Steam+ Deals Mega Thread (All PC Gaming Deals)

Neuro5i5

Neuro5i5

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This thread will attempt to provide a place to discuss past/present/future PC gaming deals. While mainly focusing on Steam games, any standout sales may also be presented. I will not be updating every Daily/Weekly/etc. sale. The tools to help individuals become a smarter shopper will be provided below.

See this POST for links to store sale pages, threads of interest and other tools to help you become a more informed PC game shopper.
 
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Does anyone else never play the games you claim from EGS? I've got such a huge library and still never use the launcher. I've even bought games on Steam or on my Xbox to play them there that I had already gotten for free from Epic lol.

 
JohnnyCage said:
Does anyone else never play the games you claim from EGS? I've got such a huge library and still never use the launcher. I've even bought games on Steam or on my Xbox to play them there that I had already gotten for free from Epic lol.
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Oh yeah, sure!

I have 376 games on Epic. I've neither bought one nor played one.

 
I have played a handful and I believe I’ve gotten every free game they have given out since the beginning, I use the heroic game launcher since I play on Debian Linux, I believe it’s on Windows too but don’t quote me on that. The Epic Launcher is complete shit but I get what your saying, it feels wrong to be playing Epic games.
 
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JohnnyCage said:
Does anyone else never play the games you claim from EGS? I've got such a huge library and still never use the launcher. I've even bought games on Steam or on my Xbox to play them there that I had already gotten for free from Epic lol.
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Depends on the game and/or if it's DRM-FREE there on Epic.

So, if I get a game dirt-cheap or free there on Epic and it's something I really want to play - yeah, I'll use Epic version, of course. I go where the games that I want to play go and also if I feel they're at a good price...or free.

I most definitely use DRM-FREE versions of games that are as such from Epic of Prey (2017): Complete, Vampyr, Death Stranding, Days Gone, Control, Fallout 3 GOTY (with the Patcher Mod), Metro 2033 Redux, Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain, etc. - especially if Steam or other versions I have ain't DRM-FREE.

This is really useful, when you aren't online and/or ain't got an Internet connection.

Also, I usually use Heroic launcher a lot of times over Epic's slow & bloated launcher too. Heroic's much better looking, more useful, and is much faster IMHO. And yes, I'm on Windows here.

Always check PC Gaming Wiki for what games & their DLC's and what versions are DRM-FREE.

Also, Batman Arkham games from Rocksteady are all DRM-FREE on Epic too.

EDIT:

bers817 said:
I have played a handful and I believe I’ve gotten every free game they have given out since the beginning, I use the heroic game launcher since I play on Debian Linux, I believe it’s on Windows too but don’t quote me on that. The Epic Launcher is complete shit but I get what your saying, it feels wrong to be playing Epic games.
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Yeah, I use Heroic on Windows; it's much better than Epic's own bloated & crummy launcher.

 
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MysterD said:
When did I ever listen? :p
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JohnnyCage said:
Does anyone else never play the games you claim from EGS? I've got such a huge library and still never use the launcher. I've even bought games on Steam or on my Xbox to play them there that I had already gotten for free from Epic lol.
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I've played some, but I mostly purchased what I liked on EGS for Steam if it's cheap. If I do play one of the free games there, I make sure my save is backed up on Steam Cloud.

1. I relocate the game folder to 'SteamLibrary/steamapps/common'.
2. Add the 'steam_api64.dll' to the game folder.
3. Add the 'steamappid.txt' file containing the appid listed for the game on SteamDB.
4. Duplicate an existing 'appmanifest' file under 'SteamLibrary/steamapps' then edit its contents to correspond to the game using information available on SteamDB.

5. Add the appid to 'libraryfolders.vdf' under 'Steam/steamapps'.

Not entirely sure if step 4 is even necessary, never tried without it and too lazy to verify right now. The game will appear under your Library, not purchased, and it'll detect you're playing that game when you launch the EGS version. Steam will backup the game save to the cloud and record your playtime with the last played date.

 
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First Set of Impressions. Steam Fest is going on a few more days and I'm likely going to weed out my demos to 60ish left (currently 86 I think) and try some more. In the future impressions I will check out at the least Sea of Stars.

Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles - 19 minutes. This one is a kind of weird dice deck building game about protectors of the six sides and you playing as one trying to purify enemies. This game looks nice, but the gameplay wasn’t super fun. Essentially you try to deal as much purification to fully purify an enemy. They also have dice and deal corruption to themselves. Some of your dice also deal corruption and you can do it to yourself or them. If you get too much corruption you lose a health. It’s essentially a lot of tug of rope until someone succeeds. Just not super exciting dice rolling, and I just wasn’t having much fun. 5.5/10

Athenian Rhapsody - 14 minutes. This one is a comedic RPG like Undertale and has mini games in the battles and you can befriend enemies. This one was OK overall. The graphics were pretty good, as were the battles. Nothing terrible, but nothing amazing either. This would be an OK bundled game. 6/10

Bilkins' Folly - 94 minutes completed demo. This one is an adventure puzzle game where you play a treasure hunter who crash lands on an island. You have to solve puzzles to get treasure and follow maps. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and one puzzle took me way too long. It’s kind of fun, but not for me. It’s a high quality game nonetheless that I’d play from a bundle. Also the lockpick puzzles are those annoying fill in highlighted areas with different shapes, which isn’t too fun. Overall decent, but not my style. 6.5/10

The Black Pepper Crew - 12 minutes completed tutorial. This one is a turn based strategy game where you beat up enemies with your team similar to Nitro Kid except with more characters. I liked the graphics, the UI was generally excellent, the tutorial was straightforward and it seemed like fun. I would get this one on sale or bundled. 8/10

Blade Prince Academy - 10 minutes completed first mission. This one is another strategy game but plays out in semi real time like an RTS kind of like I believe The Diofield Chronicles did. This one had a pretty meh story, decent enough graphics and music, and good enough controls with the mouse. I would play this one bundled or on a good sale. 7/10

Born of Bread - 19 minutes died and save was from too far back so gave up game. This one is trying to be a Super Mario RPG like game, but it’s missing something. The graphics and humor are OK enough, but not amazing. The platforming in a weird 2.5D environment frankly sucks. The battle system is alright, but very clunky especially with timing defends. I got in some fight where I had 5 attacks going against me in a turn and died. I don’t know why such a hard enemy was there at that moment. Overall I enjoyed it a bit, but it would only be a bundle game. No voices either for the characters. 6/10

Broken Roads - 13 minutes. This is a CRPG set in post apocalyptic times. It seems solid enough and okay enough story. I saw enough to see it seems competent with graphics/music and movement and all. I would get it bundled. 7/10

