By John Walker on May 31st, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
There’s a new Humble Bundle, wouldn’t you believe it. And blimey, it’s a good-un. I’m not in charge of deciding what’s best, but this looks to me like one of the best bundles I’ve ever seen. Just look at this list: Amnesia, Limbo, Sword & Sworcery, Bastion, and Psychonauts. Seriously. And it has an absolutely brilliant video to promote it.
Amnesia – one of the best games of last year, along with Bastion – one of the best games of last year, along with Limbo – one of the best games of last year, along with Sword & Sworcery – one of the best games of this year, along with Psychonauts – one of the best games of any year. And you can get them all, bar Bastion, for a cent. Insanity. Bastion requires that you pay over the average.
And of course there are the inevitable “surprise” additions to be revealed as the bundle goes on. I realise I sound like an infomercial here, but they really should have called this the John Walker Bundle. I already own all the games, and have completed most of them enough times, and yet I feel like I’m going to buy it. Enjoy the video, with a nice appearance from Mr Tim Schafer:
31/05/2012 at 18:01 Stardog says:
The problem is I have almost all of those…
31/05/2012 at 18:03 frenz0rz says:
Then pay a bit less than usual and give the rest away? Thats generally what I do when I’ve already got a few of them.
31/05/2012 at 18:24 Teovald says:
I already have all these games but I am interested in the FLAC OSTs so I rushed and bought the bundle. I guess I will give the games to friends.
31/05/2012 at 18:24 Bobka says:
I’m asking out of genuine ignorance here – when you have a single key for many games, as is often the case with the HIB, is there a you gift some and keep others? Because that would be cool.
31/05/2012 at 18:47 nick729 says:
Well, you’re certainly able to just send them, since they’re DRM free, and as long as you only give it to one person, I’m sure they won’t mind.
31/05/2012 at 19:14 bear912 says:
For previous bundles, you got a single key for the entire bundle, and another for beating the average. This means that you can’t give away Steam keys for the individual games. You could, I think, give your friend the installer for a single game if you already own it…
01/06/2012 at 18:07 Didero says:
With this bundle, you get a single key for the basic games, and a separate key for Bastion when you beat the average.
When you add that key to your Steam account, you don’t get extra copies of the games you already own.
31/05/2012 at 18:04 Sensai says:
This is my problem as well.
The only one I don’t have, as a matter o’ fact, is Swords and Sworcery. Now, I’d love to death to be able to gift these other things away, but I understand the troubles that would arise from that.
But god damn: what a bundle.
[Edit:]
Well, went ahead and purchased it. I feel dirty that I didn’t beat the average price, but I have every single one of these games excluding Superbrothers. I also have most of the soundtracks as well.
If the ‘surprise’ additions are just amazing, then I’m going to feel really bad with the small amount I paid. Do you have to beat the average to get those as well? Or are you grandfathered in if you’ve already purchased the bundle?
31/05/2012 at 19:33 Randomer says:
I think you are typically grandfathered in and get the surprises no matter what you paid, so long as you paid before they came out.
31/05/2012 at 20:03 Carra says:
Same here, have them all except that one.
Well, it’s still 20 cents cheaper than buying that game on steam.
Edit: *just went ahead and bought it for a fraction of the average* I don’t feel bad as I’m only paying for one game.
31/05/2012 at 21:55 kalleguld says:
Don’t feel bad – it’s better to give a small amount than not give any. If you really want, download the .torrent-versions – that way you won’t tax their servers.
31/05/2012 at 18:05 Godwhacker says:
Same here. I also own the Bastion soundtrack.
31/05/2012 at 18:12 kregg says:
Steam World Problems: I own all of these games :(
31/05/2012 at 18:17 Ragnar says:
Yeah, I already own Limbo, Bastion, and Psychonauts, have little interest in Swords and Sworcery, and am too scared to play Amnesia. Oh well, bought the set anyway.
31/05/2012 at 18:57 MichaelPalin says:
Is it really possible that Frictional Games are loosing so many sales because people are genuinely scared of playing the game? I guess that is a compliment for them, :P
31/05/2012 at 20:51 Zelius says:
Definitely. I’ve thought about purchasing it before. But I’ve seen things in videos, man. Horrible things.
Though I did just buy the bundle, I probably won’t make it past installing it.
31/05/2012 at 21:29 13tales says:
Yep. Looks amazing, but I don’t do well with horror games :P
01/06/2012 at 02:19 Tacroy says:
When this happens I buy it for my younger siblings, to try and get them to appreciate the art of games.
01/06/2012 at 02:58 Enso says:
I’ve owned it for at least 6 months and played approximately 30 minutes. I’m a wuss, an absolute wuss.
01/06/2012 at 08:17 jrodman says:
I don’t buy scary games, so yes.
01/06/2012 at 08:28 The First Door says:
Definitely! I got it through the Potato Bundle thing and only played the add on, thinking I’d go play the main game afterwards… Nope, never want to touch that game again. Terrifying!
01/06/2012 at 16:05 enobayram says:
I’m not alone! I believe I could handle the game, but then the nightmares, and the illusions in the dark!..
01/06/2012 at 18:10 Didero says:
I played through a bit of Amnesia for that whole Potato thing on Steam a few months ago. I watched a walkthrough so I knew exactly what was coming, and I was still scared.
I immediately uninstalled it when I was done with the Potato challenge >_>
31/05/2012 at 21:03 Damn Skippy says:
I have all of these already on various platforms from various sales, but I bought it anyway for the OSTs and to get them all on Steam, and just gave most of the money to charity. I already had Bastion and Amnesia on Steam, but Limbo I have on XBLA, S&S I have on the ipad, and Psychonauts I have for the original Xbox, so it will be nice, if unnecessary, to have them all in one place.
01/06/2012 at 08:26 sonofsanta says:
Likewise, bought this more or less on the strength of the Bastion OST, which was glorious. Although the Sword & Sorcery EP did look excellent.
I might subject myself to Amnesia now as well, but I am a terrible coward at these things. Mercifully I just moved my PC out of the living room so I can get away with swearing my little tits off when I shit myself in terror.
31/05/2012 at 18:25 adonf says:
It’s the first time I already own all the games in a Humble Bundle. I feel strangely warm inside.
