If you don't already own this game, and you won't spend $1.99 to rectify that situation, you are the worst.
It's one of those games that pretty much requires a controller, right?
It's playable with kbam, but just like any 3D platformer it's about a bazillion times better with a gamepad.
Psychonauts is so good though. The story is hilarious, the levels are great, and there are tons of little touches (talk to every NPC you run across and they usually have something interesting or entertaining to say, sometimes multiple things, also when you get Clairvoyance use it on everyone, trust me) that show how much love the devs put into the game. The last level can be a pain in the ass, but all in all Psychonauts is one of those incredible classics that really should be in the videogame canon.
+2
Options
CheesecakeRecipe"Should not be allowed to post in the Steam Thread" - IsornSqualor Victoria, Squalor Victoria!Registered Userregular
Gunpoint on sale? Oh man. This is one of those games that I think everyone who is on a forum dedicated to a satirical comic strip like ours should have. A reposting of my review I posted elsewhere:
Monday, June 3rd. The sun fell on this well-forgotten hole like any other night before it. I sat with my legs up admiring the burn of whiskey rolling in my throat. Pleasant in only the way remembering your ex can bring - comforting at first, nothing but agony all the way down. To be honest it reminded me more of my aftershave, which as it turns out shared the same last name as her… because she was the daughter of the man who owned the company. Shoulda seen that foreshadowing a mile away. Just like I should’ve seen this week coming like a bullet to the face.
This morning I’d felt the dagger dance of broken glass glide across my body and sheer holes in my coat. To make matters worse, the building I landed in happened to be owned by my next client who called me while I was still face down in shock. Just as my luck would have it, and let me tell you it’s about as rotten as a thrown away egg in a homeless guy’s mouth, on my way to meet up with her she was killed and the only man who stupidly stepped in front of the only security camera in the whole building? It was me. Later I hid in my office knowing full well my career could be jeopardized. My phone buzzed until it fell off the desk. I was afraid to look. But boy was I glad I did. Staring me right in the face was a Contract Contact from Mrs. Rooke, a sight for sore eyes more soothing than the drink I spilled. H̛air ͞as̵ ŗe̕ḑ a̧s the҉ lig̷ht́s b͠link̀i͝ng jus͜t o̴utsi҉d̡e̕ ͘of͝ m̨y wi̡ndow͢. Ş̵͢u̧̧ĺ҉t̨ŕ͟y a̶͟s̢̛͝ ̷̢t҉h̢̛ę̴̕ da-̡
Oh for fuck’s sake, stupid typewriter. Ok, let’s try this again.
Gunpoint, the rather improperly named noir stealth puzzler from journalist Tom Francis, has finally emerged from 3 years of incubating. Francis has been worn down after almost a decade of talking about games and decided he wanted to see the game he wanted made on his terms. No buzzwords, no bulletpoints, no bullshit. As an experience it absolutely succeeds, but it still trips into a few pitfalls along the way to its finale.
The goal behind Gunpoint was to create a platforming puzzler which didn’t hold your hand or hinder progress in order to teach you something. The mechanics are all explained within minutes without breaking the fourth wall negatively. This lets us get straight to the meat and potatoes of the gameplay, the crosswire mechanics. Crosswire gives players a tactical control of the game world and lets them link a light switch to a trap door three floors above, or an elevator call button linking to an electrical outlet linked to a light switch which has been disabled and the actual light switch is a floor below him, giving Mr. Guard quite the shock when he tries to use that switch. Or tricking one guard to fire his gun at you which is actually set to fire off his buddy’s gun, killing him in the process. As the game progresses you get more tools to use which open up more clever combinations of ways to progress through stages and give you the ability to cruise through some earlier stages in 10 seconds or less.
When you combine the possibilities of Crosslink with the ways that Gunpoint allows you to traverse the stage you get something that is a pure joy to navigate. I know some of you out there are salivating at the thought of no fall damage, small-building-scaling jumps and a checkpoint system that takes into account actions taken in the last 30 or so seconds and lets you pick just how far back you want to go should you end up dead. It’s snappy in the way that games like Super Meat Boy get right – the game itself should never get in the player’s way. Just because you died doesn’t mean you have to watch a 30 second cinematic before the man behind the curtain decides you’ve learned your lesson and can now continue to play. This is a game that will be a huge hit for speedrunners.
