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Hidden Gems and Under-The-Radar Recommendations - Steam Winter Sale 2016
- Thread starter More_Badass
- Start date
The Void - CDN$2.19
http://store.steampowered.com/app/37000/
The strangest, trippiest first person real time strategy title you've ever played about a lost soul in a colourless purgatory trying to help the inhabitant sisters while avoiding their brother keepers.
Ice-Pick Lodge at their most existential. This is both a warning and a recommendation on its own. Recently re-added to Steam after a long publisher/distributor dispute had it removed.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/37000/
The strangest, trippiest first person real time strategy title you've ever played about a lost soul in a colourless purgatory trying to help the inhabitant sisters while avoiding their brother keepers.
Ice-Pick Lodge at their most existential. This is both a warning and a recommendation on its own. Recently re-added to Steam after a long publisher/distributor dispute had it removed.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Excellent. Thanks for the response!
Hey_Blinkin
Member
I'll give my annual recommendation of Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten.
It's by far my favorite tower defense game.
It's by far my favorite tower defense game.
Agent X
Member
Downwell (66% off - 1,01)
Fast-paced vertical rogue-lite with an ingenious combo system that balances some level of risk-reward to reap its benefits. The idea behind it is simple but with enough nuance in its underlying systems to remain engaging (especially so once you unlock Hard Mode) and its soundtrack is also composed by the same guy who was responsible for Spelunky's, so catchy tunes were all but guaranteed. Certainly one of this year's most underrated gems and besides, it's dirt cheap right now. In-depth analysis by Game Maker's Toolkit if you need more convincing.
I'll also vouch for this game. I got it on PS4 & PS Vita a few months ago, and liked it so much that I also bought the PC version on Steam last month during the autumn sale. It's a fun and addictive game to whittle away a few minutes of spare time, but you'll want to keep coming back to improve your scores and progress further into the game.
Drilbit777
Member
What about fun couch co op games? Any ones like that on sale?
OniBarubary
Banned
*sigh* I should really save the ones I do for this. Feel like I just waste a lot of time typing these up a lot. Alright, lessee...I was going to do an LTTP or thread for Our Darker Purpose but instead let's go with this.
Trillion: God of Destruction - Yours for Just $8.99!!! Regularly $29.99!!!
So, what is Trillion: God of Destruction?
Trillion is a story about the Zeabolos, Supreme Overlord of the (an) Underworld, a super powerful and strong Overlord who rules his realm with a tight fist!...until a giant beast known as Trillion attacks and basically kills the shit out of him. Zeabolos wakes up thanks to the help of a mysterious stranger named Faust who says that she is keeping him alive so he may defeat Trillion and take his soul later. One problem: due to being killed to shit, he's basically powerless and has no real ability to fight against it. So how can he fight back? Well, using PLOT (which I won't get into, I actually kinda forget how he can do this) he can start transferring his unusable power into one of his seven sub-Overlords to use, letting them train and power up and test their skills so he can send them into battle!
...to eventually die. Because they will. You will continuously spend your entire time in this game spending hours developing a character, growing attached to them and seeing them bloom only to knowingly send them to die to whittle down a beast with 1 Trillion HP (that's where the name comes from).
Now, that's simplifying the plot a lot. There a significant number of twists, turns and developments that lead this to be a fully fleshed out and explored plot. This isn't some barebones claptrap.
But what is Trillion?
Trillion is a time-management SIM with SRPG/light dungeon crawling elements all in a visual novel package. Here's your basic run down.
You choose which of your Overlords you want to train with. From there, you have a certain number of days until Trillion awakens and you have to do battle with it. These days are spent training to give you points to spend on leveling up or learning new skills/passives, time to go through a single turn-based dungeon floor to fight enemies for experience and items, resting to make sure your Overlord isn't tired and hurts themself or does shitty in training, buying and researching new items in the shop or forging their weapon/equipping different trinkets or sometimes just spending time with your Overlord and strengthening your bond with them. Giving them gifts, making them fight against a dummy of Trillion to practice. During all this time, some random and some scripted events occur that you can make choices during that may bring you closer or reveal information about the plot, it's characters or the Overlords you're training. All this time spent with your Overlord will give you Affection Points which are basically an enormous buffer that you use before HP and MP before attacks and skills start pulling from those two stats. Now, once the countdown finishes and you're ready to fight Trillion, what do you do?
Why, you send your Overlord off to die of course.
Up above is an idea of what the combat in this game is like. Get used to seeing that sight because other than the small procedural floors of the training dungeon, this is the only battle in the game. That's right, the game consists of a single boss battle with an enemy who has One Trillion HP. Oh boy. So, how do we roll up in this?
Battles take place in a familiar grid, in a style that DRPG and Wizardry players should find familiar (as well as those who play Pokemon Mystery Dungeon or Shiren the Wanderer and those styles of games); move one square, enemies move. One player action = one enemy action. Pretty simple stuff. So here's the rub and the main strategy of the game, where the combat really shines.
