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Now that the Steam Summer Sale is over, what have you bought?
SSS is finally over and those sweet (although not as sweet as they used to be) deals are gone. What games have you gotten your hands on?
I didn't get too many games this time around. I actually found a bunch of games in my library that I didn't know I had, so I felt like I had enough to play for a while.
Games I bought:
- Stick Fight
- For the King
- Cuphead
Thumper was one of my favorite games from the last couple of years. I highly recommend playing it with headphones so you can really focus and get into that kind of "flow state" better, which I think is what it really excels at. It just feels absolutely amazing when you're having a good run in one of the levels. It's even better in VR, if you have a headset.
I can't quite tell what you do in the game from the video on the store page. Is it like Audiosurf, but on hard mode?
It's a rhythm game, yeah. Audiosurf auto-generates its levels from the sound though, and most of them don't feel very good to play. Thumper's levels have been carefully designed both for how the actions correspond to the music as well as how the visual effects look, so it's much more of a "planned" audio/visual experience to play.
In the end, the gameplay is "hit the right buttons as things get near you" just like all rhythm games, but it's got a really great atmosphere and feel to it.
Hmm, I'm interested. Gonna keep an eye on that for future sales. Thanks.
I also picked up Enter the Gungeon thanks to seeing it run at SGDQ. It feels like a halfway point between nuclear throne and the binding of isaac. Really fun and I've gotten to the forge twice now. Just wish it had online coop so my brother and I could play it together.
Yeah its unfortunate, but there is local coop I can play with some friends at least.
I bought Superflight too, but it feels like it would be a lot more fun with a controller than a keyboard. I'm kind of wishing I had bought the steam controller. Are you playing it with a controller?
I fed my Cities: Skylines hunger and also continued on my "play the classics" kick by getting
All in all I think it was a great haul.
Be sure to play Half-Life 2: Lost Coast as well. Even though it's a tech demo, it's a decent (albeit very short) game of its own. I believe it was also the first Valve game to come with a developer commentary.
So maybe I'm slow to this one, but I got Witcher 3. My only purchase this time, but hopefully it's a good one!
Don't worry about being slow, I don't usually buy releases either. They get so much cheaper over time and it's gonna be just as good a game if I buy it a few years after release.
I picked up Kingdom Come Deliverance and Firewatch. Already played through Firewatch and it was really well done. Fun narrated exploration game with an interesting story and great voice acting.
I ended up getting the Steam Link and a Steam Controller. I almost didn't get the controller, but an Xbox One bluetooth dongle was nearly as much. Variety is the spice of life, right?
I love my Steam Controller. The customization is insane. You can play any game with it. Particularly good for emulators. The other day I managed to set up a control scheme for Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (which has terrible touchscreen only controls) that works really well. It's crazy how you can make better controls than the original game has.
I bought a steam controller a while ago and it's just been sitting there due to difficulty in configuring it for emulators which was my main hope.
Any good tutorials you've found to make it an easier process?
I haven't really looked into tutorials since I found it pretty easy to get going with a simple setup. I know you can use community configurations for Steam games, so maybe there is a way to share configs for other games? You could look around to see if you can download others' configs and if so, I'm sure people have shared theirs for emulators. The steam controller subreddit could be a good start.
Obviously you can go crazy complex with multiple sets of keybinds that can be switched in real time and all that, but I've never needed that kind of stuff. The regular keyboard bindings have been more than enough for me. What I usually do is go to the emulator's settings and check the keybinds. Then I go into the controller configs and match the keybinds there. So if your emulator has the A button being the 'Z' key on your keyboard, you go into the controller configs and bind whatever button you want to have as A to the 'Z' key. Then repeat for all the other buttons you want to have. Of course, if the emulator has controller support you don't even need that. In that case, just choose a generic controller config from the presets and you're set.
What emulator were you trying to set up? I can try and help you if I have it.
I was trying to get N64 and Playstation 1 up and running but kept hitting roadblocks. I think the biggest issue for me was to get Steam to recognize the emulators and set up the controller from their. In my setup there seemed to be a disconnect between what the emulator was expecting to see and what input Steam was sending it.
