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[Steam Sale 2014] Indie-ana Games and the Temple of Hidden Gems

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Toma has anyone mentioned The Fall yet? Its a really great point and click game about AI and choice vs programming. It doesnt seem to have gotten any love, despite being a successful kickstarter apparently.

Dont think so.
 
How does killer is dead compare to MG Rising?

Currently doing Rising on Very hard (beat it on normal and hard was too easy using ng+)

edit: wrong thread :/
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
I bought The Fall earlier this morning. Looking forward to checking it out.

So far its definitely got my interest. I think video games do very well with AI related stories and characters. Just something I've observed.
 

Burt

Member
Not that it really matters, but has Divinity OS been any cheaper than the -20% it's at now? Seriously considering picking it up, but I haven't bought a game for ~$30 in quite a long time, and it just seems like such a jump over the rest of my haul.

Anyway, anyone have any more recommendations and/or hidden gems they've found over the last couple days that haven't been preached about yet in here?

Edit: Also, some Divinity 2 impressions would be great.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Not that it really matters, but has Divinity OS been any cheaper than the -20% it's at now? Seriously considering picking it up, but I haven't bought a game for ~$30 in quite a long time, and it just seems like such a jump over the rest of my haul.

Anyway, anyone have any more recommendations and/or hidden gems they've found over the last couple days that haven't been preached about yet in here?

Edit: Also, some Divinity 2 impressions would be great.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=672137

:p
 

KDR_11k

Member
Maybe a bit late to mention this but Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville has a good rep (I'm not far enough in it to judge it yet), while it's a big IP it's developed by Radiangames and is a Metroidvania.
 

Burt

Member

You're like the Superman of your field. You need a mascot or something. Thanks.

Passed on Divinity 2 and splurged on Original Sin. Was hard, considering I essentially passed on getting D2, Broforce, Volgarr, and Dungeon of the Endless for about the same price (not to mention other games I still have my eye on like Underrail, Doorkickers, etc.), but I haven't played a game that's scratched that itch that Original Sin is looking to scratch since... the first Dragon Age, probably. Couldn't miss out on that.

Heh, still capped it off with Marlow Briggs though.
 
I closed out the sale with Children of Liberty, Paper Sorcerer, The Fall, Heavy Bullets and I preordered Abyss Odyssey.

I recommend that people check out Stick it to the Man! if they are looking to spend another 5. Fun game with a great sense of humor.
 
Finished off the Sale with Cave Story+...so that's like 20 new games in 10 days. My backlog hates me.

Thanks again Toma for dedicating the time to this thread. Like other posters have said, it's the highlight of the Sale for me. I doubt I would have picked up gems like Super Splatters and Inquisitor if not the impressions and shoutouts here. Got Pineapple Smash Crew and Tales of Maj'Eyal on my Wishlist now as well
 
Thanks again Toma for dedicating the time to this thread. Like other posters have said, it's the highlight of the Sale for me. I doubt I would have picked up gems like Super Splatters and Inquisitor if not the impressions and shoutouts here. Got Pineapple Smash Crew and Tales of Maj'Eyal on my Wishlist now as well

Yeah! You're the best Toma!
 

bodine1231

Member
My haul this sale has been

Wolf Among Us
Walking Dead S2
Battleblock Theater
Call of Juarez
Castle Crashers
Giana Sisters
Fez

Thinking about getting Divinity but I don't think I'll have time to play an RPG that long.
 
Just decided to pick up Original War, Gundemonium Collection and Bunny Must Die because of this thread.

Thanks Toma! I'd be intersted in the Original War Let's Play if you ever decide to do it, even though I really suck at RTS.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Are there any good 'gravity' games on steam? Things like Gravity Force, thrust, Oids, gravity crash, that kind of thing. It's a game style I'm particularly fond of.
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
This thread was responsible for a majority of my purchases for this sale.
 