Trillion does not attack instantly. Whenever Trillion begins an attack, it will show on the grid where he will be attacking with a rough indicator as to how many turns the attack will go off in. Likewise, in the battle log it will specifically tell you how many turns it will take, counting down every turn to keep you aware. If even THAT wasn't enough, you have a nice little mini-map which gives you an overview of the attack spaces and colors so you don't get lost. Now, Trillion isn't just going to shoot off one attack in 7 turns and let you wail on him in the meantime. It will regularly lay down attack after attack with different turn countdowns and stack them to go off at different times, summon enemies who can attack you from afar or lock you down into a square, summon miasma to make certain squares deal damage if you enter or stay on them, move it's position, cancel attacks and use other ones, and much more to make life positively dreadful for you. What makes this so challenging and fun and rewarding is that movement and strategy are fucking KEY to this game. You need to plan out your movements in advance, make sure you can avoid attacks that may drop in 3, 4 and 6 turns, kill the enemies that are plinking away at your health and try and deal as much damage to Trillion as you can.
So let's say you're doing great, dealing...uh...decent, I guess, damage to Trillion, bobbing and weaving to and fro and then...
And then you get hit. And you blink, because you're not sure if you messed up somewhere or if you got hit by more than one attack or what happened. But you didn't miss anything; Trillion hit your Overlord with one of it's random, myriad attacks that it probably wasn't even paying attention to and took away all your Affection Points and dropped you from 80,000 life to 14. Hrm. Well that's...well, okay. Just make sure you don't get hit again and...oh, shit you ran out of MP and can't use your abilities to bounce out of attack zones anymore. Guess you can't do much except...
Well, you lose. Your Overlord, in her desperate attempt to stop Trillion from destroying anymore gets to use a death attack. This Death Attack can take a number of forms; you can choose to deal a fuckton of damage, you can choose to knock Trillion out for longer so that your next Overlord has more time to train, you can choose to seal a body part so that Trillion can no longer use attacks that use that body part, and other...uh...less useful ones since those are the three I used...
And then your Overlord dies. Bad. Like...really bad. Like, the death scenes in this game are rough. Do not expect to have them some RA RA I DIED FOR LOVE speech...expect them to cry, wail and whimper, beg not to die and lament that they didn't have more time.
And then you get to do it all over again with a new Overlord! OH BOY!
So, you've heard all that hand-jive above. But that's just a nice summation of what this game's all about. So why, more in depth, should you buy it?
1. Well-written Character Development
I'm serious in that the Overlords you train are a real strength of the game. All of them have a Deadly Sin associated with them that directs a lot of their personality so as they start out they are fairly one-dimensional anime tropes. But then you spend time with them. You see them react to fucking up in training. You hear them open up to you slowly, little by little, during the week. You invest SO MUCH time in making them stronger. You are right alongside them the entire time and when you send them off your heart goes with them. Even the less developed or explored Overlords get you to like them by the end. They become more than the sum of their parts and are given a lot of time to grow with you through all the VN interactions and story. Also, I'm totally lame and think the character designs in this game are awesome looking.
2. This Game Will Make You Feel Like Shit
When one of your Overlord dies you will feel loss like very few games make you feel. I can't accurately explain this, and am trying to think of a comparable game that just makes you feel like a total shitbag. I guess it's similar to how if you play XCom you get attached to this Veteran who has seen you through 30 missions, headshotted a Chrysalid when he was the last man on the map to survive, lead your troops into victory against overwhelming odds, and then gets lucky critted and killed instantly by a Thin Man you didn't see that flanked him from cover. Except pretend that in addition to all the emergent storytelling that you invested into the game, there were also scenes where you learned about his kids at home, how his wife died when she miscarried and all your two older boys want is for mommy to be back for Christmas.
I knew going into this game that I'd die a lot so I chose the Overlord I thought looked the least interesting so I could have that one die and then use my other Overlord to win off of her dead back. Then I got to know her. She told me about her father, who she missed dearly (and was my brother and killed in Trillion's first attack). About how she was worried about making him and me proud. I found her crying at her dad's grave. I gave her a grand feast (since she was the Sin of Gluttony) and spent time eating with her. And then I sent her off to die. I made her struggle, in vain, to do as much damage as I could to Trillion and watched as her AP and MP slowly drained down until I couldn't do anything to stop Trillion from one-shotting me.
And then I watched her get eaten. Slowly. As she cried for her dead dad.
And I had to do this again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
I have never in a game before felt as horrible as I did every time this happened. It was a wholly unique experience I will not forget.
3. The SRPG battles are pretty fun
I should just say "Battle" since it's just against Trillion. But man, because it's only one fight for the whole game they really focused on making it as tight an experience as possible. The abilities and movement, the timing of Trillion's attacks are designed very well so that the game never pulls out something unfair or bullshit. You're always supposed to be on the back of your heels, kept off balance and always worried about fucking up, which can happen easily if you get too rushed or confident. I never died due to some cheap attack or situation I did not put myself in. All his moves are telegraphed a number of turns in advance with their exact locations outlined for you. It all comes down to planning and making sure you're in the right place at the right time and maximizing your abilities and items.
Strategy strategy strategy is the name of the game here. And not to be spoilery but Trillion has HP thresholds where it will change up it's attacks and strategies so it's not just the same battle forever; it will regularly change. Different Overlords likewise have different things they're good at and since you don't have infinite points you have to choose wisely what skills and stats you buy for your Overlord to maximize their ability to avoid and deal damage.
