Another month means another Choice and well this month, there are fewer choices available. It still is just the choice of pausing vs not pausing but it’s just 10 games instead of 12, meaning that the overall quality is better. Apparently, the team over at Humble Bundle decided the reduce the available choices for this month based on feedback in the cancellation forms. According to a support response, the expected value of over $200 worth of games is still achieved and more importantly, this bundle supports charity, such as the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. By reducing the number of games, each individual title is better. There were a few months in the past where the choices were essentially one or two top-tier games that are well worth it… and a lot of not so great titles. It felt a bit as if we get some good titles and a lot of trash or a lot of titles that I’m not so interested in. I love the Choice format instead of the Monthly format since the Monthly format had three titles that were great as well as potentially a few more… but it was like a gamble of sorts that you may miss out on titles you love if you don’t like the header titles. Either way, I’ll talk a bit about a model that I thought of that may have some weaknesses but it could be interesting… I’ll later get into the actual game stuff so if you want to, you can just skip to the part after the pictures if you’re not interested in my idea + weird number things. :)
So, I like the choice system more than the old Monthly system since, at least if I remember correctly, the Choice system works more in favour of knowing what you’re gonna grab. Monthly was this whole “look at these three header games (and also there are other games)” and it was weird because at times, I’d have no interest in the headers but when the other games were revealed, I felt kinda silly for pausing the month? Idk. With choice, there is this issue of “wow there is one game I really like but I already own this other one and I don’t care about the other stuff” where that one game is absolutely worth it and the rest not so much… and in that case, I’d still love it if there was a “choice bank” or something. You can claim X amount of games out of X+n (with n being some sort of higher number potentially?) and if you choose (X+n)-Y games, you’ll have X-Y=B extra choices next month. If you skip a whole month, you’ll have B extra choices in the next and so on. Uh, I guess it doesn’t make much sense for people that don’t like maths, so actual numbers would be: X = 7, n = 3, Y is any number you choose. You have 10 games to choose from and can claim up to 7 of those, resulting in n=3 choices not being taken each month. If you decide to just grab Y=2 choices, you’ll still have X-Y=7-2=5=B choices left. These choices get put into your account and you can grab up to B=5 extra choices next month. So, if you then decide to grab 8 games instead of 10 next month, you’ll have 4 extra choices available in your account. If you decide to not grab the following at all, you’ll have B+X choices left, or in actual numbers in this example 4+7=11 choices. If there is one super good month for you, you can grab all choices… If there is one bad one, you’ll grab just the good one and won’t feel bad about not redeeming the rest.
But then again, this is just hypothetically. I don’t have the data that tells me whether or not this system would work or if it’d be an improvement or not or if it could be abused somehow. Instead, I know that in theory, it could be kinda cool… but only in theory. Most likely, that little explanation is kinda “meh” and people won’t understand the system all that well… and the numbers obviously would need tweaking as well. Maybe your extra choices added to your account are limited or maybe you can “borrow” choices in one month and have fewer choices in the next month. A “bank” system could be kind of cool in theory.
In the end, however, this month’s Choice is pretty great because of the decrease in games. I won’t do the table here because quite frankly, I don’t really feel it today. It’s a weird day and maybe the weather or the stress is getting to me but I just didn’t really get into the mood to create a table here with a ranking. Let me know if you want me to bring it up but for whatever reason, I just didn’t like the idea of having a huge table this month in this post, I guess. More importantly, let’s get into this month’s games! I’ll essentially mention the games in order of “rank” with the first game being the one I’m most excited about and the last game not being the least interesting one… The last game is just not necessarily up my alley. Hence,… games:
BPM: Bullets per Minute is amazing from what I’ve seen and I’m super excited about it. This title by Awe Interactive is a rhythm-based Roguelike-FPS game where you as a valkyrie have to defeat your ancient enemy, Nidhogg. The combination of roguelike and FPS games kind of reminds me of titles like Ziggurat, which is nostalgic in a way. Meanwhile, rhythm-based roguelike games like Crypt of the Necrodancer have been up to my alley as well in the past. My only concern is that flashing lights might cause a slight issue for me based on the intensity… and also, I’m really bad at rhythm games unless I really focus on it. It’s not impossible, though, so I’m looking forward to this one for sure!