Between missions you advance the plot with short & funny dialogs like Robin Williams in the early 90s. Which is to say, he’s short and funny. Not the humor being Robin Williams-esque. Each bit exhibits some of the best writing in current gaming and borrows greatly from detective noir if it had a few drinks and unbuttoned its trenchcoat. You can choose to be smarmy about things or you can choose to play the straight man, each will play out somewhat differently especially as the plotlines begin to cross and your missions become more personal to the protagonist than he’d like to admit to 4/5ths of his clients. Gunpoint does an outstanding job at letting the player choose who their character is without making them out to be either Yeezus or Hitler. It very often breaks the fourth wall but does so in very entertaining ways, especially the last thing the game has you do before it is over.
This all comes at the cost of game difficulty. In its attempt to be as far out of the way of the player as it can and not get them frustrated, it becomes too easy. A typical first runthrough is about 3 hours long, which I should state was not a problem for me but I am aware some people adhere to the phrase “Time is Money” a bit too literally. I did find the puzzle difficulty to be rather disappointing however. I’m certainly glad that I never felt at odds against game logic to the point where I would end up frustrated because some smug bastard made me pay him to torture myself until my brain hashed out the answer.
This may be fixed by the game’s built in level editor, giving power to the community to come up with some devious playgrounds with which to test players’ ability to break sequence and concoct more fun ways to play. At the moment though you’re a bit limited with what you can do with the tool. Should they add further tilesets, some of the missing toys strangely absent from the current build, the option for pre-mission dialogs and Steam Workshop support could really give Gunpoint long legs like that fine femme fatale who came into my office on that fateful day. As it stands, Gunpoint is a speedrunner’s delight that falls just short of perfection in its aim to stay out of the way of the player, among other things. Oh, and I highly suggest picking up the Special Edition at the very least, the soundtrack is filled with hep and dance-able smooth jazz and scat tunes with the occasional pumping electronica track which I’ve added to my playlist rotation since I first heard it.
Stealth EDIT: I have no idea if our site allows hotlinking so let me know if the images don't work. You can't mess with art.
So, have the previous humble bundles been listed as a single entry like that, or not?
I'm assuming that it being one entry means that it's one key for everything.
Standard HB steam key protocol has been one key for the main set of games, one key for the beat the average games, and one key for the bonus set. Only in the last few bundles have we seen individually game keys becoming more prevalent.
It seems Steam doesn't auto-recalculate prices for bundle packs if not all of the individual items go on a sale. For example, the Age of Empires Midweek sale is Age of Empires III only, and the AoE 2 HD + 3 Legacy dual pack is still listing at $50, when the "Individual item prices for this bundle" is showing $33.58. It is a most interesting quirk.
Gunpoint on sale? Oh man. This is one of those games that I think everyone who is on a forum dedicated to a satirical comic strip like ours should have. A reposting of my review I posted elsewhere:
Monday, June 3rd. The sun fell on this well-forgotten hole like any other night before it. I sat with my legs up admiring the burn of whiskey rolling in my throat. Pleasant in only the way remembering your ex can bring - comforting at first, nothing but agony all the way down. To be honest it reminded me more of my aftershave, which as it turns out shared the same last name as her… because she was the daughter of the man who owned the company. Shoulda seen that foreshadowing a mile away. Just like I should’ve seen this week coming like a bullet to the face.
