By Lewie Procter on April 7th, 2012 at 11:43 am.
Are you in the mood for buying a game for not very much money? Well you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the bargain bucket, wherein I catalogue the finest cut-price electronic entertainment software for your computer-box every weekend. If you’re craving for gaming value isn’t satiated by this lot, get yourself over to SavyGamer.co.uk for regular updates on what games are cheap across all platforms.
Breath of Death VII & Cthulhu Saves the World – 99p/€0.99/$1.49
Discounted no doubt in part as a sneaky marketing thing from Zeboyd to help get people talking about their newest game, Penny Arcade’s On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness 3, which they’re right now showing off to the eager audience at PAX. For your pennies here you get a pair of low-fi, laugh out loud funny, retro inspired RPGs. Packed with self referential humour, absurdly fast paced (turn based) battles and genre-lampooning parodies, these two RPGs are worth easily far more than the asking price. Here’s wot John thought of Cthulhu Saves the World.
Black Market, Cardinal Quest, Devil Whiskey, Kenshi, Puckbang, Steel Storm: Burning Retribution & Wanderlust: Rebirth – £3.99/€4.99/$5.99
It looks like GamersGate are getting in on Bundle Madness 2012. Here’s six games, and some bonus stuff, for roughly the kind of pricing you might normally pay for any of the individual games. It’s pay what you want, the prices I’ve quoted are the minimum, but GamersGate only take their commission from the minimum amount, with any extra you decide to pay going entirely into the pockets of the developers in question. I ain’t played any of these, how are they?
Alien Zombie Megadeath, Astro Tripper, Defense Grid: The Awakening, Explodemon & Hack, Slash, Loot – £2.94/€3.56/$4.67 at time of writing
The latest Indie Royale features a pretty diverse range of games. There’s Smith-loved Dungeon Crawler Hack, Slash, Loot, Meer-adored sci-fi tower defence, Defense Grid: The Awakening, and a host of other games wot there’s no opinion of on the RPS mainframe. If you want to see behind Explodemon’s explosive curtain, they’ve also included the original prototype version made in game maker.
Might & Magic Promo at GOG
I’ve never played any of these games (except Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t really count), but they’re generally spoken about with a certain degree of reverence. GOG have lobbed 50% off the asking price of all of these games for this weekend, making them either a bit of spare change each, or £26.40/€32/$41.90 for the whole lot. Which Might & Magic game do you think is the best one? Which is the best entry point for the series?
Deal of the week
Batman: Arkham City – £9.99/$14.99
This offer is available in the UK, USA, Canada, and what looks to me like most of Europe (Europeans will want to use the UK link). This is the best price I’ve seen yet for the caped crusaders’ latest video game adventure. Here’s wot Adam thought of this:
I wouldn’t hesitate to say it’s one of the best games I’ve played this year. There is an enormous amount to do and now that I’m finished, I feel free to do it, no longer constrained by the fate of Gotham I can solve all those side stories. And even though I have a redwood-like backlog, I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
More over here.
Also of Note:
MX vs ATV: Reflex – £3.75/Similar prices in other currencies. Registers on Steam.
Titan Quest [Gold Edition] – £3.75/Similar prices in other currencies.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River – £3.99/€3.99/$3.99
For more of those games that cost a little bit less than what they might normally cost, pop along to SavyGamer.co.uk.
07/04/2012 at 11:50 Jimbo says:
I enjoyed OFP: Red River quite a bit. It’s definitely worth a look at that price.
07/04/2012 at 11:58 Creaturemagic says:
Whats it like? Looks like Arma 2, is it? Also, why in the trailer, are the tanks shooting green lasers?
07/04/2012 at 12:09 IncredibleBulk92 says:
Yea it’s Ubisoft’s attempt at copying ArmA while using the name of a great game to hope they fool people into thinking it’s a quality product. Pay attention to the very important qualifier Jimbo has used there.
“at that price.”
It’s fine if you really want something a bit like ArmA but it had worse AI, more crashing and kinda lacked the spirit of ArmA.
07/04/2012 at 12:21 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
what are you talking about, sure its not a perfect game but its not as bad as what you described either. i myself would buy that game at full price.
and its codemaster’s. ubi doesnt have anything to do with it. do a little bit of research next time.
07/04/2012 at 19:06 PodX140 says:
I loved the original Op flash, it was a great game, and me as a kid played it to death.
This one… Yeah, no.
EDIT: Oh, excuse me, I was talking about dragon rising. Wasn’t aware that a new one had come out.
07/04/2012 at 12:42 harakka says:
This should give a fairly good idea what you’re in for with Red River.
07/04/2012 at 14:49 MajorManiac says:
This is another good place to get an idea of the game.
