Are you on Steam?
No?
Why not?
You don't know what Steam is?
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| You want to get into Steam, punk? |
Steam is one of the best places online to get video games, as the title of the post says. It's an online service that provides classic games, indie games, as well as new releases.
Go sign up for an account. It's okay I'll wait.
Got one? Okay now let me tell you what to play:
Rogue Legacy
Remember playing Mario back in the day? The jumping, beating up Koopas, and the like? Well this is like that only with a Dungeons and Dragons twist. You play a hero trying to get through a castle full of enemies, and if you die, you start over as your son or daughter. Then after that again, and again, generation after generation until you get though the castle. It's incredibly addicting and fun for anyone who loves old platformers and dungeon crawls.
Visceral Cleanup Duty
Have you spent hours playing Doom in junior high? Did you ever stop to think what the guy who came in after with the bucket and mop would have to do to get the place cleaned up again? Well now you can play the janitor cleaning up after a bloody alien encounter. Clean up broken glass, blood stains, and even pieces of former coworkers. It's an OCD dream come true, plus weirdly bonkers fun.
Project Zomboid
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| How long can you survive? |
How long would you last in a real zombie apocalypse? Project Zomboid is about finding that out. There is no cure. Rescue is not coming. There is no safe zone. All the game is is see how long you last in a world teeming with the undead. This includes finding and improving shelter, finding food, and even managing your own sanity. I've played this game for months and the best I've done is two game weeks. Lame I know. Can you do better?
Civilization 5
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| Take over the world? Don't mind if I do... |
Not everything on my list is indie and made in someone's garage. Civilization has been a standard of video game quality for over a decade. Number five is a pinaccle of the series, an incredible world conquering game where you play as a country from the time where they form a tribe till they enter space. It's one of those games you'll start at in the early evening and won't stop till the sun rises the next morning.
FTL: Faster Than Light
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| PIGS IN SPACE!!! |
Star Trek fan? Firefly fan? Here's the game for you. You're piloting a spaceship. If that isn't cool enough you also have the option to put out fires and defeat intruders by opening the hatches into space. Yeah, it's that involved. You truly feel that you're in space trying to stop an enemy armada. You feel like you're Captain Malcom Reynolds getting through space on Serenity.
Special thanks to
Beautimus for letting us use their videos for this post!
You're certainly not expected to make a Steam 5 list without other people posting their own recommendations, right? Because that's what's going to happen right now. Here's my five:
ReplyDelete1. VVVVVV - This is an awesome, Commodore 64-esque Metroidvania that uses a flipping mechanic instead of jumping, and works that mechanic to it's logical extreme without going to far. You might read some reviews that complain this game is "too hard," but I'd call it "tough, but fair". You might gnash your teeth in a few places, but there are plenty of checkpoints that make the game more than reasonable to beat. Also, the soundtrack is amazing.
2. Orcs Must Die 1 & 2 - I admit I have only played the first one, but I doubt the second one changes that much (I'll get to it eventually, as it's sitting in my backlog). This is a Tower Defense game with a lot of fun traps, but you can also wade in with a sword or a crossbow, turning this into something of a 3rd-person shooter-y thing. It's a lot of fun, to say the least.
3. One Finger Death Punch - Remember those old stick-figure fighting web videos from about 10 years ago? No? Buy this anyway! Using only two buttons, this game makes you feel like an epic martial arts master with it's unique timing mechanics and over-the-top violence (though it'd probably still be rated T, as it all happens to stick-figure people). A lot of fun.
4. Breath of Death VII and Cthulu Saves the World - These games come together, but they're very cheap, so I'm putting them both here. These are classic JRPG-style romps, with their tongues firmly in their cheeks. The battle system is actually pretty neat and quick, the characters are completely goofy, and there's even a Book of Mormon reference in the latter game!
5. Shadowgate - The makers of the classic point-and-click adventure game have comeback to give the game an HD Remix (that I helped Kickstart, I admit). However, the puzzles have been altered and mixed up, so don't expect you're knowledge of the classic to help you much (at least, it hasn't helped me!). For those who haven't played the original, it has great visuals and music, but the gameplay is about as old-school as it gets. However, if you want to explore a haunted castle, solving puzzles, it's hard to beat Shadowgate.
We could probably do this with other services like GOG.com and Desura (so many free games!).
Great idea Josh! Three of your recommendations are now on my wish list! Cthuhlu is one of my favorite characters ever (I had a stuffed one in my back windshield) so that sounds amazing. I'm not on GOG or Desura as much as I'd like to but those are definitely going to be future blog posts. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you have any trouble making those posts, I'd be willing to help with recommendations or ideas.
ReplyDelete