I went in blind and gave up after about 3 hours. I have no idea what the fuck is going on, which makes it too easy to die to the same thing over and over again, because I can't remember which paths lead to progress and which ones lead to death.
Outer Wilds is a game for normies with a good memory and proper motor skills.
If you're still willing to give the game a shot, there is the expiditon log in your ship which keeps that's off all your discoveries and keep bulletpoints on the important bits of knowledge. It also allows you to track the corresponding location should you wish to visit it again to dig deeper.
I think it's expected to be overwhelmed at first. Maybe try to stick to one clue and follow it trough before going out into a another part of the world.
Celeste is 75% off and is a near-masterpiece of a game.
Portal 1 and Portal 2 are on sale again of course on the chance you haven't yet hit these absolutely classic legendary games.
Persona 4 Golden is 40% off and is awesome, and Persona 5 Royal is 60% and is even more awesome.
Metal: Hellsinger is 70% off and while it isn't a GOTY type game, it's a hell of a lot of fun if you're a contemporary metal music fan.
but my biggest recommendation is probably gonna be
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale at 80% for only $3.99 (US) which is an completely underrated hidden gem of a game and a huge recommendation for anyone who likes quirky cozy-hybrid games or who, like me, spent way too long on the shopkeeper segments in RPGs like Torneko Taloon's chapter in DQIV.
edit: why in the world would anyone ever downvote a personal recommendation comment? Weird behavior, fam
Metal: Hellsinger is 70% off and while it isn’t a GOTY type game, it’s a hell of a lot of fun if you’re a contemporary metal music fan.
Have you played BPM: Bullets Per Minute? If so, how would you say it compares? I like metal and I like shooting demons, but that one never really grabbed me, I'm not sure why.
I watched someone's entire playthrough of it on YouTube, which I find to be a decent middle ground. In fact, someone else I know doesn't even game any more and just watches playthroughs; better to see an expert do it with insightful or fun commentary than to get frustrated from not knowing what to do, etc. when we have such limited time in our lives anyway. Maybe that's why I generally prioritize roguelites nowadays; if I'm gonna play something, I wanna ensure it's a unique challenge that possibly not even the devs have ever exactly seen, and not simply be treated like a rat in a fixed maze to figure out precisely or struggle otherwise when other people have done it.
Anyway, I digress; Infested Planet is $1.94 USD for another recommendation, and it's awesome. The trailer undersells it if anything.
The inability to resize the Undertale window without using a third-party program like Sizer continues to be INFURIATING to me.
Undertale is a good game, but it just makes me so goddamn angry every time I open it to not have control over the sizing on my own goddamn monitor that I haven't been able to finish it.
I think I missed the window on Undertale. Who knows, if I played it when I was 17 I might have a different opinion but the whole "I'm so quirky and random" schtick doesn't really land with me.
Battlefield 1 has a really interesting campaign. They are all short stories taking place in different points of time in the war. It's also a fantastic multiplayer game that still has active servers!
BF3's campaign was average. It had an interesting story and had some memorable parts but other than that it felt short and generic.
BF4's is worse though. It was just as short and generic as BF3's in terms of gameplay, but so was the story and the general presentation this time around. Not to mention that it's really damn buggy, the bugs that were present during the game's launch were never patched for the campaign. For instance, the FOV slider doesn't work at all.
I haven't played any of the other camaigns so I can't proprerly judge them.
If you are the simmy type or like space, Elite Dangerous is insanely good, but has a learning curve up front. It's the only game I've put over 1,100 hours in and still haven't explored everything.
Subnautica is another game I can highly recommend.
If you wanna play games with friends (Elite is also MP), The Forest is a great game to bond over.
Different genres. Starfield is mostly you running around on foot, having shootouts, and interacting with people and human-sized environments. The space combat is basically an elaborate mini-game.
Elite Dangerous is mostly about flying space ships around.
Personally, I liked Starfield, though I think that it's weaker than most prior Bethesda offerings. I stopped playing Elite Dangerous, though I have enjoyed some past space-combat-and-trading games, like Escape Velocity. Just never really hooked me. I didn't like the Elite Dangerous "faux online multiplayer" thing at all --- multiplayer breaking immersion in crafted environments is one thing that I'm not a fan of, and unnecessarily adding that just seemed obnoxious to me. The cockpit UI felt like it was more-oriented towards VR use to me, which may be good if you have a VR headset.
It may make you happy to know that ED has solo mode. Player fleet carriers are still around (as they act as psuedo stations out past the edge of developed space) and the markets are still effected by player actions, but you don't have to worry about Cmdr Immersion Breaker screaming by in his hot pink jankmobile, or ganking you with it.
It's also worth noting that compared to the size of the universe in ED, the amount of "crafted" environments is relatively small (but definitely there). The universe is so big that depending on where you are in it, you can also go long periods without encountering other players. It's a simulation before any sort of RPG.
I have 1000 hours in Elite and it's nowhere near as on rails or limited. It's set in a full scale Milky Way where you can pick up missions from a station's bulletin board, hunt pirates, or just pick a direction and jump to make discoveries, spending months alone scanning systems. The game has well developed lore that regularly updates through an in game feed, but it's mostly background fluff unless you want to strengthen your faction or if there's a major community event. It's also a good time to jump in since new ships have been added and the galaxy is rebuilding after the last war event.
