Cheap games for the cheap gamer! But does cheap mean low quality, or
just inexpensive? Let's see what we're getting and then decide!

* Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/
The oddball RPG enters its final form. Famous for its dialogue system
and characters (and infamous for the drama between its developers and
producers), the game is more of a psychological drama than
action-driven adventure. Thus it might not be to everyone's taste. But
niche as it may be, it is an extremely well-made and well-written game
that well deserves the praise heaped upon it.

* Chivalry 2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1824220/Chivalry_2/
If you enjoy whacking people with swords, then you'll love "Chivalry
2". This online 'shooter' ('hacker'?) lets you play out your medieval
fantasies in large multiplayer sieges, with semi-realistic and
visceral and gory combat. But beware the bugs and difficult community.

* Road 96
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466640/Road_96/
A hitchhiking simulator that lets you play out all the fun and horror
of thumbing a ride through a procedurally generated world. As much a
series of mini-games as it is a 'narrative game', it is intriguing in
its concept, if perhaps a bit repetitive and shallow at times.

* Trek to Yomi
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1370050/Trek_to_Yomi/
A very stylish side-scrolling action game where you take on the role
of a samurai defending his home town. Mechanically, it may lack
novelty (although its intricate combat , which verges on Souls-like
difficult at times) and excellent production values more than make up
for any lack of innovation.

* Arcade Paradise
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1388870/Arcade_Paradise/
A weird mix of walking sim, and arcade games, "Arcade Paradise" mainly
exists to feed the nostalgia people feel for classic video game
arcades. Play the arcades to unlock new games to improve your business
(no actual tycoon sim mechanics are involved). But ultimately, "Arcade
Paradise" is little more than a bunch of knock-off retro-arcade games,
so if you don't feel any love for that era of games, you probably
won't have that much fun with it overall.

* SuchArt: Genius Artist Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293180/SuchArt_Genius_Artist_Simulator/
A gameified paint program. Essentially a sandbox/experimental toy that
lets you create art - in a variety of forms, and not just limited to
illustrations - with a wrapper of gameplay tied around it. It's sort
of like "PC Builder Simulator" for people with a more artistic bent.
The tools are a bit clumsy and - despite what the teasers suggest -
you probably won't end up making much worth looking at unless you're
willing to pour a lot of time and effort into the game. But it's sort
of fun, I guess.

* Tin Can
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1315980/Tin_Can/
How long can you survive in a failing space-craft? "Tin Can" tests
your ability to manipulate and balance various systems long enough for
you make it to safety. Which you probably won't, because the
difficulty ramps up quickly and there's a lot of stuff to juggle. A
bit rough around the edges, but interesting in concept, if not
execution.

* Hot Brass
https://store.steampowered.com/app/892860/Hot_Brass/
A top-down SWAT simulation/strategy game. Its simplified visuals do it
no favors, and it might just be a bit too restrictive in letting you
do what you want; at times, it looks and plays a bit too much like a
mobile game. But for a quick pick-me-up game of close-quarters combat,
it isn't too bad.

Huh. Not such a bad selection this month. None of the games are
instant classics - either lacking in mass-market appeal or suffering
from some poor production values - but they all are imaginative and,
despite flaws, still fairly well made games. Given a choice between
one great game, two average ones and five bad ones (HumbleChoice's
usual mix) OR four good games (what we're getting this month), I think
I prefer the latter. And you still can't beat the price.

But decide for yourself. You have a month to buy these games... or
not. Me, I've already given them my credit card. ;-)

On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:00:26 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>Huh. Not such a bad selection this month. None of the games are
>instant classics - either lacking in mass-market appeal or suffering
>from some poor production values - but they all are imaginative and,
>despite flaws, still fairly well made games.

I agree with this summary but I am going to pass. They are not really
to my taste.

Thank you for the post. I completely forgot about it this month.

On 01/08/2023 19:00, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> * Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/
> The oddball RPG enters its final form. Famous for its dialogue system
> and characters (and infamous for the drama between its developers and
> producers), the game is more of a psychological drama than
> action-driven adventure. Thus it might not be to everyone's taste. But
> niche as it may be, it is an extremely well-made and well-written game
> that well deserves the praise heaped upon it.

