Humble Choice for August 2024

Last month I said that the first-Tuesday-of-the-month was rapidly
becoming my favorite day of the month, and the HumbleChoice's July
selection made me all the more certain of that statement. But will
August live up to that assumption? Let's see what they have for us
this time!


        * SIFU
     https://store.steampowered.com/app/2138710/Sifu/
          The one with the Kung-Fu fighting. Unleash your inner
          Bruce Lee in this stylish brawler. It's an extremely
          well-made, if somewhat limited in scope, and the only
          downside is that I'm not that much of a fan of
          brawling games. But I'm willing to give this one a
          chance; it just looks too cool to miss out on.


* High On Life
   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1583230/High_On_Life/
  The one with the talking gun. Coarse and sophomoric,
  its style belies its solid gameplay, but damn you'd
  better be able to stomach the stupid jokes and visuals.
  It's not half as funny as it thinks it is (well, unless
  you play it while high, in which case you'll probably
  have a blast). But the shootie-shoot-shoot bits are
  well done.


* Gotham Knights
   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1496790/Gotham_Knights/
  The one where you DON'T play as Batman. Despite the
  obvious resources poured into the project, it's a
  very mid-tier game and, despite all the hopes of Warner
  Brothers, in no way a suitable follow-up to the awesome
  Arkham games. Performance issues (and Denuvo) make me
  want this game even less.


* Blacktail
   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1532690/BLACKTAIL/
  The one with Baba Yaga. A bit clunky but very pretty
  first-person shooter made with a lot of style and
  focus on narrative. But it has a distinct lack of
  polish that quickly overwhelms the initial euphoria.
  It's one of those games you really want to enjoy more
  than you actually do. It's not out-and-out bad, but it
  has a lot of rough edges.


* Astral Ascent
   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280930/Astral_Ascent/
  The one with the retro graphics. No, not that one;
  one of the thousands of others. A fairly humdrum if
  competently made side-view action/platformer. It's fine;
  it just doesn't stand-out.


* Diluvian Ultra
   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1306970/Diluvian_Ultra/
  The one with the title that makes it sound more
  impressive than it really is. It's a retro-themed
    boomer-shooter, and a fairly generic one at that. Very
  rough around the edges, with the unsatisfying weapons
  especially pulling down the rest of the game. Really,
  it's the sort of game only for die-hard fans of the
  boomer-shooter genre who have to play every possible
  iteration of those games. It's got very little for
  anyone outside that circle.


* Universe For Sale

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1627840/Universe_For_Sale/
  The one that is a visual novel. It has an interest setting
  but, really, it's little more than an interactive comic
  book. I'm not saying those games don't have any value, but
  I've no interest in them. Just give me a book already.



* This Means Warp
   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1269300/This_Means_Warp/
  The one that is an FTL clone. Except it has a procedurally
  generated universe that you can explore and isn't as good.
  Just play FTL.



I'll admit it; these choices are challenging my 'favorite-day-
of-the-month' theory. It hasn't overturned it entirely, though;
although not generally my style, "Sifu" is too good to not grab, and
"High on Life" and "Blacktail" are worth grabbing even if they aren't
/great/ games. As I've said, one of the things I /like/ about
HumbleChoice is how it exposes me to games I normally wouldn't
purchase because I'd rather put my money to games more suited to my
tastes. These curated selections make me expand my horizons, and
that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's definitely worth the pittance
I spend each month.

So while August's games aren't making me leap with joy, neither are
they making me abandon my favorite-day theory. I just hope next month
it'll be a bit more favoriter, if you know what I mean.