This morning I’d felt the dagger dance of broken glass glide across my body and sheer holes in my coat. To make matters worse, the building I landed in happened to be owned by my next client who called me while I was still face down in shock. Just as my luck would have it, and let me tell you it’s about as rotten as a thrown away egg in a homeless guy’s mouth, on my way to meet up with her she was killed and the only man who stupidly stepped in front of the only security camera in the whole building? It was me. Later I hid in my office knowing full well my career could be jeopardized. My phone buzzed until it fell off the desk. I was afraid to look. But boy was I glad I did. Staring me right in the face was a Contract Contact from Mrs. Rooke, a sight for sore eyes more soothing than the drink I spilled. H̛air ͞as̵ ŗe̕ḑ a̧s the҉ lig̷ht́s b͠link̀i͝ng jus͜t o̴utsi҉d̡e̕ ͘of͝ m̨y wi̡ndow͢. Ş̵͢u̧̧ĺ҉t̨ŕ͟y a̶͟s̢̛͝ ̷̢t҉h̢̛ę̴̕ da-̡
Oh for fuck’s sake, stupid typewriter. Ok, let’s try this again.
Gunpoint, the rather improperly named noir stealth puzzler from journalist Tom Francis, has finally emerged from 3 years of incubating. Francis has been worn down after almost a decade of talking about games and decided he wanted to see the game he wanted made on his terms. No buzzwords, no bulletpoints, no bullshit. As an experience it absolutely succeeds, but it still trips into a few pitfalls along the way to its finale.
The goal behind Gunpoint was to create a platforming puzzler which didn’t hold your hand or hinder progress in order to teach you something. The mechanics are all explained within minutes without breaking the fourth wall negatively. This lets us get straight to the meat and potatoes of the gameplay, the crosswire mechanics. Crosswire gives players a tactical control of the game world and lets them link a light switch to a trap door three floors above, or an elevator call button linking to an electrical outlet linked to a light switch which has been disabled and the actual light switch is a floor below him, giving Mr. Guard quite the shock when he tries to use that switch. Or tricking one guard to fire his gun at you which is actually set to fire off his buddy’s gun, killing him in the process. As the game progresses you get more tools to use which open up more clever combinations of ways to progress through stages and give you the ability to cruise through some earlier stages in 10 seconds or less.
When you combine the possibilities of Crosslink with the ways that Gunpoint allows you to traverse the stage you get something that is a pure joy to navigate. I know some of you out there are salivating at the thought of no fall damage, small-building-scaling jumps and a checkpoint system that takes into account actions taken in the last 30 or so seconds and lets you pick just how far back you want to go should you end up dead. It’s snappy in the way that games like Super Meat Boy get right – the game itself should never get in the player’s way. Just because you died doesn’t mean you have to watch a 30 second cinematic before the man behind the curtain decides you’ve learned your lesson and can now continue to play. This is a game that will be a huge hit for speedrunners.
Between missions you advance the plot with short & funny dialogs like Robin Williams in the early 90s. Which is to say, he’s short and funny. Not the humor being Robin Williams-esque. Each bit exhibits some of the best writing in current gaming and borrows greatly from detective noir if it had a few drinks and unbuttoned its trenchcoat. You can choose to be smarmy about things or you can choose to play the straight man, each will play out somewhat differently especially as the plotlines begin to cross and your missions become more personal to the protagonist than he’d like to admit to 4/5ths of his clients. Gunpoint does an outstanding job at letting the player choose who their character is without making them out to be either Yeezus or Hitler. It very often breaks the fourth wall but does so in very entertaining ways, especially the last thing the game has you do before it is over.
This all comes at the cost of game difficulty. In its attempt to be as far out of the way of the player as it can and not get them frustrated, it becomes too easy. A typical first runthrough is about 3 hours long, which I should state was not a problem for me but I am aware some people adhere to the phrase “Time is Money” a bit too literally. I did find the puzzle difficulty to be rather disappointing however. I’m certainly glad that I never felt at odds against game logic to the point where I would end up frustrated because some smug bastard made me pay him to torture myself until my brain hashed out the answer.
