Steam doesn’t have a monopoly on ridiculous digital download deals. Green Man Gaming (full disclosure: Green Man Gaming are an advertiser and supporter of PCGamesN – there’s more about what that means at the bottom of the post) are on a similar deal frenzy right now.
Over the next week, they’re offering stupid prices on PC games – we’ve got a frankly terrifying spreadsheet of over 450 50% or 75% reductions. Rather than blast it out, here’s our pick of the deals on offer.
Before we get to the offers, a quick word about GMG. Think of GMG as slightly deranged rapscallions. Their store offers a mix of digital downloads hosted on their on ‘Capsule’ client, digital downloads to which they supply a Steam key, and boxed PC, Xbox and PS3 games. Some games sold through the Capsule client can be traded in for further games down the line. In a further twist, they’ll always put on vouchers and codes that create further discounts.
For this round-up, we’ve concentrated on digital downloads, and pointed out where the game on offer is available through Steam, or Capsule. Where GMG are discounting the whole series, we’ve tried to pick the best offer.
Finally, don’t pay the list price. At checkout, apply this voucher: GMG25-G4VDR-0ZL4Q – that will knock off a further 25% on most of the games on sale.
Like we said: deranged rapscallions.
Anyway: here’s our pick of what to get.
Dishonored
£14.99
Jeremy: What to say that we haven’t already? Owning Dishonored will be the best decision you’ve already made. I will say this: when wielding the heart in-game, make sure you right-click. Contained within is the game’s very best writing – tiny, profound pieces on the human condition which expand its characters by many dimensions. And another thing: Dishonored is two games for the price of one. It can either be the past decade’s best stealth game, or it can be this:
Paul: This is definitely the spiritual successor to the Thief and Deus Ex games, and it has that same Looking Glass sheen. Like I said in our roundup a little while back, I don’t feel Dishonored does enough to truly push boundaries, but it’s still a damn good first-person stealth game with some excellent art and design. I hope Dishonored not only marks a resurgence for these kinds of games, but that it also helps to introduce them to a console audience.
Link: unlocks on Steam.
Fallout: New Vegas
£4.99
Tim: For basically zero money, this is amazing. I actually prefer New Vegas to Fallout 3 by quite a margin. It’s set in the Mojave desert, which is always fun, and it’s got a nice line in sarcastic end of the world comedy. The architecture, a parody of 50’s California, is more lovable. But mostly, it’s just more dense, I think. It feels like the map is absolutely crammed with stuff to do: from taking on mobsters to deciding who gets to control the Hoover dam. Just be warned that there are a few bugs still here and there.
Link: unlocks on Steam.
Kings Bounty series
£4.99
Tim: The Kings Bounty games are turn based magical hex-based wargame things. They’re also lovely – fairytales wrapped in strategy. There have been a fair few of them released and each is a little bit more refined. But… three games in, the devs are starting to stretch the concept a little bit. If you fancy trying them, start from the beginning with Kings Bounty: The Legend – not for any canonical reasons, but just because they started great, and this is the cheapest on offer.
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Men of War series
£6.49
Jules: Although a might buggy, not much of a looker, and being set in the Second World War, Men of War is a nicely innovative strategy game. By treating each of your units as if they were a member of your party in an RPG, you can control their inventory, give individual and complex, chained orders. It’s like a lot of things but none of those things have all the elements in play that Men of War does, it’s a patchwork of strategy games.
Link: Unlocks on GMG Capsule.
Dead Island
£9.99
Jules: Firstly, throw all thoughts of that trailer out of your mind. Dead Island is not an emotional rollercoaster, nor is it going to make you reach for a tissue, make your room dusty, or in any way manipulate you other than massaging your fun glands. Dead Island moves the zombie apocalypse to a lush paradise island and, although it features some guns, puts the emphasis on melee weapons and crafting (machete + electric = 😀 ).
Don’t buy the DLC. It’s shit.
Link to Dead Island: Game of the Year: Unlocks on Steam.
Carcassonne
£3.99
Paul: This video game adaptation of the tile-laying classic board game is actually pretty good, though I’d recommend you play it with friends rather than with the AI. Much of the appeal of the board game comes from the increasingly devious expansions that were released and you get several of these tossed in here. For this price, you’re also saving a lot of money on the actual game, though as an enormous fan of board games I feel like a terrible person for recommending something that might encourage people to avoid buying one of them. Argh.
Link: Unlocks on GMG capsule.
Bioshock
£6.99
Jeremy: Rather than moan about the ways in which Bioshock fails to be Thief, I’ll tell you about the ways in which it manages to be Doom. It’s there in the level design – wide open and honest about its boundaries, in a way that allows you to think tactically and take stock of all of your options at any given point. And you’ll need to for those Big Daddy fights which, while pop culture fodder now, are still mega.
Link: Unlocks on GMG capsule.
Bioshock 2
£6.99
Tim: Here’s the thing: Bioshock 1 traded a lot on its surprise, suspense and novelty. It was a great game, but part of what made it great was it strangeness. Bioshock 2 doesn’t have that. But that doesn’t stop it being similarly great. Exploring more of Rapture’s world, meeting more of its citizens remains a thrill. Bioshock 2 gets way less love than Bioshock 1, but I do think it’s a perfect compliment to the original.
Link: Unlocks on GMG Capsule.
