GravZom's Steamblast

I'm doing the same thing what's-his-face did: mini-reviews of my entire Steam library.

Here's the dilli-yo: I've got a whole bunch of crap on my Steam account that I got because it was in a bundle or something, but have never played. In the case of those things, I'm just going to not list them here because I obviously don't have much of an opinion on them. Not that this matters much to you, given you can't see my whole library and are therefore unlikely to notice an omission and go "HEY WHAT ABOUT __________," but regardless I felt the need to bring this up.

Also, unlike Sly Ghost, I'm just going to recommend or un-recommend a game in general, rather than assigning a dollar value to what I think you should pay for it. This is primarily because I'm a cheapskate and haven't bought a game at release price since Dark Souls 2 (and don't plan on doing it again until the new complete version of DS2 comes out). In any case, use your own judgment and maybe check some other review sites. You shouldn't be getting all your hot gaming opinions fro Goblin Axis because we're largely crap/inactive.

Well anyway, without further adoooooooooooooooooooooooo:

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
So for this game, I played it on a big surround-sound theater system at a friend's place, surrounded by pals, in the dark. For the first half of the game, it's a decent, fun adventure game that was only marred by a minor bug that caused some item I needed not to spawn. After about the halfway point, though, the honeymoon period is over and the novelty of being helpless and running from a scary monster is kind of lost. Instead, when you see one of the monsters it's more like an "Oh, it's that fucking monster again, great." I defy anyone to not find that foggy temple thing at the end to not be an enormous pain in the ass. For this reason, it's half-recommended.

Arma 2 (and Day Z)
I guess if you're into the whole MilSim thing, it's cool. I definitely like the idea of it, even if most of my playtime ended up being just crawling around in the bushes until I got shot by an enemy I didn't even see, dying instantly. I mean, that's realistic, but I guess it's not my cup of tea. I actually bought it on sale for Day Z, but ironically ended up playing the base game more than Day Z. Not that I played much of either. Recommended if you're into MilSim but have a moral dilemma against Arma 3.

Awesomenauts
I'm really not a fan of the whole MOBA thing. I've only played some MOBA-like games (this and Smite), never really delving into DOTA2 or League of Legends. I whole-heartedly support the concept of side-scrolling competitive multiplayer games, but MOBAs in general don't really do it for me. Recommended for MOBA fans I guess.

Bastion
Alright, so this whole thing is coming out way more negative than I intended it to be, but Bastion is one of those games that I got from a Humble Bundle that I ended up installing and playing after hearing how great it was. It's definitely... fine. I got bored of it after a few hours but can't really think of any specific complaints, aside from the salty cowboy narrator that grates like cheese. Decent enough to recommend, sure.

Besiege
I just picked this up last night, and it's pretty damn fun. It's in early access right now, so it's not ridiculously feature rich, but it's kind of fun to just see what kind of terrible machines you can make. I personally am a huge fan of trying to make something really cool and then watching it fail in a spectacular fashion, which is something this game provides ample opportunity for. At the time of writing this, it's seven US dollars, though apparently they're going to be ramping up the price as it approaches completion (Their estimate is like a year and a half or something to version 1.0). As is, I definitely think there's enough content there for seven bucks, so I'd say go for it.

The Binding Of Isaac
As Sly Ghost has mentioned, this game has been more or less supplanted by the remake, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. In an alternate universe where Rebirth never existed, I would highly recommend BoI on the grounds of it being an awesome action-roguelike. As you might expect, the RNG can ruin your goddamned life, but I paid 2.50 for this game with the Wrath of the Lamb DLC and clocked 26 hours in it. It's great. Recommended.

Borderlands
Ignore the Reddit-grade nerd humor here and you have a neat game that's kind of like an FPS Diablo. I found it kind of boring while playing solo, but with multiplayer it can be a fun little diversion. I haven't played the sequel so I can't comment on this, but I'd half-recommend the original game for being decent at least.

Bully: Scholarship Edition
Bully is fantastic. Playing it in a post-GTA4 world, it definitely shows signs of age a bit as an open-world game. That said, it's really cool how they transplanted the basic GTA formula to the realm of an East Coast boarding school, kind of hitting the tone of like "Animal House" but with.... I dunno, high schoolers? High schoolers are terrible, though, while this game is not. Highly recommended.

Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
I kind of enjoyed some of the earlier Burnout games for that mode where you just try to cause a lot of property damage with one good crash, but otherwise I'm not much of a fan of racing games and am unqualified to talk about this one. It was another bundle purchase. No comment on recommendation.

