Humble Choice – August 2020

Oh boy, August’s Humble Choice… is great! I was wondering what this month’s gonna be like and I was surprised at the number of games from my wishlist… but I feel like I’m drifting away here. 

What were my choices? Why did I pick them? In what order did I decide on picking them? 

Well,… Classic and Premium subscribers get all 12 choices this month only, so I had to pick all of them… but still, there are some games that I’m probably give/gift away while there are others that I picked because I’m excited about it. Hence the post. 

So here are my picks for August’s Choice:

1) Through The Darkest Of Times

Ever since I played the first chapter of it at last year’s GamesCom and ever since I had that interview with one of the devs back then, I have been meaning to play it… but other games always managed to find their way in first… So, now’s my chance to play it. It’s essentially a historic and very strategic management-game where you’re the leader of a small resistance group in 1933’s Berlin. It’s quite similar to the White Rose – and from what I’ve heard from the Devs, they’re going for a very detailed approach of what happened and how it happened. This is something that I find very applaudable. You essentially try to deal small blows to the Nazi regime by dropping leaflets or painting messages on walls, sabotaging them, gathering information and recruiting more people. This was basically an instant lock!

2) A Case Of Distrust

This was one of the aforementioned titles that just happened to be on my wishlist for ages now. It plays in 1924’s San Francisco and features a great soundtrack, an interesting story, lovely visuals and (just like TTDOT) historically accurate details. Honestly, it’s a narrative mystery game and someone once recommended it to me, so I wanted to try it out when it’s on Sale or whatever… and the themes of poverty, racism, and emancipation as well as other issues are something that is of interest to me. I really am looking forward to playing and possibly writing about this game!

3) Automachef

You build production lines for food… it’s a management game again… I want to play it. As you may be able to tell, I’m not really sure what to say about this one. From what I’ve seen it looks a bit like SpaceChem but less complicated and with some cute animations. I like the automation/optimization aspects of games like Satisfactory, Good Company or tycoon/management games like this one… so I’m looking forward to this title. Might be a lot of fun!

4) Wargroove

Being another title from my wishlist, I ended up picking this one without really looking at it. I mean, I thought it was like Fire Emblem… and the graphics are cute… and it’s by Chucklefish Ltd., which is always a good sign… and it’s a turn-based strategy game, which is always quite nice. I’m looking forward to this title.^^

5) Call of Cthulhu

As a Lovecraft fan (his works, not his views), I must say that I’m not a fan of Lovecraftian games. While that sounds contradicting (after all, I like games… and Lovecraft), it’s mostly due to a lot of games not depicting the aspects of Eldritch and Lovecraftian Horror too well. Therefore, I usually stray away from them since essentially too many games are calling themselves “Eldritch” or “Lovecraftian” these days. There are some good titles that depict the psychological aspect of Lovecraftian Stories quite well, like Call of Cthulhu: Darkest Corners of Earth… but a lot of other games are doing Lovecraft’s name no good, which is something that I always worry about. Call of Cthulhu, the game that I picked here, is a game that I have mixed feelings about. While the steam reviews are “mostly positive”, I still am a bit worried that it may be a disappointment. Either way, it’s now a choice and I’ll play it myself! Completely blind! Potentially during Spooktober on Twitch!

6) We Were Here Together

This seems to be a puzzle game that is Co-Op-ONLY and requires you to communicate with your partner in order to solve puzzles together. Duh. The concept sounds rad, the world looks cool, and it’s also been on my wishlist for not too long since I heard that it’s quite challenging at parts… so I’m looking forward to this. Potentially I could play this with MuddChi on Twitch since she likes Puzzle games! I’m excited!

7) Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition

Long title for a game that features an even longer list of genres… We’re in space and build our own ship and expand and create life forms and procedural generation and shooting and action and what the actual fuck is this abomination of a game? I love it! Looking forward to seeing what it’s actually like… it just seemed to be something that is a wild mix of all kinds of things… and I couldn’t be bothered to try to comprehend all the information on this title (maybe I need more coffee?), so I ended up just picking it up! 

