Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

Rules:

• No grey market sales
• No affiliate links

If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

All previous Save Point topics

If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add save point to your personal tag filters.

Schedule

There was a three-way tie for 5th, so instead of scheduling the next 6 months, I scheduled 7. Bonus month!

@CannibalisticApple will be hosting her nomination, The Last Express, for our first month. If you're interested in hosting a month, see the Hosting section below.

Also, I selfishly scheduled PlayStation WHAT? during the Backlog Burner so I can use those games in my Bingo Card. :D

For the rest, I tried to create variety in the schedule so that we weren't playing the same systems or genres back-to-back.

Discussion Topics

Each month will have two discussion topics:

• "Insert Cartridge" - 1st of the month
• "Remove Cartridge" - 20th of the month

Insert Cartridge topics are primarily for getting the game set up and running. Remove Cartridge topics are primarily for reflecting on the game once you've played it. However, the game itself and anything else related to it can be discussed in either one.

Hosting

Each month, the discussion topics will be posted by a different "host" who will act as the emcee for that month.

Hosting is not required, but it is encouraged that people host months for games that they are either already very familiar with or that they are strongly interested in playing.

People who nominated a game will be given preference for hosting, otherwise it will be given to whomever claims it first.

If you would like to host a month, let me know which one and I will add you to the schedule.

Before your month begins, I will send you a "Hosting Package" featuring templates that you can edit to your liking.

If no one claims a month, I will host it as a fallback.

Voting Results

The top 6 games from the voting round were chosen to be played.

Of the remaining games:

• The top 50% will advance to the next round. They will start the next round with a base score of 70% of their vote totals.
• The bottom 50% will be removed from the list.

Removed games will be able to be re-nominated in future rounds if someone chooses to do so.

I controlled Mars, but the Servants, who worship the aliens as gods, had taken Phobos and Deimos. From a previous failed campaign I knew that if I let the Servants gain orbital superiority over Mars, they would shell all of my mines into regolith from low orbit while I watched helplessly. Then, starved of crucial shipbuilding resources, my faction - the Resistance - would wither and die. I’m sure they felt the same fear looking at my fleet. We were both building up our forces as quickly as we could: reinforcements, whether from Earth or the Inner Belt, would take more than a year to arrive, meaning that whoever won the battle for Mars orbit would control the fate of the red planet - and its riches - forever. Or at least until the aliens arrived to wipe us off the map, which amounts to the same thing. Eventually I was able to gain a sliver of a technological lead and force their fleet to battle.

—-

Hooded Horse came out of nowhere a few years ago to become one of the best (IMO) indie game publishers anywhere. I still haven’t been able to figure out whether they’re actually that good or if my tastes and theirs just overlap perfectly, but who cares: they’ve produced hit after hit. Not necessarily critical successes - though almost all of them are rated “overwhelmingly positive” on Steam - but games that just rule. The kind of game that swings for the fences and succeeds in more than it fails.

Terra Invicta is one of those games. Aliens have come to Earth, and you play as one of the secret societies reacting to that news. The first 10-15 hours of a run are spent in what is basically a political thriller simulator - your agents subvert governments, spread propaganda, and initiate coups to try to control as much of the globe as possible. All the while, you devote every resource you can to sprint towards where the actual game begins: space. At that point Terra Invicta turns into an outrageously detailed orbital mechanics simulation. I haven’t actually won yet so I’m not sure what happens after that, but so far it’s awesome.

It’s not for everybody. The game is kind of hostile - it’s obscenely complicated, really doesn’t give you much in the way of tutorials, and in each of my four attempts, thus far, I’ve realized that I made a deadly mistake about 3 hours ago from which there’s no recovery. (Specifically: One time, I concentrated too much of my space infrastructure on Mars, so when the Aliens cracked the planet, I lost everything. Another time, I was so focused on space that when the China-India-EU alliance invaded my America, I was wiped out. Another time, I was so aggressive against the Alien quislings so early that the Aliens left everyone else alone and crushed me.)

But if you’re the kind of person that thinks spreadsheets are fun - if you’re the kind of person whose biggest problem with strategy games is that they’re too easy - TI is the game for you.

Happy 2026 everyone, and welcome back to the Colossal Game Adventure!

Introduction

The Zelda games released for the Nintendo 64 are widely regarded as the best adventure games of the era, if not of all time. Ocarina of Time in particular is often heralded as one of the greats, for many factors including its graphics, story, combat, music, and general atmosphere. So Nintendo clearly had a lot to prove with their next Zelda title, which would be releasing on the N64's successor. Naturally, Nintendo decided to alter course and provide fans with a something no one was expecting: a cel-shaded, pirate-themed, sea-faring adventure! As the 3D title that came directly after Majora's Mask (which remains one of the darkest and most off-putting games I have played), this was a massive shift in tone for the Zelda series. For me (and from what I've read, many others as well), this shift has put me off playing the game for many, many years.