Call Hating - 20 minutes. This one of those trying to be clever try to fix things in any way possible games with lots of humor. This one was clean for the most part, but some of the stuff like hit detection is off. Not amazing, but would make a fine bundle game. 6/10

Captain Wayne - Vacation Desperation - 8 minutes. This one is a pretty competent old school feeling FPS. It is more in the wake of Quake with fast movement and lots of shooting. I’m guessing you play as a captain and the levels seem pretty okay designed. The graphics and music and sounds are all just fine. A good bundle pick up or a cheaper sale game. 7/10

Chickenauts - 7 minutes. This one is a rouge lite game where you play as a farmer who has a gun and is shooting up aliens that mutated your chickens I think. This is pretty much a cross between Enter the Gungeon and Slay the Spire for choosing rooms. Overall it’s a little bland, but plays OK overall. Would likely only get bundled. 6.5/10

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley - 40 minutes completed demo. WTF is how I’ll start it. This is more an adventure game than RPG and has you playing a brother and sister who are quarantined and try to escape their apartment. This game is pretty dark and the setting is weird, along with the main characters. The art is pretty excellent, with pretty good music. Overall I’d probably get it on a higher sale or bundled, but it’s very weird. Not for the faint of heart to be sure. 7/10

Crime O'Clock - 35 minutes completed demo. This one is a really nice art, music and sound solve mysteries timeline game where you search around like a Where’s Waldo area and try to stop crimes from happening. It’s pretty interesting, although maybe not the most exciting. It is very well done and I would get it bundled. 7/10

Cross Blitz - 99 minutes completed demo. Another one that took longer than expected. This one is a solid deck building game with battles that handle similarly to Hearthstone. You play a pirate and fight people along a path, trying to get out of jail or something. There is a lot of strategy, although some things are very random. It’s still pretty neat and was pretty fun playing it. 8/10

CRUX - 9 minutes. Way too janky for me. It’s an arena shooter FPS with some rogue lite elements such as level ups for skills. The music is OK and the controls are OK, but everything else needs some polish especially the feedback for weapons on enemies. It’s a little too basic IMHO for long term gameplay. 5.5/10

Cuisineer - 42 minutes. This one is a mix between a dungeon crawling action game like Hades and a restaurant idle sim thing. This one has OK, but small graphics for things. The controls are pretty good with a Series X controller although a bit floaty for skills. This feels simple, but nice, but also has bad idle game traits like a queue for cooking (can’t just put like 5 eggs to make…have to wait for each one to make), and some mobile free game feeling like very limited inventory space and quests requiring a lot of some items. Overall this is just a bundle game, but it’s high quality enough. 6/10

Cyberwar: Neon City - 30 minutes. This one is a futuristic Enter the Gungeon kind of game where you play some printed guy that has a shark gun fighting against cybernetic clone monkeys that were made from a lab monkey who escaped and was highly intelligent. This game is kind of wonky and a bit boring. The controls are not very good with the keyboard and mouse. Overall it’s a very low bundled game only, as it just didn’t do much new and didn’t do it cleanly either. 5.5/10

DAEMON MASQUERADE - 40 minutes completed demo case. This one is a weird one where you get a cork board full of clues for a crime and use the evidence to figure out parts of it. I liked this enough as a mystery game, and the art was decent. Overall I would maybe get it on a higher sale, but mystery adventure games are generally not my forte. 6.5/10

Death Must Die - 8 minutes. This is a basic very small arena Vampire Survivors like with a clunky sword attack. This feels like a bundled type game. 5/10

Decline's Drops - 15 minutes completed first level. This game is a platforming beat em up similar to an older doujin game I think Fairy Bloom Freesia. You play some girl with boxing gloves and it looks really nice and controls decently with a Series X controller. The music was somewhat grating guitar music. Overall it was decent, but not crazy amazing. I would likely only get bundled. 6.5/10

Dicefolk - 18 minutes completed 1 demo run and lost. This one is a dice chucking build a dice rouge lite game. It looks pretty nice although the gameplay is just okay. You have three chimera who can rotate. You use your own dice and the enemies and survive battles. Just okay, but was something a little different at least. 6/10

Diebrary - 24 minutes completed demo level. This one was a fairly basic Vampire Survivors game with a similar skill system to the minutes until dawn game. The graphics and noises were adequate, but not amazing. Overall it still felt pretty fun, although this would likely only be a bundle game. 7/10

Dreamed Away - 39 minutes completed demo. This one is a very weird RPG kind of like Undertale with active battles and a weird horror story and such. It controlled well, looked good, sounded pretty good, and overall was pretty decent. I would get it bundled or on a moderate sale. 7.5/10

El Paso, Elsewhere - 25 minutes completed 1 level. This one is a Max Payne kind of game with bullet time and you trying to use pills and push your limits to take on your ex who is summoning demons or something. You go to a Hotel in El Paso (shout out I live there!) and you go on levels freeing people and battling demons. It has really good voice acting, an interesting and weird story, and cool stylized graphics. This one is worth it on a slight sale or bundled. 8/10

Eternights - 38 minutes completed demo. This one is kind of Tokyo Xanadu like game where you have an action RPG and have dating I think. This has more action, and it feels a bit less polished with graphics and the gameplay, but I had a good time and would have easily kept playing and tried to beat the game. This one was fun, looked good, had good English voice acting, and I’ll get on release for sure. 8.5/10

Every Hue of You - 16 minutes. This is a visual novel with a girl who is not feeling too well after her mother passes and rain is constantly going on. You get to know her and her situation in a magical world. I really like the atmosphere, graphics and music in this one. I wish it had voices. Some of the scene changes were a bit slow, but it seemed competent. I also liked how some parts of the backgrounds were animated. This one is very likely worth picking up on a slight discount or bundled. 7.5/10

Genopanic - 26 minutes completed demo. This one is a Metroidvania game where you play an astronaut and explore a station after malfunctions occur. This one wasn’t super exciting but controlled well, seemed interesting, had good enough graphics and music, and overall felt polished. I would get this one on sale or in a bundle. 7/10

Fantasy Madness: Bloodbath - 58 minutes. Yet another Vampire Survivors like game. This one felt quicker and moved faster. I think the art and music were a bit generic, but the gameplay was fun as you get equipment as well. Overall a decent one, but its likely one for the bundles or a higher sale. 7/10

Girl Genius: Adventures In Castle Heterodyne - 21 minutes. This one is a not so much platforming action adventure game based on the Girl Genius comics. This one looked pretty good, had a good soundtrack and atmosphere, but controlled a bit clunky. There are a decent amount of puzzles around. There isn’t platforming at all, making it harder to navigate. Would likely only get bundled, but it felt polished. 6.5/10