07/04/2012 at 15:30 Jimbo says:
It’s not much like Arma tbh and is OFP in name only. I’m not sure what to compare it to really. The missions are pretty tightly structured but you do have some freedom in how you go about achieving your objective. You’re one fireteam leader and -iirc- usually on missions with two other AI controlled fireteams (who are pretty terrible for the most part, but it doesn’t really matter). You can tell the three other guys in your fireteam where to stand, stance, ROE etc. though, that sort of thing.
I think if you judge it for what it is, rather than for the name on the box, it’s a pretty good game. I took a punt on it when it was new and was pleasantly surprised. It’s better than OFP Dragon Rising.
07/04/2012 at 11:54 Creaturemagic says:
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 complete edition is a must-have for any Strategy gamer!
07/04/2012 at 13:08 SiHy_ says:
I second this. I just bought it to cleanse my soul of having pirated it years ago. It’s a great multiplayer game and definitely worth the money.
07/04/2012 at 16:39 CDTJ says:
I was logging in just to reply to Mr. Procter that HoMM3 was the best of all! Thanks for hitting it first!
Sincerely,
Faithful Addict
08/04/2012 at 01:21 SkittleDiddler says:
I’m a Strategy gamer, and I absolutely loathe the Might & Magic series. So…no.
08/04/2012 at 01:24 Wizardry says:
What’s wrong with the Might and Magic RPG series? Are you a Wizardry fan? That’s understandable then.
09/04/2012 at 00:35 Aninhumer says:
Honestly I preferred HoMM2. When I bought HoMM3, I was very disappointed with the switch from reasonable (if not amazing) pixel art, to horrible prerendered sprites. It adds a few things (I can’t remember exactly what now) but nothing that amazed me enough to put up with the graphics over the previous version.
07/04/2012 at 12:05 Khemm says:
Guys – DARK SOULS PC HAS BEEN CONFIRMED!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469409
http://i.imgur.com/MkxUu.jpg
07/04/2012 at 12:17 bill says:
that’s exciting…
08/04/2012 at 14:25 Phantoon says:
Praise the sun.
07/04/2012 at 12:15 FCA says:
Might and Magic:
Might and Magic 1-6 for any lover of old-school RPG’s (though they probably all have them).
See here for a modern walkthrough of Might and Magic II, to see how it holds up.
Might and Magic 7 and 8 are quite good also, but the early 3D graphics haven’t aged so well, and I could never get into them.
Just stay away from Might and Magic 9 and Crusaders.
07/04/2012 at 12:18 Mark says:
Something to bear in mind with Arkham City…
I’ve had no trouble with GFWL in the past. With this game, the overlay doesn’t even pop-up, meaning I can’t save my game, meaning I’ve got a 15 quid coaster on my hands. I’m sure it’s a great game, but Rocksteady have done a piss-poor job with their GFWL integration.
07/04/2012 at 12:22 Khemm says:
That’s strange. I’ll try to google a solution, I had no problems with Batmans…
07/04/2012 at 12:24 Mark says:
Honestly, if you figure it out (or anyone does), please tell me. I’ve tried SFIV and Dead Rising 2, both of which are fine.
07/04/2012 at 13:43 Ridnarhtim says:
Weird. Arkham City is the first GFWL game I’ve played where it HASN’T been a major pain in the ass. That is, unless it’s GFWL’s fault that my saves got randomly deleted at one point (which is starting to sound plausible, as it seems to be related to achievement unlocking).
07/04/2012 at 15:28 polyester says:
I had the same issue. Played two hours the first time and did not save. Didn’t know the reason until I found out that live wasn’t turning on when I played, thus I couldn’t save my game. Forgot what I did to finally fix the issue, but I do remember agonizing over the issue for at least a few hours.
So, do keep in mind that. Though I had no problems after that, there’s worse stories about this game and it’s gfwl
07/04/2012 at 12:22 Enef says:
I keep getting told that i can’t buy the game and i have to contact support whenever i try and buy Batman :<
07/04/2012 at 12:58 Unfair says:
If anyone needs more information, I have quick video reviews of each game in the Indie Royale and GamersGate bundles.
(gives more of a feel for each of the games than the long shiny intro video GamersGate put out)
07/04/2012 at 16:43 Martel says:
Good video (only had a chance to watch the GamersGate bundle one). Much better than the one GamersGate put up for it. I had already purchased it, mostly on the hopes for Kenshi becoming something someday, but I subbed to your stream for future bundles.
07/04/2012 at 16:55 Unfair says:
Thanks, I should have another video out tomorrow for the groupees bundle, assuming they release it when they’re supposed to.
07/04/2012 at 19:32 Llewyn says:
Oh. That Kenshi. The name had completely passed me by until I read your comment, despite it being on my watch list. Thanks!
