Gold-Plated Games

It’s a big week for Weeklong Deals, possibly the largest collection of titles worth picking up since I started doing these roundups. Beyond obvious picks like the Stronghold games and The Dream Machine, there’s a boatload of solid casual games to peruse and a few challenging offerings like Halfway. Plenty of stuff to avoid, too, but if you don’t normally poke through the Weeklongs this would be the week to do it.

I also can’t help but draw attention to the Anno franchise sale running until Wednesday, as Anno 2070 remains one of my all-time favorite builders and Anno 1404 / Dawn of Discovery isn’t far behind (you still have to dig through Summer of Sim to find that review, I’m afraid).

I LOVE IT!

Stronghold HD (review) – The original castle siege sim is still as good as ever, with plenty of military and economic challenges

Stronghold Crusader HD (review) – My Stronghold of choice for endless sieges and medieval military chaos

The Stronghold Collection (review) – Might as well get this if you own no Stronghold games, otherwise I wouldn’t bother just for Stronghold 2 or Legends

Nihilumbra (review) – Puzzle platformer with a nifty world-painting gimmick and some insidious puzzles

The Dream Machine (review) – A charming and disturbing journey into dreams and the metaphysical world beyond

Hero of the Kingdom (review) – One of my favorite chillout games, featuring relaxing clicking, trading, and exploring

Unholy Heights (review) – An unholy mashup of tower defense, monster ranching, and adorable Japanese weirdness

Halfway (review) – Squad-based tactical space horror adventure, pretty punishing but damn look at all those descriptors

Shattered Planet (review) – Super light sci-fi roguelike with some neat mechanics and challenges to master

NO WAY!

Knights and Merchants (review) – An RTS pushed to the absolute limits of complexity and clunkiness

Frankenstein: Master of Death (review) – I’m fine with dumb hidden object games, but this one found the line I’m not willing to cross

Neverending Nightmares (review) – More like Neverending Tedium

Woodle Tree Adventures (review) – The goofy name is the best part of this bargain-bin 3D platformer

Hektor (review) – When I decided to have an Awful rating for the website, this was the game I thought of first