4. Trillion is a Fuck
You are going to haaaaaaaaaaaaate Trillion. As the only enemy in the game, they do everything to make Trillion the most scary, overwhelming monster you've ever seen. The words they use to describe Trillion and the actions that it takes in cutscenes and story parts are just terrifying. How terribly it kills people. How insanely monstrous it is. You fight it and you hit it once for the first time and see IT HAS A TRILLION FUCKING LIFE. It catches you with an errant swing of it's tail and you go from 400,000 Affection Points to 0 and your HP sits at a healthy 2 from ONE HIT and you just whistle and go "Jeeeeeeeeeeeesus" It will kill your favorite characters left and right in really drastic and horrible ways. Every time an Overlord dies the game actually shows you Trillion's progress through your Underworld, just how much of it you failed to protect as it rampaged and ate EVERYTHING in it's way and leaves behind literally NOTHING. And the more and more that is revealed about Trillion the stronger your resolution to fucking kill it becomes. It is truly an effective enemy.
That's...about all I can muster to type at this moment. Maybe I'll save this for a LTTP or something but honestly, for 9 bucks? This game is totally worth it.
Trillion: God of Destruction - Yours for Just $8.99!!! Regularly $29.99!!!
So, what is Trillion: God of Destruction?
Trillion is a story about the Zeabolos, Supreme Overlord of the (an) Underworld, a super powerful and strong Overlord who rules his realm with a tight fist!...until a giant beast known as Trillion attacks and basically kills the shit out of him. Zeabolos wakes up thanks to the help of a mysterious stranger named Faust who says that she is keeping him alive so he may defeat Trillion and take his soul later. One problem: due to being killed to shit, he's basically powerless and has no real ability to fight against it. So how can he fight back? Well, using PLOT (which I won't get into, I actually kinda forget how he can do this) he can start transferring his unusable power into one of his seven sub-Overlords to use, letting them train and power up and test their skills so he can send them into battle!
...to eventually die. Because they will. You will continuously spend your entire time in this game spending hours developing a character, growing attached to them and seeing them bloom only to knowingly send them to die to whittle down a beast with 1 Trillion HP (that's where the name comes from).
Now, that's simplifying the plot a lot. There a significant number of twists, turns and developments that lead this to be a fully fleshed out and explored plot. This isn't some barebones claptrap.
But what is Trillion?
Trillion is a time-management SIM with SRPG/light dungeon crawling elements all in a visual novel package. Here's your basic run down.
You choose which of your Overlords you want to train with. From there, you have a certain number of days until Trillion awakens and you have to do battle with it. These days are spent training to give you points to spend on leveling up or learning new skills/passives, time to go through a single turn-based dungeon floor to fight enemies for experience and items, resting to make sure your Overlord isn't tired and hurts themself or does shitty in training, buying and researching new items in the shop or forging their weapon/equipping different trinkets or sometimes just spending time with your Overlord and strengthening your bond with them. Giving them gifts, making them fight against a dummy of Trillion to practice. During all this time, some random and some scripted events occur that you can make choices during that may bring you closer or reveal information about the plot, it's characters or the Overlords you're training. All this time spent with your Overlord will give you Affection Points which are basically an enormous buffer that you use before HP and MP before attacks and skills start pulling from those two stats. Now, once the countdown finishes and you're ready to fight Trillion, what do you do?
Why, you send your Overlord off to die of course.
Up above is an idea of what the combat in this game is like. Get used to seeing that sight because other than the small procedural floors of the training dungeon, this is the only battle in the game. That's right, the game consists of a single boss battle with an enemy who has One Trillion HP. Oh boy. So, how do we roll up in this?
Battles take place in a familiar grid, in a style that DRPG and Wizardry players should find familiar (as well as those who play Pokemon Mystery Dungeon or Shiren the Wanderer and those styles of games); move one square, enemies move. One player action = one enemy action. Pretty simple stuff. So here's the rub and the main strategy of the game, where the combat really shines.
Trillion does not attack instantly. Whenever Trillion begins an attack, it will show on the grid where he will be attacking with a rough indicator as to how many turns the attack will go off in. Likewise, in the battle log it will specifically tell you how many turns it will take, counting down every turn to keep you aware. If even THAT wasn't enough, you have a nice little mini-map which gives you an overview of the attack spaces and colors so you don't get lost. Now, Trillion isn't just going to shoot off one attack in 7 turns and let you wail on him in the meantime. It will regularly lay down attack after attack with different turn countdowns and stack them to go off at different times, summon enemies who can attack you from afar or lock you down into a square, summon miasma to make certain squares deal damage if you enter or stay on them, move it's position, cancel attacks and use other ones, and much more to make life positively dreadful for you. What makes this so challenging and fun and rewarding is that movement and strategy are fucking KEY to this game. You need to plan out your movements in advance, make sure you can avoid attacks that may drop in 3, 4 and 6 turns, kill the enemies that are plinking away at your health and try and deal as much damage to Trillion as you can.
So let's say you're doing great, dealing...uh...decent, I guess, damage to Trillion, bobbing and weaving to and fro and then...
And then you get hit. And you blink, because you're not sure if you messed up somewhere or if you got hit by more than one attack or what happened. But you didn't miss anything; Trillion hit your Overlord with one of it's random, myriad attacks that it probably wasn't even paying attention to and took away all your Affection Points and dropped you from 80,000 life to 14. Hrm. Well that's...well, okay. Just make sure you don't get hit again and...oh, shit you ran out of MP and can't use your abilities to bounce out of attack zones anymore. Guess you can't do much except...
