The festive buzz begins to fade – in part due to dwindling booze reserves already heavily depleted by family gatherings. Without the guiding light of alcohol, we’re just going to have to turn to that everpresent fallback for our daily endorphin boost; videogames – and the retail therapy so closely tied to them. Just a few days left to hoard for spring, and today is a big one – here’s the indie picks of the day:
Another day, another chunk taken out of your wallet, and another few delicious indie games added to your swelling Steam account. As with all our other updates on this subject, these are just the daily deals that you should be paying attention to – there’s no shortage of other games out there. Today, just a couple of items, but they’re essentials if you like your games bright and shooty.
The Serious Sam HD games have been announced as this weekend’s major sale over on Steam. The best of the offerings being 75% off the Gold Pack which packs four games, the two original Serious Sam titles and the two more-recent upgraded HD versions, for $9.99. These episodes will fill a lot of wants and needs if you’ve been out of the single-player FPS business for a while (not to discredit the hearty mulitplayer modes which I’ve yet to sample.)
For those who have yet to try these games (First Encounter demo here,) Devolver Digital and Croteam have put together something really enjoyable that you should definitely invest a Hamilton in if you like the sound of an FPS with elements of tower defense — the tower being your hide in this case.
A crude, deep-voiced protaginist who spits one-liners isn’t exactly new, but there is something beautiful about coming out of tight corridors and into a large open area, swapping to one of your deadly weapons after making plenty good due with your awesome double barrel shotgun, and mowing down a seemingly endless onslaught of surrounding enemies.
If you’re looking for some throwback FPS fun with some really phenomenal environment visuals and a good soundtrack to boot…well you get the point, go spend somewhere between $3.74-$9.99 and pick yourself up some nice games. If you’re on the fence, check out Geoff’s review of SSHDTSE. Also, remember that we still have our concerns about what bodily harm/arousal Serious Sam 3 may cause us when it arrives this summer. (hey the Steam page for that is up, cool!)
Geoff and I love Serious Sam HD–seriously. There’s just something about murdering wave after wave of kleer skeleton herds, testing my munitions supply and adding a little bit of tower defense to my shooter.
So we take it as particularly good news that Devolver Digital and Croteam have announced the release of the free Fusion DLC pack for owners of both episodes (alternatively the gold edition) of their insane FPS. The content combines all campaign and multiplayer levels from SSHD: The First Encounter into SSHD: The Second Encounter; allowing players to play modes including ‘Beast Hunt’ and ‘My Burden’ using the maps from the first episode.
First time buyers of the series can get in on the deal too as the content will be available from here on to anyone who picks up the games at anytime. The First Encounter goes for $15, The Second Encounter goes for $20 and the Gold Edition which contains four games in both the original and updated episodes goes for $40. Also keep in mind the developer-publisher combo is working on a Serious Sam 3 which we’re hoping to get a sniff at sometime this year.
UPDATE: It looks like Steam has updated their sale in a more official capacity. Many more indie games have been added. Most notable is that there are now a wide variety of “Indie Game Packs” that are on sale offering a slew of indie games for just $4.99. This is absolutely insane.
This is too much. Seriously, I don’t even know where to begin. Steam, apparently kicking off it’s holiday promotion a little early has put on a incredibly huge sale of 100 games, each one being at least 75% off. Incredible.
Of course, there are MANY notable indie games on this list, things you absolutely will not want to pass up. Here are the indie games for sale on Steam right now:
Impressive, right? I’ve bolded my personal picks for games you should check out, but don’t let that stop you from checking out other games as well.
Also, as you can expect there are numerous AAA mainstream games available as well for a fraction of the price. All I can say is… Happy Holidays everybody.
[Steam]
I never played the original Serious Sam games, so when I tell you that I didn’t know what I was getting into when I signed on to review Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter, please take that to mean I had no effing clue just how bizarre, difficult, and fun this game would be.
For those of you who are like I was a week ago, on the face Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter seems to be a pretty stereotypical FPS that’s based on some crazy inane storyline that simply serves to progress the game to the point where you have awesome weapons. Really, prior to playing this game, I simply though it was just going to be a mild Duke Nukem rip off. Oh how wrong I was.
Gameplay
First, let’s just get it out of the way, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is a first person shooter. If you don’t like first person shooters then I highly doubt this game is going to change your mind in any meaningful way. However, if you do enjoy them then, well, this might just be the greatest game you’ve ever played.