Borderlands
£9.97
Jules: Gearbox’s attempt to bring the ARPG into the FPS world is a damn solid game. It’s just dull as all hell when played solo. It’s a vast game and will easily consume more hours than you can throw at it, but without the company of friends (or podcasts) it may leave you unsatisfied.
Link to Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition: Unlocks on Steam.
Borderlands 2
£22.49
Tim: Borderlands 2 is gorgeous. Really surprising what teams are able to get out of UE3 at the end of a generation. Also: I like the guns.
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Civilization V
£14.97
Paul: I’m so conflicted about the fifth game in this series because it worked hard to change what was becoming something of a sale template, but I’m not entirely keen on all the changes it made. I’m pleased that units no longer stack on top of each other to form gigantic piles of hit points and I really like the decision to make the world hex-based, but I was disappointed that the endgame remained largely the same, an ever-growing series of build instructions and a mostly-explored world that you either have to make peace with or gradually plough your way across. It’s always fun to found your Civilization and watch it grow, but the game’s still little more than a stale economics simulation once you reach the modern era.
Things get a bit better with the Gods and Kings expansion, which reintroduces elements that Firaxis should never really have taken out.
Link to Civilization V: Game of the Year Edition: Unlocks on Steam
Bastion
£5.74
Jules: Bastion is a beautifully built brawler. The two things that will strike you first are the colourful, clear visuals and the voice of the narrator – like gaming’s very own Morgan Freeman. But this is a game with more than a nice aesthetic: although you’ve only two buttons for combat, each locked to a different weapon, you can completely change the nature of your attacks with different upgrades. For instance, you can turn your blunderbuss into a short range cannon that sprays out shot for crowd control, or fashion a long range elephant gun, singling out a solo enemy to be cut to shribbons.
Paul: I don’t know what shribbons are, but I do know Bastion is pretty stylish. Don’t underestimate it, though, as it gets bloody hard later on and you might want to try playing it with a controller, as I found the keyboard just a tiny bit frustrating when the going got tough. And it got very tough.
Link to Bastion: Unlocks on GMG Capsule.
Darkness 2
£9.99
Tim: I think this might be one of the most violent and sweary games I’ve played. You star as a mob dude who also happens to be possessed by voodoo imp things that sprout out of your shoulders. Essentially, you’ve got two arms for shooting, and two arms for cleaving bad men in two. If that sounds overpowered: it is. You do lose some of your ability if you move out of the shadows, but you’ll spend most of your time giggling wildly as you tear a gangsters apart. And I do mean apart: the animation for when you rip a man from groin to neck is very nearly disturbing.
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Super Meat Boy
£6.49
Jeremy: I said it for the Steam sale, and I’ll say it again. Ed McMillen likes to pretend that he played it safe with Meat Boy, and he did – but only by his own seriously twisted standards. Super Meat Boy is the slickest indie game you’ll play outside World of Goo. It’s wet with precision platforming and indie self-reference. It’s also possessed of the best soundtrack you’re likely to hear in ages, which sees composer Danny Baranowsky dusting off Tommy Tallarico’s Earthworm Jim LP before totally shredding it with a sick keyboard solo.
Link: Unlocks on Steam
Empire Total War
£6.49
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Napoleon Total War
£6.49
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Total War: Shogun 2
£12.49
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Tim: We’ve bundled all the Total War games together – but also note that the DLC and expansions are also up for sale. If I was going to pick one, I’d probably pick Empire: Total War – it’s got a bad rep, but there’s no bigger or more complete Total War. But Shogun’s thrilling – it’s got a near perfect mix of empire building and more personal heroics: I’ve got dozens of stories about my favourite general(s). Napoleon is an interesting experiment: it’s much more channeled than most other Total War games; the missions give you a smaller field of view for you to fight within. However, the time-scale is furious and the sheer volume of battles you find yourself in make for very, very hard strategic and tactical choices. All are worthy of your time, but if you buy them all, you won’t play anything else for a year.
Paul: I’d go for Shogun 2, where Creative Assembly made naval battles exciting and really brought home the impact of technology on the battlefield. In their previous Total War titles, I never felt that better technology or more advanced units were enough of an advantage (and perhaps, historically, they weren’t), but just try employing that gatling gun against ranks of enemy troops and, well, you’ll see.
Tropico 4
£6.24
Tim: I’ve got a real soft spot for the Tropico games. They see you managing a corrupt and broken banana republic. It’s a very specific niche, but one that the series has embraced with humour and style. I enjoy the gentle streak of anarchy that runs through them. Tropico 4’s
Link: Unlocks on Steam.
Guild Wars 2 digital edition
£32.99
Jeremy: Guild Wars 2 remains the game of the MMOment with ever more junk in its trunk. Ultimately I lost interest in my human noble, whose origin story was just a tad too tedious to tolerate any longer. But if you don’t come to Guild Wars with absurd expectations of tight dialogue and social commentary, you’ll find a ginormous world of aesthetic wonders in which literally every other aspect of the MMO has been tightened up. It simply won’t allow you to get bored of its combat system, which effectively offers a new class to level up with every newly found weapon. Whatever did we do before?
Link: Unlocks MMO client.
Disclosure: GMG are advertisers and sponsors of PCGamesN. We’re proud to have them onboard. They’ll let us know early about any deals that are taking place on their site, but don’t approve copy or any of the content we post. If it wasn’t for them, Jeremy would still be out on the streets, spending the last of his student loan on bags of blue powder.