Wallets Everywhere Safe: Steam Sale Ending

My trembling checking account is finally safe, the sales are ending and tomorrow is a new day, free from cheap impulse purchases. Its been a good run; I have more games that will take me years to play, I was forced to reformat my drive so I could move my Steam install to a bigger drive, and can now play games with a C: drive that has more then 1.5gb free. Enough prattle about me and my poor decision making skills, lets crack this last sale open and gorge on its bits and bobs.

Greed Corp is a delightful turn-based strategy game that flirts with the puzzle genre, in public no less. Shameful. Taking the resource management of other strategy games and making it the focus of the game changes the average dynamics of the genre. You and your competitors need to harvest resources from the towering hexes of earth yet to be mined into oblivion. The problem is that if you harvest resources with which to build, each round of harvest will crumble the hex of earth until it tumbles into the mist below. You can attack hexes to obliterate enemy territory, destroy land to cut off paths or isolate islands, or just harvest as close to the enemy as possible and hope they die before they can destroy the mining facility. Its a unique take on the genre, and for $2.50 the entry is low for such a new experience.

Yes! Crumble into oblivion!

Dead Space 1 and 2 are both $5 today, given how new 2 is compared to 1, its clearly the better deal. I picked up the sequel myself, having enjoyed the first game for its, admittedly cheap but effect, scares. I love horror, I have seen more horror movies then the average person has seen movies in general, so this was just a natural purchase. I don’t know much about it to be honest, but if it can deliver the same atmosphere as the first I’ll be happy. While I personally feel Amnesia is the scariest game, scientists actually say Dead Space 2 is. At least on XBox.

While many people will tell you that Thief 2: The Metal Age is the best of the series, Thief: Deadly Shadows is still one of my favorite games. Dropping the mission to mission format of previous games for a hub world to plunder and explore, the world feels fuller and more realized then past games. Gameplay stayed stealth based, with brash attacks generally leading to violent death, and a more reliable shadow system for hiding. $5 for such an old game practically guarantees a cheaper price in future sales, but its still not bad for a game entirely focused on stealth and theft in a steam-punk world.

The best hiding simulator yet!

More games are on the front page of the sale of course, and those developer packs are still some great deals, but lets take a brief moment to highlight some of the hidden gems that never made front page.

World of Goo is one of those games where finding negative reviews is damn near impossible. An indie success story where the game can be found everywhere. You can play on PC, Wii, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and probably on calculators at this point. Constructing goo based solutions to puzzles is satisfying and worth way more then its current $2.50 price.

Garry’s Mod is less a game and more of a massive playpen of imagination, the real sandbox game. With full control of any resource from a Source Engine based game, you can construct massive machines, stage photographs, make absurd movies, or create your own games and worlds to play in. You can even find dedicated role playing servers. $2.50 is not a bad price for what basically amounts to whatever you can imagine it being.

It really is a thing of beauty.

Terraria has been cheaper then $5 in the past, but now is a great time to jump in. Beyond a great time to jump in. I loved the game on launch, but with the 1.1 update that drops December 1st, that game will double in size and become something new all together. With 222 new items, 39 monsters, female characters, new ores to make new armor/weapons/items with, the ability to make traps, pumps, and other contraptions, a new lighting system and new bosses. Also more end game content, which when completed turns your world into hard mode. I mean come on, how could you not want to dive in now? I bet reading about life in Terraria can sway you

Capsized is a beautiful adventure/shooter with a physics system ripe for hilarious accidents and epic moments of combat. Just exploring the levels can be an enjoyable experience, and the combat isn’t bad either. It’s only $2.50 right now, and if you want a nice little indie game filled with lovely art, interesting level design, and satisfying combat, then you should check it out. You should also check out my review for more thoughts.

Derp anger is the best anger.

Runespell: Overture is a strange genre all its own. A story driven RPG with plenty of side-quests and characters to meet is nothing new, but having combat based around playing cards and poker hands was certainly new for me. Combat is tense, a race to build better combinations of poker hands in a solitaire style layout before your opponent, all while spells are slung at one another and companion assists called in. I previewed the game awhile back, and for $2.50 its very likely I will pick this one up to finish the experience.

Let us give thanks to these sales, for they have been a bounty of cheap but awesome games. Bigger thanks must be given to the sale being over, because seriously, I can’t afford to buy anymore games. Well… maybe one more.