8) VAMPYR

Honestly, I am not too much of a fan of vampires in games but I love it when you can be “the bad guy”… and that’s something you do in this game… I think… at least you can opt in to “embrace the monster within”. I can also decide on “dooming London” instead of saving it… so I may actually like this game. The aesthetic seemed cool, too… I’ll just have to see how much fun it actually is. 

9) Hello Neighbor

It’s a stealth horror game… but it’s less dark and less jump-scare-y than other games in the genre, so I thought this might be quite fun to play during Spooktober as well. Essentially the remaining few games are either “eh” or “alright”, so I didn’t really know what to pick out of the remaining ones. Luckily, Humble choice chooses me by just letting me pick ALL OF THEm. Btw, it’s spelt “neighbor” but I like the British variant more with the U… This game is gonna be interesting, so I’m looking forward to playing it! – Oh, and it also features extra content in the form of “Hello Neighbour: Hide and Seek”, so uh, make sure to grab that, if you grab this month’s Humble Choice!

10) Little Big Workshop

This one was harder. Spot 10 would have either been Little Big Workshop OR The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters… but why? Technically, Little Big Workshop would be exactly the kind of tycoon/management-style game that I like and adore… but it just seemed very similar to a lot of other games that I have tried before… and games that I have seen before. The art style is different but it really reminded me of the upcoming “Good Company”… so I was a bit hesitant… but in the end, I’d pick this title over The Coma 2 due to it being a tycoon/management game. 

Alas, the “drop-outs” that I’ll just give away since I get all 12 choices this month:

The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters

It’s an atmospheric, story-driven Horror Game set in Korea (judging from the names) where you have to survive the horrors presented to you by Dark Song, solve puzzles, craft items and reveal clues. The game seemed interesting but also rather clunky in terms of design and art style. I’ve got to pick it up regardless of my thoughts on it but I would have dropped it if I didn’t have 12 choices. 

American Fugitive: State of Emergency

This title seemed just like a trashy title that I wouldn’t like at first… but then something caught my eye: Fallen Tree Games, the studio behind it, is run by two people that have worked on titles like Crysis and (more importantly) TimeSplitters before… and I loved the TimeSplitters games… so, I may check this game out on YouTube and then decide on whether or not to keep it or not… in any case, I would have dropped it if I had had only 10 choices.

These two titles will probably be given away. Again, I may reconsider that in the case of American Fugitive… but it probably is better as a gift/giveaway.

Oh, and since I was “loyal” to Humble Bundle and stuck around for the last couple of months, I now own the Bonus Game: “Vikings – Wolves of Midgard”, which seems to be a hack n slay title that is… uh… interesting. I don’t usually like Vikings but I accidentally redeemed this one instead of a different game, so now I own both of them. 

The DRM-free extras that are contained in the August 2020 Choice consist of Zodiac XX, Wildfire (Sneak Peek), and Booth! Wildfire is something that I’ve been aware of before… and I’m looking forward to eventually playing the full game… Playing this sneak peek now is going to be a treat! Zodiac XX looks interesting… Booth could also be quite cool… I’ll probably write about those games!

But yeah, that’s it for this month’s Choice. I feel like they are adding too many Simulation or Management type games these days, which probably upsets other people… I’ve heard that a lot of people pause it more often than not… and then there’s the issue of some of these games appearing in Bundles afterwards for a lot less money… It’s a total of 300€ worth of money if you were to buy them at their full price… but I doubt that everyone’s interested in all of them and I’d say that it isn’t necessarily “worth it” to get this Choice if you’re only interested in one of the games… In my case, I really was a fan of “A Case Of Distrust”, “Through the Darkest of Times”, “Call of Cthulhu”, “Wargroove”, “Automachef”, and “We Were Here Together”, so naturally I’d go for this. Totally worth it for me. “Vampyr” might be fun… and the other titles might be quite interesting. We’ll see!

It could be a lot better if they added more variety to it. RPGs, Shooters, Horror, Simulations, Indie, AA, AAA, Story Games, Casual Games, etc. Mix it up a bit more. Especially when October comes, the choices should be more “special” to attract more people. While I like Simulation and Management games… I don’t think that everyone is going to agree with all of this and just continue their sub for this service if it’s really for just one game and one game only, every month.

Anyways, I hope this post helped you make your *choice* (haha.) and I hope you enjoyed this one! 

Cheers!