This may be fixed by the game’s built in level editor, giving power to the community to come up with some devious playgrounds with which to test players’ ability to break sequence and concoct more fun ways to play. At the moment though you’re a bit limited with what you can do with the tool. Should they add further tilesets, some of the missing toys strangely absent from the current build, the option for pre-mission dialogs and Steam Workshop support could really give Gunpoint long legs like that fine femme fatale who came into my office on that fateful day. As it stands, Gunpoint is a speedrunner’s delight that falls just short of perfection in its aim to stay out of the way of the player, among other things. Oh, and I highly suggest picking up the Special Edition at the very least, the soundtrack is filled with hep and dance-able smooth jazz and scat tunes with the occasional pumping electronica track which I’ve added to my playlist rotation since I first heard it.
Stealth EDIT: I have no idea if our site allows hotlinking so let me know if the images don't work. You can't mess with art.
ok folks, time to stretch out the old gifting muscles since its been a while since i gave something away.
thats right,Gunpoint, a pretty simple yet spectacular game that everyone should play through. I have like 38 friends with this on their wishlist, and frankly that is criminal. get it you playa pseudo criminal private investigator.
so here is the contest. as part of your arsenal you have a whole slew of crazy gadgets like your crosslink for linking things and tactical pants for falling out of windows unharmed. also fists for punching things.
your task should you choose to accept it is to design your own secret spy tool and tell me about it. Bonus points for drawings. I haven't decided if winner gets it outright or best so many get a private steamgifts entry. or maybe i will throw the best up for a vote. regardless you can win gunpoint if you got the chops.
Entries should be PM'ed to me. 1 entry per person. lets say you have until Thursday morning so you have time to buy it if you don't win.
Holy crap. That's sort of.. drastic. Gold will once again be worthless just like D2.
Death of the AH? Best news of the day. Between that and Loot 2.0 and the expansion, the game is finally looking like it could be worth a damn despite Jay Wilson's best efforts to kill the series.
They just need to get rid of the always-online component and I might dig my copy back out of mothballs.
Holy crap. That's sort of.. drastic. Gold will once again be worthless just like D2.
Death of the AH? Best news of the day. Between that and Loot 2.0 and the expansion, the game is finally looking like it could be worth a damn despite Jay Wilson's best efforts to kill the series.
They just need to get rid of the always-online component and I might dig my copy back out of mothballs.
I didn't say I liked using it. No AH would be good for the game. But gold will become useless again, unless they have meaningful sinks. It could be a good thing if gold becomes meaningless except for repair and gold sinks. All those bots would become worthless for one.
I could use some more PA friends in Diablo. If any of y'all play, feel free to add me - Genesius#1379. It's already drastically improved since Wilson left, the new loot system and expansion look to finally make it a full-fledged proper Diablo.
Ok need some help. I'm currently playing a bunch of MOBA's and Supreme Commander, but SC is soo slow in pace that I can only take it 20 minutes at a time where the map is usually an hour minimum. I'm on 3 of 16. I need something to break up the monotony and clear the backlog. Only problem is I have 50+ games.
Assassin's Creed 3
FarCry 3
Bastion (Stranger's Dream)
Batman: Arkham City (Harley & Challenges)
Borderlands
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition
Cave Story+
Cortex Command
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Missing Link
Divinity II: Developer's Cut
Don't Starve
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Droid Assault
Faerie Solitaire
Fallout: New Vegas
FTL: Faster Than Light
Gunpoint
Iron Brigade
Just Cause 2
LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Mark of the Ninja
Midnight Club 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
Orcs Must Die!
Orcs Must Die! 2
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4
Poker Night 2
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6 Biohazard 6
Revenge of the Titans
Rock of Ages
Saints Row: The Third
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Shank 2
Sleeping Dogs
Stealth Bastard Deluxe
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
xxx The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Void
The Walking Dead
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Titan Attacks!
Tomb Raider
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Trine 2: Complete Story
Wizorb
@luchaire seems to be enjoying not letting me spend my (not so) hard earned card money. Thanks for Gunpoint but I've learned my lesson, I'm not saying a word about what else I plan on buying.
Nope, not going to mention anything else I'm buying because I seem to get gifted things before I can pull the trigger. Oh, I'll accept the gift right after I get home tonight. I'm window shopping for a Porsche, a 75" TV, one of those Oculus Rifts, Saints Row 4 super deluxe edition, a pony, some pony-safe pink glitter paint, a replica unicorn horn and some krazy glue.