Are there any good 'gravity' games on steam? Things like Gravity Force, thrust, Oids, gravity crash, that kind of thing. It's a game style I'm particularly fond of.
Rochard lets you switch between regular gravity and light gravity and has sections with zero gravity and reverse gravity
 

Facism

Member
Ive put in 90 hours on dungeon of the endless since the alpha. Proper good game. One of those one's where it's been a pleasure to watch it grow and get fleshed out as it gets finished.
 

MarionCB

Member
This thread just made me buy The Fall. I love games with strong stories. I'm still looking for one more ~$2 gem to finish off my steam wallet.
 

FaintDeftone

Junior Member
My final haul:

State of Decay
The Swapper
Darksiders II
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Marlow Briggs
Deadly Premonition

I picked up Shovel Knight too even though it wasn't on sale.
 

donny2112

Member
Thanks for compiling this thread! Have bemoaned the lack of separation of Indie games in the Steam Sales for the last year or so, which makes it harder to find ones worth buying for me without pouring through huge lists of game names. This thread does a great job of condensing the list with summary and picture, so it's just a few games to research and ended up buying a couple more from going through it. :)
 
Well, I just bought The Fall. I wouldn't have heard of it without this thread, and once I saw the trailer for it I knew it must be something special. Thanks for the wonderful thread, Toma!
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
King Arthur's Gold has a 25% discount, which is a little stingy by Steam sale standards, but I think it's something even worth picking up at full price. It takes the formula seen in games like Terraria and puts the focus on combat, which gives the pacing a huge kick in the behind. It's a maniacal sandbox in every sense of the word. The events that emerge from all the interlocking gameplay and destruction systems turn every match into a comedy of errors. You can be dueling in one moment, being catapulted across a fortress in another, and riding a shark in the next. The game feels fresh even months after launch, because the community is constantly creating things, either through mods or just through imaginative use of existing tools. I highly recommend it.

9982E563D468E371A8DEAFFE253A4F2F510_zps3118df5d.jpg


http://store.steampowered.com/app/219830/
 

Pachael

Member
Another great indie games thread Toma, thanks for the recommendations - picking up quite the number. Between this and the indie music thread you're golden. :)
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Another great indie games thread Toma, thanks for the recommendations - picking up quite the number. Between this and the indie music thread you're golden. :)

Gotta support the underdogs ;)
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I really should to take a shot at properly designing that Toma Seal of Approval. Hm hm hm. Maybe I'll come up with a decent idea if I think a bit about it.
 
still itching for some tower defense games, what are some quick recommendations besides the obvious ones like Defense Grid, Defender's Quest etc. which i already own?
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
still itching for some tower defense games, what are some quick recommendations besides the obvious ones like Defense Grid, Defender's Quest etc. which i already own?

Sentinel, if you want a very challenging one with a great soundtrack. I really love it.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
yeah i noticed that one on the first page but hmmm... seemed like you loved it more for the soundtrack than the game itself so i wasn't sure...

The game is great. It might feel a bit basic if I compare it to some other TD games, but I felt it sort of carved its own niche for me. There is a really interesting tower adjustment mechanic, which not only requires you to level up the towers, but also to adjust power levels on the fly for the whole level since you only have a finite amount of energy and need to plan your layout very carefully with that in mind.

The game also feels quite puzzle focussed, which is something I havent seen in many TD games yet. Usually, in these games its best to have the strongest tower in a position to get the best effect, but this often doesnt apply here, mainly because a strong tower in position A will leave others gravely underlevelled due to the added energy level systems and also because the dev designed some levels around challenging certain ideas of how TD games are usually played. I dont want to spoil the solutions here, but I was quite surprised to find how he made me rethink using the towers.

That also makes the game quite a bit harder though, since you cant just plunk down a massive amount of towers and be done with it.