Goodbye Volcano High - 30 minutes. This one is an interactive like choose your own adventure visual novel. It actually reminds me a lot of School Days. This one has good voice acting, an excellent visual style and plenty of teenage angst as the dinosaur people in this game learn of an asteroid that may be approaching the earth. This is very, very high school in the way it’s written, but I’m likely to get it as it has a unique vibe and it may be more depressing or such than it looks. Overall this is extremely polished and will be an easy purchase on release. I hope you get to really know the characters, but the main character is a pretty cool girl it seems. 9/10

Gunforged - 12 minutes. This one is a kind of Enter the Gungeon one room arena shooter where you have 2 guns and shoot them. When you shoot one gun the other gets bullets. After every round you get upgrades and gun upgrades and can also do a few other things before activating the next round. Overall controlled ok with mouse and keyboard and was just a decent game. 6.5/10

Of this set the very strong ones were The Black Pepper Crew, Cross Blitz, El Paso, Elsewhere, Eternights, Every Hue of You and Goodbye Volcano High.

Just too many demos for sure. I'm likely to skip over simulations, visual novels that don't seem interesting, some of the random eroge I got, and some others. I literally queue up demo downloads for anything that looks remotely interesting.

 
I don't know how you guys stomach learning so many new games. Most of the games actually have widescreen support. Wasn't expected, but pleasantly surprised.

Here's a tiny list:

Jumplight Odyssey - 15 min. Neat 80s hand-drawn animation where you manage a Star Trek-esque ship. I expect an overwhelming amount of things to learn and manage in the final game. Even the demo already has like 5 decks. It's probably not for me. Good production value though. Probably worth spending a minute to watch the well-animated intro at least.

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes - 17 min.  I already beat this at least once before, so not really new to me. Disappointing port. For example, switching from full screen to windowed requires a restart. In 2023. No borderless window. In 2023. Skipping dialog because you were switching between full screen ahd windowed, and you have to watch a lot of the characters run around anyway.. Original game was an 8/10. The "definitive" update is like a 6/10 just because the upgrades are less than expected.

Moonstone Island - 17 min. Harvest Moon meets Pokemon with card-based battles. I probably won't get it, but not because it's not good. I just don't want to spend the time on it. (I never finished a Pokemon game.) ETA: Controls are weird. Things you expect to be on left click is on right click. And it's inconsistent.

Station to Station - 9 min. It's not sandbox-y enough and not puzzle-y enough. Not satisfying on either end. Nice graphics though.

Spells & Secrets - 28 min. Harry Potter 2.5D rip off. I'm not the target demographics for this.

Wizard with a Gun - 22 min. Has the potentially to be very good action game (think Hades / Enter the Gungeon). The full game may or may not be tedious, since it feels like it'll have Metroidvania-esque barriers, which could equate to too much backtracking. Also a little wary about how much of the world can be interacted with (was a distraction in Red Faction, for example).

I have 5 more to try but I don't really get motivated to try new games.

 
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JohnnyCage said:
Does anyone else never play the games you claim from EGS? I've got such a huge library and still never use the launcher. I've even bought games on Steam or on my Xbox to play them there that I had already gotten for free from Epic lol.
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I rarely play them but I do have them setup with Heroic Games Launcher on my Deck. If I enjoy the game I tend to buy it on Steam for the convenience when on sale. I kind of use Epic like Gamepass to test a game out but not fully invest in unless it is a short game.

BreadNiblets said:
He said don't quote him.
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More Steamfest Impressions. I have about maybe 30 more demos to go, but likely will be more like 10 played.

Hot Blood - 4 minutes. This was awful! It is a game about a girl in a zombie infested mall and controls and looks terrible. It’s so clunky although the music is solid. Just so unpolished and not fun to play 4/10

Laika: Aged Through Blood - 10 minutes. This one was a very clunky motorcycle 2D driving action game in a post apocalyptic world. You go around in a motorcycle which is already a lit bit clunky to move, but you get used to it. The main issue is action parts on the motorcycle like how they expect you go block bullets with the motorcycle. Also 1 hit of anything (a crash or bullet) and you’re dead. This one looks and sounds amazing, but the gameplay is not there for me. I played another motorcycle like Metroidvania in a previous Fest and it never felt this bad. I would only get it bundled, but it’s very polished looking. 5.5/10

Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiend - 4 minutes. Is Little Nemo off of copyright or something with 2 games based on it in the Fest. This one has nice graphics mimicking the art of the comics. It has a super grandiose soundtrack too. I don’t know why this one didn’t enchant me like the other one. The fighting is a bit generic and the platforming good, but not amazing. It just felt even with the great art style a bit generic. I would get it bundled, but I prefer the other one I played. 6/10

Loddlenaut - 6 minutes. This one is a 3D swimming clean up the ocean adventure. You go around picking up trash, cleaning up waste, and upgrading and building things while exploring. It’s honestly pretty simple, has a nice clean art style, okay enough sounds and music, and is relaxing. Not usually what I’d play, but it would be a nice bundle game. 7/10

Looper Tactics - 9 minutes. This one is a kind of weirder Hearthstone like adventure game. This feels a lot simpler, and not super polished, but was OK. I think the gameplay loop was not super exciting to me for the few battles I did, but I’d still probably get it pretty cheap or bundled. 6/10

Lords of Exile - 14 minutes completed stage one. This one is a 2D action adventure platformer in the vein of Castlevania (the original). It had pretty good graphics, decent sounds and music, and slightly clunky but still very performable moves with the Series X controller. The slide and a few of the action moves felt like they had a bit of delay to starting/ending, but you would get used to it. The slide is essential for moving faster and dodging, similar to Mega Man’s slide. Overall I would get it on sale or bundled. Better than the usual retro throwback I play. 7.5/10

Lucky Island - 8 minutes. This one is a weird island simulator game where you get stuff by a big slot machine of resources. The resources just need to show up to get them, but getting them in certain places gives bonuses. You can then build and try to manage the needs of your island. This one is very OK, but is super clunky in the UI, the gameplay, and most things. It feels very light but alright. I kind of wish the slot thing was done better as well. This one needs some polishing for sure. 5.5/10

Magin: The Rat Project Stories - 10 minutes. This one is a deck building side scrolling adventure action card game thing. The graphics are similar to Darkest Dungeon, and the card gameplay is pretty clunky. It was alright, but not amazing. This is a bundle game for me, but has potential. 6/10

The Master's Pupil - 3 minutes. A pretty basic nice looking claymation 2D platformer with puzzle elements mainly as you play some little blob that can absorb colors of which monsters don’t eat colors of the same color they are. It has painting and weird brain things than can be pushed around as used on monsters and platforms. This was OK, but not super exciting. The physics were a bit wonky, but it’s so simple, you have to just try a few times. 6/10