@luchaire seems to be enjoying not letting me spend my (not so) hard earned card money. Thanks for Gunpoint but I've learned my lesson, I'm not saying a word about what else I plan on buying.
Nope, not going to mention anything else I'm buying because I seem to get gifted things before I can pull the trigger. Oh, I'll accept the gift right after I get home tonight. I'm window shopping for a Porsche, a 75" TV, one of those Oculus Rifts, Saints Row 4 super deluxe edition, a pony, some pony-safe pink glitter paint, a replica unicorn horn and some krazy glue.
I definitely have at least two of the things on that list.
Ok need some help. I'm currently playing a bunch of MOBA's and Supreme Commander, but SC is soo slow in pace that I can only take it 20 minutes at a time where the map is usually an hour minimum. I'm on 3 of 16. I need something to break up the monotony and clear the backlog. Only problem is I have 50+ games.
Assassin's Creed 3
FarCry 3
Bastion (Stranger's Dream)
Batman: Arkham City (Harley & Challenges)
Borderlands
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition
Cave Story+
Cortex Command
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Missing Link
Divinity II: Developer's Cut
Don't Starve
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Droid Assault
Faerie Solitaire
Fallout: New Vegas
FTL: Faster Than Light
Gunpoint
Iron Brigade
Just Cause 2
LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Mark of the Ninja
Midnight Club 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
Orcs Must Die!
Orcs Must Die! 2
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4
Poker Night 2
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6 Biohazard 6
Revenge of the Titans
Rock of Ages
Saints Row: The Third
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Shank 2
Sleeping Dogs
Stealth Bastard Deluxe
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
xxx The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Void
The Walking Dead
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Titan Attacks!
Tomb Raider
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Trine 2: Complete Story
Wizorb
Ok need some help. I'm currently playing a bunch of MOBA's and Supreme Commander, but SC is soo slow in pace that I can only take it 20 minutes at a time where the map is usually an hour minimum. I'm on 3 of 16. I need something to break up the monotony and clear the backlog. Only problem is I have 50+ games.
Assassin's Creed 3
FarCry 3
Bastion (Stranger's Dream)
Batman: Arkham City (Harley & Challenges)
Borderlands
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition
Cave Story+
Cortex Command
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Missing Link
Divinity II: Developer's Cut
Don't Starve
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Droid Assault
Faerie Solitaire
Fallout: New Vegas
FTL: Faster Than Light
Gunpoint
Iron Brigade
Just Cause 2
LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Mark of the Ninja
Midnight Club 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
Orcs Must Die!
Orcs Must Die! 2
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4
Poker Night 2
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6 Biohazard 6
Revenge of the Titans
Rock of Ages
Saints Row: The Third
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Shank 2
Sleeping Dogs
Stealth Bastard Deluxe
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
xxx The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Void
The Walking Dead
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Titan Attacks!
Tomb Raider
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Trine 2: Complete Story
Wizorb
Suggestions?
Tomb Raider. I'm playing it, and it's awesome.
Tomb Raider is awesome. But I think if you need to break up a strategy session, I'd go Mark of the Ninja or FTL.
Both are addictive, compulsive, but fast paced. They can also be played in small sessions, so when you're ready to go back to SC you can. They don't have the same kind of demand as say, Fallout New Vegas, which is also very good, but rewards sitting down for an hour or two. A game of FTL can be won or lost (usually lost) in 20 minutes...similarly MotN allows decent progress in that timeframe.
If you just want to pew-pew some stuff and laugh maniacally, Orcs Must Die will fulfill that function, usually in half an hour. Also it has acid traps.
So apparently I've been on these forums for four years as of today. Feels like half that. *grumble grumble* stupid, linear time razzafrazza....
So how about some Torchlight 2? I just realized the other day that I failed to give away one of the copies from the four pack I bought in the last sale.