31/05/2012 at 18:59 MichaelPalin says:
And the soundtracks? and in linux? C’mon, I’m sure you can find an excuse.
31/05/2012 at 20:17 BooleanBob says:
I’m going to try not to sound too smug and self-satisfied here, but I’ve never played any of these games except Pyschonauts, which I’m more than happy to pay for again as I bought it second hand first time ’round. The rest I’ve been meaning to get hold of for ages. I’m almost perfectly positioned to benefit here.
.. Hm. Nope, failed.
01/06/2012 at 07:55 kregg says:
Hah! It’s nice you can actually justify buying them.
I still bought them for $15 because Linux. I still find it hard to swallow, but part of the monies are going to charity, so I guess I can sleep easier.
31/05/2012 at 18:25 hatseflats says:
So do I, except Sword & Sorcery, and Psychonauts I have on disk, not on steam.
Still a better deal than Call of Duty.
31/05/2012 at 18:34 DrScuttles says:
Yeah, the only one I don’t already have is Bastion. But then, depending on what gets added to the bundle later on, I may go for it anyway and be generous with the spares. Amazing bundle and a wonderful video though.
31/05/2012 at 19:00 MichaelPalin says:
I forgot they can still add to the bundle, meaning that it can still be even more awesome.
31/05/2012 at 18:53 KingKio says:
They only provide one steam key for all 4 games (albeit the pay the average for bastion which has it’s seperate key.)
So sadly you cannot gift separate games from this bundle.
02/11/2012 at 08:46 perruci says:
I’ve been looking foreword to it for awhile. Agen Sbobet
31/05/2012 at 22:47 Bluerps says:
This is the first bundle where I already own everything in it, even the soundtracks.
… and still, I’ll buy it. Bundling together this much awesomeness must be rewarded!
01/06/2012 at 13:56 Hvr says:
WTF!
..
Just WTF!
These are all the games I wanted to purchase someday anyway.. And I haven’t YET!
This is so incredibly awesome!
31/05/2012 at 18:05 Alehkhs says:
That’s a great “trailer.” Their best yet!
31/05/2012 at 18:34 hatseflats says:
It is! Tim Schafer <3
31/05/2012 at 18:07 Ayron says:
There’s just one thing to add: payment via direct banking. Really.
31/05/2012 at 21:49 tylerhw says:
You can link your bank account to Amazon Payments really easily and painlessly. That’s what I did.
01/06/2012 at 18:12 Didero says:
You can do the same with PayPal. Even if you’re not from the USA.
31/05/2012 at 18:07 JackDandy says:
Holy SHITE.
Those are all amazing quality games.
Too bad I already own most of them… I guess I’ll at least spread some info about it.
Great trailer, too!
31/05/2012 at 18:09 DickSocrates says:
I have all of them. 3 of them were even worth playing. Sword and Sworercy not amongst them.
31/05/2012 at 18:11 Bobka says:
Awesome games. But I have them all except Swords and Sworcery, and unless I’m mistaken, the keys are usually a single key (plus one for the above-average), so gifting the rest doesn’t work.
This is an awesome, amazing deal for people who don’t have the above games, but I fear many Humble Bundle followers already have most of these, as they are some of the most praised indie games out there.
Nevertheless, I’ll be retweeting this and sharing it around, because WOW.
31/05/2012 at 21:03 ShrikeMalakim says:
There are two keys, at least for now: First key is for Limbo, Psychonauts, Superbrothers, and Amnesia; second key is for Bastion. So if you have Bastion already, but paid the extra because you like the developers (like me), you’ve got at least a Bastion key to give away.
31/05/2012 at 18:11 Kohlrabi says:
The soundtracks alone are a real treat. Not to mention it includes my favourite jump and run of all time and my GOTY 2011.
31/05/2012 at 18:16 Scilantius says:
It’s like these guys live for crushing the indie royale bundles,…
31/05/2012 at 18:21 Bobka says:
I’ve always wondered why the HIB guys get the most well-known, polished and acclaimed games whereas other bundles don’t. Does nobody approach the other bundles? (Indie Gala, Indie Royale, etc.) Why not?
31/05/2012 at 18:37 alundra says:
You might be right, I think there is a pattern, I’d swear I’ve seen this scene before.
Every time Indie Royal releases a bundle it makes me sad, ever since the first they just haven’t released anything that sets me on fire. Perhaps I just haven’t been lucky, or perhaps as Bobka says and the guys with the most proclaimed games approach the humble bundle guys only.
Nevetheless, Indie Royal and Indie Gala need to work on advertising their wares, put “indie bundle” on google and the first 5 hits or so are for Humble Bundle.
31/05/2012 at 21:05 Keymonk says:
I think it’s more, IndieRoyale stars less-known games in general, because they’re owned by Desure, as far as I recall, who also tends to sell lesser known indies. So generally, IndieRoyale lets the lesser known games get exposure, which is great.
01/06/2012 at 01:07 El_Emmental says:
nah, they’re complementary: Humble Bundles are the popular bundles for everyone, Indie Royales are the bundles for overlooked “really” (ha!)(read: “still rather poor devs”) indie games for gamers.
And if you’re into bundles of indie games (right now, there is 6 active bundles + the indie games’ soundtracks bundle), use the following wikia to keep track of active bundles:
=> http://indiegamebundle.wikia.com/wiki/Indie_Game_Bundle_Wiki
nb: Editing the front page is limited to admins, but they tend to quickly add submitted bundles on the freely-editable “Submit your changes” page.
…
1) The Humble Indie Bundle started the whole “Bundles !” frenzy, and is the flagship of the bundles – most people know about it.
It’s extremely clear (the two or three first trailers explained it perfectly): “it’s pay-what-you-want, DRM-free, cross-platform, and helps charity !”, extremely simple to understand the content and how it works, has 3 different payment options.
And the guys behind it (Wolfire Games) really showed they knew their job when the piracy issue showed up, they handled it perfectly => not suing (only asking to use torrents rather than official servers), trying to find solutions for anyone not being able to pay (minors, foreigners with restricted banking services, etc). Same with the Steam key issue.
