The New Year is here, the beginning of 2016 and its time to look back on the big holiday sale of 2015 and our big haul. Unlike previous Steam holiday sales, this year’s sale was missing a key feature – Flash Sales. Those brief huge savings that kept us refreshing the store page every couple hours for the latest crazy price drop were a distant memory. Supposedly this was an attempt to satisfy customers which complained about missing those short deals, ruining for the rest of us. In my opinion, there were no “OMFG! I have to get this game, look at this deal!”. It was pretty “Meh” and resulted in a pretty small take, which I guess I can look at positively as having saved me some money.
So, what did I pick-up at the big gamer-gasm and what has proven to be the best score? While I haven’t had a chance to play everything yet, I’ll at least list them and rate those that I’ve had time to try:
This would have to be my winner of the haul. For $10 I’ve already managed to put in nearly 40hrs of game play with so much more left to do. It allows you to easily run your own dedicated server in order to play with friends. I describe it as Minecraft in space but its so much more than that. The devs are incredibly active, having done numerous updates even through the holiday season. I’ll likely do a post about this game in the future along with some YouTube videos of our game play. Definitely check this game out!
I picked this game up for $5 as a game to play with a buddy that is a FPS gamer and difficult to get to play anything else. We were impressed! Easily jump right in and play alongside a friend with Cooperative mode. The game performs well on older rigs (my friend’s), with smooth frames and excellent graphics. The missions and maps were awesome although our age began to show as we n00bed it up alongside our younger teammates. If you are at all into FPS games, grab this one next time its on sale… although its easily worth more than the $5 I paid.
This game was on my wishlist after I took notice from a few of the trailers and YouTube videos I’ve watched in the past. The price during the Holiday sale was within my realm of acceptance so I went ahead and picked it up, installing immediately to give it a go. There is a bit of a learning curve and I could see it as being a bit of a niche game that perhaps attracts more WWI fans than FPS fans. That said, the graphics are good and I like the old school weaponry and trench warfare tactics. I’ve had to stick with it a bit and overlook my many fails to try to get better, and as I do I enjoy the game more and more. As an older gamer I think its slower pace may benefit me as opposed to the quickness of Insurgency (although not by much).
The Long Dark was another game on my wishlist and was gifted to me by a friend for Christmas. The price during the sale was excellent and I was eager to try this one. The game is beautiful; graphics, sounds and overall atmosphere. You really get the sense of loneliness as you wonder through the wintery wilderness trying to take care of your basic needs. I have only managed to survive a day and a half in the game, and that is on the “average” difficulty setting. I have to be honest that I got a bit annoyed at its difficulty; nearly freezing to death after being outside in 27 degree weather with warm clothing on and hiking around chopping wood. I’ve lived through some pretty harsh winters and used to work outside at night for 12+ hours through some extreme winters, I could definitely survive those temperatures while being active without dying of hypothermia. Not just that, my guy needed to eat like a 600lb gorilla. A few tweaks and I’d really love this game, but for now I think it annoys me more than entertains which is too bad.
I didn’t have this on any list, it really just attracted me as I was going through the sale looking for “cheapies” that might prove to be fun. Reading the reviews and watching some footage, I really liked the graphics and the idea of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” style game. I have been completely satisfied with the grab and really love the art style, it reminds me of Dragon’s Lair from back in the day (Yes, I’m that old). If you’re looking for a relaxing “Story Game” for some chill sessions, you can’t go wrong here.
Another game gifted to me from a friend which already had it in his collection. He’d talked to me about the game before, trying to get me to purchase it so we could play together. Since we’re both big tabletop gamers (D&D, Pathfinder), I understood his love for the game and interest in me picking it up. Since he gifted it to me I had to hurry and install it and see what all the fuss was about. What a great game and even better with friends. I haven’t played it as much as I’d like because my friends are never available and I don’t want to play it without them. The graphics, story and game play are great! If you’re a tabletop gamer at all this game will easily make you feel at home. Character creation and mechanics may require a bit of learning from those who haven’t played tabletop games before, but nothing that would you from deter you from enjoying this gem.
Here are the rest of the games I nabbed during the sale but haven’t yet tried unfortunately (we all have to work, right?):
I had this on my wishlist too and its supposed to be an amazing game that thrusts you into a immersive wartime environment as a survivor, not a combatant. I’m anxious to give this one a play but waiting for when I know I’ll have time to give it the attention it deserves.
I typically don’t get into top-down games, I can’t explain why. This is a top-down game that looks amazing and the reviews seem to suggest it is just that, amazing. I was back and forth on whether I wanted to get it because of the top-down aspect but with the sale price and reviews, I went for it. It shouldn’t be long before I try it out, I imagine I won’t be disappointed.
Remember, I’m old. So I used to have these games WAY WAY back when I wasn’t old. How could I pass up a chance to own them again and take a walk down memory lane? For $2, done.
Overall, as I suggested in the beginning, it wasn’t a big year for me with Steam. No major purchases, just some choice deals that I think have proven well worth the price tag. I’m satisfied and all these should keep me plenty busy until that next big purchase comes, The Division!
Happy Gaming!
