Another month rolls around, and another bunch of cheap games becomes
available on HumbleChoice. Humble has been on a roll these past few
months, making up for some cheesy selections earlier this year. Will
they keep givin' us the good stuff, or will it be more filler
material?

(Games are purchased through https://www.humblebundle.com/membership/
but all are available on Steam. Steam links provided for informational
use)

* The Forgotten City
https://store.steampowered.com/app/874260/The_Forgotten_City/
An action-adventure game set in ancient Rome
where your time-manipulation powers are needed to
break a curse. In a city where the sin of almost
one person will doom an entire city, it's up to you
to figure our who the sinner is, constantly looping
through events and learning what's going on (and
trying to stop it). Sort of a Roman "Groundhog Day".
A bit clunky, but innovative. It might not be the sort
of game everyone appreciates, but I like it.

* Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - Chaotic Edition
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1286680/Tiny_Tinas_Wonderlands/
The best DLC of "Borderlands 3" makes it as a
single-player game. This version includes the
original game, Dragon Lord Pack, and a Season Pass.
But despite all the goodies, I can't get too excited.
The Tiny Tina DLC was an awesome send-up of table-top
gaming and a unique twist to the Borderlands
formula... but its brevity was also its charm.
Extending the joke doesn't really make it better. And,
honestly, it's still "Borderlands" at its core, and I
never really cared too much for that franchise. For
what it is, it's an okay game but... I don't really
like what it is.

* Deceive, Inc
https://store.steampowered.com/app/820520/Deceive_Inc/
James Bond (spies!) crossed with Hitman (disguises)
by way of "No One Lives Forever" (humor) and "The
Ship" (multiplayer). Sneak into installations, disguise
yourself as anyone, and exfiltrate with the secrets...
before anyone else beats you to the punch. An
interesting idea whose implementation doesn't seem up
to the task.

* Aces & Adventures
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1815570/Aces__Adventures/
I could go into what this game is all about, but
honestly, I don't care. It's a deckbuilding game
that uses poker rules for its combat. Is it good?
Maybe? I won't be finding out. Card-based games
are anathema to me.

* Patch Quest
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1347970/Patch_Quest/
An Indie metroidvania with cutesie graphics. Not
my thing. I'll leave it to others to judge whether
its any good or not.

* ForeTales
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1170080/Foretales/
Another game utilizing card mechanics. Don't
need to know more than that. Nope.

* Who Press Mute on Uncle Marcus
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1628130/Who_Pressed_Mute_on_Uncle_Marcus/
FMV games have been making a bit of a comeback.
Some are good, but most seem to selling themselves
on the kitchness of the medium. This one seems to
be the same; it's not really that good a game, but
you might get some value from the absurdity of
the videos.

* Autonauts vs. Piratebots
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1907720/Autonauts_vs_Piratebots/
In essence, a tower-defense game. Build up your
base, automate its defenses, and wait for waves
of baddies that try to overrun your fortress.
Basic logic and programming skills required to
properly automate your units. Apparently this game
is much more limited in capability than the 'Autonauts'
game on which it is based. It doesn't really sound
all that much fun to me, and I don't really like
the visual aesthetic either. Meh.

Well, I can't say much for this month's selection. The best game in
the bunch is pretty niche, and the rest are average at best. Still,
seeing as this gets me "The Forgotten City" for half its usual price,
I might as well pick up the bundle. But there's too much filler this
month to really recommend it to anyone else. Unless you see a game you
really like, maybe skip HumbleChoice until next month, eh?

On Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:55:23 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>Well, I can't say much for this month's selection. The best game in
>the bunch is pretty niche, and the rest are average at best. Still,
>seeing as this gets me "The Forgotten City" for half its usual price,
>I might as well pick up the bundle. But there's too much filler this
>month to really recommend it to anyone else. Unless you see a game you
>really like, maybe skip HumbleChoice until next month, eh?

I will definitely be skipping over this one. Thank you for the
summary.

Am 06.09.23 um 19:53 schrieb Mike S.:
> On Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:55:23 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Well, I can't say much for this month's selection. The best game in
>> the bunch is pretty niche, and the rest are average at best. Still,
>> seeing as this gets me "The Forgotten City" for half its usual price,
>> I might as well pick up the bundle. But there's too much filler this
>> month to really recommend it to anyone else. Unless you see a game you
>> really like, maybe skip HumbleChoice until next month, eh?
>
> I will definitely be skipping over this one. Thank you for the
> summary.
As usual 2 games interest me, the rest is meh...
Unfortunately I already have The Forgotten City

But the other one which is interesting is enough reason not to skip it!

On Thu, 7 Sep 2023 12:52:57 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:

>But the other one which is interesting is enough reason not to skip it!

If there is at least one game in the list you want, it is probably
worth it. It is definitely worth it if there is at least two.
Unfortunately for me, this month sits at zero. :-P

On 06/09/2023 00:55, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> * The Forgotten City

I'd forgotten about that one, it's was interesting but it was in the
category of I just don't get it. I will fire it up again sometime but
only after I watched a YT video so the gameplay mechanic clicks with me.

Am 07.09.23 um 13:29 schrieb Mike S.:
> On Thu, 7 Sep 2023 12:52:57 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:
>
>> But the other one which is interesting is enough reason not to skip it!
>
> If there is at least one game in the list you want, it is probably
> worth it. It is definitely worth it if there is at least two.
> Unfortunately for me, this month sits at zero. :-P
Understandable, fortunately, I have yet to encounter such a month, but I
also so far have not had one, where more than two games were interesting.
It still is a good deal overall!