Conan, hats and prison-breaks for $12 on Humble today
Jailed for barbarous crimes against hats
Run, jump, grab a thousand gubbins, escape from prison guards and hear the lamentations of their women - sounds like a fun weekend. Humble have just unveiled their next three 'early unlock' games for their Humble Monthly subscription service, and it's an impressive little trio. $12 gets you Funcom's survival sandbox Conan Exiles, Gears for Breakfast's Mario-esque platformer A Hat In Time and Mouldy Toof's jailbreak sim The Escapists 2 now, plus a bundle of mystery games at the end of the month.
Hardcore survival sandboxes aren't normally my cup of tea (unless they're offline and also S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) but in the few hours I've sunk into Conan Exiles, I've had some fun. Having PvE-only servers and allowing you to quickly get into the fun parts of barbarian fantasy (wearing very little and stabbing things with sharp pieces of metal) helps, and exploring is a joy because of a Breath of the Wild-ish free-climbing system. The game got a major patch yesterday, and there's more free content on the way, which you can read about here.
As brilliant as gaming on PC is, one thing we do miss out on more often than not is 3D platformers, especially of the Mario 64-esque variety. A Hat In Time isn't quite the full three-course banquet that Mario Odyssey is, but it's one of the best collectathon platformers you can get on PC, with the promise of more worlds coming as free DLC later and a well-stocked Steam workshop full of user-made levels, powers and hats to wear.
The Escapists series as a whole has always flown under my radar. I've been vaguely aware of the existence of these games, but I wasn't sold on trying one until I saw the Escapists 2 trailer below, featuring the most British prison-break fantasy possible. It's one I'm sure many of us had as kids; sneaking your way out of a (slightly renamed for legal reasons) Center Parcs holiday village. There's also a chunky pile of DLC available separately, including quests to escape from a medieval dungeon and an oppressive circus.
As for me, I already have two of those three, so here's hoping there's something else for me in the end-of-month bundle. You can grab the Humble Monthly early games over here for $12, and everything there is free to keep. The subscription also gives you access to the Humble Trove, an additional library of DRM-free games, including The Sexy Brutale, Satellite Reign and The End is Nigh.