As whenever DE is mentioned I', going to have to chip in that it made it
straight to my top ten of best PC games of all time. A CRPG were failure
is an option and not let's load the last save. That's a rarity.

On Wed, 2 Aug 2023 19:33:45 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 01/08/2023 19:00, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> * Disco Elysium - The Final Cut

>As whenever DE is mentioned I', going to have to chip in that it made it
>straight to my top ten of best PC games of all time. A CRPG were failure
>is an option and not let's load the last save. That's a rarity.

"Disco Elysium" is fairly different from most RPGs though, so its
understandable that its not to everybody's taste. Sometimes we all
WANT the safe choice, to embrace the usual and comforting. "Disco"
does demand a bit more from players than, say, "Legend of Grimrock" or
"Diablo". I get that; sometimes I'm like that too.

But when you're ready for that something new, "Disco" is definitely
worth taking a look at.

Which is why I too recommend "Disco", especially when you can get it
at a bargain price. You don't have to play it immediately, but have it
available when your gaming is in the doldrums and you are getting
annoyed by how all your games are so similar. Then you'll be glad you
have "Disco" and doubly-glad you didn't have to pay a premium for it.
;-)

On 02/08/2023 21:20, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Wed, 2 Aug 2023 19:33:45 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>> On 01/08/2023 19:00, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>> * Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
>
>> As whenever DE is mentioned I', going to have to chip in that it made it
>> straight to my top ten of best PC games of all time. A CRPG were failure
>> is an option and not let's load the last save. That's a rarity.
>
> "Disco Elysium" is fairly different from most RPGs though, so its
> understandable that its not to everybody's taste. Sometimes we all
> WANT the safe choice, to embrace the usual and comforting. "Disco"
> does demand a bit more from players than, say, "Legend of Grimrock" or
> "Diablo". I get that; sometimes I'm like that too.
>
> But when you're ready for that something new, "Disco" is definitely
> worth taking a look at.
>
> Which is why I too recommend "Disco", especially when you can get it
> at a bargain price. You don't have to play it immediately, but have it
> available when your gaming is in the doldrums and you are getting
> annoyed by how all your games are so similar. Then you'll be glad you
> have "Disco" and doubly-glad you didn't have to pay a premium for it.
> ;-)
>

Putting aside the, the devs are commies crowd the game really does seem
to split opinion with a heavy bias into who has played TT RPG's
(positive) and those who just play CRPG's (negative). I can see why as
it's presented as a CRPG but it plays quite differently from what people
are used to. So it starts with character generation where yes you can
customise your character but it's fairly limited and you certainly
aren't the almost blank slate that is normal. Then you have the game is
very text heavy and the dialogue trees are far more aligned with your
personality and not click through all the options to see which one you
should choose. Last up, basically no combat and the two times there is,
it's played out using dialogue trees.

For me though its biggest strength is that is it addresses well the
ability to get into what would my character do instead of I'll do this
so I can get some gold and a trinket. It's one of the problems I've
always had with CRPG's in general, they aren't that good in allowing you
to develop a character much beyond a class and set of stats/skills and
the occasional this is the good choice and this is the evil choice, oh
but you probably want to take the good choice.

One of the complaints I do think is valid is the blurb used to have open
world in it and it really isn't. There's only two parts to the complete
map and it takes only a few minutes, if that, to go from one side to the
other.