2) Then the Indie Royales. They are Desura’s (= the equivalent of Steam for indie games and mods) bundles, they make “smaller” (in terms of titles and duration) bundles, often pairing somewhat-popular titles with overlooked (according to them) titles. So far, I’m really pleased at what they have done: they released many bundles, and had some really good ones.
3) Indie Gala are doing more “usual” (as in, what you would expect from the average publisher/bargain bin) bundles (= not really what I like), with truckload of games but not that much actual worthy content for each buyer.
Apparently, they’re rather struggling to get big titles. It might has to do with the fact they’re making extremely huge bundles (first one had 8 games, second had 8+6, third had 7 games, fourth has 12 games), kinda missing the point of making a clear, visible, bundle of games.
That problem with the readability and visibility is clearly showed on the bundle’s page: overcrowded web-design with too much flashy things everywhere, no clear explanations on the rewards (Beat The Average, Unlockable rewards after x bundles sold, etc), unclear special offers (the Happy Hour, the extra Gift system, etc) and so on. It seems they’re trying to do more, rather than do better. But agitation does not equal effective marketing and attractiveness – pretty often it’s the contrary.
4) Groupee bundles are better in terms of games offered (than the Gala’s ones), however they don’t seem to understand how PR/marketing works online (and I’m using kind words there) at all, especially when reaching the average Internet user and the average video game player.
It’s clearly visible in their trailers (gosh…) and the system used: they require you to create an account BEFORE buying the bundle, alienating themselves from at least half of potential sales.
31/05/2012 at 18:16 Danopian says:
This is unbelievable. I think I’m the lucky guy who hadn’t bought any of these yet.
31/05/2012 at 18:24 JackDandy says:
To be honest, I’m jealous. Those are all excellent games, I think you’ll enjoy it.
31/05/2012 at 18:27 Ragnar says:
What? Where have you been for the past two years? Have you been living under a rock, in a cave, that is sealed up by another, larger, rock?
Oh, you actually were trapped under a rock, in a cave, with nothing but a roll of masking tape and a bottle of maple syrup? Sorry about that.
Yeah, subsisting off syrup is pretty rough, but at least it was maple syrup. You’re lucky that cat came along when it did. Like my old man used to say, there’s no problem you can’t solve with masking tape, a cat, and some syrup.
31/05/2012 at 19:11 Bob_Bobson says:
What does your new man say?
31/05/2012 at 21:07 sybrid says:
I remember an old man who thought that using masking tape, syrup, and a cat to make a fake mustache so you could disguise yourself as another man, who did not have a moustache, was truly the pinnacle of adventure game antilogic insanity.
I miss that site.
http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/78.html
31/05/2012 at 22:36 LionsPhil says:
Greetings, comrade!
I suppose I really should grab Psychonauts at this price, platformer or no.
31/05/2012 at 18:17 MichaelPalin says:
I seriously don’t know what games do I have and what games I don’t, but I’ll buy this if only for the wonderful Sword & Sworcery OST. What the hell?, they are DRM free and have Linux version. Wait, Psychonauts too? Wow!, I’m paying big moneys for this!
31/05/2012 at 18:23 rustybroomhandle says:
I own all of these already, but now that all of it is available for Linux (well, Amnesia was before too), I feel the need to support them and buy it all again. So here goes…
*takes a few steps back*
*winds up pitch arm*
*THROWS ALL MONEY AT THE SCREEN*
31/05/2012 at 18:52 Hodge says:
Yeah, Linux people are the big winners with this one. I have to hand it to them for staying true to their cross-platform ethos – there’s some pretty complex games turning up in their bundles these days and commissioning the Mac + Linux ports must cost them a small fortune.
31/05/2012 at 19:01 rustybroomhandle says:
There’s another good thing coming out of this. Pretty much all new tech developed by Icculus to make the ports easier gets handed to the community under a “do whatever you like with it” license.
This stuff, for the most part, are ways to cope with (i.e. eliminate) proprietary third-party middle-ware.
Yeah, I’m more than happy to re-buy all of these games (albeit at a more than slight discount).
31/05/2012 at 19:49 bear912 says:
<3 Icculus, a gentleman and a scholar.
31/05/2012 at 22:31 DrazharLn says:
Where did you learn that Icculus had anything to do with the more recent Bundles? I can’t find anything with a quick google. Might be interested in looking at the code myself.
01/06/2012 at 08:32 Christian Dannie Storgaard says:
Psychonauts at least seems to be ported by him. The README-linux.txt file in the game directory points to http://icculus.org/mailman/listinfo/psychonauts and is signed by “ryan”, so I’d wager he’s the one whodunit.
LIMBO and Superbrothers seems to be ported (or Winelib’ed in LIMBOs case) by the original game authors. Amnesia, well that’s a long time ago and I believe that was an independent contractor working for Frictional Games, and Bastion? Well, I don’t know, it’s still downloading – maybe it’s the Native Client version?
01/06/2012 at 09:44 rustybroomhandle says:
http://icculus.org/cgi-bin/finger/finger.pl?user=icculus&date=2012-01-02&time=03-11-15
And Christian, Bastion seems to be a mono port.
01/06/2012 at 10:26 DrazharLn says:
Thanks :)
31/05/2012 at 20:39 Kaira- says:
Absolutely, I have pretty much all of the interesting games for Windows already. But for Linux? Sure, take my bloody money before I give you too much of it.
01/06/2012 at 04:54 rohsiph says:
That could’ve been ugly if you had more moneys. Close call.
31/05/2012 at 18:25 Freddybear says:
I am such a sucker for these indie bundles. It’s not like I have a backlog or anything…
31/05/2012 at 18:25 Xocrates says:
Is this indie bundle week or something?
sigh… and I’m going to get them all, aren’t I…
31/05/2012 at 18:25 Arathain says:
The thing I really want that I don’t have is the Bastion soundtrack. You know what, though, it’s a really cheap way to get that.
31/05/2012 at 22:56 warpas says:
I happen to be in a similar situation – I own all of these games but I’m thinking about buying the bundle anyway just to get the Bastion soundtrack. Do you know if you have to beat the average price to get it?
31/05/2012 at 23:53 vivlo says:
You do.
31/05/2012 at 18:27 Teronfel says:
Holy shit what is this?!?