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
Kind of like playing on a Counter-Strike knife-only server, but not absolutely terrible. Had a ton of fun with this one. First-Person melee combat rarely doesn't suck, but they've done a great job here. Good variety with the classes and weapon types. I haven't played it in a long time, but I guess they've added some wacky shit in the past year or so. Apparently it's still quite fun. Recommended

Counter-Strike/Counter-Strike Source
I'm combining both of these into one entry because they're largely identical. People will talk about variance of hitbox sizes and weapon properties and all that minutia, but at the core they're the same basic game. They WERE fun and I'd recommend them, but in my more recent attempts to play them, I've found them to be complete ghost towns. The only servers that weren't deserted were running custom mods, and I mean I've had a lot of fun with Gungame, but sometimes I just want to play some Counter-Strike, and I really can't. I guess CS:GO is available for that, but I don't have that and haven't seen it at a price I've wanted to pay yet. Not recommended for 2015.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
This must be the first non-Valve game I had on Steam. I got it so long ago that I actually bought it in a box at Target. I think I was still in high school. I enjoyed it a lot and grinded through most of Single Player in a few sittings, before hitting a wall and kind of stopping dead forever. Recommended on (steep) sale.

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition / Dark Souls II
I've cumulatively racked up several hundred hours between these two games, and don't regret that at all. Yes, there is a fair bit of trial and error here and there and some of the bosses and encounters are cruel to the point of frustration, but it's tremendous fun developing your character, and it really feels awesome when you finally kill a boss that's been giving you trouble. While normally I would highly, highly recommend both of these, at the time of writing this I would recommend for Dark Souls: PTDE and against Dark Souls II. While the second game is definitely an all-around improvement on the first, they're releasing a more "complete" version of the game titled "Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin" this April, which will include all the previously released DS2 DLC as well as some new stuff. So in short, if  you only want to buy one "Souls" game ever, wait a couple months and pick up the new version of DS2. Otherwise, pick up PTDE now (or whenever it's on sale; it's on sale a lot) and use that to tide you over/whet your appetite 'til April.

Dead Space
I've only played this on the 360, actually, as I got it for Christmas many years ago. It's good enough, I guess. Kind of like RE4, but with a setting I like less. Again, this is one I got in a bundle. 2 and 3 are also available, though I haven't played them. I assume they're basically similar. I know 3 has a co-op mode. I'd recommend this if you want to play RE4 in space and can find it on the cheap.

Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut
I think everything that needs to be said about Deadly Premonition has been said. It's heavily inspired by Twin Peaks, but twisted with Swery65's idiosyncratic Japanese weirdness. The gameplay is kind of bland, but the dialogue and story more than make up for it, which is not something I will often say about anything. Recommended, though take note that the PC version is kind of a buggy, crashy mess. So watch out for that.

Deathmatch Classic
It's Quake 1 Deathmatch on the Half Life 1 engine. I mean, I guess if that's something you want to do, go for it. I haven't played this in probably 13-14 years so I can't speak to how active it is, though I'd imagine not very. Not recommended except for very specific weirdos.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I played through a good chunk of this game while sitting in an empty room waiting for furniture to be delivered. It's a great update to the series, bringing back some of the more in-depth RPG elements from the first game into a more contemporary engine. It's also on sale every 15 minutes. Recommended.

Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
Another bundle game. I did not enjoy it, though speaking frankly I didn't get far enough in it to get a really solid grasp on why I disliked it. Considering it came free with a game I actually wanted to buy and I'm not getting paid for this review, I don't really feel a compunction to go back and play the game, though. No recommendo.

Don't Starve
I played this game in some early beta, and I found it alright. I like a lot of the ideas in it, but again I don't think I've really played it enough to give a solid opinion. Maybe I should've just omitted it from this article. Well, it's too late for that now. Recommended?

DuckTales Remastered
Great update to the NES game of the same name. Follows the same basic formula, though the levels have all been redone considerably. Great game and I'd definitely recommend it.