Mega City Police - 12 minutes. This is yet another arena kind of Enter the Gungeon game. This one controls kind of wonky with the Series X controller, and a bit better with mouse and keyboard. This one takes place in a futuristic city and your character looks like Robocop. Overall nothing terrible or amazing. This feels a little better than the usual one of these games, mainly due to the solid graphics and okay music. 6/10

Moonlight Pulse - 10 minutes beat first boss. This one is a pretty decent looking pixel art Metroidvania about a mole I think trying to defeat parasites. You eventually find others on your journey that also have abilities. It controlled well with the Series X controller and had decent enough music. I enjoyed it and would get it on a slight sale or bundled. 7.5/10

One Lonely Outpost - 10 minutes. Another on a new planet simulation harvesting life game where you explore and build up stuff. I don’t play these often, but this one looks really nice, although the UI is a bit janky. It controlled much better with keyboard and mouse vs the Series X controller which felt horrible. I would only get it bundled, but it seemed high quality. 6.5/10

Pocket Bravery - 30 minutes. This one is a 2D arcade fighter with training and versus at least. It controls well enough with a Series X controller (I don’t own an arcade stick) and was pretty easy to pick up. This wasn’t amazing or anything, but would be worth it cheaper. It didn’t feel cheap or anything at least. 6.5/10

Princess Survivors - An adult themed (not sure if 18+ though) Vampire Survivors like with pretty basic graphics using a common icon pack for skills with some interesting 3D renders of the characters and their basic anime tropes. This is just doujin Vampire Survivors and tries to spice it up with a Slay the Spire like selection of levels. This is very similar to another Vampire Survivors like I played, which I forget the name now. Overall nothing amazing, but it played just OK. 5.5/10

Pull Stay - 6 minutes. WTF beat em up jank to the extreme game about a robot fighting off people from invading his house. This is super jank, but has some style. Overall would only get very cheap or bundled. 5/10

Quilts and Cats of Calico - 12 minutes completed tutorial and one game. This one is a digital adaptation of the same named game. I hadn’t played the game before, but it’s a pretty fun one. It’s cozy and easy enough to learn, but has some strategy. I generally don’t play too many board game applications except on the phone, but this one could serve that purpose. 7/10

Raging Bytes - 8 minutes. A Kemco RPG that isn’t fantasy! This is still really standard fare where you wake up in a hospital bed after a zombie apocalypse occurs. It has OK graphics and sound. You move around way too slowly. It’s honestly pretty standard RPG fare other than the battles which has a system where some moves/weapons/skills only work from certain distances. Other than that I would only get it heavily discounted. Seems more interesting than the usual Kemco fare at least. 6/10

Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery - 15 minutes completed first mission. This one is a turn based Fire Emblem type game with guns similar to an Advance Wars, but this one has more going on. I liked the graphics, it was easy to play with a mouse, the story could be good, and it was very polished. I’m usually not crazy about these type of games, but this was a good one I’d get on an OK discount or bundled. 8/10

Rhya's Crusade: The Aradia's Reavers - 5 minutes. 18+ 2D run n gun kind of like Metal Slug game where you play someone who shoots at aliens and loses clothes as they lose health. Very, very basic, decent enough graphics and the aliens killed me and ravaged me. Nothing special at all. 6/10

Rightfully, Beary Arms - 15 minutes. This is another jank feeling Enter the Gungeon type game. This one the camera moves weirdly when you move around the gun and the shooting doesn’t feel very good. The graphics are okay (somewhat 2.5D), but I really don’t like it much. I could bearly (haha) stand it. 5/10

Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition - 4 minutes. This is a remastered RotT with restored content. I never really cared for this one much with the silly jump pads and kind of floaty gun shooting. It looks pretty decent, is unforgiving as ever, and I would only get it bundled. It plays clean at least. 6/10

RUNGORE - 6 minutes complete one playthrough. This one is an auto attacking RPG deck building thing. Pretty much every battle you choose 3 cards and use them to help your hero. It looks decent, plays OK enough, and is shallow but alright. This is a prototypical bundle game, and I’d likely only get it on heavy discount or bundled, but it was alright. I’m just not as much for these auto attacking games. 6.5/10

Skator Gator 3D - 3 minutes beat first level. This one is a mix between endless running skateboarding and 3D platforming. You collect stuff and it controls okay with a Series X controller, but it’s just kind of alright. The graphics are really decent. Nothing exciting, but worth it bundled. 6/10

Studio System : Guardian Angel - 8 minutes. Extreme jank horror adventure kind of Resident Evil like game. This game was hard to control and just weird. Not a fan at all. 5/10

Survivor Mercs - 12 minutes. Yet another Vampire Survivors game, but in this one you play a commander fighting aliens I guess. You don’t attack yourself unless you have a skill, but find others that do auto attack. This one is OK overall, but not amazing. Would only get bundled. 6/10

Synth Beasts - 9 minutes. This one is an okay one where you play some creature who after a while can transform into other creatures. It’s an action game where you explore and beat up other monsters. It was just OK although it looked decent. It’s control was a bit sloppy and made it harder to not get hit or aim for certain things using the Series X controller. 6/10

Tales & Tactics - 37 minutes completed one run and demo. This one is an auto battler where you buy and place units to get synergies and hopefully beat the opponent. It can be hard and there is a lot of gacha mechanics in game with getting random units and all. I liked it enough although the graphics weren’t amazing. The gameplay seemed solid for a roguelite and it seems to have some meat on it. Autobattlers can be fun if it’s not just idle gameplay IMHO. I’ll likely get this on release. 8/10

Tamarak Trail - 8 minutes. This one had possibly the worst tutorial of all the games I’ve played so far. This is a dice building turn based Slay the Spire kind of game. It has decent graphics and also very confusing gameplay. The dice rolling itself isn’t confusing, but I couldn’t get the resolve system or the energy system. I didn’t really understand how to play dice properly or anything and the tutorial was less than a minute long. It seemed high quality enough, but wasn’t a clean anything. Tales & Tactics had more complexity in it and I somehow understood it way easier. Probably would only get bundled. 6/10

Tenebris: Terra Incognita - 10 minutes lost run. This kind of reminds me of Darkest Dungeon where you go around a space unit and defeat aliens. You get people and they have different skills. The difficulty ramped up a lot in a short time. This just feels OK and looks OK as well. I liked the music. This is a bundle game for sure. 6/10

Much less to recommend here. There are a lot of just OK games, but the real standouts are Lords of Exile, Moonlight Pulse, Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, and Tales & Tactics. I really enjoyed Tales & Tactics and Bakery was really good as well.