Ok need some help. I'm currently playing a bunch of MOBA's and Supreme Commander, but SC is soo slow in pace that I can only take it 20 minutes at a time where the map is usually an hour minimum. I'm on 3 of 16. I need something to break up the monotony and clear the backlog. Only problem is I have 50+ games.
Assassin's Creed 3
FarCry 3
Bastion (Stranger's Dream)
Batman: Arkham City (Harley & Challenges)
Borderlands
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition
Cave Story+
Cortex Command
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Missing Link
Divinity II: Developer's Cut
Don't Starve
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Droid Assault
Faerie Solitaire
Fallout: New Vegas
FTL: Faster Than Light
Gunpoint
Iron Brigade
Just Cause 2
LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Mark of the Ninja
Midnight Club 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
Orcs Must Die!
Orcs Must Die! 2
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4
Poker Night 2
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6 Biohazard 6
Revenge of the Titans
Rock of Ages
Saints Row: The Third
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Shank 2
Sleeping Dogs
Stealth Bastard Deluxe
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
xxx The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Void
The Walking Dead
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Titan Attacks!
Tomb Raider
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Trine 2: Complete Story
Wizorb
Suggestions?
Tomb Raider. I'm playing it, and it's awesome.
Tomb Raider is awesome. But I think if you need to break up a strategy session, I'd go Mark of the Ninja or FTL.
Both are addictive, compulsive, but fast paced. They can also be played in small sessions, so when you're ready to go back to SC you can. They don't have the same kind of demand as say, Fallout New Vegas, which is also very good, but rewards sitting down for an hour or two. A game of FTL can be won or lost (usually lost) in 20 minutes...similarly MotN allows decent progress in that timeframe.
If you just want to pew-pew some stuff and laugh maniacally, Orcs Must Die will fulfill that function, usually in half an hour. Also it has acid traps.
Stealth Bastard, Droid Assault, Wizorb and Gunpoint fit into this viewpoint quite well too. These are all pretty good choices for quick and satisfying sessions. PinballFX2 and a quality shmup or two also do me right for this kind of thing, but I guess you aren't looking for more games to buy right now.
Posts
Will check it out, thanks!
It's playable with kbam, but just like any 3D platformer it's about a bazillion times better with a gamepad.
Psychonauts is so good though. The story is hilarious, the levels are great, and there are tons of little touches (talk to every NPC you run across and they usually have something interesting or entertaining to say, sometimes multiple things, also when you get Clairvoyance use it on everyone, trust me) that show how much love the devs put into the game. The last level can be a pain in the ass, but all in all Psychonauts is one of those incredible classics that really should be in the videogame canon.
Monday, June 3rd. The sun fell on this well-forgotten hole like any other night before it. I sat with my legs up admiring the burn of whiskey rolling in my throat. Pleasant in only the way remembering your ex can bring - comforting at first, nothing but agony all the way down. To be honest it reminded me more of my aftershave, which as it turns out shared the same last name as her… because she was the daughter of the man who owned the company. Shoulda seen that foreshadowing a mile away. Just like I should’ve seen this week coming like a bullet to the face.
This morning I’d felt the dagger dance of broken glass glide across my body and sheer holes in my coat. To make matters worse, the building I landed in happened to be owned by my next client who called me while I was still face down in shock. Just as my luck would have it, and let me tell you it’s about as rotten as a thrown away egg in a homeless guy’s mouth, on my way to meet up with her she was killed and the only man who stupidly stepped in front of the only security camera in the whole building? It was me. Later I hid in my office knowing full well my career could be jeopardized. My phone buzzed until it fell off the desk. I was afraid to look. But boy was I glad I did. Staring me right in the face was a Contract Contact from Mrs. Rooke, a sight for sore eyes more soothing than the drink I spilled. H̛air ͞as̵ ŗe̕ḑ a̧s the҉ lig̷ht́s b͠link̀i͝ng jus͜t o̴utsi҉d̡e̕ ͘of͝ m̨y wi̡ndow͢. Ş̵͢u̧̧ĺ҉t̨ŕ͟y a̶͟s̢̛͝ ̷̢t҉h̢̛ę̴̕ da-̡
Oh for fuck’s sake, stupid typewriter. Ok, let’s try this again.