The Wind Waker is the only 3D Zelda game that I haven't played, even though it came out at a time when I was heavily into Zelda. My first memory of gaming was watching my Dad beat A Link to the Past, which I am still a huge fan of to this day. When Ocarina of Time came out it felt huge and mysterious, and quickly became my favourite game for many years. I can't remember when (maybe '98?), but one Christmas I got a purple Game Boy Colour and a copy of Link's Awakening. I later played Seasons and Ages, which I would highly recommend if you haven't played them. In 2003 or 2004 I got a Game Boy Advance SP, and I played the Zelda games that were on that system a lot as well (Four Swords and The Minish Cap). However, the one thing I never had was a GameCube, and due to the cel-shaded graphics of The Wind Waker I never really felt like I was missing anything.

Looking back now, I feel like I probably missed out on something special with this game, as a lot of people cite The Wind Waker as the defining gaming experience of their childhood. Many people also claim that it is the best Zelda game, which has obviously set an extremely high bar over the years. Back in 2017 or 2018, I purchased The Wind Waker HD, but unfortunately ended up parting ways with my Wii U before I got past the first dungeon. So now, FINALLY, I am ready to experience this game for the first time as part of our shared Colossal Game Adventure!

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Versions:

• Original: The GameCube version of The Wind Waker released back in 2002. It is probably the easier of the two versions to emulate.
• HD: In 2013 Nintendo released an HD remaster of The Wind Waker for the Wii U. This the version I would personally recommend playing if you can figure out a way to do so.

Platforms: GameCube, Wii U

Genre(s): Action-adventure, RPG, Puzzle

Links: Mobygames, Wikipedia

Stores: Currently the only way to play this game officially is via GameCube emulation on a Switch 2, which requires Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (and a Switch 2).

Game Setup

The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:

• Share which version of the game you're playing
• Share what hardware you're playing it on
• Share if there are any tools/mods that you recommend
• Share anything you think is important for people to know before they start the game
• Ask questions if you need help

Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:

• Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself?
• What about its system or era?
• What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time?
• What other games from the same time period are you familiar with?
• What are you expecting from this game in particular?

Finally, this topic is the beginning discussion for people starting to play it:

• Post updates sharing your thoughts as you play.
• Ask for help if you get stuck.
• Offer help to others.

It is recommended that you reply to your own posts if you are making consecutive updates so that they are in the same thread.

Important

• Any links to the game should be legal distributions of the game only. Please do NOT link to any unauthorized copies.

• Put any spoilers in a dropdown block. Copy/paste the block below if needed.

<details>
<summary>Spoilers</summary>
 
Spoiler text goes here.
</details>

FAQ

Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

Rules:

• No grey market sales
• No affiliate links

If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

All previous Save Point topics

If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add save point to your personal tag filters.

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Next Thread ->

January 2026's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games.

Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play?

Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

Rules:

• No grey market sales
• No affiliate links

If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

All previous Save Point topics

If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add save point to your personal tag filters.

Important: This will be a noisy topic. If you do not wish to see it in your feed, please use the Ignore feature to hide it!

Tip: If the large number of comments are cluttering up the topic and you just want to see the main giveaway posts, click Collapse Replies at the top of the comments.

🎵 It's the most wonderful time of the year 🎵

This is our annual holiday game giveaway topic. Spread some goodwill and holiday cheer with others!

Before you participate, please make sure you read the rules below.

Rules

-Gifters

Post your available games, the platform and method of delivery, rules for your giveaways (e.g. first-come first-serve, random draw, etc.), and any additional info or requirements. Feel free to get creative!

-Giftees

Request giveaways. Please make sure you follow the gifter's posted guidelines.

-Guidelines

Anyone can choose to be a gifter, giftee, or both! Giveaway rules are set by individual gifters, but there are handful of guidelines everyone should follow:

1. No grey market keys! Only give away games from reputable sources. If you're not sure what this means, please ask.
2. Requests for games should be done in this topic, but if the gift is a key, those should be delivered by PMs only. Please don't post keys publicly in this topic, even obfuscated ones.

If you're new to these, check out previous giveaway threads to see how these usually go.

I've owned Baldur's Gate 3 pretty much since it came out. I prefer role-playing games with good stories and characters that feel real and interesting, so this game should be right up my alley. Turn-based, party combat is not my favorite but I find it enjoyable once I make the mental switch.

I've tried playing 3 times. The first time, I went in blind (as did everyone) because it had just come out. Having gotten into it somewhat, figured out the basics, I realized that I had managed to totally miss 2 of the main companions. I was also playing as a ranger and regularly getting my butt handed to me, because I had no warriors in my party. . So I restarted, but found the restart a slog And then an update broke my play-through so put it away for (quite) a bit.