Well, you lose. Your Overlord, in her desperate attempt to stop Trillion from destroying anymore gets to use a death attack. This Death Attack can take a number of forms; you can choose to deal a fuckton of damage, you can choose to knock Trillion out for longer so that your next Overlord has more time to train, you can choose to seal a body part so that Trillion can no longer use attacks that use that body part, and other...uh...less useful ones since those are the three I used...
And then your Overlord dies. Bad. Like...really bad. Like, the death scenes in this game are rough. Do not expect to have them some RA RA I DIED FOR LOVE speech...expect them to cry, wail and whimper, beg not to die and lament that they didn't have more time.
And then you get to do it all over again with a new Overlord! OH BOY!
So, you've heard all that hand-jive above. But that's just a nice summation of what this game's all about. So why, more in depth, should you buy it?
1. Well-written Character Development
I'm serious in that the Overlords you train are a real strength of the game. All of them have a Deadly Sin associated with them that directs a lot of their personality so as they start out they are fairly one-dimensional anime tropes. But then you spend time with them. You see them react to fucking up in training. You hear them open up to you slowly, little by little, during the week. You invest SO MUCH time in making them stronger. You are right alongside them the entire time and when you send them off your heart goes with them. Even the less developed or explored Overlords get you to like them by the end. They become more than the sum of their parts and are given a lot of time to grow with you through all the VN interactions and story. Also, I'm totally lame and think the character designs in this game are awesome looking.
2. This Game Will Make You Feel Like Shit
When one of your Overlord dies you will feel loss like very few games make you feel. I can't accurately explain this, and am trying to think of a comparable game that just makes you feel like a total shitbag. I guess it's similar to how if you play XCom you get attached to this Veteran who has seen you through 30 missions, headshotted a Chrysalid when he was the last man on the map to survive, lead your troops into victory against overwhelming odds, and then gets lucky critted and killed instantly by a Thin Man you didn't see that flanked him from cover. Except pretend that in addition to all the emergent storytelling that you invested into the game, there were also scenes where you learned about his kids at home, how his wife died when she miscarried and all your two older boys want is for mommy to be back for Christmas.
I knew going into this game that I'd die a lot so I chose the Overlord I thought looked the least interesting so I could have that one die and then use my other Overlord to win off of her dead back. Then I got to know her. She told me about her father, who she missed dearly (and was my brother and killed in Trillion's first attack). About how she was worried about making him and me proud. I found her crying at her dad's grave. I gave her a grand feast (since she was the Sin of Gluttony) and spent time eating with her. And then I sent her off to die. I made her struggle, in vain, to do as much damage as I could to Trillion and watched as her AP and MP slowly drained down until I couldn't do anything to stop Trillion from one-shotting me.
And then I watched her get eaten. Slowly. As she cried for her dead dad.
And I had to do this again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
I have never in a game before felt as horrible as I did every time this happened. It was a wholly unique experience I will not forget.
3. The SRPG battles are pretty fun
I should just say "Battle" since it's just against Trillion. But man, because it's only one fight for the whole game they really focused on making it as tight an experience as possible. The abilities and movement, the timing of Trillion's attacks are designed very well so that the game never pulls out something unfair or bullshit. You're always supposed to be on the back of your heels, kept off balance and always worried about fucking up, which can happen easily if you get too rushed or confident. I never died due to some cheap attack or situation I did not put myself in. All his moves are telegraphed a number of turns in advance with their exact locations outlined for you. It all comes down to planning and making sure you're in the right place at the right time and maximizing your abilities and items.
Strategy strategy strategy is the name of the game here. And not to be spoilery but Trillion has HP thresholds where it will change up it's attacks and strategies so it's not just the same battle forever; it will regularly change. Different Overlords likewise have different things they're good at and since you don't have infinite points you have to choose wisely what skills and stats you buy for your Overlord to maximize their ability to avoid and deal damage.
4. Trillion is a Fuck
You are going to haaaaaaaaaaaaate Trillion. As the only enemy in the game, they do everything to make Trillion the most scary, overwhelming monster you've ever seen. The words they use to describe Trillion and the actions that it takes in cutscenes and story parts are just terrifying. How terribly it kills people. How insanely monstrous it is. You fight it and you hit it once for the first time and see IT HAS A TRILLION FUCKING LIFE. It catches you with an errant swing of it's tail and you go from 400,000 Affection Points to 0 and your HP sits at a healthy 2 from ONE HIT and you just whistle and go "Jeeeeeeeeeeeesus" It will kill your favorite characters left and right in really drastic and horrible ways. Every time an Overlord dies the game actually shows you Trillion's progress through your Underworld, just how much of it you failed to protect as it rampaged and ate EVERYTHING in it's way and leaves behind literally NOTHING. And the more and more that is revealed about Trillion the stronger your resolution to fucking kill it becomes. It is truly an effective enemy.
That's...about all I can muster to type at this moment. Maybe I'll save this for a LTTP or something but honestly, for 9 bucks? This game is totally worth it.
I'll offer up these two:
Battleblock Theater 80% off. It's been cheaper but it's only $2.49.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/238460/
My kids and I have put way too much time into Dungeon Defenders. Also 80% off and it's been cheaper before. But again, worth it. Note - I'd recommend this over Dungeon Defenders II even if it wasn't for the lack of couch co-op in II.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/65800/
FYI you can get both of these and a bunch of other solid games in the Nemesis 2 Bundle for dirt cheap.
