Gold-Plated Games

You know what? I’m starting to think that the quality of some of these Weeklong Deals isn’t quite where it should be. There really is a lot of junk floating around this week, and more than usual among my reviews. But there’s also some fine picks like the Anno titles, Caves of Qud, and Brigador, all games that you really should not be sleeping on. I’ll also call out Sundered, which is an extended daily deal and which I enjoyed quite a lot.

Two quick notes for the week:

• We’re coming up on our next big roguelike series next month, but I’m deviating from that on Wednesday’s stream to do an indie horror night! Join us at 9pm PDT on the 22nd for a look at the Scream City game jam entries and some other under-the-radar spooks.
• Nominations for the June Reader’s Choice Reviews will open up this Thursday, so start thinking about roguelikes. This is your chance to add two roguelikes to next month’s series that I haven’t covered and that YOU want to hear about!

 

I would say so

Anno 2205 (Review) – Intensely pretty and feature-rich, but structured very differently from other Annos

Anno 2070 (Review) – My personal favorite Anno, a mix of beauty, challenge, and melancholy

Dawn of Discovery / Anno 1404 (Review) – Not quite as user-friendly as the future Annos, but still a fantastic city-builder

Caves of Qud (review) – Still the best classic-style roguelike around

Brigador (Review) – One of the best games on Steam for cyberpunk mayhem

Sanctum (Review) – Decent attempt at an FPS tower defense

Sanctum 2 (Review) – A significant improvement over the first in terms of style and gameplay

Unworthy (Review) – Most of the ball-kicking parts of Dark Souls condensed into 2D silhouettes

Nihilumbra (Review) – This is the 10th time I’ve put this one in a roundup, surely you know about the puzzles and painting gimmick by now

Paranormal State: Poison Spring (review) – Doofy yet solid hidden object game

Theatre Of The Absurd (Review) – Another doofy yet solid hidden object game

Type:Rider (Review) – A fun little jaunt through the history of typography

Horizon Shift (Review) – Neat shmup with platformer mechanics

 

I would think not

Knights and Merchants (Review) – Clunky, unfun RTS slog

Kholat (Review) – Looks great, just boring and stupid as hell

Darkstone (Review) – Honestly I’m not sure this clunky-ass ARPG was ever worth the time

Bloody Trapland 2: Curiosity (Review) – More like Bloody Crapland heyoooooooooooooo

The Bridge (Review) – Not clever enough to live up to the M.C.Escher inspiration

Bardbarian (Review) – Neat idea, boring execution

House of Evil (Review) – Lol