Re: Humble Choice May 2025

On 5/6/2025 7:41 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 First Tuesday of the month! First Tuesday of the month! You know what
that means; time for new games! It's always a great day when it's a
day when you get more games! But what games do we get? That's the
purpose of this post! Let's see what we get this month!
  * The Thaumaturge: Deluxe Edition
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1684350/The_Thaumaturge/
     I don't know much about this game beyond what it says on
     the store page. It says its a third-person RPG, and that
     you -the eponymous Thaumaturge- have the magical ability
     to see into the minds of others, and you use this power
     to solve mysteries. Sounds intriguing, but I'm not sure
     how much fun it actually is. Combat is apparently something
     of an afterthought, and most of the game revolves around
     dialogue choices; the game itself is fairly linear and
     it's rather slow-paced. I'm not sure the implementation
     lives up to the ideal, but it's worth giving it a shot,
     I think.
  * Amnesia: The Bunker
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1944430/Amnesia_The_Bunker/
     The latest in the first-person horror/survival Amnesia series.
     I've a love/hate with the franchise; on the one hand, it did
     a lot to reinvent the genre, but on the other hand I find
     its enforced powerlessness of the protagonist to be really
     tedious. And like too many similar games, there's just too
     much faffing about looking for light sources. It's a good
     example of the genre but overall I think I'm a bit played
     out on the whole concept.
  * Evil West
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1065310/Evil_West/
     This one is a weird-west third-person shooter; play as a
     cowboy shooting freaky monsters in the wild west. Mainly
     intended as a co-op experience, it can be played solo too.
     In terms of mechanics and attitude, it feels a bit like a
     throwback to games of the 2000s and 2010s; that's not a bad
     thing but not to everyone's taste. It's a bit unpolished
     but overall an acceptable B-tier game.
  * Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1545560/Shadow_Gambit_The_Cursed_Crew/
     This one seems to be a cross between a traditional RPG, a
     "Commandos" style stealth game, and "Pirates of the Caribbean".
     Find the cursed artifact that has turned you and your crew
     into undead scalawags. Looks interesting, and the reviews are
     very favorable; I'm a bit less sanguine since those sort of
     stealth-games never really appealed to me, and I'm not a big
     fan of the pirate genre. Still, maybe I'll give it a try.
  * Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1658280/Eiyuden_Chronicle_Hundred_Heroes/
     "A modern take on the classic JRPG" is probably an exciting
     description for some, but seeing as I never enjoyed classic
     JRPGs (neither the ridiculous storylines and characters, nor
     the mechanics) it's something of a mood killer for me. The
     reviews aren't that favorable either, citing slow pacing
     (and considering JRPGs are by nature slow, "Eiyuden" must
     be glacial!) and tedious combat. If you're a fan of the
     genre you'll probably be able to glean some satisfaction
     from this one, but it gets a big 'meh' from me.
  * Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2419090/STAR_WARS_Bounty_Hunter/
     It's May, so of course there HAS to be at least one Star
     Wars game. This one's a port from the Playstation 2, and as
     a port it's acceptable; at least you get mouse/keyboard
     support. But in terms of gameplay, it's fairly mediocre.
     Even when it was new, "Bounty Hunter" was merely average;
     it hasn't aged well either. If you adored the character of
     Jango Fett or just need to immerse yourself in even more
     Star Wars, it isn't a terrible experience; it's just not
     that memorable either. But if you're lukewarm on the
     franchise, there's nothing here to attract you either.
  * Ultros
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386310/Ultros/
     A 'psychedelic metroidvania' is what the store page
     describe this game as, which seems to translate as a
     'mediocre platformer with such a garish color palette that
     you'll have a blinding headache after playing the game for
     fifteen minutes' (honestly, just looking at the screenshots
     hurts my eyes). The reviews are more favorable but I'm not
     sure I could endure long enough to appreciate any of its
     twists.
  * Corpse Keeper
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1601740/Corpse_Keeper/
     A side-view roguelike (think something like "Darkest
     Dungeon" where you lead your party of undead minions
     into an underground labyrinth. Visually, it looks like
     a high-res DOS game and mechanically, it lacks
     satisfying combat and is very repetitive. I just don't
     see the appeal.
   So we get our usual mix; a few interesting games, a bunch of average
titles, and a few stinkers. I'd probably be happier with this month's
offerings if I didn't own some of them already, or if some of the
other games better suited my tastes (e.g., "Shadow Gambit" looks neat,
but it's just not my thing). Still, overall I'd say this is a slightly
above-average selection and probably worth the price of entry. Anyway,
it makes The Number happy, and isn't that what this hobby is all about
in the end?
 

What an oddly low-fi mix of games this month.
I agree, Shadow Gambit looks at least halfway decent, that JRPG might be nice but looks a bit too generic. Maybe I'll install the Jango Fett game.
I keep wondering why I actual subscribe to Choice at all.