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition
People complain about the engine for this, and I'm sure on some technical intricate level, there are problems with it, but it's far from unplayable. If you're unfamiliar with Megaton Edition, what it comes with is the DN3D Atomic Edition (4 episodes) as well as the three authorized expansion sets, Duke: Caribbean, Duke it out in DC, and Nuclear Winter. Note that these three expansions were not made by 3DRealms and are of varying quality. "Caribbean" is fantastic and, not coincidentally, the most complete of a "total conversion" from the base game. "DC" strives for excessive realism in the design of its buildings, and as such a lot of the levels can be frustrating same-y mazes, but it's not a bad expansion by any means. Nuclear Winter is obnoxious crap and I don't recommend it. Overall, this is a good package if you don't have a copy of DN3D already, especially if you want to get the three expansions, which you can't legally find anywhere else right now. Recommended.

Duke Nukem Forever
I got this game for free because the place I used to work got some promo copies and they ended up giving them away to whoever. I feel like whatever I say here has already been repeated ad nauseum, but the basic gist is that it's not as bad as general consensus would suggest, but it's not that good either. The thing is it tries to occupy this weird space between modern "corridor" shooters and old school aesthetics, but it's not particularly great at either of them. It does retain a lot of Duke Nukem's trademark interactivity, letting you pump weights and play pinball and all that stuff, and for that it's actually really cool, but on the whole, the game's average. But I mean, what else would you expect? If someone offers you a free copy as they did for me, I'd recommend it, sure. Otherwise, I'd only really recommend it if you're a big fan of Duke as a character and can get it on the cheap. As a side note, the alien hive level that occurs pretty early in the game is kind of a jarring tonal shift from the rest of the game, which is generally pretty goofy. I know that's not really a good way to end the paragraph, but I'd feel remiss not to mention it and didn't want to work hard on weaving it in naturally, so yeah.


The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Yeah, it's good. I feel like this is another game that really doesn't need any coverage. It's TES5. I saw ads for this on city busses and taxi cabs. It's all around a good game, and the Dragonborn Edition or whatever is out now contains all the DLC, I think, so I'd say it's worth picking up if you want a decent open-world game. The one major qualm I have with it compared to the other TES games is how much of the main story it kind of forces you into doing. Like, you get railroaded for a bit until you get your three-syllable shout. You can drop out of the story after the second syllable, I think, but it's bad for ya. I recall back in my day playing through the entirety of the Fighter's Guild in Morrowind before starting on the main quest, which was nice, but I'm not enough of a nostalgia snob enough to say Skyrim is actually a bad game. It's not. Pick it up if you can get it on sale.

Escape Goat 2
A decent little platform puzzler. I wasn't totally blown away by it, but it's just kind of straight-up fun. Definitely recommended at discount (or bundle, as I got it).

Europa Universalis III
Alright, so here's the thing: Every few months, I'll drink like a third of a bottle of whiskey and decide that I should try to learn how to play Europa Universalis, and then I get part way through the tutorial and realize I should maybe try again at a later time. One time I got as far as reading a user guide on how to play the game and what the point is, but I still cannot say to this day that I know how to play EU or any grand strategy game for that matter. There are a lot of cool ideas at work, and when I hear gameplay stories from people who have played, I'm interested again, but as of yet, eh, I haven't gotten around to it. EU4 is also out know, so I guess I'd recommend that over this.

Fallout: New Vegas
When Fallout 3 came out, I was concerned that my computer wouldn't be able to handle it very well, so I ended up buying it for the Xbox 360. As a result, I didn't end up playing it very much and found it to be okay at best. New Vegas, however, I picked up on the cheap on Steam (and later, the DLC packs for it), and it's tended to take over my life for a few weeks every time I reinstall it. Great open-world RPG. Feels a little dated in some regards in a post-Skyrim world, but not game-breakingly so. Play it on hardcore mode. It sounds like it's going to be a pain in the ass, but it's actually kind of fun. The game's frequently on sale in GOTY form for very little money. Pick it up if you see it.

Garry's Mod
GMod's a tough one, man. On the one hand, for a period several years back, this was an absolutely god-damned awesome sandbox tool to mess around with and create cool machines, and the active modding community made it even more fun. At the same time, I really can't see myself ever going back to playing it, because I feel like I've kind of done everything there is for me to do. Sure, I could go back and make the same old machines and do the same old stuff, but I really just don't want to. That's a personal failing, though. It's really a great set of tools for making terrible machines, and I'd highly recommend it, at least to try.

Half-Life (and Opposing Force/Blue Shift)
It's Half-Life. You've played Half-Life. I feel like this was kind of the bridge between the old "labyrinth of keys" style of FPS that you saw in Quake/Duke/Doom/etc and the new "corridor shooter" form of story-driven game that defines the genre today, for better or for worse. It's neat to see from a historical standpoint, and it's still pretty cool, but I haven't played it since middle school and don't really plan to. I recommend you don't buy this because you already own it.