Wingspan by Monster Couch is very high up in my priority list here as well due to its Strategy-Cardbattler premise combined with cute birds and a relaxing environment. Times have been stressful so getting a game that does what I love (card-battling is pretty cool, innit?) but does so in a chill environment sounds great in my book. On another note, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (review) by Snoozy Kazoo is an incredibly fun game that is not only very humorous but also incredibly cute. I’d recommend reading my review above for more info on it (wink wink nudge nudge). While I may already own it, I think it might make a great gift for my better half who isn’t necessarily into video games but she did spot it in my library and found it super cute, so… Hell yeah?
Next up, there’s Timelie by Urnique Studio which is a stealth puzzle adventure where you control time like a media player and try to escape from enemies by manipulating time and sneaking through levels. it combines strategy, stealth and time manipulation into one cute title and I’m really intrigued by it, particularly because it gives me Ghost Trick vibes… even though the games are nothing alike. On another note, House Flipper by Empyrean is a Simulation game that also is up my alley because it combines the mindless grinding of tearing down houses and renovating them with this sense of “productivity” that made Hardspace Shipbreaker so satisfying and relaxing for me. In essence, I like the idea and I’m looking forward to playing it sometime!
Due Process by Giant Enemy Crab looks interesting as it’s supposed to be a “tactical FPS where tactics finally matter”. Levels are procedurally generated and you need to plan ahead and actually use teamwork to get those Ws. I’m not the biggest tactical FPS player, although I did enjoy some Valorant as of late again, so… who knows? I may actually dig this one, especially because of the art style and because of it being published by Annapurna Interactive who only publish great games! Wrath: Aeon of Ruin by 3D Realms and Killpixel is a Retro/Boomer Shooter and it looks interesting! I did enjoy ENCHAIN a fair bit which also goes in that direction… sort of. Similarly, I loved DOOM Eternal when I played through it… So, naturally, I’d be attracted to boomer shooters or retro shooters like this one, right?
Möbius Front ’83 is another game by Zachtronics that I wasn’t actually aware of. I loved SpaceChem when I first played it in 2013 and I’ve been playing it on and off over the last few years because I just love the story and the puzzles in there. Precisely because of SpaceChem, I also own Exapunks, Eliza, Molek-Syntez, Opus Magnum, and other Zachtronics titles but I haven’t actually gotten around to playing them just yet… Well, Möbius Front ’83 is a strategy-sim that looks interesting but I’m not sure when I’ll get to it, which is why I’d put it lower in the “ranking” if I had done one. Project Wingman by Sector D2 is a combat flight action game that… looks complicated? I mean, it probably isn’t that complicated but since I’m often struggling with fast-paced flight stuff and I’m not always sure where enemies are when they’re below or above me… What I’m trying to say is that I’ll probably suck at this and that I’m concerned about the loss of orientation and motion sickness potentially impacting my experience but I’ll just have to see, I guess. At last, there’s Simplerockets 2 and while it may be a simpler Kerbal Space Program (or at least what looks like a simpler KSP game), this title by Jundroo, LLC didn’t quite spark my interest. I mean, sure, I love simulation-type games and space-themed games and stuff… but KSP was a bit too complicated for my taste and hence, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be too hyped to get into this one. Sure, I should try it out, I guess, but I think there are some friends of mine that might like this one more than me.
Either way, today’s post is a bit more on the theoretical side of things with ideas I had and hence it turned out a bit longer. I hope you enjoyed it regardless and I’d love to know: Do you want me to do the charts again with my “ranking” or is it okay if I just do it this way? Feel free to reach out with feedback on this since I actually enjoy doing the charts… Today was just a weird day and I wasn’t completely sure if I should do it or not for this post. This month’s choice, on another note, was great though! I’m looking forward to getting into BPM and Timelie in particular. The other titles are amazing as well but I’m just super excited to finally play BPM, especially since it’s been on my wishlist for so long. :) Are you grabbing this month’s choice? Would you “rank” them differently?
Cheers!
This post was first published on Indiecator by Dan Indiecator aka MagiWasTaken. If you like what you see here and want to see more, you can check me out on Twitch and YouTube as well.
Indiecator 
Leave a Reply