Gunpoint, the rather improperly named noir stealth puzzler from journalist Tom Francis, has finally emerged from 3 years of incubating. Francis has been worn down after almost a decade of talking about games and decided he wanted to see the game he wanted made on his terms. No buzzwords, no bulletpoints, no bullshit. As an experience it absolutely succeeds, but it still trips into a few pitfalls along the way to its finale.
The goal behind Gunpoint was to create a platforming puzzler which didn’t hold your hand or hinder progress in order to teach you something. The mechanics are all explained within minutes without breaking the fourth wall negatively. This lets us get straight to the meat and potatoes of the gameplay, the crosswire mechanics. Crosswire gives players a tactical control of the game world and lets them link a light switch to a trap door three floors above, or an elevator call button linking to an electrical outlet linked to a light switch which has been disabled and the actual light switch is a floor below him, giving Mr. Guard quite the shock when he tries to use that switch. Or tricking one guard to fire his gun at you which is actually set to fire off his buddy’s gun, killing him in the process. As the game progresses you get more tools to use which open up more clever combinations of ways to progress through stages and give you the ability to cruise through some earlier stages in 10 seconds or less.
When you combine the possibilities of Crosslink with the ways that Gunpoint allows you to traverse the stage you get something that is a pure joy to navigate. I know some of you out there are salivating at the thought of no fall damage, small-building-scaling jumps and a checkpoint system that takes into account actions taken in the last 30 or so seconds and lets you pick just how far back you want to go should you end up dead. It’s snappy in the way that games like Super Meat Boy get right – the game itself should never get in the player’s way. Just because you died doesn’t mean you have to watch a 30 second cinematic before the man behind the curtain decides you’ve learned your lesson and can now continue to play. This is a game that will be a huge hit for speedrunners.
Between missions you advance the plot with short & funny dialogs like Robin Williams in the early 90s. Which is to say, he’s short and funny. Not the humor being Robin Williams-esque. Each bit exhibits some of the best writing in current gaming and borrows greatly from detective noir if it had a few drinks and unbuttoned its trenchcoat. You can choose to be smarmy about things or you can choose to play the straight man, each will play out somewhat differently especially as the plotlines begin to cross and your missions become more personal to the protagonist than he’d like to admit to 4/5ths of his clients. Gunpoint does an outstanding job at letting the player choose who their character is without making them out to be either Yeezus or Hitler. It very often breaks the fourth wall but does so in very entertaining ways, especially the last thing the game has you do before it is over.
This all comes at the cost of game difficulty. In its attempt to be as far out of the way of the player as it can and not get them frustrated, it becomes too easy. A typical first runthrough is about 3 hours long, which I should state was not a problem for me but I am aware some people adhere to the phrase “Time is Money” a bit too literally. I did find the puzzle difficulty to be rather disappointing however. I’m certainly glad that I never felt at odds against game logic to the point where I would end up frustrated because some smug bastard made me pay him to torture myself until my brain hashed out the answer.
This may be fixed by the game’s built in level editor, giving power to the community to come up with some devious playgrounds with which to test players’ ability to break sequence and concoct more fun ways to play. At the moment though you’re a bit limited with what you can do with the tool. Should they add further tilesets, some of the missing toys strangely absent from the current build, the option for pre-mission dialogs and Steam Workshop support could really give Gunpoint long legs like that fine femme fatale who came into my office on that fateful day. As it stands, Gunpoint is a speedrunner’s delight that falls just short of perfection in its aim to stay out of the way of the player, among other things. Oh, and I highly suggest picking up the Special Edition at the very least, the soundtrack is filled with hep and dance-able smooth jazz and scat tunes with the occasional pumping electronica track which I’ve added to my playlist rotation since I first heard it.
Stealth EDIT: I have no idea if our site allows hotlinking so let me know if the images don't work. You can't mess with art.