Garmonbozia
Member
The Silver Case -$15.99
The remake/remaster of the PS1 visual novel written and directed by Suda51. A gritty and sometimes bizarre crime story.
I especially recommend it if you liked Grasshopper's previous work (Killer7, Flower, Sun and Rain, No More Heroes)
The Cat Lady- $2.99 & Downfall- $6.99
Two great horror adventure games by Harvester Games. They (especially The Cat Lady) deal with quite heavy themes (depression, suicide, bulimia).
Some occasionally spotty voice acting but nothing game-ruining.
The remake/remaster of the PS1 visual novel written and directed by Suda51. A gritty and sometimes bizarre crime story.
I especially recommend it if you liked Grasshopper's previous work (Killer7, Flower, Sun and Rain, No More Heroes)
The Cat Lady- $2.99 & Downfall- $6.99
Two great horror adventure games by Harvester Games. They (especially The Cat Lady) deal with quite heavy themes (depression, suicide, bulimia).
Some occasionally spotty voice acting but nothing game-ruining.
shira
Member
*sigh* I should really save the ones I do for this. Feel like I just waste a lot of time typing these up a lot. Alright, lessee...I was going to do an LTTP or thread for Our Darker Purpose but instead let's go with this.
Trillion: God of Destruction - Yours for Just $8.99!!! Regularly $29.99!!!
[xnip]
The trailer on the steam page is shit.
So it's like Disgaea?
OniBarubary
Banned
Nope.
It's like Shiren or Pokemon Mystery Dungeon with only one battle in the entire game that you continually throw yourself against. The game is 90% time/stat management sim, 10% fight with Trillion. Every time you move or attack, the enemy moves or attacks simultaneously. So you don't take turns like in Disgaea but it's more like a dungeon roguelike in turn style in that everyone's actions occur on the same turn. As a result you have to be super strategic with how you move and attack.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
Odallus: The Dark Call.
Recent score: 100% Userscore: 94%
$2.92 bundled with Oniken
Criminally under appreciated game, which in my opinion is up there with Shovel Knight regarding the quality and respect to the NES era. If you ever wanted a new classic Castlevania, look no further.
Also it's Berserk as fuck. Especially the last stage.
I bought it last April, I had someone give me a coupon for Odallus but then it was on sale and so it wouldn't work and ended up going to waste... I really need to get back to it, as I've said about two dozen games I'm trying to play.
*Checks store page*
Holy shit that's a lot less than what I paid for that bundle! People really need to jump on that.
Age of Decadence just received its final content update today. I can't recommend this game enough.
The Age of Decadence - $7.49 (75% off)
The Age of Decadence is a turn-based, hardcore role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world. The game features a detailed skill-based character system, multiple skill-based ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and extensive dialogue trees.
This is my favorite RPG of 2015, and I highly recommend giving it a shot.
I'm assuming this game is unknown enough to quality for the thread, though it's fairly recognizable among RPG enthusiasts at this point.
No shit? I might have to get it if true.
Incidentally, I have all the Commandos games on Steam and they don't run too well :[
More_Badass
Member
You know about Shadow Tactics, right?
More_Badass
Member
My picks this sale
Tizoc
Member
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is 75% off and pretty sweet.
I can vouch for it: http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/401360/
ASTRO PORT's games are awesome.
You can get five of them in a bundle for less than $10 - http://store.steampowered.com/sub/85196/
I can also vouch for Serpent in the Staglands - http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/335120
Streets of Fury EX is one of the best beatemups around and it's 3.99
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/350910
Elminage Gothic never gets enough love. It's a fantastic DRPG for $3
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/291960
Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds is another great beatemup that only costs a few bucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/329490/
RIVE, Blue Revolver, Bug Butcher, OneShot, and ABZU are totally worth getting as well.
I can vouch for it: http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/401360/
ASTRO PORT's games are awesome.
You can get five of them in a bundle for less than $10 - http://store.steampowered.com/sub/85196/
I can also vouch for Serpent in the Staglands - http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/335120
Streets of Fury EX is one of the best beatemups around and it's 3.99
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/350910
Elminage Gothic never gets enough love. It's a fantastic DRPG for $3
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/291960
Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds is another great beatemup that only costs a few bucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pepsimanvsjoe/recommended/329490/
RIVE, Blue Revolver, Bug Butcher, OneShot, and ABZU are totally worth getting as well.
Brerlappin
Member
I would have a seriously hard time recommending Toren to anyone. Its glitchy as fuck, gameplay is dreadful, graphics are appalling, i couldnt stand mroe than an hour or two of it before i uninstalled it.
If you want something with a crazy good art style, weird as hell story, and ISNT a load of complete shit, buy Zeno Clash 1 for only 99 friggin cents!!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/22200/
And Zeno Clash 2 for only 2.99!!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/215690/
and while youre at it, another great game from the amazing ACE Team is on sale for 2.99, Abyss Odyssey
http://store.steampowered.com/app/255070/
nogoodnamesleft
Banned
If you have any interest in adventure games you MUST GET TECHNOBABYLON
I payed full price and no regrets. AMAZING story and PHENOMENAL soundtrack!!
I payed full price and no regrets. AMAZING story and PHENOMENAL soundtrack!!
