The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread

[rusty_shackleford]

TYRONE vs COPS sale ends in less than a day, buy it quick!

 

[Denim Destroyer]

The one DLC for that game is ten times more expensive than the base game. It is $10 dollars vs $1 but still.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The one DLC for that game is ten times more expensive than the base game. It is $10 dollars vs $1 but still.

Lolololol it's just a bling gun skin for the gun at that. What an absolute shitpost of a dlc.

 

[Theodora]

Free weekend on top of a sale:

 

[4249]

You can get Black Book + 7 other games for cheaper than that discount on Humble Choice this month. On that note, is it any good?

 

[Infinitron]

Oh right, it's time for another Steam Next Fest. Notable RPG demos:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/699330/The_Iron_Oath/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063540/Space_Wreck/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1623210/Soulash/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1827240/Plague_Lords/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1656780/Heros_Hour/

 

[Harthwain]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1827240/Plague_Lords/

For the moment I thought it was that "We Are the Plague" game, but this looks much more interesting (at least judging by the features). I need to check out the demo on the weekend. A big bonus for making it look like a tabletop game. For some reason I have a soft spot for them.

 

[Theodora]

Been hyped for Soulash for a long time now. Exciting to finally have it on the cusp of release.

Space Wreck looks like an oddity, but a fun one at that. Love it when games strike out and give themselves a unique aesthetic.

 

[Dexter]

"Unique aesthetic" is sure a nice euphemism for "shit graphics".

Looks like a game trying to copy ELEX:


lol:

 

[lightbane]

Hey, Small Saga was awesome! At least the demo I played years ago, I expected it to have been forgotten about.

 

[Abu Antar]

I tried the below game. The demo easy very easy. There's isn't that much customization. A core, a primary weapon, and a support item. You'll use up to three mechs. Travelling is done like in FTL. Travel from node to another node, be it a planet, an asteroid belt, or some space station. I didn't hate it, but I can't really recommend due to it feeling a bit shallow.


I tried another one. Mix of bullet hell/hack n' slash. Very cringe, serviceable gameplay, entierly forgettable and not worth your time.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1506440/Batora_Lost_Haven/

This is an action rpg, but I'd say this is a proof of concept more than anything else. There is nothing here that warrants a release that charges money.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1633140/Crystal_Plague/

Next game is this inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics. The heart is in the right place, but the execution needs more work.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1480810/Crimson_Tactics_The_Rise_of_The_White_Banner/

 

[Modron]

Let's see what came out today.

Monark from some SMT people got released


Indie slower pased Age of Empires vibes


This left early access


A point and click adventure game seems kind of girlish


Tiny Combat Arena enters early access

 

[Modron]

Pre elden ring onslaught of autism releases

Chinese hack and slasher from yesteryear




Adventure game with a novel gimmick


Last of the Final Fantasy pixel "remasters"

 

[karoliner]

This is basically The Terror: The Game

 

[Dexter]

Small Saga: It's cutesy with a sense of humor, there's some hidden Secrets, it can be played with a Controller (X Menu, B Run). Areas are "cut off" rectangular Screens you traverse between like in Little Big Adventure. Dialogue is in bubbles between protagonist and his companion and other creatures he meets. JRPG-inspired Menus and "Epic" combat with pseudo-3D Cutscenes. Enemies can "Goad" you in combat, and if you attack they retaliate. HP restores after each combat. You Save the game at different Statues littered across the game world. Nice music. Circular Skills Menu with branches to different sides, early ones seem mostly +Attack/HP/Action Points with a few Utility or special ones littered throughout. There's status effects like Bleeding or Stunned in combat. You seem to be able to Reskill at will. Interesting lore around humans, rodents and other fierce creatures. Gets very tense and "real" for a bit there, but I wouldn't want to spoil anything. After that you make your way to the city of the mole people, Cranbaile, where they have item vendors, a library and everything. There's a over-world map with an... interesting Quick travel system. This was the Highlight so far and it oozes that it was made with passion and care, people should definitely play the Demo as long as it's available and check it out for themselves.

Spoiler

Dragon's Wandering Tavern: Thought it might be interesting and comfy because of the art style, but it's an unfinished proof of concept with Engrish writing and unfunny ESL dialogue. Also seems clearly targeted at young children beyond that. UI is a mess. Gameplay is a mess. Art style is a mess with pixelated and hand-drawn figures mixed with MS Paint background. I rarely abort these things, but this was such a case. Not sure why this was in the "RPG" section to begin with.