Standard HB steam key protocol has been one key for the main set of games, one key for the beat the average games, and one key for the bonus set. Only in the last few bundles have we seen individually game keys becoming more prevalent.
Steam ID: Good Life
Origin: Broncbuster
🖥️Steam Profile
Also, this looks interesting:
Timelines: Assault on America
http://store.steampowered.com/app/234060/
Origin: Broncbuster
3DS Friend Code: 2449-5711-0640
whats that..oh yes. apparently i am clairvoyant
now with improved deadline!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10974978/
wow.
Origin: Broncbuster
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
I have a similar request but with Hitman Absolution in the place of Tomb Raider and my name in place of Idx86's name
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Holy crap. That's sort of.. drastic. Gold will once again be worthless just like D2.
Death of the AH? Best news of the day. Between that and Loot 2.0 and the expansion, the game is finally looking like it could be worth a damn despite Jay Wilson's best efforts to kill the series.
They just need to get rid of the always-online component and I might dig my copy back out of mothballs.
I didn't say I liked using it. No AH would be good for the game. But gold will become useless again, unless they have meaningful sinks. It could be a good thing if gold becomes meaningless except for repair and gold sinks. All those bots would become worthless for one.
Thank you.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
FarCry 3
Bastion (Stranger's Dream)
Batman: Arkham City (Harley & Challenges)
Borderlands
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition
Cave Story+
Cortex Command
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Missing Link
Divinity II: Developer's Cut
Don't Starve
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition
Droid Assault
Faerie Solitaire
Fallout: New Vegas
FTL: Faster Than Light
Gunpoint
Iron Brigade
Just Cause 2
LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Mark of the Ninja
Midnight Club 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
Orcs Must Die!
Orcs Must Die! 2
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4
Poker Night 2
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6 Biohazard 6
Revenge of the Titans
Rock of Ages
Saints Row: The Third
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Shank 2
Sleeping Dogs
Stealth Bastard Deluxe
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
xxx The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Void
The Walking Dead
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Titan Attacks!
Tomb Raider
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Trine 2: Complete Story
Wizorb
Suggestions?
...I put everything into Mojo.
And then I also bought ff14 on Monday... kind of wishing I didn't go a little crazy...
Is there anyone who just wants Sleeping Dogs?
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
Nope, not going to mention anything else I'm buying because I seem to get gifted things before I can pull the trigger. Oh, I'll accept the gift right after I get home tonight. I'm window shopping for a Porsche, a 75" TV, one of those Oculus Rifts, Saints Row 4 super deluxe edition, a pony, some pony-safe pink glitter paint, a replica unicorn horn and some krazy glue.
I definitely have at least two of the things on that list.
How far away do you live, I wonder?
Tomb Raider. I'm playing it, and it's awesome.
🖥️Steam Profile
Tomb Raider is awesome. But I think if you need to break up a strategy session, I'd go Mark of the Ninja or FTL.
Both are addictive, compulsive, but fast paced. They can also be played in small sessions, so when you're ready to go back to SC you can. They don't have the same kind of demand as say, Fallout New Vegas, which is also very good, but rewards sitting down for an hour or two. A game of FTL can be won or lost (usually lost) in 20 minutes...similarly MotN allows decent progress in that timeframe.
If you just want to pew-pew some stuff and laugh maniacally, Orcs Must Die will fulfill that function, usually in half an hour. Also it has acid traps.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
So how about some Torchlight 2? I just realized the other day that I failed to give away one of the copies from the four pack I bought in the last sale.
Adventure Team, usual rules, ends tomorrow afternoon.
Stealth Bastard, Droid Assault, Wizorb and Gunpoint fit into this viewpoint quite well too. These are all pretty good choices for quick and satisfying sessions. PinballFX2 and a quality shmup or two also do me right for this kind of thing, but I guess you aren't looking for more games to buy right now.
Having to buy 8 cards for Arma 3 is a pain.
Bad news: I know who the other 10% are. Watch your back.
13+ for Skullgirls/McPixel/Organ Trail/a few others
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!