You do this by adding the emulators as "Non-Steam games" in your library (ADD A GAME -> Add a Non-Steam Game...). From there you can right click the emulator in your library and go to "Edit Steam Controller Configuration..." to change your keybinds for that emulator. If the emulator has controller support, you just set your controller as a regular controller. If it doesn't you bind your controller buttons to the same keyboard keys the emulator expects (this was detailed in my previous comment).
Unfortunately, I haven't played around with emulators for those two consoles too much. I do have an N64 emulator installed, but I haven't used it more than a couple of times so I may have missed something. The one I have is Mupen64 with Mupen64Py for the GUI. This is what my controller configs look like (it's just a regular gamepad) and this is what my keybindings look like in the emulator (it's set up as a regular controller since it has controller support).
Those configs are as basic as it gets, so here's something a little more complicated. Here's what my Citra (3DS emulator) setup looks like: controller configs and emulator keybindings.
Thanks, I'll try to match up what you have for the N64 and work backwards from there for the PS1. I just gave up back when I tried it before, hopefully I'll have better luck this time.
Forgot to mention you should launch the emulator through Steam. Good luck.
I'm jealous of your chance to play Portal for the first time! It's still one of my all time favorite games, it's so tightly constructed, clever, and funny.
While not as comedic or dark as Portal, the only other first person puzzle game to make me feel as astonished or as clever (when I finally solved a puzzle) is Antichamber which I highly recommend. The Talos Principle is a very close runner up, with some nice writing and excellent, if slightly more conventional, puzzle design.
Damn, I'm surprised it too you so long to get Garry's Mod! It's one of those games that is down to a couple of bucks every sale.
Been eyeing Deep Rock Galactic pretty hard, but haven't had luck convincing any of my friends to play it yet, and I don't much feel like hunting down randoms to play with. Also Vanquish is a really cool game that released years ago on console. It kind of went under the radar, but most people who play it like it a lot.
The aesthetic of Tooth and Tail reminds me of Kingdom which is also a strategy game, even if a little different that most similar games.
I'm a big fan of Rez (and everything else Mizuguchi does, I really hope Tetris Effect gets a PC release), but I'm interested how it will seem to someone that didn't play it originally. For me, I just found it incredible to take this game that I thought was amazing like... 15 years ago when I was playing it on a small, crappy TV in my dorm, and now to be able to be literally inside it in VR. That's a bit of a surreal experience, but I'm not sure if it'll be nearly as impressive without the nostalgia aspect.
As someone who never played it before but only watched people play a little bit, it's was fantastic having my first real experience be in vr. I can't fathom not being able to just point my hands at stuff to shoot it. And even with that I still haven't 100%'ed it. I love it so much.
Nothing either. I feel like since the christmas sale with coal they've never been as good.
Just the DLC for Borderlands: The Pre Sequel. Summer sale's just not too good anymore, and I've got a huge backlog, so there's nothing else I really wanted at the offered price. I did want Nier Automata, but that wasn't even on sale at all, and I'm not paying $60 for a year and a half old game the devs can't be bothered to patch.
That sums up my experience as well. Deals aren't as good. I used to buy all kinds of shit even if I wasn't sure I'd play it all they way through cause they were so cheap, but now I find myself actually picking and choosing the games since they're nowhere near as cheap. Say what you want, but I liked the flash sales.
I heard that the reason flash sales no longer happen is because of the two hour gameplay return window they implemented. While I do like the idea of a return window, I'd rather have the flash sales back.
Yea, that is the generally accepted reason. I'm not really sure which I'd rather have. Personally, I'd definitely pick flash sales since I never really refund anything, but refunds are a very consumer friendly feature. I think I'd rather have flash sales, all things considered. There are many ways to find out if a game is worth buying nowadays (as I said, I barely ever use the refund). The only reason I can see for a refund is an unexpected problem like a game not working specifically on your computer, but I don't think those are very common.