 
I didn't even realize there was a Rise of the Triad remaster. I didn't even like it that much as a kid (always went back to Doom / Hexen), but I'm probably going to play it for nostalgic reasons.

 
If you like city builders with a survival bent, try the New Cycle demo. I tried that Mythforce game, its okay. A spoof on 80's He-man type cartoons, rogue like combat. It was an epic exclusive but is coming to Steam.

 
bill123 said:
Can you still download these demos after this next fest ends? Wouldn't mind downloading some in the future.
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Some are only there for the Steam Fest + a few days or less. Some are just a long term download. Generally the closer they are to release, the higher chance they revoke their demos. Many demos are removed as they're very early and more of a glimpse of a game. I'm about 30-40 minutes out of my last impressions of the Fest so look forward to them!

 
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bill123 said:
Can you still download these demos after this next fest ends? Wouldn't mind downloading some in the future.
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Depends on the developers. Some leave them up, some take them down. You can sometimes get around this by downloading the demo, putting Steam into offline mode, and then launching the game .exe file from the file directory itself (not through Steam).

That said, let me offer you some recommendations with yet another Demo Dump™.

This is gonna be a big one, so I made a few categories at the end for cream of the crop.

The whole list follow... Green is Keen, Yellow is Mellow, Red is Dead. Buckle up.
Vampire Hunters: More thumbs up than arms!
Luna Abyss: Has heart and a great aesthetic, come for the vibes
Slavic Punk: Best left squatting
Testament: Old, not New...
Laika: Metroidvania on a motorcyle; stunts reloads your guns... say more?
Gord: Dark, eurojank Against the Storm
Cyber Knights: XCOM at home™
These Doomed Isles: Not a bad city builder, god/card game, but a little slow
chillquarium: a true idle game, no conflict, just fish
Round Hero: Could be interesting, but its another inscrutible Chinese dungeon crawler
Into the Necrovale: Roguelite action dungeon crawler; has potential
Raging Bytes: A KEMCO banger -- I actually had fun playing this, if a tad easy
Judero: What the actual fuck did I just play? Stopmotion fever dream.
Hero of Fate: VS clone with mini-quests, it's okay
Goobies: VS clone that I had high hopes for, but it's just okay
Soul Stalker: VS clone that I enjoyed a lot
Captains of the Wack Waters: Weird pirate roguelike with iffy boat controls
Dream Knight: Bad game
Abathor: A retro action game, it's okay
Synth Beasts: Bad game
Digs: Low tier tower defense that could have been better
Surivors of the Dawn: Just an okay VS clone; nice character animation
Genopanic: Interesting pixel metroidvania, I like the motion
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew: Amazing stealth action game, I really enjoyed this one; great art!
Lords of the Exile: A retro action title that just feels too dated for me
In Stars and Time: A bit too Undertale style humor that really doesn't hit for me
HammerWatch II: It's dope, more Hammerwatch; I really enjoyed this demo
Dicefolk: 3v3 PokeMon like battles using dice and a roguelike? I recommend trying it.
No Creeps Were Harmed TD: Defense Grid with some absurdist humor; very good TD title
Odinfall: Apoc-punk rogulike thats very Nuclear Throne vibes, it's fun
Remore: Infested: The Last Spell meets an actual story RPG; this is hard as balls, but I love it!
Land Above Sea Below: I cannot get into these hex puzzle games and I wish I could; it's very pretty
Toziuha Night: Order of the Alchemists: GBA Castlevania; you'll know if you want it or not now
Bad Boro: Bad controls for an okay looking beat 'em up
Doomsday Fodder: Could be interest VS clone, but no progression and its very hard
The Black Pepper Crew: Roguelike heists, closer to something like Into the Breach but with furries
Us United: It's party-based, low budget StS; quit early
Final Knight: Too much going on in a GBA-like action game
Let's! Revolution!: Minesweeper roguelike with a cool art style, it's pretty fun
Nour: Play with your Food: Great looking toy game, but not enough substance
Born of Bread: Very wholesome paper RPG style game
Towers of Thana: No idea what to do, gave up
Go Fight Fantastic: Likely better in coop, not fun single player
The Matchless KungFu: Kenshi-esque, but everything is thru machine translated Chinese
Conquer Humanity: Coulda been an interest VS clone, but controls are very bad
Delares: I saw a hunger meter and noped out
Tamark Trail: Dice-based roguelike, it has some growing pains and its unfair hard, IMO
Mind over Magic: Autobattler school (city) builder, not my thing
Reverse Collapse: VN meets SRPG, I want to get it
Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master: Up there for one of the worst demo; hand hold unfun tutorial, then ends
Compass of the Destiny: Instanbul: Lost
Urbano - Legends' Debut: Dislike the writing, disliked the rhtyhm game parts
En Garde!: Fantastic fun with witty banter, I thought it was a good time
Station to Station: Trains are cool and this is a chill train puzzler that looks great
Cuisineer: Very fun light ARPG mixed with restaraunt managerment sim; very breezy IMO
The Bookwalker: More of a point and click adventure, I like the aesthetic and lore of this one
Three Kingdom Zhau Yun: Attempts isometric Dynasty Warriors and kinda fails
Pin Them: Really bad game...
The Devil Within: Satgat: Almost great 2D action title, but it just didn't clikc with me
The Legend of Capa Negra: Kappa
Eternights: ARPG Persona at Home™, but the voice acting and banter is fun; I think its worth a shot
Battle Shapers: Crashed when first downloaded; redownloaded and its fun, but visually very busy
Quasimorph: Weird doom meets rogue dungeon crawler, I enjoyed my time with it
Cataclismo: The first level is bad; power thru to the second and its an amazing city builder/tower defense title with real heart
CrossOver: Too much going on at once; real time battle with match three
Ambition of the Slimes 2: I loved the first, the second will great; SRPG playing as slimes!
Hazuki Dies: She Has No Name: low budget RPG with an absurdist anime humor; I liked it
Revival: Recolonization: Feels like Horizon the 4X game kinda; not bad, but I have too many 4X...
Death Must Die: WOW, a VS clone with great animation, good hooks, and great item upgrades
Robobeat: Metal: Hellslinger at home™; solid gameplay and music
Another Space Opera: Unstable demo, but really good 2D third person shooter; great voice work!
Knights of the Cross: Kryzacy: Chinese anime meets eastern european waifu party based card RPG
Dragonspire: Waifu Hades, but is really not well done
Spells & Secrets: Interesting Hades meets Harry Potter; it would be more fun if wasn't so slow
Islands of Winds: Fascinating third person game in 17th century Icelandic lore; bad tech, good vibes
SOULVARs: Awesome solo dev JRPG; Riviera meets Jujutsu Kaisen
Arc Seed: Into the Breach with totally not Evas... not fully baked
Sword Hero: Rogue Genesia style title with weird setting and interesting mechanics
Stray Gods: Absolutely astounding; Telltale meets the best Buffy epsisode ever, "Once More with Feeling"
Mythforce: Love the aesthetic a ton, but the gameplay is slow
Bellwright: Eurojank style third person immersive sim RPG; could be good but it's a longshot
Age of Reforging: Age of Reforgettable

Instead of my normal Top 5, I'll have three this time, all with links.