On Thu, 3 Aug 2023 12:07:52 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 02/08/2023 21:20, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> On Wed, 2 Aug 2023 19:33:45 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 01/08/2023 19:00, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>> * Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
>>
>>> As whenever DE is mentioned I', going to have to chip in that it made it
>>> straight to my top ten of best PC games of all time. A CRPG were failure
>>> is an option and not let's load the last save. That's a rarity.
>>
>> "Disco Elysium" is fairly different from most RPGs though, so its
>> understandable that its not to everybody's taste. Sometimes we all
>> WANT the safe choice, to embrace the usual and comforting. "Disco"
>> does demand a bit more from players than, say, "Legend of Grimrock" or
>> "Diablo". I get that; sometimes I'm like that too.
>>
>> But when you're ready for that something new, "Disco" is definitely
>> worth taking a look at.
>>
>> Which is why I too recommend "Disco", especially when you can get it
>> at a bargain price. You don't have to play it immediately, but have it
>> available when your gaming is in the doldrums and you are getting
>> annoyed by how all your games are so similar. Then you'll be glad you
>> have "Disco" and doubly-glad you didn't have to pay a premium for it.
>> ;-)
>>
>
>Putting aside the, the devs are commies crowd the game really does seem
>to split opinion with a heavy bias into who has played TT RPG's
>(positive) and those who just play CRPG's (negative). I can see why as
>it's presented as a CRPG but it plays quite differently from what people
>are used to. So it starts with character generation where yes you can
>customise your character but it's fairly limited and you certainly
>aren't the almost blank slate that is normal. Then you have the game is
>very text heavy and the dialogue trees are far more aligned with your
>personality and not click through all the options to see which one you
>should choose. Last up, basically no combat and the two times there is,
>it's played out using dialogue trees.
>
>For me though its biggest strength is that is it addresses well the
>ability to get into what would my character do instead of I'll do this
>so I can get some gold and a trinket. It's one of the problems I've
>always had with CRPG's in general, they aren't that good in allowing you
>to develop a character much beyond a class and set of stats/skills and
>the occasional this is the good choice and this is the evil choice, oh
>but you probably want to take the good choice.
>
>One of the complaints I do think is valid is the blurb used to have open
>world in it and it really isn't. There's only two parts to the complete
>map and it takes only a few minutes, if that, to go from one side to the
>other.

Even though that was one of my complaints, that was more because of my
personal preferences rather than because I felt it would make the game
better. One of the things I enjoy in games is the exploring, so having
large, diverse open worlds is a major draw. But giant maps don't
always make a game better - and often work to a game's detriment if
there isn't enough unique content to make that exploration worthwhile
(see my recent complaint about "Ghostwire: Tokyo"). Instead, all that
added space works against the game, either just by wasting your time
crossing and re-crossing huge swathes of the map unnecessarily, or by
filling it with uninteresting, grindy content.

"Disco" decided to avoid the problem by using a smaller map, because
the game's focus was on the interactions and characters. It is /not/ a
game about exploration. As such, it's missing something that I really
enjoy in games (fortunately, it had many other strengths to make up
the lack). But I don't think adding a larger map would have made
"Disco" a better game. It just would have drawn it out, dilluting the
experience and losing focus on what made the "Disco" notable in the
first place.

TL;DR: I disliked "Disco's" tiny map too, but in the same way I
disliked "Pac Man's" tiny maps. Doesn't mean the game isn't worth
playing or would be improved by the change. It just means I have a big
map fetish ;-)

Am 02.08.23 um 15:16 schrieb Mike S.:
> On Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:00:26 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Huh. Not such a bad selection this month. None of the games are
>> instant classics - either lacking in mass-market appeal or suffering
>>from some poor production values - but they all are imaginative and,
>> despite flaws, still fairly well made games.
>
> I agree with this summary but I am going to pass. They are not really
> to my taste.
>
> Thank you for the post. I completely forgot about it this month.
I loved Trek to Yomi, the artwork is second to none, if you like the old
Kurosawa movies, this game is basically a love letter to them.
And yes it is somehow repetitive, but basically all Samurai games are
compared to for instance Ghost of Thushima which is basically 10 times
bigger got high praise, I was way less bored and more entertained by
Trek to Yomi than Ghost of Th... which is basically in its core a
repetitive open world game with basically 3 different missions rolled
over half of japan!