31/05/2012 at 18:27 djbriandamage says:
Sorry to open ye olde cane ofe wormes but are these games really indie? Bastion was published by Warner Brothers and Psychonauts by Majesco.
31/05/2012 at 18:34 lowprices says:
STOP POINTING OUT THINGS AND GIVE TIM SCHAFER YOUR MONEY.
31/05/2012 at 18:35 djbriandamage says:
STOP POINTING AND CLICK!
31/05/2012 at 18:43 lowprices says:
See, this is why I love RPS. On any other gaming site shouting nonsense at somebody would start an argument. Here that someone usually joins in.
31/05/2012 at 18:45 Deadly Habit says:
key word published, having a publisher doesn’t mean that the studio making the titles is no longer indie.
31/05/2012 at 22:09 InternetBatman says:
See, here’s my issue with that. It opens “Indie” up to a bunch of games that I don’t think the label applies, like Fallout NV. I’m just curious, do you consider Valve games to be indie, especially Half-Life 2?
01/06/2012 at 04:01 PopeJamal says:
Honestly, I just care the most about the DRM. Or the lack thereof. I’ve always considered the indie thing a bonus.
EDIT: Oh, and Linux. I support GOOD gaming on Linux any way I can get it. So:
1)DRM Free!
2)Linux!
3)Indies!
01/06/2012 at 07:20 Deadly Habit says:
Do you consider Fez indie? They had financial backing and help publishing. Or how about say Cave Story +? Just because they had help publishing doesn’t make them not indie titles, technically I’d call Valve indie as they deliver on their own platform the created from the ground up, the same could be said of Nintendo, or even Mojang. It seems like once you get a bit of success you’re no longer indie these days. Let me put it this way, I’m working on a couple titles in my freetime, with my own money. Once they’re done if I happen to pitch them and have the fortune of having a larger publisher do some leg work for me like say Warner Bros or heaven forbid EA, does this mean said titles are no longer indie?
02/06/2012 at 13:58 mrwonko says:
I agree about Valve, but Nintendo is not really indie since they have shareholders.
31/05/2012 at 22:27 Man Raised by Puffins says:
@ djbriandamage: Double Fine recovered the rights to Psychonauts about a year ago, Majesco no longer get a cut.
31/05/2012 at 18:29 Kdansky says:
I’m gonna be a cheap bastard once again, because I own pretty much everything on this list except for S&S.
31/05/2012 at 18:31 MistaJah says:
Drool. It went in 20 minutes from 250 purchases to 10 000! Also, Bastion’s soundtrack (in FLAC, you can’t get that from Steam) is very much worth it.
31/05/2012 at 22:47 Baines says:
Penny Arcade advertised it as an insane deal.
31/05/2012 at 23:50 Malibu Stacey says:
It’s about to break 150k copies sold already & it’s only been available for around 6 hours.
Best bundle ever (even if I do already own them all it shall be much gifted to friends & family)
31/05/2012 at 18:32 Hodge says:
Christ on all of the bikes.
This is incredible. Even if you already own four of them, you could pay what you want for the remaining one and still be the Mayor of Bargaintown.
31/05/2012 at 18:33 Wizlah says:
Fucknors.
I’ve only got amnesia, meself, (Yeah, I know PSYCHONAUTS) but I may actually put summat down for this. Nice complement to Indie Royal as well, what with amnesia and the void guaranteed to give you all the head fuckery you’ll need for a couple of weeks.
31/05/2012 at 18:34 Drafman says:
I don’t want to sound like a beggar but…can somebody gift me the bundle please?
I’ve got no money right now and I really want Psychonauts!
31/05/2012 at 19:01 karthink says:
OK Drafman, I have a key to all games except Bastion. (Purchased the bundle three times already, twice with Bastion).
How do I send it to you?
31/05/2012 at 19:05 Drafman says:
My e-mail is sfrakson at gmail dot com
Is it a link to the bundle or a gift key link?
31/05/2012 at 19:10 karthink says:
“Unique gift URL”
Email sent, BTW.
31/05/2012 at 19:11 Drafman says:
Thank you very much!
31/05/2012 at 21:52 PodX140 says:
Bless (Or receive a suitable reward depending on your religious preference) your generous soul :D
I remember when I received a copy of plain sight from a very generous RPS user (I still remember your name, don’t worry, I simply don’t want people spamming you :P), I played that for MONTHS.
Ah, the joys of gaming.
01/06/2012 at 04:06 PopeJamal says:
That was really awesome of you. You shall be Internet Person of the Day!
31/05/2012 at 18:44 mr.ioes says:
I thought I didn’t own Bastion, so I payed a buck more than average. I wasn’t interested in any other game. Then it hit me: for some reason The Binding of Isaac is between Been There, Done That and Bioshock so when I searched for Bastion, I didn’t find it in the library. Screw you, Isaac!
31/05/2012 at 18:59 James G says:
Ooh, don’t own Limbo, Sword’n'Sorcery or Amnesia, and the first two at least are on my wishlist. Beat the average to get the Bastion soundtrack as that game sounds beautiful. Will also be nice to get the updated Steam version of Psychonauts.
Amnesia will probably sit taunting me.
31/05/2012 at 18:59 NathanH says:
I suppose I should get this because it is cheap and they are all well-made games, but I’m not sure I’d actually ever play any of them.
31/05/2012 at 19:10 Jimbo says:
Limbo’s worth a run through for a cent.
31/05/2012 at 19:02 Clavus says:
These games are so amazing, I bought all of them a long time ago. But nothing beats having a few spare Steam keys to educate random people on good games :D
31/05/2012 at 19:15 ribobura osserotto says:
>Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
>2 GB memory required
>2 GB
>for a pixel graphics game
What is optimization?
Other than that, I’m happy to know these add to the incoming fuckton of games which support linux.
01/06/2012 at 00:44 inawarminister says:
Who are you quoting?
But yeah, these are really awesome. Commercial games on Linux yessss!!!
31/05/2012 at 19:16 Scilantius says:
I’m calling it – the “secret suprise addition game” is going to be Diablo 3 DRM free!
01/06/2012 at 04:07 PopeJamal says:
Halleluja Sweet Jesus!
Have they seen the light?