Highly recommended for $2 or whatever the price is. I even made a thread for it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=596791
 

yGray

Banned
Does anyone think that the 20% off The Witcher 3 (for owning the first two games) will stack with future sales, or if it's a promotional thing that will end soon?
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Anyone ever play sang-froid? It combines like every genre possible and is $1. No idea if it's any fun though.

Some more impressions by not-me from the thread I linked above:

I might be too late, but I finally got to play a few levels, so thanks Toma again

My experience with TD games is not much besides playing games like OMD1-2, Revenge of the Titans and, the most simple one, Go Home Dinosaurs

So here are my quick impressions. Like many said unlike most TD games, in this one you have to be very active when managing your resources between your defenses. In others once you get your killbox going you are almost set, not here. You also need to collect gems and some squares that work are currency but there is a cooldown time before you can set the same sentinel again (if I'm not wrong). Of course as you progress you can upgrade not only your units and get new ones (which affect a certain type of virus) but you can set units which increase how much power you have to distribute between the others.

I really like the visual design and the music, especially the latter, which made me want to keep going in a similar fashion as Hotline Miami's music did. I also liked how the music volume increases when you assign more power to the towers, nice little touch.

At first it can be difficult since the game doesn't explain itself too well but once you get the hang of it, it is very enjoyable. I played only 1 bonus level in my short time but it kicked my ass, I need to invest more time in it.

Hopefully that's useful for some and I'm clear enough since english is not my first language :)

This is one of the first games that had me almost dancing in my seat while playing.

After each wave I would notice that I looked like some guy trying to DJ at some club - staring at his PC screen hunched over bobbing up and down.

Great game, and even better music! Very awesome and unique!

First of all thanks again to Toma for gifting me this game.

I did not have a lot of time with it yet but I wanted to get some impressions in before the deal expires. If I manage to play more I will post again. I generally don't like (i.e. totally suck at) TD games, so I don't think I would've even noticed the game, weren't it for the fact that I LOVE rhythm games, or generally games that are enhanced by and play with music.

I already found the first few levels to be difficult (at least going for a perfect rating) but that was partially because I was struggling with the controls at first because the game doesn't explain itself very well. But once I managed that I had a lot of fun so far. While most TD games become kind of boring to me after some short time, the music really kept me going and motivated me to play more.

Really looking forward to play more of it, hopefully I can go more into detail then.
If you either have some interest in TD games or just like electronic music, you can't really go wrong at $1.

Got a chance to play the first few level and a bonus level, and I like what I have played so far. It's a very active Tower Defense where you will constantly need to manage and redistribute power or even manually control a tower. Because of this I think this will appeal to a lot of people that find Tower Defense games boring, but it also runs the risk of putting too much on some gamers plate. Luckily there is a pause button lol.

I love that a tower can be sort of upgraded by turning down or off towers to give another tower more of a shared power pool. The first bonus level is actually a really good excercise in this in that you only have 2 squares to place a tower to attack creeps (one for each lane), however, at the bottom of the grid is several open spaces for you to place cheap towers. Placing those cheap towers adds a power unit to your pool and so then turning off that cheap tower gives you a unit of power to add to the laser towers to kill creeps. It's a hectic excercise, but it does a lot to teach you how mastering power levels can work in your favor. Only thing I didn't like about that level is that there is a tower in that level that I couldn't figure out what it was for, but I am guessing it is meant to only attack the second enemy type that shows up towards the end. There just wasn't any info that I saw that made that known, so a bit of trial and error may be involved with the game. Not much hand holding, both positive and negative depending.

The dynamic music is cool as well. Overall well worth your cash and vote for greenlight. Also give it a go even if you don't like Tower Defense much, it is much more active than most games in the genre, which typically are place towers, wait for waves, upgrade, wait, build, wait.

Firstly, thanks to Toma for posting the thread and then going the extra mile with the gift keys! Keep on shining, you crazy indie-loving GAFfer!