I returned 2 games in my steam career.
Witcher 3, because I didn't notice there was a whole trilogy pack, which I bought afterwards and Bayonetta, which was too over the top for my taste. I heard before that it was a sexual game, but holy cow was it too much for me.
I simply can't enjoy her licking her pistols and all these over-sexualised movie clips
That's a bit of a shame. Bayonetta really is one of the best action games of the last decade.
From my perspective as a gay man, I was prepared to be grossed out by the way she was sexualized, but I actually enjoyed most of it. They use sexuality to show how powerful she is, so it doesn't feel exploitative like those kinds of things usually are. Bayonetta displays far more agency than any other female in video games ever have.
But that was just my oppinion. If you are grossed out by it, there's not much you will get from those scenes.
And I was so hyped to play it.
I was more uncomfortable than grossed out, but enough to not be able to enjoy it anymore. Some things just aren't for everyone.
So far I've bought Road Redemption and Scrap Mechanic. The latter seems very unfinished, it only has a sandbox mode at this point. Looking forward for updates..
Road Redemption is very fun. It's a rogue-lite where you ride a motorcycle on an endless, generated track, while beating other motorcyclists with metal pipes, spades and such. It has a splitscreen co-op mode too, which was the main selling point for me.
Playing Road Rash split screen with my little brother is a favorite memory, so I knew I had to get Road Redemption as soon as I saw it.
I don't wanna rain on your parade, but I heard pretty bad things of Scrap Mechanic. It's been in this unfinished/early state since forever. A bunch of people that were hyped for it just forgot about it cause nothing ever came out of it. That said, I don't really keep up with Scrap Mechanic news so there might be updates coming up that I don't know about.
I expected not to buy anything (as often happens in most Steam Sales), but I end up getting 911 Operator. It's exactly what it says on the tin. You are a 911 Operator and must take calls, prioritize, and assign each emergency squad to each case.
Game Grumps released an episode where they played it and I really felt like I'd like the game. I was right.
That actually sounds interesting. Gonna check it out. Too bad I decided to post this after the sale lol
Just noticed that 911 Operator is 55% off again now, if you were interested in it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/503560/911_Operator/
After saying I wasn't going to buy anything this time; I ended up with...
hackmud
Objects in Space
Cold Waters
Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific
Voice Attack
No ragrets!
Voice Attack is a brilliant program. It's taken my Elite Dangerous playing to a whole new level.
I was so close to buying hackmud. Do you enjoy it so far?
Yes. But I just broke out the VLAN and into the real MMO very recently. So technically I haven't really played much of the actual game. That VLAN section of the game is like a 3 hour tutorial. Also, you're probably going to have to visit their Discord channel to get help and learn things. I normally don't like mandatory meta gaming (like with Elite Dangerous), but it kinda fits with hackmud. Their Discord seems to be the only place for meta gaming (unlike ED which is spread over discord, reddit, and their official forums). Word of caution, #n00b_tips is the only "safe" space in their Discord. Everywhere else is subject to their usual shenanigans.
I grabbed a bunch of stuff.
Pavlov vr, brookhaven experience, natural locomotion, devil daggers, beat saber, and guts and glory.
I had already played brookhaven and beat saber, they're great. Pavlov i grabbed because it was so cheap, and devil daggers is just interesting.
Assassin's Creed Origins and currently playing and really liking it. Tyranny with the DLC. I know it's going to be free through Twitch Prime this month, along with Pillars of Eternity, but unfortunately Twitch does not offer the DLC for some reason, and I've read that it greatly enhances the experience. Really looking forward to that one. Life is Strange. Dishonored DLC as well as Dishonored 2, though I didn't get that one from Steam as it was cheaper elsewhere.
I am guilty of hoarding great games and never finishing them. This sale I only bought one game, Slay the Spire. Haven't had much time to play it, but the two runs I did play were really good. Looking forward to playing it over the weekend.
Great purchase right there, I love that game. Don't be afraid to explore different builds, there's a pretty good variety even within the same class.