31/05/2012 at 19:16 Orontes says:
So want to get this bundle- but I really ought to stop buying more games. Too many I own and yet unplayed.
31/05/2012 at 19:22 fuggles says:
Limbo is godawfully terribad but bastion and the bastion ost are worth lots of pennies indeed.
31/05/2012 at 19:26 rustybroomhandle says:
What you mean is that you did not like it.
31/05/2012 at 19:35 Arathain says:
It would make me so very happy if more people would get this distinction. A clue: if most or all people dislike something, it’s likely bad. If you dislike something, but you know that plenty of others do, it’s just that you don’t like it.
If you’re not sure, err on the side of assuming it’s just not a thing you like. It would make the Internet a more interesting and friendly place.
31/05/2012 at 20:05 Llewyn says:
You’re not seriously proposing popularity as a measure of quality, are you?
Agree with you on the distinction bit though.
31/05/2012 at 23:56 vivlo says:
No ! All he meant was to express his despair in beeing such a despicable human beeing, begging for a little hatred he deserved as he couldn’t give himself enough.
31/05/2012 at 19:49 derbefrier says:
I believe that’s what he said….
01/06/2012 at 01:57 InternetBatman says:
I know it’s my own opinion, but I have to agree about Limbo being bad. It’s cheap and pretentious (sorry, but no other word fits as well). It’s cheap at the gameplay level because it randomly kills you, and in many places death is the only way to learn the levels. If that was unforgivable in Sierra games twenty years ago, why should it be okay now? It’s cheap on an artistic level because it shows a child dying horribly each time you die, and death is unavoidable. Of course that evokes an emotional response, but that’s not a sign of craft. It’s a hamfisted way to make players care about the game, and it only works because we’re wired that way, not because of any creator skill.
The ending alone should make it fairly obvious that it was pretentious. It pretends to create an a vague, artistic ending, but really it just borders on incomprehensible. It has no deeper meaning that is obfuscated by the creator to prove a point. The rest of the game is this way too. The levels are heavy and oppressive, but there’s no real connection between them. No world has been built; it’s just a collection set-pieces. There is no cohesive themes beyond death and oppression.
The game is very good at creating atmosphere, and the animation is perfect, brilliant even. But appearances never give way to substance and the game feels entirely more empty than the developers intended.
If you want to check out a game that tries to create a very similar atmosphere and feeling, and achieves far greater success, try The Void (which is on the Indie Royale bundle.)
01/06/2012 at 09:02 jrodman says:
As a game, it’s bad, yes.
01/06/2012 at 16:56 Phasma Felis says:
The ending isn’t at all ambiguous if you read the game description on Steam/Xbox Live (In its entirety: “Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters LIMBO”). Admittedly it’s pretty dumb that that crucial information is nowhere in the game itself.
31/05/2012 at 20:17 fish99 says:
Most of the world seems to disagree with you-
http://www.metacritic.com/search/all/limbo/results
01/06/2012 at 00:19 RobF says:
THE WORLD IS WRONG
01/06/2012 at 12:08 fish99 says:
You mean they merely imagined they enjoyed the game? That’s what a review is, people describing and quantifying the experience they had playing it. You can’t turn around and tell those people they actually didn’t enjoy it.
01/06/2012 at 12:27 RobF says:
I’m not saying they can’t enjoy it, I’m saying they’re wrong! In the face.
31/05/2012 at 21:05 kalirion says:
I found Bastion to be rather mediocre gameplay-wise – though that was more than made up for by the narrator, story, and atmosphere.
I loved Limbo’s puzzles, though the atmosphere didn’t last too long for me.
01/06/2012 at 12:17 Apples says:
Limbo may have been cheap gameplay-wise, but at least it didn’t have reviewers falling over themselves to proclaim how brilliant the storytelling was and how amazingly it fit the medium of gaming, when it really amounted to “a monologue while you click things”.
(the OST was ok though)
31/05/2012 at 19:25 mooken says:
and I’ve just purchased 2 Gift Copies and 1 for myself.
in addition to the Indie Royale a few days ago.
and a few from the BecauseWeMay promo.
Curse you, you awesome developers.
31/05/2012 at 20:47 grundus says:
Same here, I got this, the Indie Royale bundle, Lunar Flight and Really Big Sky from the Because We May selection. I nearly got Eufloria too but I figured it will probably be in a bundle soon, RBS already was not long ago so might not be again for a little while. I also got Bundle In a Box a few days back and I’m sure there was another one… Too many bundles, and they’re mostly all awesome.
This time I only had two of the five games; S:S&S and Limbo, but as I’d already bought both of them in Steam sales I didn’t feel too bad about buying them again. I was only missing one game from the last HIB (Botanicula) but it didn’t really interest me as much as Machinarium and Samorost 2 anyway (I heard it was more like a toy than a game) so I passed. Passed on the last Indie Royale too.
Hang on a sec, what’s that sound? Oh. Oh right. It’s the sound of hundreds of fucks not being given. I’ll stop typing now.
31/05/2012 at 19:27 Pointless Puppies says:
I own all of them except S&S. I’m frankly mostly interested in the FLAC OSTs but….paying $7 for soundtracks? I’m hesitating…
31/05/2012 at 19:36 Toberoth says:
Eh? $7 for soundtracks is cheap as hell.
31/05/2012 at 22:20 The_B says:
Put it this way – the regular price for the Bastion soundtrack ALONE is $9.99 – that’s just one thing in this entire bundle.
31/05/2012 at 19:29 Shroom says:
Unless I’m mistaken, the thing at the end of the trailer is not from a current build of Amnesia. Both the monster is new and graphically it looks a little more high-end, anyone else thing that might be a hint at Machine For Pigs?
I might be wrong though, someone correct if I’m wrong.
31/05/2012 at 19:31 Shroom says:
Oh no, I think I am totally mistaken. NEVERMIND.
31/05/2012 at 20:22 MichaelPalin says:
Now I’m confused, I don’t remember any enemy with metal plates in the game. Are you sure you were wrong?
31/05/2012 at 19:30 dogsolitude_uk says:
I already own Amnesia and Psychonauts on Steam, but bought them for the Linux versions. I’ve been using Linux Mint more and more over the last few weeks.