07/04/2012 at 13:05 Zarunil says:
There’ll be no batting of men in Norway, it seems. /sadface.
07/04/2012 at 13:42 Ridnarhtim says:
Never played the Might and Magic series, but for anyone interested in the Heroes series (turn based strategy), Heroes III is pretty much unanimously considered the pinnacle of the series. Heroes II isn’t bad either.
Arkham City is great, I’m still playing it now (for the second time, after the stupid game deleted my save the first time around. I believed they’ve patched that now, though there are still occasional bugs).
07/04/2012 at 13:44 Llewyn says:
Anyone know what the mechanics of Arkham City via Gamefly are? Is it just GFWL or are there additional layers/clients that we ought to be aware of?
07/04/2012 at 16:52 MrBluesky says:
Anyone know if Titan Quest registers on steam or if it would be compatible with the steam version of the multi player?
07/04/2012 at 18:31 M0thra says:
The steam version works fine (for a given value of fine – connecting often takes multiple attempts but works in the end) with the original disc version, so I’d assume you’d be ok. It uses gamespy so you might need some router configuring shenanigans on the host’s end though.
07/04/2012 at 19:35 zapatapon says:
It has been done before, but there’s also DE:HR at 10EUR (13EUR for the Augmented Edition, whatever that is), and Dirt3 at 6EUR at GetGamesGo (which for some reason appears to never get a mention in the bargain bucket)
Edit: oh sorry, actually it does (with OF:RR this week)
07/04/2012 at 20:15 ruaidhri.k says:
if you use the code GFKSPRING3 you can get arkham city for £8.99
source : http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/batman-arkham-city-pc-digital-download-8-99-gamefly-1188158
edit: anyone know if this will register on steam? dont want another client – i think i’ve probably lost a couple of dozen games over the years through not remembering where i bought things
08/04/2012 at 13:39 trjp says:
Almost certainly not – it’s a GFWL game, and a buggy and nasty one at that(*)
(*) see thousands of threads from people who’ve lost savegames thanks to GFWL
08/04/2012 at 13:48 Unaco says:
I don’t see them… are they really small or something? Do I need to wear special glasses?
07/04/2012 at 23:25 Tokamak says:
Darkness 2 is available at 75% off ($12.49) on Amazon Downloads: http://www.amazon.com/2K-Games-40884Darkness-II2-Darkness/dp/B006JA7EWW
Download service doesn’t seem to be available from UK store, but maybe there’s a way around that – it registers with Steam anyways.
08/04/2012 at 05:44 sacred_flame101 says:
All you need to do to buy from them is add a US postal address. It is recommended you use an Alaskan address to avoid extra tax.
08/04/2012 at 13:38 trjp says:
Bear in mind you’ll get a US version of the game tho – not a problem for single player/local multiplayer games but a problem if there’s any backend service for the game (matchmaking etc.) as you’ll be matched with people a LONG way away from you.
08/04/2012 at 01:35 The Dark One says:
Anyone who buys Titan Quest should pick up the Underlord Mod at the same time. It ramps up the number of enemies and rejigs the skills and difficulty curve to make a lot more sense.
08/04/2012 at 13:37 trjp says:
That might be just what I need – I’ve tried to play TQ many times but I just get bored of it.
Too much walking – too little challenge…
08/04/2012 at 08:49 Tael says:
So, no super special holiday sale on Steam this time of year? Are they not interested in actually selling some overpriced titles anymore?
08/04/2012 at 13:28 zapatapon says:
I wondered about that, too. Is steam’s policy of having regular holiday sales shifting?
08/04/2012 at 13:36 trjp says:
Steam have never had Easter Sales – no idea why but they don’t bother with it.
I suspect it might be to ensure it doesn’t get too repetitive – make the Summer One a bigger deal!?
08/04/2012 at 16:12 secretdoorinvisiblewall says:
The Darkness II is available for $12.50 on amazon in the USA (not sure about other regions).
08/04/2012 at 20:46 hhqqe says:
http://1su.net/aF5
09/04/2012 at 04:39 malkav11 says:
I dunno if anyone will notice this, seeing as we are liable to get a bunch of new posts as things run over to Monday, but Gamersgate has the 1C complete bundle for a mere 21 USD at the moment:
http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-1CBIGPACK/1c-complete-pack-bundle. That’s 86(!) games of quality ranging from abysmal to brilliant (with at least six entire series in there that I would wholeheartedly recommend), for the price of one budget release or indie game.
09/04/2012 at 18:02 phlebas says:
Most important thing to know about Devil Whiskey: It’s pretty much a remake of the original Bard’s Tale.
Also: It’s old school. It has a manual, not a tutorial.