Two games I've had Wishlisted before DemoFest, trying to help me purge or confirm my Wishlist were:

The Wandering Village: Seemed like an intriguing concept, but it looks a bit like a Mobile/Tablet game. Otherwise interesting enough Strategy/Building game. You build a city on the back of a giant beast. You have a local view of the city, a view of your behemoth and a global view showing where you're heading on the world map with limited sight range. You forage shit from the plot of land on its back, build homes for your villagers, farm for food and build things like storage buildings, doctors or research things like the Scavenger Hut to send expedition parties to interesting points of interest on the map and the likes. You can switch the production on some buildings for instance on the Farm between Beet and Wheat or in the Kitchen between Beet Soup or Berry Muesli to improve your food diversity and make villagers happier.
Your behemoth sleeps around and walks the world looking for food, getting you into trouble or into favorable situations depending on where it decides to go and you have to Research shit to help control it better. For instance there's a "Hornblower" to perhaps influence its decision which path to take at crossroads or tell it to walk or sleep. You have to manage his Sleep, Hunger and Poison levels effectively to stay alive and can build trust through various action, in which case it will listen and more often do what you ask it to instead of ignore your commands and do what it wants. If it walks through the desert for instance there's no water, plants grow slower and your people might starve to death. You need to prepare for eventualities by stockpiling things like food or water. I have to admit I fucked up bad the first time around. I got into a long ass desert and half of my villagers starved to death, the big lug ran into a big poisonous cloud storm that infected everything on his back, which spread unstoppably and then he too starved to death, but I managed to finish the Demo using what I learned on the second try. It ends when you walk towards two unavoidable Big Poisonous clouds. I'm undecided about it. It didn't blow me away with its amazing qualities, but what's there is solid enough. It needs some more work and I need to see more, but definitely worth trying if you're looking into these kinds of "base building" games. Btw. if you want to be able to build some of the "Endgame" buildings, gather some Iron Ore and Sand via your Scavenger Hut before you get too far in.

Spoiler

IXION: Hoped it would be the solution for Startopia itch, it wasn't. Impressive Intro Cinematic. Mission Briefings happen in a window at the bottom right with voice-over. Your mission is to take a round space station called the Tiqqun to Proxima Centauri and begin colonization. You can build science, cargo and mining vessels to explore the immediate Solar system you are in before jumping to a next system. There are multiple choice Events for Science ships. The story is a bit pretentious and the UI needs some work and is a bit overcomplicated. Demo is basically the Tutorial and not much happens, it didn't leave me with a very good impression and they seem to have put their production budget into making Cutscenes rather than interesting Gameplay. If not a bad game, this at the very least is a bad Demo that doesn't tell you all that much about how the final game will play. Also heavy environmentalist Subtext.

Spoiler

 

[Aemar]

Indie slower pased Age of Empires vibes

More like Knights and Merchants vibe.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Theodora]

Big bundle of Steam keys for Sid Meier's games, inc. Civ VI + all DLC on Humble: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/sid-meiers-ultimate-collection

As far as I know, that's <12 euros for every 'Sid Meier's' title on Steam. Not sure if there's a more appropriate place to post this.

 

[Abu Antar]

I tried Ghostlore Demo. It's a Hack n' Slash with Southeast Asian lore. It was decent. Might play at some point. Isometric, random loot and maps, pixel graphics, multiclassing, decent combat.


Tried Vanaris Tactics Demo. Final Fantasy Light. Very light. Not bad per se, but also not very deep. On the other hand, it has been the most challenging demo of the Steam Fest, that I have tried. I only had three controllable characters. No idea if you gain a bigger party. Dialog needs to be edited. It's not too long, but contains many errors.


Grim Ember Demo. This one needs some work.


Twilight Wars: Declassified Demo is a Darkest Dungeon Clone in a Sci-Fi setting. Base Management reminds me a bit of nu-XCOM, but you don't dabble with it in the demo, but you have briefing room, infirmary, and you can build more rooms. This is something I could play if I didn't have anything else on my plate.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[Angelo85]

The Steam Next Fest just ended and already it's time for the next thingie. This time it's all about Multiplayer and Co-op games:



Some random picks:

 

[Abu Antar]

I tried Spiritlink Tactics. Seemed decent from what little I played. Also Final Fantasy Tactics light. This showed a little bit more promise than Vanaris Tactics. I'm not 100% convinced yet, but I did actually have a decent time with it, and it has potential.

 

[Aemar]

Just what we needed, another Settlers clone.

 

[ferratilis]

It's back on Steam after being delisted some years ago.

 

[Acrux]

I tried Spiritlink Tactics. Seemed decent from what little I played. Also Final Fantasy Tactics light. This showed a little bit more promise than Vanaris Tactics. I'm not 100% convinced yet, but I did actually have a decent time with it, and it has potential.

They've made the girl on their store page look like the main character in Fell Seal. Same blue face tattoo, same purplish fur lined cloak.