Half-Life 2 (and Episodes 1/2)
It is my greatest point of hipster cred that I don't particularly like Half-Life 2. I got to the part in the prison and just got so bored with the game that I quit it and never came back. Similar to HL1, though, perhaps its greatest contribution is its engine, Source, which has been used for many games that are, in my opinion, much better than HL2 (Like Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines). I don't recommend buying this because if you don't own it already, you could ask literally anyone with a steam account and they probably have a gift copy that nobody wants.

Hotline Miami
Oh, this game was cool. Totally took me by surprise. Bright, colorful art style and quick twitchy combat. I kind of think of it more like an action-puzzle game, kind of like Abe's Oddysee, where you die and fail repeatedly until you blast through the level smooth like silk in a well choreographed killing spree. Good fun, often on sale. Recommended.

Injustice: Gods Among Us
Fun update to Mortal Kombat 9 (ie, the 2D fighter that plays like a 3D fighter). I enjoyed it, more or less, and the environmental attacks are absurd. I would actually probably not recommend it, though, unless you have some specific friends who you want to play with; online is kind of dead right now, and NRS is gearing up for MKX.


Killing Floor
This is another game where when I got it, I just blitzed through it playing nonstop. Super fun with friends. They had a lot of free updates and events and stuff, but after I unlocked all the upgrades (or whatever), I kind of felt like I was done with the game, and stopped playing forever. Recommended, though you could also just wait for KF2 if you'd like.

La-Mulana
An update to the faux-MSX game of the same name. La-Mulana is cruelty in video game form, but it's actually pretty fun. Great music and appealing sprite work, though the game is designed to be kind of confusing and hard, it's more often fun than not. Recommended.


Legend of Grimrock
I think this game was great. I already wrote a review of it. Go read that review and then buy this game or LoG2, which has come out since. It'll really crumble your cheese, but in a good way.

Mirror's Edge
For some reason, I feel like I've played this game more than Steam says. It has me clocked at 45 minutes, but I feel like I got the basic gist of it. It's a pretty cool first-person... uh... acrobatic platformer. It's rare that first-person platforming doesn't make me want to strangle myself with my own hands until I die, but since Mirror's Edge doesn't really try to do anything else, it can focus on that not sucking. Recommended on the cheap.

Mount & Blade (And Warband/With Fire And Sword)
Interesting games. They kind of remind me of Sid Meier's Pirates, oddly enough. I never really got a hold of the combat, but I guess I didn't play it that much. I forget what's going on in regards to the sequel, but uh... maybe wait for that. While the M&B games have a lot of cool ideas, they're as polished as an extremely unpolished thing. Maybe the sequel will fix that. Recommended when on sale.

MURI
I had been interested in MURI because I liked playing Duke Nukem 1 as a kid, and it's more or less the same thing. It's not super engaging stuff, but it's not really trying to be. They've done a really great job of capturing the vibe of early EGA DOS games that used the PC speaker, for better and for worse (as it's emulating the PC speaker, the game doesn't have any music, which is kind of a bummer). I would've liked a clone of some early VGA games more like DN2, but this is cool for what it is. I've seen it go as low as like 60 cents, so if you can get it at that price, go for it. I believe the standard asking price is like 3 or 4 bucks though, which I would be reticent to pay given how shallow the game is.

Natural Selection 2
I haven't played this game in a few years, so I'm a bit foggy on the details here. NS2 is the stand-alone sequel to an old Half-Life 1 mod that kind of blended the RTS and team-based FPS genres. One person on each team gets to be the commander, and you have your people build buildings and gather resources and all that jazz. It's not quite on the same large scale as, like, Savage, but it's kind of similar to that, I guess. I can't speak on how active the game is right now and don't feel like reinstalling it to check, but I would half-assedly recommend it if you can get it on the cheap. Maybe a sale could result in some new servers.

