 or Blood, but with a lot of the graphical elements of modern shooters.
It's also a little strange how broadly the term's applied. Seems like the most common denominator is simply "does not focus heavily on ADS". Even if ADS might be semi-present.
I got buckshot roulette and last spell.
Up until playing Manor Lords there was nothing I wasn't willing to sail to play.
But so far Manor Lords has played so well I'll probably buy it.
Other than that the only other stuff I'm "trying the demo" of is Frostpunk 2, New Cycle and CK3.
Picked up The Great Rebellion, the based satirical twinsticker, since it was 50% off. Nothing else sale related so far, but I did buy Elin, the Japanese roguelike, for no discount since it only just released.
I'm considering Selaco and/or Fallen Aces. Splattercat has good reviews on both and I've been eying them for a while. By the way, who can tell me what the heck is an "immersive sim"? Is it what the kids are calling gameplay that's not entirely on on rails?
I played the demo a while back and enjoyed it but I would like to play the final game, not early access. I actually think early access games should not be allowed to participate in sales. I've got half a dozen early access games in my wishlist that already made a pile of money and the developers retired.
Immersive simulation, where simulation refers to the world, and usually AI, responding to player actions. Emphasis on player agency and interactivity; Levels are less linear and challenges have a lot more potential solutions owing to the number of exploitable systems.
Think Thief, System Shock, Prey, Dishonoured,
Phoenix Point is definitely better than Xcom 2 in some ways and definitely worse in others.
It's just as fun and frustrating, just in different ways.
If you got it cheap you didn't waste your money is the best thing I can say about it.
It was a while ago but I remember XCOM 2 not being as enjoyable as 1 until war of the chosen dropped.
Queen's Wish: The Conqueror.
I was never disappointed buying a Spiderweb RPG, so I assume I will enjoy this one as well.
Nothing from this official sale (haven't really looked yet), but I recently picked up Menace from the Deep, Mortal Glory, and Hometopia.
I've mostly been playing Menace from the Deep, which is a fun card battler...but with some really odd balance and gameplay decisions.
Haven't played Mortal Glory yet, and haven't played much Hometopia, but was a little disappointed so far. Cool concept, wasn't super impressed with the execution, but I might just have to spend more time with it. Sadly it seems like all lots are flat, too, so you can't really build up into terrain. Again, haven't spent much time though, and could be missing stuff.
Picked up foxhole. Top down online shooter which simulates a war from frontline combat to logistics to backline production. Really interesting concept. It's a really complicated game, so I've only been playing as a grunt on the frontline so far but I've been enjoying that.
There are many reviews on steam talking about the toxic community and how they're not helpful to new players but I've only had positive experiences so far. Although this might only be because I haven't explored the other systems and mechanics yet which I can imagine would attract a different type of player.
The Darkness 2, Nioh 1 and Serious Sam 4 where all a steal.
Played the Darkness 1 & 2 on console, so nice having that on PC. A mob/supernatural shooter based on the Dark Horse comic. Nioh 2 is easily one of the best ARPGs I've played, interested to see what 1 is like. Same with SS4 - 2 and 3 where good mindless shooter fun that you could drop into when you had a couple of minutes, hoping the 4th is much the same.
That, and they brought my unplayed titles to a nice round 100.
Pheonix point needs the terror from the void mod to be fun. If you don't install the mod most game mechanics are so overturned that they become frustratingly difficult.
I'm trying vanilla with dlc run first before I dive into mods
Gundam Breaker 4. Not sure if I can say if it beats Gundam Breaker 3 (which never got an American release, I imported it), but that set a really high bar IMO. Mindless hack and slash, and dream Gunpla building. And I think it does it well enough. The DLC is getting major downvoting, I'll probably wait to see if that gets a real sale before deciding to pick that up, and that's only if I stick with this game to the end.
I got Far Cry 5 almost exclusively because it's one of the few games that allows you to use an M-14.
The M-14 is frustratingly underpowered in the game. That being said, I think it's a frustrating but mostly enjoyable experience. Certainly worth $5 if you want to put up with Ubisoft. Then again, FC5 (without it's sequel) continuing to make money probably really pisses Ubisoft off. The "Media Literacy" class has never liked it.
As much as FC5 is my favorite one gameplay wise, I have personally felt that Seed is extremely weak as a Far Cry villain (no matter how much Eden's music slaps).
Compared to the likes of my personal favorite villains in FC2 The Jackal ("I may be a ruthless gun runner, but I am not the one making these people kill each other. And besides, I am rescuing civilians on the side with the plan to leave and let these people murder each other in peace") or FC4 Pagan Min ("I may be a sadistic dictator, but have you seen the possible replacements for me?! I am actually the less evil option here."), I was not really a fan of the fact that Joseph butchered civilians, ruined the entire area, did it all in the name of "I am saving them so they can meet god", and then the game just asspulls that he was right at the end out of nowhere.
Also, fellow M14 enjoyer. I may like the M16/M4 too, but give me my "American AK" any day of the week, to the point I want to eventually get one IRL (the M1A).
For the main point of the thread:
Not on sale, but Sea Power is a pretty fun game if you are into more intense and "realistic" strategy simulators. It is built around late Cold War naval battles, from submarines to the often overlooked surface fleets, with many scenarios where you can play as anyone from the US to the Soviets to the Iranians and other smaller factions. They are also going to add a dynamic campaign down the line that will simulate a WW3 scenario to play over the long term, and there is a Workshop to allow people to make their own scenarios.
For one that is on sale, Jagged Alliance 3 is great and stays true to the older games (which are also on sale). It absolutely does not try to make the game more for a "modern" audience, brings back some of the fan favorite characters that would absolutely be considered "problematic", and just plays with a plot like you would expect from an old 80's action movie, just like it should.
That low effort "don't" flag got me good. I want one.
I've always been partial to the No Step On Snek flag because of the angry eyebrows.
Yeah, I might have to get that on a mug or something.
Or make my own "don't," it's not like it would be hard.
To get it sewn into a flag it might cost $40. I've gone to professional flag makers before.
Ghost Recon Wildlands has a very adequate and mostly satisfying M-14 from what I can remember, but I haven't touched that game in a really long time so I could be misremebering (also I began absolutely hating that game after unlocking the Tier 1 mode, which just makes the game not fun to play at all).
I might still pick it up for that reason alone. I already kinda liked the look of the gameplay, but that would just be a big cherry on top.
The only two games to ever do it justice were Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (had a completely uncontrollable fully automatic setting) and Call Of Honor (early Vietnam game where that was one of the earlier guns).
Man, Rogue Spear brings back memories. I never actually used the M-14 in that game, I always stuck with the revolver and the H&K MP5.
But I will toss another in there that made me absolutely fall in love with the M-14 and that is Operation 7, that game basically nailed the Tarkov style gunplay and customisation years before Tarkov was a thing.
EDIT: Okay I just booted up Wildlands after a few years to make sure it's in the game -- and funnily enough my character was still equipped with the MK-14 sniper rifle variant the last time I played in the Tier 1 mode, so that speaks to its efficiency for sure.
Couple images of it in-game:
Okay, okay, it's the high-speed, low-drag, version of the M-14, but I'll take it. I like that it's considered a sniper rifle. I've never heard of Operation 7. I'll need to look into it.
Why do people use things in games just to get frustrated?
The whole game is a little low-key frustrating. It's almost better off kinda being alone in the wilderness hunting and fishing until a random gunfight appears.
I just really like the M-14's design, sound, recoil, and overall power. It's a fun weapon that has a bunch of fun features, and is a bit over the top as a battle rifle.