Alrighty then, I've played the first two levels (about 15 minutes) and I'm diggin it. I'm a fan of "active" tower-defense games -- meaning that you can do things (like man a laser tower!) as the round progresses. Obviously you manage resources, upgrade towers, etc during waves but actually participating in the fight is a nice touch. I really like the idea of shared power. Each tower can give or receive power from another tower and this is like a player-controlled instant upgrade instead of the traditional resource-controlled upgrade. Don't worry traditionalists, random(?) falling gems will permanently upgrade towers but the shared power bonus is a welcome tweak to the tower-defense formula. More player activity!

The music goes great with the simple geometric visuals. I love how the beat syncs up with the towers (I'm a sucker for that kind of effect). It's got that Lumines feel to it, where the music dictates how the rhythm echoes throughout the playing field. I'm thinking that I should have actually paid above average to get the soundtrack, hopefully I can buy it later.

My only quibble is that sometimes things get lost in the mix, be it towers, enemies, or falling resources. It doesn't help that each level uses a singular color for the grid and for every icon. When things get hectic it's easy to lose track of an inactive tower or falling resources. I know that's usually a problem in most TDs, but maybe giving each icon class a unique outline would help? Upon re-checking, it kinda already does that so it's probably just me. Either way, it's not a huge deal.

Two thumbs up! I like my time with it so far, here's to blasting more viruses!

I've played a couple of levels, and the game certainly is a fresh breeze compared to some other tower defences. Having to play a bit more active is cool, as I often find tower defences can become boring once you've placed your turrets in a decent way.

Seriously, buy it :p There is usually always a good reason why I recommend stuff.
 
alright what the hell, Sentinel bought ;) tx for the impressions...

I am already on the next game now though, Moonbase Commander, which also LOOKS great to me, nice and simple from the screens and you seemed to like it as well, though there's nearly NO info about it to be found on GAF elsewhere it seems... guess it IS an old game though. I am looking for something like this to play quick sessions of since i don't have much gaming time on my hands these days and this looks to fit the bill.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
alright what the hell, Sentinel bought ;) tx for the impressions...

I am already on the next game now though, Moonbase Commander, which also LOOKS great to me, nice and simple from the screens and you seemed to like it as well, though there's nearly NO info about it to be found on GAF elsewhere it seems... guess it IS an old game though. I am looking for something like this to play quick sessions of since i don't have much gaming time on my hands these days and this looks to fit the bill.

I wasnt the one to recommend it, but I am very tempted too. It should fit the bill of what you are looking for based on what I read in reviews like these: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2002/08/26/moonbase-commander

But I havent bitten on it yet either to be completely honest.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Last day of the sale, I'm kind of interested in the following games.. Can anyone vouch for them?

  • Original War
  • Paper Sorcerer

Anyone except me I guess. Original War is slower than most RTS because of the huge focus on individual units and their story/integration, just in case you are looking for a Starcraft-clone instead, which this isnt. If you like time travel, can deal with a slower approach and like story focussed games (basically like the old C&C games without the fancy cutscenes), I heartily recommend it. The game does achieve to be "original", which makes it definitely worth looking into for $1.

Paper Sorcerer is not quite as polished as other games in the genre but still very interesting, I made a thread for it here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=756320

And some impressions from there:

They kinda serve different purposes, but overall Grimrock is definitely the better game for me.However, I do consider both worth owning because they have a massively different focus with the combat and puzzles. Paper Sorcerer is more of a traditional RPG with tons of different skill combinations and tactical decisions especially for (tough) combat situations (as in: Do I stun/drain SP/freeze/poison/boost members/hard attack/restore/support to make sure he doesnt kick my arse), whereas Grimrock focusses more on (hard) environmental puzzles (as in: Holy shit, why do I have keys for locks I cant find and locks to which I cant find the keys?? And why the fuck is there a pressure plate hier with nothing aroun....aaaaaaaah).

Game is a ton of fun, at least give the demo a shot! If you like old school, turn-based combat, class-based parties and dungeon crawlers then this should be right up your alley. My biggest complaint is the UI clunkiness but the dev has said he is working on improving the UI.