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
I sea...My picks this sale
Also 'Why Am I Dead At Sea?' looks like Earthbound crossed with Alpha Protocol. Sweet! Added to the list.
hooijdonk17
Member
The price on Satellite Reign is crazy. Really great game. They pitched it as a spiritual successor to Syndicate, but instead delivered a spiritual successor to Commandos except it's open world and is a little more lenient on combat then Commandos is.
Commandos? Every other review complains about stealth being broken in the game, how can it compare to Commandos?
I'm buying it nonetheless, but still..
Django.Mango
Member
Thea: The Awakening, USD$10 at -50%.
Thea is a really cool survival 4X with heavy RPG and roguelike elements. It has a distinct (Polish mythology-inspired) lore, many unique gameplay ideas, and is a solid product all around. Lots of fun to be had. Like, I've played it for dozens of hours and have yet to win... but I keep coming back.
There's nothing else quite like Thea.
I agree with you. Thea is a very unique game. There is a lot crafting and gathering combined with supply management. Nice map to explore, the combat is cards based. I like it for its mixing genres.
There is a demo too.
Tizoc
Member
90% of wadjet eye's pnc output is good def grab their games if ur looking for pnc games
Chairmanchuck
Member
http://store.steampowered.com/app/400910/
Rabi Ribi is a great Metroidvania (I would say better than Axiom Verge) with an interesting boss-mechanic. The boss fights are plattformer bullet hell sections.
A lot of people disregard the game because of the half naked ladies.
Rabi Ribi is a great Metroidvania (I would say better than Axiom Verge) with an interesting boss-mechanic. The boss fights are plattformer bullet hell sections.
A lot of people disregard the game because of the half naked ladies.
I wouldn't recommend this one. Good looking artworks, but the 3D models don't do it justice, and the combat is, well... abysmal.and while youre at it, another great game from the amazing ACE Team is on sale for 2.99, Abyss Odyssey
http://store.steampowered.com/app/255070/
Tizoc
Member
Boss mechanic has memsoldhttp://store.steampowered.com/app/400910/
Rabi Ribi is a great Metroidvania (I would say better than Axiom Verge) with an interesting boss-mechanic. The boss fights are plattformer bullet hell sections.
A lot of people disregard the game because of the half naked ladies.
Ill look past its animesqueness long as the gamelay is good
Chairmanchuck
Member
Tizoc
Member
Pfft i can handle that ishYou can see some of that in the screens:
Will try to squeeze it into my budget
Orakio Rob
Member
I added Trillion to my wishlist yesterday when someone mentioned it in the other Steam thread, but I needed a good, warm description to actually buy it. You just sold me on this, thanks!
CecilRousso
Member
Massive Chalice for a measily 2€
It's so cheap that it almost annoys me. The game is excellent, and the price is ridiculous.
The game got some criticism for not being as polished as XCOM (a game where the marketing budget was larger then the dev budget for MC), but for this price it's a must have for anyone interested in turnbased strategy games.
It shouldn't really be thought about like an XCOM clone, but rather something inspired of both that and older console strategy games, with a strategy layer of it's own.
If you're a fan of the genre, and looking for something new to play, it's just silly to pass on this.
Eurogamer - Recommended
Quarter to Three - 5/5, GOTY 2015
Rudimental
Member
Thea: The Awakening, USD$10 at -50%.
Thea is a really cool survival 4X with heavy RPG and roguelike elements. It has a distinct (Polish mythology-inspired) lore, many unique gameplay ideas, and is a solid product all around. Lots of fun to be had. Like, I've played it for dozens of hours and have yet to win... but I keep coming back.
There's nothing else quite like Thea.
Thanks for reminding me about this. I even had it on my wishlist from a previous thread like this, but totally ignored it when looking over what to buy.
Had 20 bucks lying in my Steam wallet, so I went ahead and stuffed as many recommendations from this thread as possible into the cart (meaning a lot of two-dollar buys, mainly).
Only purchase I'm slightly unsure of is this Blackwell series, since I went ahead on all 5 of 'em without any real context; but if my biggest flop this sale is seven dollars, I think I'll live.
Thanks for all the tips, GAF! I'm thinking I'll fire up SanctuaryRPG first.
Only purchase I'm slightly unsure of is this Blackwell series, since I went ahead on all 5 of 'em without any real context; but if my biggest flop this sale is seven dollars, I think I'll live.
Thanks for all the tips, GAF! I'm thinking I'll fire up SanctuaryRPG first.
TheMoon
Member
These are probably the best gaming experiences I've had all year, fans of roguelites should be throwing money at the screen.
GoNNER - $6.69 (33% off)
TowerClimb - $8.89 (40% off)
[URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/311690/?snr=1_7_15__13]
[/URL]
(not that hidden of a gem)
Enter the Gungeon - $7.49 (50% off)
GoNNER - $6.69 (33% off)
TowerClimb - $8.89 (40% off)
[URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/311690/?snr=1_7_15__13]
(not that hidden of a gem)
Enter the Gungeon - $7.49 (50% off)
Large Professor
Member
I can vouch for this one with my 200 hours of playtime. Also, the discount is really good (-50%) for such a successful game with a big free update coming soonish.
Kero Blaster -40%
From the same dude that made Cave Story. A very charming 8-bit 2D action/platformer with excellent level and game design.
