Real quick rundown on the first day of the Steam Sale, and things that are worth your time as my fellow occupants of the cheap seats.
- Another World, for $4.99, is a wonderfully atmospheric work from Eric Chahi, a classic from the Amiga and Atari days of 1991. It’s a minimalistic exploration of an alien landscape, it features almost no dialogue and, barring for some frustration-based gameplay.
- Basement Collection, for $0.99, is a collection of flash games. Noteworthy in the collection is Time Fcuk.
- Bionic Commando: Rearmed, for $2.49, is a faithful reproduction in higher-def style of the original side-scroller from back in the heady days of the NES, complete with exploding Hitler’s head.
- Bioshock, for $4.99, is still the original and best of the Bioshock family of games. Elegant, fluid, beautifully atmospheric and visually excellent, Bioshock is definitely worth more and will make your life better than a double cheeseburger.
- Bleed, for $4.49, is one of those platformers designed for people who became excellent at platforming in the 1980s, and therefore, strives to make itself bloody hard and reward exceptional skill. It’s mostly a strong pick for hardcore fans of challenge-based indie games.
- Last Remnant, for $3.39, is a real-time tactical roleplaying game, a sort of hybrid of the more stategic Final Fantasy 13 model, without the sames’ level of pretension. Last Exile was noteworthy for being too resource-intensive for the Xbox 360 when it first came out, but for four dollars, it’s Squaresoft at its prettier style without necessarily getting lost in a pretentious plot.
- Lone Survivor , for $3.39 is basically the single best survival horror game released in the past five years. If you are at all a fan of the genre, you should play this game. If you’re not, avoid it – there’s nothing here to draw in the fans of alternative genres.
- Psychonauts, for $2.49, is a game I may have bought you already. This is a videogame in which you can turn into a giant monster and terrorise a city of startled fish.
- The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav, for $4.99, is mainly noteworthy for its visual splendour. I can’t speak to the value of the game as a game, but it’s pretty as fuck.
- They Bleed Pixels, for $2.49, is a Super-Meat Boy style platformer, but designed to be more forgiving and include more combat, rather than purely survival-based gameplay. It’s mostly about stylistic panache rather than any kind of legitimate horror – I mean, pixel art little girls channelling Cthulu doesn’t really mean anything.
- To The Moon, for $2.99, is a thoughtful slow-paced RPG with a focus on the exploration of lost and sadness in an adult’s life.
Total cost, $37.69. Most of these games are not likely to crash further – bookmark the ones you like, put them on your wish list, and buy them towards the end of the sale. I’ll be doing a rundown of other noteworthy games shortly.