After many months, I thought I'd try again, when Cyberpunk fatally crashed late in the game because of my modding addiction. This time there was LOTS of information on the web about BG3, which I read, hoping to make sure not to miss anything important (like, all the warrior companions...) I tried playing a mage. But this time I felt constantly stressed about getting the "right" outcome, picking the "right" dialogue, getting the "right build....It wasn't fun. I think it was my fault.

There are a bunch of people who consider this game the greatest ever, and I really think it could be up there for me, but I'm doing it wrong. So I am asking--how to you play this game to maximize your enjoyment? How much did you rely on wikis or our guides? Are there mods out that you recommend? What attitude so you bring when playing that makes the game enjoyable for you? Help me love this game, I really want to!

EDIT: Thank you everyone, I'm totally psyched to start again with a new attitude and some new strategies!

EDIT2: Sorry I didn't respond to the later posts... I took all the advice and tried again and have spent all my free time having a blast with BG3, so THANK YOU

The recent discussion of Baldurs Gate 3 tempted me to play a video game after a long break. What games do you suggest for someone who likes getting emotionally involved and likes intriguing twists?

I've played the Mass Effect series and the first Bioshock. Apologies if this is information that is easily found.

I remember being young and going over to one of our neighbor's house to watch him play Phantasy Star Online (PSO) on his Dreamcast with other people over the Internet which blew my mind as a kid. I also remember getting my parents to rent a copy of PSO for Gamecube to play it some, but since we had to return it, I didn't get very far or get to experience much of it. Though the memory of it being awesome never went away.

When I was in high school, one of my best friends at the time loved the Gamecube version and played it a ton with his dad and brother growing up. He found a private server to play the PC version, Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst, which includes both episodes 1 and 2 along with the PC only episode 4. ["Where is episode 3?" you might ask, that was released as a card game that was also set after the events of episodes 1, 2, and 4] and asked me if I wanted to play with him and his brother. We ended up playing together, usually once or twice a week, depending on our schedules. Sometimes we would play all evening and just chat while grinding and leveling up our characters. I think I ended up getting to level 50 out of a maximum of 200. I could easily have seen myself continuing to play for years as a way to keep up with that friend if we had stayed in touch.

That game has sat in the back of my head for years, I'd occasionally think about it, and have the urge to play it, but never would since I usually have other stuff going on, and I couldn't remember what server my character was on or my login information. I recently saw some videos about it on YouTube, since it was the 25th anniversary that has got me looking in to it again. I think later in the year I may look in to setting it up to play on my Android phone.

PSO has an interesting place in video game history, and something I didn't know until watching a retrospective was that the Monster Hunter series took inspiration from PSO.

There were follow-up games made, like Phantasy Star Universe, and Phantasy Star Online 2, but I only played PSO2 for a brief period when it was Japanese only, and I kept having my translation patches breaking every few days due to updates and never went back to revisit it after it was released in the West.

It made me curious if any Tilders played it back in the day or still play it now?
Do you have any fond memories of the game, or stories you might want to share?
Did you play or enjoy any of the follow-up games to the original PSO?

For example, games like Superliminal (solving puzzles), The Stanley Parable (exploration) and the upcoming Subliminal.

The backroom games I've looked at tend to be just about walking and walking and it gets really boring. I played the game called "Pools" and though I liked the aesthetic, I just got so bored because there wasn't anything to do at all other than just looking around and walking. any suggestions?

And so concludes Guybrush Threepwood's thrilling quest to learn the Secret of Monkey Island! He did learn it, right? The secret? Surely there was a secret learned in there, somewhere? Well... that's what you get for spending more than 20 bucks on a computer game.

What were your favorite (and least favorite) moments? Favorite puzzles? Most frustrating ones? There are, in fact, a number of SECRETS to be found in The Secret of Monkey Island! Like these:

Share your stories below. Was this your first experience with the game or a nostalgic return? How has it held up over the years, in your estimation? Timeless classic or overrated turd? Don't hold back, we can handle it. We've spoken with apes more polite than you.