+
The usual suspects (all very cheap):
I would have liked to recommend Westerado. But unfortunately the discount is pretty underwhelming (considering it has been bundled and been much cheaper before):
Louis Cyphre
Banned
Lister
Banned
Mad Games Tycoon- Basically game dev Tycoon on steroids. Start in the 1980s and the game has everything from building office cubicles to designing new game engines. It's continuously updated to reflect current gaming scene. Latest update added "Mintendu Zwitch "
Oh this really looks up my alley! Thanks!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/400910/
Rabi Ribi is a great Metroidvania (I would say better than Axiom Verge) with an interesting boss-mechanic. The boss fights are plattformer bullet hell sections.
A lot of people disregard the game because of the half naked ladies.
I've been very interested in it some time because Metroidvania, actually think since you recommended it during summersale.
But I'm way too scared of the bullethell bosses to give a chance.XDEDIT: Added some VNs that I played on Vita and forgot that they were on Steam. They're very popular among the Vita crowd, but I suspect a lot of Steam users won't have played them. Also added links for individual games in bundles.
A Steam sale means it's time to recruit more people to Visual Novel-GAF! If you like reading and/or anime, give one of these a go
(annoyingly VN publishers are generally fairly stingy in sales so a lot of the good ones are still expensive)
The House in Fata Morgana - 25% off ($18.74)
The House in Fata Morgana |OT| Obsession. Sadism. Avarice. Zealotry. Death.
Demo download (contains the first two chapters)
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.84)
A story about a cursed mansion and its various inhabitants over the centuries, with a unique atmosphere. My personal GOTY 2016. Tip: get the deluxe version with the soundtrack; you won't regret it.
+ Unique art style and a really fantastic soundtrack
+ Great story dealing with interesting themes
+ Main characters have a lot of depth
- Final chapter can drag on a little
- No voice acting and sound effects aren't great (though I think there's a patch to replace them)
- Not really representative of VNs in general due to its uniqueness
STEINS;GATE - 20% off ($27.99)
Steins;Gate |OT| Name Subject to Change
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 9.06)
A university student accidentally invents a time machine during his summer break. Shenanigans ensue until he and his friends get drawn into something they weren't prepared for. Worth playing even if you've seen the anime for the alternate endings and more characterisation to some of the side characters.
+ Really good characters and story with lots of emotional payoff
+ A distinct take on anime art that works very well
+ Alternate endings are good and worth getting
- Story takes a while to get going
- Main character is annoying at first, but is much better in the second half
- A couple of really cringy (though fortunately short) accidental sexual harassment scenes
Danganronpa 1 + 2 - 46% off ($32.38)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 40% off ($17.99)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 40% off ($17.99)
DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc |OT| Hope vs Dis Bear (ʳ ´º㉨ϟʳ
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc PC |OT| It's getting Steamy in here...
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair |OT| Sun, Fun, and Despair
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (DR1) (average rating: 8.10)
VNDB (DR2) (average rating: 8.53)
OpenCritic - 86 (DR1) / 85 (DR2)
Battle Royale meets Ace Attorney. A bunch of students are locked inside their new school, and are forced to kill each other. In each chapter, someone dies, then you investigate clues and figure out the murderer.
+ Stylish presentation; the cardboard cutout art style actually works really nicely
+ The characters are all entertaining (if not particularly deep)
+ GAF's very own Feep plays the best character
- A couple of cases have some pacing issues (especially DR2 chapter 4)
- Some of the minigames are immensely frustrating ("Improved" Hangman's Gambit my ass)
- All your favourite characters will die in gruesome fashion (not actually a negative but whatever)
Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition - 50% off ($17.49)
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.29)
An explosion occurs at a nuclear research facility, and a rescue team is trapped inside. In addition to the rescue operation (Route A), you also see the events leading up to the incident from another point of view (Route B). The plot then goes on to unravel the conspiracy behind the incident.
+ Great plot with satisfying answers to all the mysteries
+ Generally likeable characters with believable motivations
+ Interesting choice system (though it is a bit fiddly)
- Art style is painfully generic even if it's high quality
- Route B has a few pacing issues and the game has some annoying repetition near the end
- Minor translation issues leading to some awkward sounding lines
Higurashi When They Cry Hou bundle - 30% off ($19.49)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi - 30% off ($4.19)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.2 Watanagashi - 25% off ($5.99)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi - 20% off ($6.29)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.4 Himatsubushi - 15% off ($5.09)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou |OT| I'll play with you. Come, cleaver girl!
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.44)
A classic horror VN. Each chapter tells the story of the same group of characters over the same time period, but the events play out differently. You'll need a fairly high anime tolerance to get to the good bits though.
+ Genuinely terrifying atmosphere
+ Very good at building suspense and keeping you on the edge of your seat
+ Although each chapter has the same basic premise, the execution is completely different each time so it never feels repetitive
- This is only the "question arc"; the mysteries won't be resolved until the second set of four chapters is released
- The first half of each chapter is terrible anime shenanigans to introduce characters, which you have to slog through to reach the horror
- The art and music are very generic (unless you use the original art, which has its own problems)
I haven't played the last two yet, but they're also very well regarded:
Umineko When They Cry (Question Arc) - 20% off ($19.99)
Umineko When They Cry |OT| This game will not have a happy ending
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.79)
A murder mystery from the writer of Higurashi. Again, it's split into question and answer arcs, and the answer arc is yet to come to Steam.
CLANNAD - 50% off ($24.99)
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.75)
This will make you cry. ...but I just can't get over how stupid everyone's faces look so I haven't played it yet.