Nidhogg
For the love of God, do not pay the 15 dollars they're asking for this game unless you want to do so as a donation to the game's creators. Don't get me wrong, Nidhogg is awesome fun in multiplayer (particularly local, as online can have some weird rollback issues), but in terms of actual content, there's not a lot there. It's kind of like buying a chess set: there's a lot of depth when you play with another person, but it's not so much fun by yourself, and you don't really have a wide latitude of things you can do. I got it as a gift, but I'd recommend it on sale if you have a friend or several to play with.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
I love this game and think it's great, but don't get the version on Steam. They didn't really update the game much from its original PC release for the Steam version (The game didn't support my controller on x-input mode, though it'll take DirectInput). The game's great, but unless you have a moral quandary about running emulators and really want to play Abe on your computer, go with the PSX version.

Papers, Please
Games that simulate boring jobs that would be terrible in real life are kind of cool. Papers, Please does this for a while, but soon the grind of being a document-checking border guard gets to you and you blow your brains out at your kid's birthday party or something. I dunno, it's alright. Interesting, if nothing else. Mild recommendation.

Path of Exile
A really great twist on the basic Diablo formula. Cool themed ladder "leagues," races, and a base game that's regularly being updated and expanded. It's free to play, too, so the only reason you have for not downloading it is that you have brain problems. Or maybe you just don't like this kind of game, I dunno. Recommended.
 

Payday 2
I've only played this with friends using voice chat, and in that setting it's quite fun. From what I've heard, playing with randoms online is a frustrating exercise in having pros rush you through the optimal path in each level, kind of defeating the purpose. Definitely recommended if you have some patient friends to play with.


Portal/Portal 2
We've already been over the "everyone has already played Half-Life" thing. You know the Portal games. They're good and often on sale. Get them and enjoy.

Puzzle Pirates
I would recommend this if you want to teleport yourself back to the early 2000s where downloadable games were cheap pieces of crap that you played because they were free. It's a fine game, I guess, but I more often than not feel like I'd rather just be playing Puyo Puyo or Tetris Attack. Regardless, I have a hard time not recommending it because it's free, so, you know, whatever.

Quake Live
An updated version of Quake 3, with some changes that some hardcore Q3 nerds probably hate. It's great, pure deathmatch action though, and it's free, so you're not losing anything by playing it Go for it man! Triumph or die! (You will die a lot because most of the people on there are merciless Quakepros, but it's not as unapproachable as some would have you believe)

Resident Evil 6
In hot contention with Duke Nukem Forever for most undeservedly maligned game of the 2010s. I played through the entirety of the game in co-op with Sly Ghost and had a total blast. Just go into this game expecting a retarded action movie with monsters, not Resident Evil (or even Resident Evil 4), and you'll have a good time. I can see, however, how it would be a lot less fun if you had to rely on an AI partner, but again human co-op was tons of fun. Recommended on sale, though for some reason it seems Capcom games don't often go on very deep discount.

Ricochet
lmao nobody plays ricochet anymore.

Rise of the Triad (2013)
This is rad. As opposed to, say, Doom 3 trying to reboot as a realistic quasi-horror games, ROTT 2013 simply expanded the goofiness of the original version to absurd proportions, making the game a ludicrous series of stupid chaotic shit happening. Very much recommended.

Risk of Rain
Another game I'd say go for for co-op only. Single player's alright too, I guess, but not super-great. I got this one as a gift copy, so I can't really complain about it, but I don't think I would've bought it for myself. Half recommended.

Saint's Row: The Third
Goofy GTA. It's... you know, it's fine. From what I've heard SR4 is basically the same thing but better, so maybe go for that over this, but I mean this is fun enough as-is. Recommended on the cheap.

Scribblenauts Unlimited
I always thought this sounded like a really cool idea for a game, but after playing it I just kind of found myself getting bored really quickly. I can't tell if the game is supposed to be for really young kids or not. It's fun enough, but if I hadn't got it in a bundle I probably never would have bought it. Weakest of weak recommendations.

Serious Sam 3: BFE
I want everyone in the world to stop saying SS3 is bringing back "old school" FPS styling. I mean, if the only thing you ever played back in the day were Doom slaughtermaps, then sure, maybe, but honestly it's kind of its own thing where you just move down a linear path from horde of enemies to horde of enemies. I really wanted to like this game, but honestly I wouldn't recommend it. I guess it has co-op for up to 16 players, which I imagine is insane and probably fun, but in single player I just got bored.

Shadow Warrior Classic Redux
This is basically DN3D: Megaton Edition, but for Shadow Warrior. If you're unfamiliar, SW is another Build engine game that plays more or less identically to DN3D or Blood (or Redneck Rampage or etc. etc.), though with some engine improvements like weapon-dependent death animations and some voxel graphics here and there. Very much recommended. You can get the non-redux version for free, but I think that's just the game running in DOSBox, so that's kind of crappy. 