On 03/08/2023 13:16, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Thu, 3 Aug 2023 12:07:52 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>> On 02/08/2023 21:20, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>> On Wed, 2 Aug 2023 19:33:45 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 01/08/2023 19:00, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>>> * Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
>>>
>>>> As whenever DE is mentioned I', going to have to chip in that it made it
>>>> straight to my top ten of best PC games of all time. A CRPG were failure
>>>> is an option and not let's load the last save. That's a rarity.
>>>
>>> "Disco Elysium" is fairly different from most RPGs though, so its
>>> understandable that its not to everybody's taste. Sometimes we all
>>> WANT the safe choice, to embrace the usual and comforting. "Disco"
>>> does demand a bit more from players than, say, "Legend of Grimrock" or
>>> "Diablo". I get that; sometimes I'm like that too.
>>>
>>> But when you're ready for that something new, "Disco" is definitely
>>> worth taking a look at.
>>>
>>> Which is why I too recommend "Disco", especially when you can get it
>>> at a bargain price. You don't have to play it immediately, but have it
>>> available when your gaming is in the doldrums and you are getting
>>> annoyed by how all your games are so similar. Then you'll be glad you
>>> have "Disco" and doubly-glad you didn't have to pay a premium for it.
>>> ;-)
>>>
>>
>> Putting aside the, the devs are commies crowd the game really does seem
>> to split opinion with a heavy bias into who has played TT RPG's
>> (positive) and those who just play CRPG's (negative). I can see why as
>> it's presented as a CRPG but it plays quite differently from what people
>> are used to. So it starts with character generation where yes you can
>> customise your character but it's fairly limited and you certainly
>> aren't the almost blank slate that is normal. Then you have the game is
>> very text heavy and the dialogue trees are far more aligned with your
>> personality and not click through all the options to see which one you
>> should choose. Last up, basically no combat and the two times there is,
>> it's played out using dialogue trees.
>>
>> For me though its biggest strength is that is it addresses well the
>> ability to get into what would my character do instead of I'll do this
>> so I can get some gold and a trinket. It's one of the problems I've
>> always had with CRPG's in general, they aren't that good in allowing you
>> to develop a character much beyond a class and set of stats/skills and
>> the occasional this is the good choice and this is the evil choice, oh
>> but you probably want to take the good choice.
>>
>> One of the complaints I do think is valid is the blurb used to have open
>> world in it and it really isn't. There's only two parts to the complete
>> map and it takes only a few minutes, if that, to go from one side to the
>> other.
>
> Even though that was one of my complaints, that was more because of my
> personal preferences rather than because I felt it would make the game
> better. One of the things I enjoy in games is the exploring, so having
> large, diverse open worlds is a major draw. But giant maps don't
> always make a game better - and often work to a game's detriment if
> there isn't enough unique content to make that exploration worthwhile
> (see my recent complaint about "Ghostwire: Tokyo"). Instead, all that
> added space works against the game, either just by wasting your time
> crossing and re-crossing huge swathes of the map unnecessarily, or by
> filling it with uninteresting, grindy content.
>
> "Disco" decided to avoid the problem by using a smaller map, because
> the game's focus was on the interactions and characters. It is /not/ a
> game about exploration. As such, it's missing something that I really
> enjoy in games (fortunately, it had many other strengths to make up
> the lack). But I don't think adding a larger map would have made
> "Disco" a better game. It just would have drawn it out, dilluting the
> experience and losing focus on what made the "Disco" notable in the
> first place.
>
>
> TL;DR: I disliked "Disco's" tiny map too, but in the same way I
> disliked "Pac Man's" tiny maps. Doesn't mean the game isn't worth
> playing or would be improved by the change. It just means I have a big
> map fetish ;-)

I didn't dislike it not being openworld and what probably helped that is
it was a game that was above my normal budget and I wasn't quite sure
about. So I did spend slightly more time than a usually do reading
watching reviews. That made me realised that the blurb calling it
openworld was somewhat stretching what the term means. Saying that even
then I was still surprised just how small the entire map was. As you say
though that space was packed full of things to do. It's something that
annoyed me about some of the comments made about the game. There whre
quite a few, for example, that complained about the amount of reading
they had to do. I just thought, did you not look into the game at all
before you bought it. Not being openworld I thought was a more valid
compliant.

Exploration is something I do like in games which I why I've put a lot
of time into FO:3/NV and Skyrim. FO:4 kinda fell flat on that as
although you could explore most of the content you found just felt like
cookie cutter kill all the bad guys. I had the same problem with the
dungeons in Oblivion. It was only after doing a few of them I realised
that they were basically procedural generated and there was no real
story to them.