A Steam sale means it's time to recruit more people to Visual Novel-GAF! If you like reading and/or anime, give one of these a go
(annoyingly VN publishers are generally fairly stingy in sales so a lot of the good ones are still expensive)
The House in Fata Morgana - 25% off ($18.74)
The House in Fata Morgana |OT| Obsession. Sadism. Avarice. Zealotry. Death.
Demo download (contains the first two chapters)
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.84)
A story about a cursed mansion and its various inhabitants over the centuries, with a unique atmosphere. My personal GOTY 2016. Tip: get the deluxe version with the soundtrack; you won't regret it.
+ Unique art style and a really fantastic soundtrack
+ Great story dealing with interesting themes
+ Main characters have a lot of depth
- Final chapter can drag on a little
- No voice acting and sound effects aren't great (though I think there's a patch to replace them)
- Not really representative of VNs in general due to its uniqueness
STEINS;GATE - 20% off ($27.99)
Steins;Gate |OT| Name Subject to Change
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 9.06)
A university student accidentally invents a time machine during his summer break. Shenanigans ensue until he and his friends get drawn into something they weren't prepared for. Worth playing even if you've seen the anime for the alternate endings and more characterisation to some of the side characters.
+ Really good characters and story with lots of emotional payoff
+ A distinct take on anime art that works very well
+ Alternate endings are good and worth getting
- Story takes a while to get going
- Main character is annoying at first, but is much better in the second half
- A couple of really cringy (though fortunately short) accidental sexual harassment scenes
Danganronpa 1 + 2 - 46% off ($32.38)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 40% off ($17.99)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 40% off ($17.99)
DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc |OT| Hope vs Dis Bear (ʳ ´º㉨ϟ
ʳDanganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc PC |OT| It's getting Steamy in here...
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair |OT| Sun, Fun, and Despair
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (DR1) (average rating: 8.10)
VNDB (DR2) (average rating: 8.53)
OpenCritic - 86 (DR1) / 85 (DR2)
Battle Royale meets Ace Attorney. A bunch of students are locked inside their new school, and are forced to kill each other. In each chapter, someone dies, then you investigate clues and figure out the murderer.
+ Stylish presentation; the cardboard cutout art style actually works really nicely
+ The characters are all entertaining (if not particularly deep)
+ GAF's very own Feep plays the best character
- A couple of cases have some pacing issues (especially DR2 chapter 4)
- Some of the minigames are immensely frustrating ("Improved" Hangman's Gambit my ass)
- All your favourite characters will die in gruesome fashion (not actually a negative but whatever)
Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition - 50% off ($17.49)
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.29)
An explosion occurs at a nuclear research facility, and a rescue team is trapped inside. In addition to the rescue operation (Route A), you also see the events leading up to the incident from another point of view (Route B). The plot then goes on to unravel the conspiracy behind the incident.
+ Great plot with satisfying answers to all the mysteries
+ Generally likeable characters with believable motivations
+ Interesting choice system (though it is a bit fiddly)
- Art style is painfully generic even if it's high quality
- Route B has a few pacing issues and the game has some annoying repetition near the end
- Minor translation issues leading to some awkward sounding lines
Higurashi When They Cry Hou bundle - 30% off ($19.49)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi - 30% off ($4.19)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.2 Watanagashi - 25% off ($5.99)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi - 20% off ($6.29)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.4 Himatsubushi - 15% off ($5.09)
Higurashi When They Cry Hou |OT| I'll play with you. Come, cleaver girl!
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.44)
A classic horror VN. Each chapter tells the story of the same group of characters over the same time period, but the events play out differently. You'll need a fairly high anime tolerance to get to the good bits though.
+ Genuinely terrifying atmosphere
+ Very good at building suspense and keeping you on the edge of your seat
+ Although each chapter has the same basic premise, the execution is completely different each time so it never feels repetitive
- This is only the "question arc"; the mysteries won't be resolved until the second set of four chapters is released
- The first half of each chapter is terrible anime shenanigans to introduce characters, which you have to slog through to reach the horror
- The art and music are very generic (unless you use the original art, which has its own problems)
I haven't played the last two yet, but they're also very well regarded:
Umineko When They Cry (Question Arc) - 20% off ($19.99)
Umineko When They Cry |OT| This game will not have a happy ending
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.79)
A murder mystery from the writer of Higurashi. Again, it's split into question and answer arcs, and the answer arc is yet to come to Steam.
CLANNAD - 50% off ($24.99)
HardcoreGamer review
VNDB (average rating: 8.75)
This will make you cry. ...but I just can't get over how stupid everyone's faces look so I haven't played it yet.
Orakio Rob
Member
A Steam sale means it's time to recruit more people to Visual Novel-GAF! If you like reading and/or anime, give one of these a go
Can you recommend a good, cheap VN? I would like to give the VN genre a try, but those are too expensive for me.
StrangeRoboMemory
Member
Just want to chime in and say that this is an amazing thread as usual, so many thoughtful recs.
Planetarian ($4.99) is meant to be a very good short VN. I bought it last year, but haven't had a chance to play it.
The Higurashi chapters are also on sale individually. Chapter 1 - Onikakushi is $4.19. Each chapter is a self contained story (though assumes knowledge of previous chapters). Just don't dismiss it before you get past the tonal shift after the festival.