In fact, last week I only booted into Windows once…
31/05/2012 at 19:34 Humppakummitus says:
I keep throwing my wallet at Tim. Lost 25$ this time, and I already have everything but Bastion. I don’t know what it is about him, but every bloody time: “Oh look, Tim.” -> flying wallet.
31/05/2012 at 19:37 andytizer says:
If this is your first time with Superbrothers or Psychonauts, come and check out these wiki pages of bugs, fixes and workarounds:
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Superbrothers:_Sword_%26_Sworcery_EP
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Psychonauts
If you discover a new fix, please take the tine to add it in (no account required).
31/05/2012 at 19:38 Howard says:
I actually only own Psychonauts out of all those so this is a smegging excellent deal for me.
Please to be taking my monies.
31/05/2012 at 19:51 Drayk says:
I have bastion, and also bought the soundtrack. Oh well they deserved my money anyway.
I already played s&s the way it’s supposed to be played, on iphone.
But I wanted the 3 other games. 10 bucks for those three is still a bargain.
31/05/2012 at 19:53 dogsolitude_uk says:
I got an email with a download link in it.
Edit: this was a reply to someone else, who’s post appears to have disappeared. This wasn’t just a random comment on my part…
31/05/2012 at 20:10 smg77 says:
Looks like they have hit some sort of rate limit sending to gmail so if you haven’t got a download email that might be why
31/05/2012 at 23:31 frightlever says:
The Major is a handful, as ever. We challenged the coast, westward clearly, but were rebuffed because the old man was spewing bubbles. Difficult to explain that he was as cogent as he’s been for a decade. Difficult, heart-breaking and… inevitable.
I remain upbeat, though I wish I had a bigger hammer to drop. No! Not like that.
01/06/2012 at 00:29 Blackcompany says:
You, Fright, are either a genius of the written word – Sheogorath style, mind you – or completely bat shit crazy. Either or. I can’t decide which. Not that there is, inherently, anything wrong with either. Crazy being largely relative in this day and age and all that jazz.
Anyway…good luck in your next foray. Into the Breach and all that. I hope you hold the beachhead next time, I’ll be rooting for you. Perhaps from a long distance off. Cheerio, my good man.
01/06/2012 at 19:46 fish99 says:
Is that a line from Bastion? I honestly can’t remember, but it reminds me of the some of the awesome narration in the game.
Btw RPS the comments aren’t nesting correctly. This was supposed to be a reply to frightlever
31/05/2012 at 19:54 rustybroomhandle says:
When the purchase is complete you get a link to your unique key page on screen, and you also get two emails. One with the link to your unique key page and one with a receipt. If you don’t have any of these, best to chat with their support people. There’s a livechat but I am guessing right now it’s busy as all heck.
EDIT: Er, what the poster above me said
31/05/2012 at 19:57 Optimaximal says:
Isn’t it getting a *bit* shitty how they’re scheduling these bundles AFTER other big Indie sales?
Every item in the bundle was just discounted in the Because We May sale – heck, Limbo was this weeks Steam mid-week sale.
I know it’s basically *tough* but you’d think after the Botanicula rug-pull they’d be a little more classy?!
31/05/2012 at 20:01 rustybroomhandle says:
Yeah they probably have spies at all the other bundlers’ headquarters as well as within Valve and GoG so they can time their releases to be as jerkish as possible. Yup.
31/05/2012 at 21:41 Baines says:
To be fair, Indie Royale has a bundle seemingly every two or three weeks. Hrm, looking at their site, Junebug Bundle is listed in 2 weeks, Summer Bundle in 4, and July Jubilee in 7. So, pretty much every other week an Indie Royale bundle is in progress?
Then you add any number of other Indie bundle deals and promotions, and you are going to have overlap. For example, Bundle in a Box is still running.
Because We May is just a promotion, not a bundle deal. And it was an opt-in promotion, where apparently any game could join in for a bit more publicity. As a lot of indie games jumped aboard, the odds of overlaps were high. Most of the games in it have had the same or lower sale prices in the past (so Humble wasn’t stealing thunder from extraordinary price decreases), and Humble came out at the end of the promotion anyway.
Limbo as a Steam deal is a bit annoying, though, and seems like bad or careless planning on someone’s part. Still no Botanicula, though.
31/05/2012 at 21:57 Skabooga says:
Well, at least they are not releasing HIB before the other bundles, right? A bundle like this would be a tough act to follow, but, to continue the metaphor, opening for the HIB is much easier.
31/05/2012 at 19:58 zapatapon says:
I own everything already but it’s such an amazing deal that I can’t possibly resist buying it anyway.
31/05/2012 at 20:02 cyrenic says:
I deliberately held off on buying several of these (particularly Bastion and Limbo) because I figured they would eventually be included in a Humble Bundle at some point.
/smug
Super duper excited to get all the soundtracks with these as well.
31/05/2012 at 20:05 nullward says:
I’d pay $10 just for a HD version of that end screen splash, text-free, as a desktop background…
Edit: my wish is their command! http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4we2vGFoY1r09qkf.jpg
01/06/2012 at 06:55 nullward says:
And wow, right here: http://supergiantgames.com/site/wp-content/uploads/HIBV_WallpaperD_1920x1080.jpg
31/05/2012 at 20:08 MistyMike says:
Yay! This will we the best $0.01 I ever spent!
31/05/2012 at 22:32 dethtoll says:
You’re an asshole. Just sayin’.
01/06/2012 at 00:00 vivlo says:
keeps me wondering… i paid $3 and feel sort of bad… is that a normal thing, or a nefast side effect of this payment model which allegedly gives you the freedom to choose how you pay and thus enforces you to thank them for this freedom by the most obvious way you can thank them, which is money ?
01/06/2012 at 00:26 dethtoll says:
It’s a normal thing, but also when you pay like a single penny, that costs HIB money because they pay more in transaction fees than you pay them for the transaction. Real dick move really.
01/06/2012 at 01:24 beekay says:
The bundles have always relied on a combination of generosity and guilt to produce some sort of tolerable average sale price. I’d say it’s pretty normal to feel bad about paying only $3 for the entire bundle, because that is just not what it’s worth (of course, it’s a different situation if you’ve got all of them except one).
And yes, Mike is a prick.