So here we are at the end of another colossal month. Next up, we'll ring in the new year with @datavoid for our January 2026 play of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker! In the meantime, if you're so inclined, consider checking out the rest of the Monkey Island series:

• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
• The Curse of Monkey Island
• Escape From Monkey Island
• Tales of Monkey Island
• Return to Monkey Island

OK, that's it, turn off your computer and do something constructive.
Like play a little racquetball. Or wash your car. Or cook dinner. Or join a funk band. Or travel to a foreign country. Or run for president. Or talk to a member of the opposite sex. Or lube your car. Or host a weenie roast. Or dig for buried treasure. Or milk a cow. Or have a yelling contest with your neighbor's dog. Or perform brain surgery. Or paint a yellow line in the center of your driveway. Or write your name in the snow. Or teach basket weaving to clams. Or sing Welsh folk songs at the bank. Or plant trees on public property. Or confuse the person next to you. Or make a triangular table. Or hop, skip, and jump. Or ride a train. Or organize your sock drawer alphabetically. Or go bowling with your mom. Or train potato bugs to do tricks. Or make a quilt. Or publish a magazine about pencil shavings. Or eat lime jello with pineapple in it. Or pave a freeway. Or learn to draw. Or take up photography. Or learn to tell time. Or photocopy money. Or go out for pasta. Or sew a dress. Or bathe your iguana. Or go fishing. Or paint a stranger's house in the middle of the night. Or take up windsurfing. Or change your hair style. Or sharpen your whiteboard markers. Or feed a toucan. Or enjoy the sun. Or do a crossword puzzle. Or buy some cool clothes. Or go to the beach. Or play croquet with your dad. Or water your plants. Or build a doll house. Or invite some friends over for salmon and white wine.

See you next month!

Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

Rules:

• No grey market sales
• No affiliate links

If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

All previous Save Point topics

If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add save point to your personal tag filters.

I have stolen this idea from a Reddit thread and thought it would be a good discussion here. I am placing these in approximate order of favorite to least favorite.

Caves of Qud - Probably a top ten game of all time. Greatest environmental flavor I have ever experienced. Great soundtrack. This was the very first traditional rogue-like I played for more than a few hours

Wildermyth - I think the character creation/progression is my favorite of any game ever. Character age, befriend each other, fall in love, die, have children, and more. Also this is my favorite soundtrack of the decade, a very dreamlike and melancholic track that suits the game perfectly.

Jupiter Hell - The second traditional rogue-like i played for a few hours. Incredible tactical gameplay

Balder's Gate III - While not my favorite RPG (Wildermyth) probably the one I have played the most considering all the different ways you can play with story choices and character builds.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - The game has many flaws, particularly the poorly designed combat scenarios and a story that differs quite a bit in quality throughout. But the combat adds a bit more crunch then BG3 and the variety of choices and builds is multitudes larger than BG3.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020/2024 - Not much to say other than the flying mechanics are good and the entire Earth being mapped and populated is maybe my favorite technological feature in a video game ever.

Dorf Romantik - Cute puzzle game. Released in 2022 but was a game that I am 99% sure I played in early access during the pandemic and was warm and quiet in a terrible year

Spiderman Remastered/Spiderman Miles Morales

Total War: Warhammer III - On one hand a culmination of all the Total Warhammer games. On the other hand by the time I had played it I had played so many Total War games that the formula wore on me and I found myself auto-resolving battles more often then playing them.

Far Cry 6 - A step down from Far Cry 5 as far as I am concerned, but there is no FPS game with an open world that lets you approach things in any way you want. Guns blazing? Sure. Stealth? Four or five ways to approach a location? Yep. The only thing I did not like was the base design, which i felt was much more poor then in previous Far Cry games

Starfield - On the one hand, a game with a lot of flaws that make it a hard game to love. Tons of loading screens that break immersion. A lack of depth in systems. A story with little/no sense of morale choices. On the other hand, no one does open world like Bethesda and their formula is like crack for me. Good gun play. Best stories Bethesda has told in years. The ending and new game + hit really hard for me as well.

Here are other games that I play but are more of a 'annual series', so I am placing them separately
Pokemon - Arceus was my favorite Pokemon game, with Scarlet being my favorite 'traditional' Pokemon game
NBA 2K Series
Madden NFL Series
Out of the Park Baseball series

Here's a a double feature about game console history: two YouTube videos that were released in the past few days. While the videos are unconnected, both are great quality little documentaries and I think when watched together offer an interesting contrast between the two worlds that existed at the time.

The Untold History of the Nintendo Entertainment System (45 min) by The Video Game History Foundation documents how the NES was launched in the US 40 years ago. While I was familiar with the main story, many of the details were totally new to me, including the prototypes and the initial ideas of what the NES might have been, and could well have been had the market and initial test audiences reacted differently.

The Hunt for the Lost Communist Console (18 min) by fern looks at the BSS-01, a video game console manufactured in East Germany in 1979. It was the only game console released in the country and I think somewhat similar to the Soviet console Turnir, as both used the same AY-3-8500 chipset imported from the West and offered a collection of Pong clones.

I'm planning to launch Tildes Minecraft season 3 some time mid November. What mods should we add or remove? Any other recommendations or requests?

Edit: As per the majority of the feedback, season 3 will be delayed until the beginning of January.

Edit 2: Server goes online January 3rd, 2026 at 11am Pacific time.

Edit 3:

Countdown timer is live!

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