How much did Fallout 4 GOTY cost? Was it actually $59.99 like it says right now?
Dang that's so cheap. I remember buying just the base for $20 2 years ago and never ended up having the time to play it. Have you started it yet?
Oh, thought it was your first time! Is it really that good? I just couldn't get into Witcher 3 but I also can't risk getting super into it because I don't have that self-control. But with Rainbow 6, I'll play like 2-3 times a month and feel "content."
Game Dev Tycoon is great if you like tycoon games, which it looks like you do haha Reminds me of a mobile game I used to play, Game Dev Story. Love that game.
It's already over! I didn't get anything! XD
Damn! That's a shame. Were you looking at something?
I think my final list was:
Slay the Spire is the shit! You don't have to worry about Early Access on this one, they are using it properly. It's in Early Access because they're still adding features to the game and balancing things here and there, not as an excuse for a buggy/lackluster game. To be honest, StS could be a full release at this point and the new content could just be part of regular updates.
Celeste is great. Challenging, but as with all things you learn from failure. Charming aesthetic, compelling story & characters.
Hmm, Immortal Redneck looks pretty cool.
I don't know why they claim it's Rogue-like though. Rogue was an old top-down Basic graphics game.
This is very like Heretic/Hexen from the Quake 1 days.
I think they only ever say "rogue-lite" actually, it was me that said "roguelike". Either way, whether it makes sense or not, roguelike/roguelite/etc. have pretty much just become terms to say "short-ish runs, you'll die a lot and start over, and maybe unlock some more persistent things as part of it". Almost nobody using the terms knows the actual origin or what the game Rogue plays like.
It was a very anime sale for me.
Visual novels: Clannad side stories and Tomoyo After / Umineko Answer Arcs / Lucy: The Eternity She Wished For / Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
And Final Fantasy XV because my backlog isn't already long enough, right?
Yeah I'm the one buying that anime shit and causing it to bubble up your Steam recommendations. Deal with it.
I like Danganronpa a lot, but I was honestly pretty disappointed with Ultra Despair Girls. It was good to fill in some more of the story, and the characters are good as always, but the actual gameplay was pretty bad. I'm usually a huge completionist with games, but I ended up just running through all the gameplay segments as quickly as I could and not even caring if I found everything because it really wasn't enjoyable to play.
Thanks for the tip! I started Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls, and after an hour or two of the game I already see what I might be up against in terms of tedious gameplay.
Your advice reminds me in many ways of the Tomb Raider reboot, which I started out trying to do most of the collect-a-thons, until the quantity got completely ridiculous and mind numbing. Switching gears and barreling through the story instead was infinitely more satisfying. (Well, not for the story but the main quest.) And that's with a Square Enix budget behind that game.
I picked up Final Fantasy IV. Such a solid start to the game. Hope it carries trough to the end.
Picked up Domina for the soundtrack alone.
Stardew Valley as well, you know, to get my farming on.
Oh, you're in for some quality farming with Stardew Valley. It's amazing how it was all made by this one guy and yet it's such an amazing game. Probably put like 150h in it. I should go back and get the last few collectibles I didn't get around to.
I bought nothing this sale, I do have a long wishlist of games I would like to checkout but the prices where still to high in my opinion for me to impulse buy them. I miss the flash sales.
Saying that I did buy a couple games from the GOG sale: ori and the blind forest, little nightmares, the saboteur, and recieved rime and sunless sea for free.
I bought Hellblade: Senua's Scrifice. I am about 6 hours in and so far I think it's a great game. Combat is just difficult enough to be challenging without being so difficult that it takes away from the story, puzzles are interesting (though they do get a little repetitive), and personally I love that it's not open world. You have a clear objective at all times. No side missions to distract you. The voices/mental illness aspect is (in my opinion) very well done and legitimately freaks me out, makes my heart pound, etc. at times. Bonus points for female protagonist.
Honestly, I didn't buy anything. I already have everything I want from past summer sales and bundles. I have no reason to buy at this one.