I’m trying something new today.
Last week saw over 375 new games listed on Steam, and get this: Roughly half of them didn’t even release. Steam has become such a dumping ground for trash that out of nearly 400 titles slated for release between July 28 and August 3, half of the developers never bothered actually putting them out. And the other half? Don’t get me started. Hentai slider puzzles, trashy RPG maker games, a Brian Boitano simulator, and more! It’s enough to make you not want to bother even looking at the release list.
And that’s where I come in. I took a gander through the release list so you don’t have to, and pulled out more than a dozen games that look like they may actually be worth playing. Please note that this is solely based off of first impressions of the gameplay videos, reviews, and description of the title itself. I haven’t played the games and thus make no statement on their quality or whether you the reader will enjoy them.
Luckily they are for the most part rather cheap and on some sort of launch sale.
Lost Flame is an old school roguelike title that looks ripped right out of the DOS era. Created by Bartosz Bojarowski, developer of the well received title The Madness of Little Emma and the not as well received game Don’t Chat With Strangers, it appears that Bojarowski’s skills lie with roguelikes and less in the realm of puzzle games. Screenshot for the game is above, Lost Flame is currently in Early Access at the cost of $12.59 USD.
The Church in the Darkness is a top-down game where you play as Vic, ex-law enforcement officer who heads down to South America to rescue his nephew from a cult. How dangerous is the cult? Will you stop them or join them? Can you rescue your nephew? Church in the Darkness boasts multiple endings as well as voice acting from popular VA’s such as Ellen McLain (GLaDOS) and John Patrick Lowrie (Sniper – Team Fortress 2). The Church in the Darkness is available for $15.99.
Dry Drowning is a visual novel with gorgeous art design that creates a world where Max Payne meets Deus Ex. A dystopian city, you play as private detective Mordred Foley, a man on the run from his past and presumably toward a bottle of something alcoholic. Dry Drowning promises more than 150 story branches, 3 endings, as well as time travel mechanics and psychological interrogations.
There’s even a demo if you don’t want to throw down the $16 bones for it.
Half Dead 2 looks like a strange player, but unlike most of the other games on this list it has established a community and overwhelmingly positive reception. Half Dead 2 sets you up as a ruthless, bloody criminal who happens to get caught by the intergalactic police. Thankfully you have a chance at not being put to death now that the Emperor has set up a game of survival with the most ruthless killers in the galaxy. Emperors are funny like that.
Survive through rooms with deadly traps in cooperative or competitive play, and on the cheap: Just $4.49.
Glo Phlox is adorable, and not just because I misspelled it roughly a dozen times while writing this paragraph. Here we have a twin stick shooter in a metroidvania world promising combat that is easy to learn and difficult to master. It comes to us from Justin Sennema and Eduardo Brasil and current reactions on Steam seem quite positive.
You can check it out at the low cost of $14.39. And speaking of twin stick shooters…
A classic top down shooter with cute anime girls, and only $10. WarForwards won’t be winning any Hotline Miami impersonation awards anytime soon, but developer Roman Pak has put together a shooter that aims to impress and so far has absolutely done so. Early impressions on Steam show an 81% approval rating among the eleven reviews, with users praising the controls, soundtrack, and overall polish.
A virtual reality game for those of you with the hardware and the software to get through it. If I know my VR like I think I do, the bar for scaring the pants off of people is pretty low, so a game that looks good and sets you with tracking down a deranged serial killer in a cabin in the woods? Might as well just play with no pants. The Poisoner is being developed by PlatformaVR and is currently in Early Access. If you don’t want to put forward the $9.99 for the game now, you can check out the Prelude for less than the cost of a dollar menu cheeseburger.
Hit right in the nostalgia gland. Legends of Amberland is a turn based game with grid movement set in the same vein as your favorite titles from the 90’s like Might & Magic and the Goldbox series. Brought to market by indie studio Silver Lemur Games, Legends of Amberland estimates around 20-50 hours to finish, depending on what kind of gamer you are, and sets you on the task of being the good guys and slaying the bad guys. It is also $17.99.
Jupiter Hell looks like Fallout, and the developer’s syke-out in the trailer of “exclusive to the Epic Game Store” had me for a second, despite obviously being available on Steam. A top down shooter, Jupiter Hell is a turn based strategy game that operates on the “time moves when you do” style similar to Super Hot and its ilk. It is a roguelike (of course) set on the moons of Jupiter (of course) with a 90’s aesthetic (of course of course) with procedurally generated levels (of course of course of course).
It looks to be a solid game and so far 85% of the 57 reviewers on Steam agree that it is worth buying. Jupiter Hell is currently in Early Access and runs around $22.49.
I’ll admit that Tailypo has me greatly confused. For a game that bills itself as set in the Appalachian wild, this game has a lot of scenes in the trailer set in just about everywhere but the Appalachia. Set in 1988, you are a hunter whose life is thrown through a loop following your marriage. Hands up, who wants to guess that this dude’s wife is dead and that’s why he’s retreated to the Appalachia? Bonus points if he killed her. At $24.99 you might want to sit this one out until a sale unless it really attracts your attention.
Imagine if Ouija boards were created by the same guys that built Skype and you have The Black Widow. Fully voice acted and creepy looking as all hell, The Black Widow will set you back six bucks and has you figuring out a murder mystery while literally talking to the woman who was convicted and sentenced to die for it. The Black Widow follows the story of Australia’s first female serial killer.
Their spelling, not mine. One thousand bucks looks like it might blind you, and it doesn’t cost a thousand dollars. For just 84 cents, you can find out what it’s like to have a rare eyesight condition that makes the world look like a slightly higher resolution Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall. Actually you play as a gamer who decides that he wants to upgrade his computer, and thus you need to steal a thousand bucks from your neighbor’s house. I’m not joking. The game is set in America, so your old lady neighbor obviously has a loaded gun.
I applaud developer Bisquit Games for not actually showing the gun toting granny in any of its promo material.
The Blackout Club tastes like an odd mixture of Stranger Things, IT, and Left 4 Dead. You play with up to four teenagers who discover some odd happenings in their small town. Every night the town gets up and sleep walks, and nobody remembers it in the morning. When your friend goes missing, you decide to investigate. 87% of the 708 reviewers on Steam had positive things to say about The Blackout Club, developed by Question and on sale for $29.99.
Presumably you need to have played Kindergarten 1 to understand the sequel, since the game bills itself as Groundhog Day with messed up children, and features kids getting murdered. Play through Tuesday over and over again until you get it right, and for $14.99 there is plenty of Tuesday to get through. You may recognize the Nugget character if you’ve watched Game Theory. You can pick up Kindergarten 1 for $4.99, if you haven’t played it yet.
MMO Fallout 