Top 5 6 Longest Played aka This Demo could be the Game Itself Awards:
Cataclismo (3 hours)
Vampire Hunters (107 Minutes)
Remore: Infested Kingdom (95 Minutes)

Laiki: Aged Through Blood (94 Minutes)

Gord (80 Minutes)
Reverse Collapse (72 Minutes)

Top 5 6 that I Would Buy Today aka It's My Kinda Thing:
Vampire Hunters
No Creeps Were Harmed TD
Remore: Infested
Knights of the Cross: Krzyzacy
Stray Gods
Death Must Die

Top 5 "Yo, you gotta see this" aka the Most Memorable/Unique
Stray Gods

Judero
Island of Winds
The Bookwalker
En Garde!

Demos Yet to be Played, but are Prob Good:
Sea of Stars: I'm probably buying this at release
Might & Magic Clash of Heroes HD: OG game was great
Defenders Quest 2: I own the first on three different systems
Cross Tails: I have a Switch copy pre-ordered

Stats:

87 Demos
2,782 Minutes (46.4 Hours)
Mean Playtime: 32 Minutes
Median Playtime: 25 Minutes
Mode Playtime: 1 Minute (aka the Nopers)

K. Now I'm gonna sleep. A lot. Enjoy, y'all!

 
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My last impressions from the Steam Fest. There are excellent games here at least. Inescapable, Sea of Stars, Take Me to the Dungeon and Yomi 2 are the highlights here. I'll also put some Steam Fest Awards for different categories.

Alterium Shift - 9 minutes. A really nice looking 2.5D HD popularized recently RPG. The main problem is everything else about the game. The game is a little too open ended at first just saying go find these people, and I couldn’t find them. I then got in a few fights and did an OK fishing mini game. This doesn’t feel like an amazing one, but would be passable. Think this got more attention from some sites just cause it has decent graphics. 6/10

Greedland - 13 minutes completed a level. Yet another Vampire Survivors clone, but this one had the controls butter smooth on the Series X controller, looked OK, and shooting and moving wasn’t bad. Just an overcrowded game type. Still very solid and would get bundled. 6.5/10

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue - 31 minutes completed demo. This one is kind of Danganronpa like except it has people who get abducted in a bus and are transported to an island. The cast must live there for six months, but just like the name of the game it’s all caught on camera for a show and there are no rules and no escaping the island. I’m sure it will get strange later, but this early demo doesn’t show as much. The art is pretty good, the English voices are good enough, the translation seems fine, and the UI looks like a PC game. This is also coming to consoles, and I’d probably recommend it on PC if your PC can handle it. There is a lot of clicking on specific things, which is not as nice on console. Not amazing overall, but this looks like a game worth playing. I always support visual novels, so this is a buy on release. 8/10

Isekai Janken Hero - 15 minutes completed demo. This demo is likely to be a short 18+ visual novel and rock/paper/scissor type game. This is the type of game to be bundled, and I don’t see it being a buy, as it seems way too simple and short. Art and voices are pretty good though. 5.5/10

My Lovey-Dovey Demon - 8 minutes completed demo. This one is an ebi-hime visual novel and they usually are yuri/otome and have very nice art. This is no exception, but this one is about a guy and his sister and they end up summoning a demon. I think this is highly moege looking and very cute. I think this is high quality, other than no voices, but these usually get bundled. I would still probably get it on a high discount anyway. 7/10

Red Line - 8 minutes. This one is a horror adventure game about a weird apartment building or something. It’s more weird than scary, but it has a cool atmosphere. 6/10

Sea of Stars - 56 minutes completed demo. This one is going to be an excellent JRPG with gorgeous graphics, great sounds, an okay story (worst part, but it’s not terrible) so far and decent dungeon puzzles and challenging fights. It’s really good and is extremely high quality. One of the highest just going to purchase on release. 9.5/10

Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog - 4 minutes. I didn’t play this much, but it’s a very old school feeling monochrome adventure game/visual novel similar to like playing a Shadowgate. I didn’t really need to see much more, but there was a lot of jargon and military stuff that is seemed interesting enough. Would get on a higher sale or bundled. 6.5/10

Take Me To The Dungeon!! - 26 minutes lost first run. This is an 18+ Slay the Spire kind of dungeon crawling game. The graphics were nice, the gameplay was alright although a little weird for getting back cards, and overall it was clean and polished. A fine adult game if I ever saw one. 7.5/10

Totally Accurate Dating Simulator - 1 minute. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. This is a super meme choose your own adventure visual novel thing. In that 1 minute I got about 7 different bad endings. The art is a mish mash of decent looking anime art, but it’s not consistent and there are meme type visuals as well. This is an only bundle game and a pretty shoddy looking one at that. 4.5/10

Toziuha Night: Order of the Alchemists - 5 minutes. This one is a Metroidvania playing similar to Castlevania 4 (the SNES one). It was alright although some of the hit boxes were bad. The dodging also seems a bit wonky. Overall it’s alright and looks the part at least. 6/10

Ugly - 4 minutes. Pretty decent looking and feeling 2D puzzle platformer with an ugly character. The gimmick in this one is a shard that has another you on the other side. You push a button to change positions with the other to solve puzzles. This seems like a prime bundle game. 6.5/10

Vampire Hunters - 3 minutes. Extremely basic go down a corridor (in this case a bridge) shooting enemies and gathering orbs to level up FPS. It’s very basic feeling, looking and playing. It’s not horrible at all, but I would only get it bundle. 5.5/10

WISH A WISH - 4 minutes completed demo. WTF again another weirdo visual novel. This one has 3D rendering and weird animation for everything. It also wins the bounciest game award for having camera views bouncing all over the place. I doubt anyone tries this so I’ll summarize the somewhat broken English. Pretty much the main character is bummed no one remembers his birthday so buys a dakimakura as a present to himself and the next morning it turns a real girl. I almost want to play it to see where this silly game goes and see more of the graphics (which I kind of like) and the bounciness (this sucks). It’s a barely good game to me, but this is really unpolished. 6/10

Xenotheria - 5 minutes. Another game with generally bad tutorials. I wasn’t 100% sure how to move characters and tutorials wouldn’t replay. This one has a party of 3 using their own cards. It’s OK and looks OK, but still doesn’t feel very polished. Wasn’t a big fan. 5.5/10

Yomi 2 - 24 minutes got through all tutorial battles. This is an excellent implementation of the card game. It’s a very strategic card game, and the graphics and everything are top notch here. The online play will be great when it’s there as well. If I’m in the mood for this type of game I’ll buy it on release. 9/10

Game of the Show - Sea of Stars - This was gorgeous, very Chrono Trigger like in battle, and also very puzzle like in dungeons like Alundra and the Golden Sun duology. The music was great too and it was very challenging without being unfair. The story was a slight bit iffy for the moment, but the characters seemed fun. Overall it's a must buy and will likely be many peoples RPG of the year I'm guessing for a black horse entry there.

