Sunday 22 December 2013

Dark Review - My Top 10 Dark Picks from the 2013 Steam Winter Sale

Yes it's that time of the year. The time for good will to all men (and women), peace on earth (yeah right) and the Steam Winter sale, where games that cost mucho deniro mere months ago can now be had for less than the cost of a glossy magazine. The main Steam Page showcases games with even more of a discount, and also the short flash sales too, so it's well worth checking at intervals during the day to see what is newly reduced. In the UK, the main large ticket items on sale change each night at 6PM. If you are anywhere with a different timezone, adjust accordingly.

So here it is, my own Top Ten of the best horror and dark games currently on sale:

Deadlight - Zombie platformer shooter with a lovely art style and interesting story.

Papers, Please - A Dystopian document thriller which is more bleak than anything. My review on Geek Syndicate can be found here.

Call of Cthulhu - An oldie but a goody. A genuinely dank and fishy smelling game and well worth playing for the door-bolting chase scene alone.

Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition - Hard, but fair. A game world that doesn't give two shits about you but that touches something inside you that makes you feel a cold love towards it.

The Walking Dead Season One - A great point-and-click adventure game with interesting relationship building and nice levels of zombie gore. If you enjoy stomping zombies, you will like this game. Season Two has also popped up on sale but currently is only one episode.

Outlast - A journalist investigating an old asylum with only his camera for company. What could possibly go wrong in this creepy first person explore-and-run-athon.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - You awaken in a creepy old house and carefully pick through the clues to see what is going on. What is that noise behind you though? Another great first person creep-a-thon.

Thief: Deadly Shadows - Another oldie but such a well designed game. Take control of Garrett and play warring factions off against each other while lining your pockets with their possession and solving the bigger threat. This also features an asylum level, which is critically praised as one of the best levels in many a game.

Metro 2033 - Nuclear war, mutants, dark claustrophobic tunnels and a creeping menace from the Botanical Gardens. An immense first person survival shooter with a well written story. The sequel, Metro: Last Light is also well worth a purchase. It continues the story but has a lovely spruce up graphically.

Limbo - A striking black and white world and a young boy caught between this life and the next. A great platform-puzzler from a few years ago.

There we have it, a nice little list on which any bleak geek is sure to find something they fancy. The sale as a whole so far has been largely underwhelming for me, but I think that is partly due to not actually being on the lookout for anything in particular that I don't already own. I'm hoping something will come up dirt cheap though, anything is worth it if the price is right. Happy hunting!

Happy Xmas to everyone!