01/06/2012 at 01:26 InternetBatman says:
I feel bad for paying that and I own most of the games. I am glad I get that sweet steam copy of psychonauts though.
01/06/2012 at 00:31 RobF says:
As someone who’s done PWYW for a few years, the only time $0.01 is asshole-ish is when someone does something asshole-ish afterwards. I’ve had, genuinely, one guy pay $0.01 then open up a Paypal complaint with me because I hadn’t sent him the downloads. Except, I had. The complaint was aimed at someone other nob who’d clearly decided to not be arsed sending out anything in a timely fashion and the guy opened the complaint with me instead. ‘Cos, I guess, when you’re paying that many $0.01, it gets a bit hard to keep up when everything looks the same.
But providing you’re not being a dick to anyone? Well, that’s pay what you want, isn’t it? You pay what you want. And if people don’t want people paying $0.01, they don’t let them do so.
S’all part the fun and paying low doesn’t make you a nob. Being a nob does. So steady on, eh?
01/06/2012 at 02:54 MistyMike says:
So I paid $0.01 and they didn’t give me Bastion!! What a bunch of tossers! It was supposed to be a bundle! The youtube vid did not mention a minimal price for the entire thing! I’m totally filing a complaint to those wankers! Give me my damn penny back!!!
01/06/2012 at 04:07 RobF says:
*hands Mike his penny back*
And don’t drop it. You know what happened last time. We had to pull the sofa out and everything and the cat fell down that hole and OH MY.
01/06/2012 at 04:42 PopeJamal says:
“The youtube vid did not mention a minimal price for the entire thing!”
It most certainly did not, but the website where you spent your retirement fund said it in plain English.
Just my $0.02, which is DOUBLE what you paid!
01/06/2012 at 04:55 RobF says:
I’m not giving you 2p too. I’m already a penny down.
01/06/2012 at 12:18 fish99 says:
So you’re a cheapskate, and you can’t read.
“Pay more than the average of $7.64 to unlock Bastion!”
Btw paying $0.01 actually costs the HIB money.
01/06/2012 at 14:08 RobF says:
If this goes over 3p, I’m going to end up bankrupt.
31/05/2012 at 20:18 Hmm-Hmm. says:
You bastards.
Only had Bastion (which I’d only recently purchased, inlcuding the soundtrack). Also, curse me. I can’t help but fork over an amount I find fair for some great games.. even if I’m unlikely to play them (Amnesia.. brr..).
31/05/2012 at 20:18 Blackcompany says:
Don’t own Amnesia. Never played psychonauts. Maybe I should buy this one…?
31/05/2012 at 21:29 Illessa says:
Hell yes, Psychonauts is definitely worth throwing some cash at (it has an excellent soundtrack too)
31/05/2012 at 23:53 Blackcompany says:
Ok…I would pay the minimum just to hear Logan Cunningham narrate something else. That could read a road atlas out loud and I would listen just for his description of the places contained therein. Heaven knows what he might do with a travel guide of Old Europe. You could put in a bundle and it would be worth a $5 on its own.
So yeah…excellent bundle. Excellent presentation. I am all over this one.
31/05/2012 at 20:21 Solanaceae says:
Think I’m one of the lucky people that hasnt bought any of these yet.
Psychonauts, Limbo, Bastion and Amnesia for $7. Just insane.
31/05/2012 at 20:49 fuggles says:
So to clarify, I personally think limbo is a bag of shite and screw metacritc, I know lost of people who agree. The plot exists purely outside of the game in the steam description, the level atmosphere starts all heart of darkness and then grinds to that rare videogame setting of warehouses. Finally, I played the whole game through in about 2 hours having not got stuck on a single puzzle making it poor value for money and a poor puzzle game to me. To me in my personal opinion it was like someone wanted to make their own version of another world but had no idea why that game was good. That’ s my personal subjective opinion.
31/05/2012 at 21:08 lowprices says:
Is $15 too much given that I own all of these except Sword and Sworcery? Well, and the soundtracks of course. Still, charity and awesome games developers, so I could have done worse things with my money.
31/05/2012 at 21:25 KillahMate says:
BUY ALL THE THINGS
But seriously, I have *all* of these (though my S&S copy is for iOS), but it’s worth giving above average just for the Bastion soundtrack. And the DRM-free copies, of course.
31/05/2012 at 22:27 povu says:
I already own all those games except Sword & Sorcery, but I bought it anyway for the soundtracks.
31/05/2012 at 22:30 dethtoll says:
I own almost all of these, and the one game I don’t have, I don’t want. (Amnesia, for the curious. I hate it, for the extra-curious.) I can’t really justify throwing money at HB this time, sorry.
31/05/2012 at 22:51 zagor says:
fuck this im rather giving it to Blizzard and buying D3 again
31/05/2012 at 22:58 Xzi says:
I was willing to pay $8 for Amnesia and Swords & Sworcery. Already owned the rest. Besides, now I get to feel really generous going to the Steam forums and giving away a key for Bastion. GOTY 2011, second only perhaps to Arkham City. But only because that’s how much I love Batman.
Edit: my little giveaway is here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2727988
31/05/2012 at 23:06 RegisteredUser says:
Bought faster than you can say “DRM boo, Indie yay”.
I, too, am starting to suffer from the “New bundle? Oh, have 60%+ already. What a shame.” phenomenon though.
31/05/2012 at 23:18 frightlever says:
So… Amnesia in a bundle, actually putting me off paying for it… is that a thing? I wel.. I app… I.. I… I hate everything about this game and I hope it, and the idea behind it dies. Painfully – so long as I don’t have to witness it.
So. I digress. I hate everything about this game and it’s very existence makes me sad. Is that a legitimate point of view?
Oh, I know we should allow perverts and meth-fiends to play it, but normal people? Lawd, no.
All you guys who like the game, I understand your point of view. That’s what napalm is for. Understanding. And disposing of the bodies.