Best 18+ - Take Me To The Dungeon!! - Very little choices for this category, but this one was a competent deck builder with great art, good voice acting and decent enough gameplay. I don't think the game is too deep, but I'm sure it will be fun.

Best Action Game - El Paso, Elsewhere. This was a really fun Max Payne feeling shooter game with excellent voice acting, an OK enough graphics style, and fun arcade action. 

Best Card Game - Yomi 2. There was a lot of games that implemented card mechanics, but this one is a card game and is just really fun and strategic to play. The graphics were great too.

Best Roguelite - Cross Blitz - A pretty neat Hearthstone stone kind of deck builder. I enjoyed this one although the difficulty could be a bit high. 

Best RPG - Eternights - A really nice looking, decent playing, Tokyo Xanadu like game with relationships,  a weird story and just seemed extremely polished. I had a lot of fun with this and will likely pick it up on PS5 on release.

Best Strategy - Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery - Great combination of nice visuals, an interesting story, turn based decent gameplay and visual novel gameplay. This one was high quality and quite awesome.

Best Visual Novel - Goodbye Volcano High - Just a beautiful, decently written and animated visual novel choose your adventure game about dinosaurs who see an asteroid on the news and it just may be their last days.

I Hope It Doesn't Suck - Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue - This has a very high chance to disappoint seeming like a Danganronpa rip off. It has very quirky characters and people stuck on an island, and I hope it is interesting and not just a bunch of random stuff and cliches. I will play it on release, but I fear this one can go south very quickly.

Just Fun - Tales & Tactics - Couldn't give this one best strategy, but it was fun and addictive auto battler, gacha collecting type game. This has a lot of potential, and I really wanted to play more.

 
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nitrosmob said:
Best RPG - Eternights - A really nice looking, decent playing, Tokyo Xanadu like game with relationships, a weird story and just seemed extremely polished. I had a lot of fun with this and will likely pick it up on PS5 on release.
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I've had this on my Steam Wishlist, but quick question. Is the combat turn-based old-school JRPG or newer style real-time combat like a DMC/Scarlet Nexus/FF15?

 
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MysterD said:
I've had this on my Steam Wishlist, but quick question. Is the combat turn-based old-school JRPG or newer style real-time combat like a DMC/Scarlet Nexus/FF15?
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It's real time, but I would not call it up to the level of character action. It's more one button with timing stuff, at least so far in the early demo.

The voice acting is actually very good; it's punching above the rest and what really pulled me through. It's not in my top lists, but it is on my wishlist.

 
It's still very indie combat, but it's real time and has dodge mechanics that when you do it perfectly slow down time. It's not amazing I don't think either, but was very playable and looked and sounded good. There is indie jank for sure. I give a lot of leeway to games in the Fest though and mainly play indies and visual novels now if I'm honest with myself. If I say something is pure jank, it likely very is.

 
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nitrosmob said:
It's still very indie combat, but it's real time and has dodge mechanics that when you do it perfectly slow down time. It's not amazing I don't think either, but was very playable and looked and sounded good. There is indie jank for sure. I give a lot of leeway to games in the Fest though and mainly play indies and visual novels now if I'm honest with myself. If I say something is pure jank, it likely very is.
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When you play dozens of demos, you're here for the jank, don't lie. :D

 
Did a second wind Next Fest yesterday, and continued today with the ones I downloaded that weren't disabled (all but 3). Some of them I got yesterday after Nitro and Kabob recommended them, so I checked those out too just to see.

Impressions:

Eternights - 40 min - A weeb (ok, technically Korean and not Japanese) B-grade Bayonetta. I both thought it was cheesy, and played 40 minutes of it. So I guess I liked it. The action is well done, albeit maybe a little easy to dodge for "witch time."

Paleo Pines - 11 min - Harvest Moon with Dinosaurs? I guess it's not bad if it's your cup of tea, but I probably won't play it.

Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master - 11 minutes - Mediocre and obnoxious, but not horrible. Just... there's better choices.

Stellaris Nexus - 32 minutes - It's supposed to be a bite-sized Stellaris, but it's still really complicated. At that point, might as well just play Stellaris.

Return from the Core - 13 minutes - Obviously a Core Keeper copy, with better graphics, but weird design choices. I mean, you scroll up to go down? WTF?

New Cycle - 19 minutes - I had a hard time remembering what it was. It's Pharaoh/Cleopatra-ish. It felt polished. Guess the A-Team worked on this, and the B-Team got Gollum.

Rise of the Triad - 11 minutes - It's as janky as the original, and the 11 minutes scratched my itch for it.

Cuisineer - 3 minutes - The game itself is updated Recettear. The story is kinda stupid. I didn't spend time on it because the wife wants it so I'm going to get it at some point anyway.

Cross Tails - 12 minutes - TRPG. I thought it was a sure hit for me, but it just feels off in many ways.

Defender's Quest II - 16 minutes - Honestly not a fan of the game design in general. But that's pretty subjective.

Lords of Exile - 4 minutes - Old Castlevania feel, but with janky key bindings, janky NES feel, and I couldn't get my controller to work, so I gave up quick.

Moonlight Pulse - 8 minutes - Metroidvania with smooth movements. I'm not even a fan of Metroidvanias and I enjoyed what I played.

Vampire Hunters - 7 minutes - It's basically FPS vampire survivor. Ridiculous in a good way.

Remore: Infested Kingdom - 9 minutes - Feels like a dungeon crawler / tactical game hybrid. Feels like it drags a bit. I'm unsure about this one still.

Laika: Aged Through Blood - 4 minutes - Felt like Excitebike. But it's supposed to be Metroidvania, I guess? The controls are responsive, but not my kind of game.