Sid Meier's Civilization V
It's Civ. Of course it's good. When the game first game out, I was kind of put off by the things that had been removed since Civ 4, but with the two expansions (especially Brave New World), the game is improved tremendously, and I can't recommend it enough.


Starbound/Terraria
These aren't really the same game, but they're similar enough (and have many of the same team members) that I feel fine packing them into one entry. If you're unfamiliar, the high concept description of these games would be "Side-scrolling Minecraft" (add "in space!" for Starbound). I clocked a hell of a lot of hours in Terraria, and there's a lot of cool stuff to do regarding boss fights and item farming. For some reason, it always felt like a tremendous chore to play Starbound, though. I don't understand why, given it's just the same thing but more. I'd recommend them both.

Super Meat Boy
Simple pick-up-and-play cruelty platformer. I think this one's on sale all the time, too, so if you can get it for cheap, go for it. Definitely play with a gamepad or suffer eternally.


Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (sic) EP
If you want to play an iPhone game with minimalistic spritework, go right ahead and pick this up. If you want to play a fun game that brings you enjoyment, buy something else.


Team Fortress Classic
Fun for nostalgic reasons, but I think it's fairly dead. Last time I played it a few years back, there were actually some servers playing, like, actual games of TFC, which is better than I can say about CS 1.6 being just a bunch of heavily modded servers. I wouldn't pay money for this in 2015, but back in 6th grade this shit was RAD YO.


Team Fortress 2
It's free to play. Go and get it. I was talking to my roommate about TF2 the other day and mentioned that the last big update I played after added like, the sword and shield stuff for Demomen. Apparently that means I'm several years out of the loop, so I'm not really qualified to talk here.


Torchlight/Torchlight II
It's kind of neat how these games kind of mirror Diablo 1 and 2, but with a crappier art style. If I remember correctly, the team that made these was made up from Blizzard North refugees, so I guess that makes sense. They're fine games in their own right, and if you want to play something that's closer to a direct Diablo 2 sequel, this is probably your best bet. That said, there are better ARPG "Diablo clones" out there, like Path of Exile, which is free, and uh, Diablo 3. Recommended, but not very strongly.

Ultra Street Fighter IV
Two games have sucked more hours out of my pathetic life than any other activity: World of Warcraft and Street Fighter 4. USF4 is the complete, final version of SF4, and it's really a great jumping-in point to 2D fighters in general. It also is probably the most popular 2D fighter to have come out since SF2, so there's a wealth of information out there if you're new to the genre and don't want to just get repeatedly bopped online. Great game, highly recommended.

Volgarr the Viking
I was not expecting much of anything with this, and was pleasantly surprised. Kind of an amalgamation of concepts from Ghouls N' Ghosts and Dark Souls (that is to say, it's a hard trial-and-error platformer). Lots of fun, though. The music is kind of boring typical "epic" viking shit, which is odd because the game's aesthetic suggests something that would sound more like Castlevania, but other than that it's fun. Recommended.

VVVVVV
Did you ever play Metal Storm on the NES, where you can flip gravity? Was that your favorite part of any game?  Then you should pick up VVVVVV, because that's the whole thing. A fun trial-and-error platformer with some exploration aspects I got this game for 60 cents or something, and so can you. Recommended the next time you see it on sale.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
I really don't want to shit all over this game, because I feel like maybe I just didn't get far enough into it to see what the big deal is. I played after the combat update came out, and for whatever reason it's just really not grabbing me. Not recommended unless you know something I don't, but in that case you probably already own it.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within
This is another one that's frequently on sale, and I think it's great. Yes, as Sly Ghost mentioned, it can feel like the RNG just fucked you to death with a stick of dynamite that was already exploding, but I still found the game to be really enjoyable (note, I've only played through the game start-to-finish on Classic difficulty). It's nowhere near as cruel as the original game, though, so it's got that going for it. And besides, it's pretty hard to screw yourself permanently unless you're playing on Ironman, and if you're doing that you know what you got yourself into. A good, fun, dice-rolly turn based strategy game. Very much recommended.


Well, there you have it folks: all of the games that I have in my library that I feel like I've played enough to make some sort of short statement on. All in all, this took longer to write than I would've liked, and I am not necessarily happy that I did it, but hey maybe you read it and enjoyed a thing. Who am I to stop you from such joys?