Serious Sam HD; The Second Encounter is not about realism. You aren’t playing as some gritty character locked in an epic battle/war that’s been going on for years as you attempt to overthrow/take down the alien invaders/terrorist plot. Really the game is entirely about Sam going into places and kicking the shit out of everything that happens to live there, be in a headless bomb freak, or a 3 story tall rocket shooting monstrosity.
Which leads me to my next point about how freaking awesome this game is. Never, in my history of playing FPS games (I started with Wolfenstein 3D in 1993) have I come across as many wildly unique bad guys. From the clackity skeleton dinosaurs that charge you to the pumpkin headed chainsaw guys, everything in this game has a seemingly uniquely perverted existence and everything is armed to the teeth with weapons that will maim and destroy you.
Did I say maim and destroy? You better believe it because I quite literally mean that. To say Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is an easy game is to straight up lie. Not only is this game fun, but it’s easily one of the most challenging and difficult FPS games I’ve ever played. I don’t claim to be a expert at the genre — certainly not like some of these kids on Halo – but I can usually beat a standard FPS on normal without too much effort. On Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter I find myself dying fairly often. Especially when, you know, the game just decides to throw a few hundred enemies at you with limited ammo and healthpacks lying around. But then again, if the game didn’t do that kind of crazy crap, where would the fun be?
Which reminds me, since you’ll be dying a lot, I do highly recommend that, before you start your first game you go into the options and turn on the “Auto-Save” feature. For whatever reason this is not turned on as a default and should you die you’ll either have to restart the game or go all the way back to your last save point, which can definitely be aggravating.
Aside from the single player the game comes with two other modes: survival and multiplayer.
Survival is exactly what it sounds like. You enter into a given arena like area with specific weapons chosen for you and you merely attempt to survive for as long as possible. Not exactly a new concept these days, but it’s far more fun in Serious Sam than in any other game I’ve played that has it. If you can make it even five minutes solo on any given arena, I certainly applaud you.
Multiplayer is fairly standard and seemed to be pretty tame in terms of population on the Steam version (the one I’m reviewing). Also I can’t really comment on it because anytime I tried to join a server my game would crash. Other people were able to play, but not me for whatever reason.
Style
There’s a reason why these revamped versions are called Serious Sam HD and it’s because the graphics have been given a major, modern overhaul. I’m not kidding when I say that Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous game, especially on some of the more open environments you’ll come across.
Additionally, the audio is fairly adequate. Nothing really to complain about, but I wouldn’t say they’re revolutionary either.
Story
I have no idea what the story is. The game is very text heavy and seems to rely on information gained in the first game, which, as I stated in above, I haven’t actually played. Really though, the game doesn’t even need one in my opinion. All you need to know is that you’re playing some badass dude with a shit ton of weapons who doesn’t give a crap about anything he kills. Bam! Instant fun.
Other
I have a confession to make. I did not beat Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter. It’s an unfortunate truth and it’s one I don’t particularly like since I usually beat every game I play prior to reviewing them. However, I simply could not beat the game due to it’s excessive difficulty. However, I did get far enough a long that I feel like I got a true understanding of what the game is about.
Oh and don’t think that just because this review was due now that I plan on just dropping the game and moving on. No way. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter threw down a mighty gauntlet, but it’s one that I am absolutely determined to pick up and return. This game will be beat by me… come hell or high water.
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is available on XBLA for 1200 MS points ($10) or via Steam for $19.99. No matter which way you experience this game, I highly recommend checking it out, even if it’s just a demo. You absolutely will not find a more bizarre FPS available.
[Xbox, Steam, Croteam, Devolver Digital]
Just a quick reminder guys! You can enter and win one of these two great versions of the same game. The PC version comes with everything Digital Devolver has to offer in the Serious Sam series, where as the XBLA version is merely the newest game (came out last weekend) in the Serious Sam chronicles. Both are great!
Devolver Digital and Croteam have rolled out new updates for both the first and second episodes of their off the wall shooter Serious Sam HD, now available for download on Steam.
Both patches add an assortment of fixes and improvements to the titles, including band-aids for a couple of game overlay issues and achievements not working properly. Owners can grab the updates automatically by restarting the Steam client or booting up the games. From the patch notes:
The First Episode
- Added workaround for wrong version report from ATI driver.