No Creeps were Harmed - 8 minutes - Tower defense, only thing that stands out is the aesthetics. It's not bad, but I probably won't play it.

Krzyzacy Nights of the Cross - 25 minutes - Card battler with surprisingly good portrait graphics (gacha-quality). Fun, but I am extremely skeptical they'll have the polish ready when it's supposed to be released in July. It feels like an alpha still.

Death Must Die - 7 minutes - Another Vampire Survivor clone with better graphics.

Island of Winds - 5 minutes - Feels like Myst / Journey / with some folksy creepiness. Not my cup of tea. Also, really badly optimized still, and the only one to freeze on me.

So I guess the standouts for me were Wizard with a Gun, Eternights, and Vampire Hunters, Cautiously optimistic for New Cycle, and Krzyzacy (and Moonlight Pulse for you Metroidvania fans).

Edit: Went back and re-read Nitro/Kabob's reviews. Lords of Exile didn't work with a Dualsense. But I don't think I would have liked it even if it worked.

And the only game all three of us liked was Eternights. That's actually a neat and insignificant accolade.

Disclaimer: Reverse Collapse demo was disabled, so I didn't get to try it. And I didn't try Sea of Stars even though I downloaded it and it was still playable. I just figured it'd take up all my time if I did try it.

 
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Yeah the Steam Next Fest and all demos take time, but it's kind of fun to try out a lot of different things. It also makes it much easier when I see the games bundled or on sale later. Some games like Sea of Stars obviously don't need demos and many people will buy it anyway, but it's cool to see smaller games that are fun and weren't on your radar. I left Sea of Stars till the end because I was pretty sure it was going to be polished and good, so I put my time more on other games. Also some games just take a long time to play so you get dopamine from playing a bunch. Also I always say when you play really jank/bad/corny/cliche/whatever games you really do appreciate the really good games and the games trying to do something different and hopefully be fun or interesting.

Currently working through the visual novel Nukitashi right now and it's quite long. It reminds me of a way more perverted Majikoki, with similar over the top characters, but characters you still want to know. It's a lot better than I thought it would be. Just super long!

 
Kyle1022 said:
The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 got a Steam page

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2131630/METAL_GEAR_SOLID__Master_Collection_Version/

Apparently a controller is required, and no kb&m controls? Kinda strange considering the first two games had native PC ports

Also, the Steam summer sale is gonna begin this Thursday at 1pm EST. Prepare for disappointment
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I'll wait for this one to go half off. Asking $60 for just the first 3 games is greedy when the Legacy Collection on PS3 was $50 and also included 4 and PW.

 
About MGS Master Collection V1 here - as long as JoyToKey works w/ this all, KB/mouse users should be fine, right?

 
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I feel like I missed out on the golden age of PC game sales. I used to hear the tales about the amazing Steam flash sales and the Humble bundles. Since I got into PC gaming about 3 years ago the prices seem about the same as console.

 
JohnnyCage said:
I feel like I missed out on the golden age of PC game sales. I used to hear the tales about the amazing Steam flash sales and the Humble bundles. Since I got into PC gaming about 3 years ago the prices seem about the same as console.
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On the bright side, you also missed the golden age of bundle sites. Think of all the stressing over a backlog that you don't have to do!

 
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JohnnyCage said:
I feel like I missed out on the golden age of PC game sales. I used to hear the tales about the amazing Steam flash sales and the Humble bundles. Since I got into PC gaming about 3 years ago the prices seem about the same as console.
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Yeah, it's really too bad. You used to be able to get pretty much any game at a max of $5 on Steam within a year of release, and the indie bundles were incredible. It was common to get a bunch of awesome games in a $4-6 BTA (even the $1 tier was great). Now with high GPU costs, higher base prices, expensive season passes, and smaller discounts, PC gaming is getting harder to justify for people starting to build a library.
 
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JohnnyCage said:
I feel like I missed out on the golden age of PC game sales. I used to hear the tales about the amazing Steam flash sales and the Humble bundles. Since I got into PC gaming about 3 years ago the prices seem about the same as console.
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Oh it's not just sale prices, but some of the events Steam used to do.

One year during a Winter Sale they did a promotion where every day there was a set of objectives you had to complete. And when you did you either got a gift or a piece of coal. You could craft multiple coal pieces into a gift, or hold onto them as entries for a giveaway. When you opened the gifts they sometimes contained free games that would get added to your inventory.

And there's also certain features we used to have on Steam, such as being able to buy gift copies of games you could store in your inventory for gifting or trading later on. I get why they got rid of it, but it's a shame we can't do it anymore.

 
JSweeney said:
On the bright side, you also missed the golden age of bundle sites. Think of all the stressing over a backlog that you don't have to do!
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Being entirely serious, I actually really appreciate all the cheap bundles from the time teaching me about backlog management. Not that my backlog has stopped increasing faster than I can deal with it, but it taught me not to just buy stuff because it was cheap and looked halfway decent, and it cost a lot less than learning the same lesson in the same way now would, I think.
 
I legitimately forgot the Steam Summer Sale started today and judging by the lack of activity in this thread, I'm not missing much.

 
Steam Summer Sale for 2023 is in effect.

- All kinds if games and stuff on sale.

- And Steam Decks are 10/15/20% off depending on lower to higher tier models.

 
Steam Deck has been my best gaming purchase since the Switch, definitely recommend it on sale

Any noteworthy discounts or price glitches? My wishlist is full of 10-25% off 😔

I see High on Life is half off, pretty sure it only ever hit 30% off before this. But it's on game pass so kinda hard to justify $30
 
Nothing for me this time. Everything looks to be the same sale prices as usual.

I did notice Nier is on sale again and has been the last few times now so maybe it was a weird oversight from Square when it went a whole year without a discount before.

 
I realized today that flash sales have been gone for longer than they existed and the golden bundle age was nearly a decade ago. It does make me sad to see a summer sale that doesn't even try to have an event at all though. Any new PC gamer can at least have a decent selection to play via game pass if they want and the last few years of Epic throwing away money means everyone should have a large library, but it's hard to recommend anyone become a new PC gamer right now for all the reasons mentioned, which is a bit disheartening.

 
Pretty disappointing that Fire Pro Wrestling World has gone from a $5.99 regular sale price to $11.99. I was hoping the Summer Sale would see a return of the lower price, but apparently not.
 
I am 1000% pro Steamdeck.  It's made my playing of Cyberpunk so much better.  I would recommend.  They're likely going to upgrade/update it soon but it is fantastic.  

Gamewise.. I'm genuinely surprised only 1 game on my Wishlist is on sale.  I need to skim and ITAD check them first.  These prices look samesy's as previous sales.

 
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