The games are fundamentally different. Grimrock is real-time combat (with a whole lot of strafing) with limited classes while Paper Sorcerer is turn-based combat with a ton of classes and less emphasis on puzzles. They are both great games so you can't go wrong either way but for $5 it is worth supporting the dev of an interesting game.

Already played and beat the game. It took me around 12 hours since I explored the optional crypt area. Its worth 5 dollars. The puzzles in this game a fairly simple and have some humor towards them. Infact this game has a bit of humor throughout.

From my first impressions in the RPG thread

So Paper Sorcerer.

The Premise

A first person party based 'blobber' very much in the vein of Wizardry. Specifically Wizardry 4 in that you play the villain in this game, awoken from being banished and trying to escape your prison.

Gameplay
Pretty standard Wizardry like gameplay (specifically wiz 1-7), you wander around the dungeon (free roam, not grid based) and get into battles with enemies on the map that are represented by black clouds of smoke.

Combat is entirely a turned based affair. You choose the actions for all 4 of your party members at once, then the round plays out with characters doing actions in what I'm assuming is based off of an initiative roll. It has it's own unique little mechanic though, at least it'd be unique if Banner Saga hadn't beaten it to it by a week. Every character has a defense value in addition to their HP which is determined by equipped armor. Defense goes down when you take damage, and the more defense you have the more it'll soak up. It gets refilled automatically each battle and there are spells and abilities that can refill it as well. Unlike banner saga you don't get to target one or the other though, you eat through the armor first, then dig into the HP. Some attacks (namely spells) seem to ignore armor entirely.

As for your party, you start the game as the titular Sorcerer. Despite your character title, you seem to be a sort of jack of all trades character, you can dish decent melee damage, have some magic and a reasonable amount of HP. For the rest of the party you recruit premade characters, 1 at a time through the first 4 floors of the game (basically the tutorial). There are about 20 to choose from and while they adhere to typical fantasy RPG stereotypes in terms of abilities, they fit the villain theme by being all monsters. My part consists of my sorcerer, a Minotaur beserker, a goblin rogue and a witch.

One aspect of the game that might turn folks off is the lack of an automap. This is even more problematic since the game isn't grid basd, so doing an accurate map on your own is tricky. So far I've cleared 7 floors and they've all been pretty small and easy to navigate so a map hasn't been necessary, but assuming it gets more complicated this could be annoying.

Graphics
The game uses a very unique graphical style that makes everything look like it's made out of paper. This is due to plot reasons in that your character is imprisoned in a magical tome. It looks pretty nice albeit very basic. In combat the enemies are 2d drawings with limited animations, and when your characters attack you'll see some basic animations as well. Spell particle effects are functional if unimpressive.

Audio
Nothing overly special here, functional sound effects for the various hits and spells you cast, no voice acting to speak of. Unfortunately I find the music to be pretty wretched. It's obviously subjective, but their choice of strange electro chiptuney type stuff really feels out of place with the rest of the game. There are currently no audio options either so you have to either mute the game entirely through windows or suffer through it.

Overall
I'm a couple of hours in and so far it's quite good. I'm a big wizardry fan so this is scratching that itch quite nicely. I'll keep you folks apprised as to how the map issue turns out, it'll really depend on the map design. From what I've read online from the kickstarter backers who played the early versions the game is a good 20 hours long, so for $5 you can't really go wrong.
 

Bit-Bit

Member
Everyone listen up.

The sale is almost over. If you don't own Brothers A Tale of Two Sons by the end of this sale, then you cannot call yourself an Indie Gamer. This is the sort of game that the industry needs and everyone should play it and let the industry know that we want more games like it.

Its sort of an adventure puzzle game in which you control two brothers at once, solving puzzles in the environment on your quest to get medicine for your dying father.

It's emotional in all the right ways while being fun and imaginative.

Nuff said.
 
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