01/06/2012 at 03:57 hello_mr.Trout says:
? amnesia was a neat game – despite falling off a bit towards the end, it had heaps of style and a neat item/object interface setup -> do you have any valid reasons for disliking it so much? :/
31/05/2012 at 23:26 frightlever says:
In an unrelated comment – everyone has Psychonauts (didn’t like it – and rapidly. I hate platformers.), almost everyone has Sword and Soldiers (and neglected it, then let it get deleted soon after). Amnesia is ace, you should definitely get it, READ MORE TO THE RIGHT if you are my enemy. Limbo is a great game… so long as you’re happy to be love-met, repeatedly, by a video-game that was only supposed to kiss. Bastion will likely amuse you as much as me. ie far less than half way.
Still, Endless Space and Warlock amuse me. Am I wrong? Is life wrong? Or are, basically poor, indie games getting over-exposed?
I have no opinion, but if I did, it would be purple, and complaining about shoddy indie games.
31/05/2012 at 23:33 Xzi says:
I can’t even begin to imagine the number of things that must be wrong with your brain.
01/06/2012 at 00:05 devlocke says:
For the record, re: Psychonauts, I came to it a decade late, and for the first couple of hours persisted on sheer will cuz’ I just didn’t see what the attraction was, outside of a fun vibe. Then the bits in the people’s brains started, and my mind got blown multiple times and it was fucking awesome. If you still own it, I’d recommend putting the time in. It’s just a decent platformer for a long while (which equals not-so-great-game, to me as well; not my kind of thing) but it’s so amazing when it’s doing one of its cool things that it’s worth any amount of time you put into it that you find less than worthwhile. That was phrased awkwardly, I hope my meaning is still clear; I’m doing shots of kirschwasser at the moment.
01/06/2012 at 00:08 dmoe says:
The motherload.
01/06/2012 at 00:11 E_FD says:
Bought Amnesia and it was great, was interested in Limbo until I played the demo and thought it was rather blah, heard of Bastion before and it looks nice but not really my thing, never heard of Sword & Sorcery, and Psychonauts is a game I’ve heard getting raved about for so long that I’ve always thought I ought to pick it up but never got around to it.
All in all, this looks pretty tempting.
01/06/2012 at 00:26 Jupiah says:
Unfortunately this indie bundle is too good! It’s so good in fact that I already own almost all of these!
Well, at least I got Sword and Sworcery, the PC port of Bastion (already had Xbox version) and some sweet soundtracks. Still well worth 7 dollars.
01/06/2012 at 00:30 NailBombed says:
Oddly enough, unlike many here, I didn’t have these games before this bundle came along. S’what happens with not being affluent enough to get all of these without this here deal. Cheers for THIB for bringing me up to speed – oh, and I pay ten dolla (or, truthfully, 8 euro). Looking forward to playing me some Bastion and Amnesia.
01/06/2012 at 00:45 Vinraith says:
I think I’ve finally broken the spell of these things, I’ve been clean of impulse sale and bundle buys for 6 months now. The trick is recognizing that, in my case anyway, time is at least as limited as money and thus something that isn’t worth much cash to me isn’t realistically going to be worth my time, either. Being cheap doesn’t make something worth buying, because being cheap doesn’t make something worth playing. Things that are worth playing are worth playing, no matter how expensive they are, and things that aren’t worth playing aren’t worth playing, no matter how cheap they are.
The trick is realizing that you can horde til the ends of the Earth, but you’ll never really play most of it. Without going into specifics, suffice it to say that anything I wanted out of this bundle I already bought at real prices, and anything I didn’t buy at real prices I’d never really play anyway.
01/06/2012 at 01:00 TillEulenspiegel says:
I completely agree with that reasoning, but my brain still manages to outsmart me by telling me that even if I never play them, it’s still nice to support interesting games, particularly indie games that also run on Linux. I’m not too bothered about other bundles, but HIB almost always gets me because of that.
01/06/2012 at 01:15 Zarunil says:
Best bundle ever.
01/06/2012 at 01:27 InternetBatman says:
I love the bundles. A few more and my linux netbook will be able to be a decent time wasting machine.
01/06/2012 at 05:05 Armante says:
That video is an epic win. Thank you Tim.
Also – fantastic bundle! But.. like so many here.. already own/have played these.
Next time?
01/06/2012 at 07:51 Minsc_N_Boo says:
I had to but this! The only game I already owned was Psyhconaughts, so this was a bargain’ I have only had a quick go on Sword & Sworcery so far… and I am a little unsure to be honest. The music and gfx are great, but the controls feel really clunky.
I am looking forward to Bastion, but I am bit worried about Amnesia. I have seen a couple of videos and it looks freaky!
01/06/2012 at 11:30 Optimaximal says:
It’s clunky because it’s adapted from the iOS version, which makes use of orientation changes and touch mechanics.
I’d rather that the desktop version used the keyboard for movement.
01/06/2012 at 09:04 jrodman says:
Why do linux users pay more? Unsure, but I paid 30.
I’d asked the swords and sworcery peeps if they planned to release it via some non-drm channel. They didn’t answer. UNTIL NOW.
Thanks for releaseing it on a non-drm channel!
01/06/2012 at 11:44 Malibu Stacey says:
They don’t get many games worth playing so they’re grateful for the ones they do get?
Basically the video games equivalent of pulling a fat girl.
01/06/2012 at 09:24 DestructibleEnvironments says:
I too have most of these games, but I am very excited to have the soundtracks in FLAC quality. Go humble bundles! I also bought the bundle that contained Botanicula.
01/06/2012 at 10:33 RogB says:
everyone seems to be pooing on Limbo, I loved it. style over substance? perhaps, but what a style.
01/06/2012 at 12:23 fish99 says:
Not everyone, just a vocal minority. A quick look on metacritic shows a large majority enjoyed it.
01/06/2012 at 12:19 fish99 says:
It’s almost sad to see a game as good as Bastion in a HIB. It was worth every penny at full price IMO.
01/06/2012 at 17:30 Mattressi says:
I wonder if the average will fall? On the one hand, I think they deserve a high average because it’s an awesome bundle. On the other, I’m a cheapskate and can’t afford to pay $7 for games :(
01/06/2012 at 17:41 Dizzard says:
I don’t own any of these games, but they’re all games (well not so much the Sword and Sorcery one) that I’ve always meant to pick up at some stage.
I guess now would be a good time. :p
01/06/2012 at 20:05 Shadrach says:
All those are amazing games. Own them all except Bastion, so now’s the chance I guess. Best bundle ever I’d say.