- Fixed rare case of some network messages being dropped when they could have been delivered.
- Added protections against spectator mode starting in singleplayer in some cases.
- Fixed crash on dedicated server happening when someone muted/unmuted another player.
- Fixed inability to join as client in some cases.
- Fixed “FragCombo” and “RoyalFragCombo” achievements not being achieved properly.
The Second Episode
- Enlarged the gap between the team panels in game overlay menu to make space for the center scrollbar that pops up when there are more players than it fits inside the leftmost panel.
- Fixed the scrollbars in game overlay menu glitching in some cases.
- Fixed the “Mismatched Version” error report that happened with renamed demo files.
Also remember that we’re running a super awesome/easy contest where we’re giving away three copies of Serious Sam HD: Gold Edition for PC and three copies of The Second Episode for Xbox 360. It’s on for the rest of this week and while we’ve received some good entries thus far, there’s still space for you to sneak in and try to snag a copy for yourself.
I’m not going to sugarcoat this, there are a lot of indie sales that popped up today resulting in an extended weekend of absolutely excellent discounts. With the amount we have to cover, I can’t really afford to chit-chat. Instead of continuing to write in this overwhelmed state, it’s best I just share all that I can:
Top Picks
Steam is back at it again with another one of its monster weekend deals, this time offering up huge savings on all things Serious Sam HD. The First Episode goes for $3.75 instead of $15, The Second for $5 instead of $20. Get them both in the double pack for $7.50 or get both plus their original episodes released 2001/02 in the recently released Gold Pack for just $10 instead of the $40 tag.
Not to be overlooked in the slightest, Gratuitous Space Battles and its DLC are all on sale in some form through a couple of distributors. First and foremost, Direct2Drive is offering the $23 title for just $6, read Geoff’s review if you’d like some persuasion, but I can tell you myself that its a top quality indie and a steal at that price. Impulse is offering a less tempting sale for the full game at $11.50, but also extends the discounts onto the game’s DLC and bundles. All four DLC packs are now $3 each instead of $5, and the GSB Complete bundle offers an even better deal, offering the full version of the game plus the first three expansions (The Order, The Swarm and The Tribes) for just $12.50. If you throw in the newly released ‘The Nomads’ add-on for $3, you can get the entirety of what’s available for the game for just $15.50. That’s $7.50 less than the base game costs standard. Better than if you go with the D2D $6 sale and all expansions for $3 each which puts you at $18. However you end up mixing and matching is up to you in the end, but don’t get yourself so confused that you forget to take part period.
Sales
Impulse is also offering some other great deals on top of the aforementioned sales. Din’s Curse is 50% off at $12.50 instead of $25–Geoff’s review and our coverage of the graphical update. Academagia – The Making of Mages is $10 off, Aztaka is $7.50 instead of $15.
GamersGate has a couple of good deals as well. Max & The Magic Marker is 75% off and goes for just $5 instead of $20 and air racing sim Ikaro is just $7.50 down from $30.
Garry’s Mod (which apparently is now available for Mac as well) is going for half-off on Steam, and is available for just $5 through the weekend.
Pre-Order/Launch Discounts
Star Ruler launched on digital distributors this week at $5 off its $25 tag on Steam, GamersGate and Impulse.
Subsoap’s Faerie Solitaire launched recently on Steam with a 30% off discount and is currently going for $3.50.
Other Offers
Joel Cappelletto, co-designer for ArchRobo: Robotic Annihilation, has informed us of a giveaway for LPS’s freshly released XBLIG title. Just email lps_inc[at]hotmail.com and make sure you enter ‘Contest’ in the subject line for your chance to win one of ten copies of the twin-stick shooter.
[Did we miss something? Comment below or email erik.johnson[at]diygamer.com so we can add to the list.]
Live or work in the greater Austin area and have a thing for indie or independently developed video games? Well, you’re in luck as this year’s Fantastic Fest has announced quite a line up of Texas-based developers to showcase at this year’s Arcade event:
So, yeah, this seems like a fantastic way to spend an afternoon, especially if you’re more interested in learning how games are created.
Fantastic Fest Arcade begins on September 23rd and ends on the 26th. Tickets cost $10/day for a simple games demo pass, $20/day for a games, panels, parties, etc. pass, and $60 for a VIP pass which lets you in for all four days and you get access to all of the above mentioned activities.
If you are at all interested in attending please visit the Fantastic Fest website.
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