It's not very arcady, and has a bit of a learning curve, though a HOTAS helps a lot. It's a lot more simulation-esque. Not as much as MSFS, but closer to that end. Combat, exploration, mining, tourism, rescue. It's a 1:1* replica of the Milky Way in about 1,300 years. Trailer for context: https://youtu.be/YESNObZJTgQ
It will blow your nuts off in VR, especially the Ship Launched Fighters (SLFs). One of the coolest VR experiences I've ever had, particularly near the center of the galaxy where the stars are much more dense than in our portion of the Milky Way.
*Some stars had to be removed near the center of the galaxy because they are so close, it makes it nearly impossible to navigate between them. On older computers, the galaxy map in the core of our galaxy will make your computer lag. Yes, we have that many stars IRL.
Noita is currently 60% off and is hands down the best game I have ever played (kind of).
It is ridiculously brutal and you will die very often but you have the potential to get ludicrously powerful as well.
The game will cheese you so don't be afraid to cheese it back.
In has so much content that beating the final boss for the first time is considered beating the tutorial.
Also if the some aspects are too bullshit for you there is a variety of mods to fix these, and there is absolutely no shame in using them.
The entire Creeper World series is on sale- Creeper World 1 and 2 are $2.49, Creeper World 3 is $4.94, and Creeper World 4 is $9.99. Personally, I don't like Creeper World 2 so I would suggest any of them but that one. CW2 is side on and I'm not a fan. CW1 and 3 are top down, and CW4 is properly 3D.
The first couple of Creeper World games used to be flash games you could play in browser, but after the age of Java games they ported them to Steam and kept making more and better games.
The basic concept is that it's a cross between a very simplified RTS and a tower defense game, with the added curveball that the enemy is just a liquid that won't stop showing up everywhere.
No Man’s Sky is down to $23.99. I remember the launch was poor but they kept working on it and improving it. I picked it up a couple years ago on Xbox and have enjoyed it
It is way more of an enjoyable experience now than it was on launch. I just still find it sort of flawed on a core level. The exploration is clearly supposed to be a primary focus of the game, but I just find it incredibly bland after a bit. After I finished with that, I don't really know what to do with the game aside from.. keep flying around trying to find something worth finding.
I put 40hrs into it. I don't regret that, but I also have zero interest in continuing to play it past that.
They may not have lived up to the hype when initially released, which was understandable as there were a lot of promises that weren't keeps, but they are undoubtedly still absolutely amazing games.
I bought it a couple of months ago and oh boy this game is amazing. The story is really well written. I am not much of a first person shooter guy but this game is definitely worth it. The story is great, the atmosphere is amazing, it is a really well made game and especially now with the overall international state of affairs and the rise of AI, its depressively dystopian story feels even more relatable and even the fighting is fun and versatile.
Good to know. I played a little bit of it at launch and thought it was pretty cool (I didn’t notice many bugs when I played), but never bought it. I know it’s supposed to be much better now and I’ve heard good things about the DLC too. Maybe I will hit that buy button
The gameplay is boring and the story is confusing; don't bother unless you just want some eye candy to show off what your 4090/5090 can do. The game is a heavily polished turd.
Imo they're better. Portal was more groundbreaking because of when the first one came out, what valve was doing at the time, because everybody played it, and because of its connection with other games at the time.
But now, it's just a very good game that (re)introduced portals as a concept into pop culture and repopulatized and proved that AAA puzzle games were possible.
Talos, on the other hand, is a philosophical indie sleeper, and more of a social experiment. I don't like comparing it to portal, because most people see portal as an insurmountable peak with an impenetrable meme forcefield. And yeah, portal is great. But the Talos games are something very different and stands all on its own.
Rain World is very, very niche in its appeal, but it's perhaps the best argument for games as art that I've ever come across. I've never had to rethink what a game even is in order to engage with something before.
I keep trying to get into Elite but it never clicks for me. I was flying around earlier trying to dock into a station but everyone was refusing me so I closed the game. I’ll probably look up a new players guide before giving it another attempt later.
Was it Elite Dangerous? Stations grant docking clearance if you're within range when you request it; I think it's about 7500 meters. Check out the in-game the tutorials. One of them teaches this.
Unfortunately it was due to being “friends only.” Player fleet I guess? I just couldn’t figure out how to filter them out before I got there and kept coming across them.
That range one caught me out once but I figured that one out since it tells you to come closer. I’m going to take that tutorial suggestion though. Cheers!
If they were playing online, it's likely all of the pads were full. You can either wait for someone to leave, or super cruise out and back in to load a new instance with available pads.
Good point. I forgot about that possibility because I don't spend much time playing in Open mode.
The same thing tends to happen on stronghold carriers in Solo mode, I suspect because Frontier programmed the game to spawn a bunch of NPC ships eager to dock with those carriers when a mini-instance is created. You can be the only player within light years, and still have to wait several minutes for all those NPCs to leave before you can dock.
I have the A10 Warthog set up but have to screw around for side thrusters because they're replicas of the A10 warthog controls which obviously doesn't have side thrusters.
You can play without it all but it does make flying more fun and imersive and afterall thats what it's all about
We picked up Journey and Star Traders Frontier. I've wanted to play Journey since it came out but I didn't have the proper console. Well, I forgot I put it on the wishlist, and that's a real good price so.
I've (sung? musically yelled at?) another person already.
Idk why you got downvoted. Borderlands 3 for $6 is a pretty good deal. And $16 for the complete edition isn't bad either. I already own the full collection on steam so I can't see the price of that, but when I bought it during the last sale I wanna say I spent like maybe $50 on the entire Borderlands series.
There really is a "Lemmy hive mind" starting to form, just like reddit.
Yeah I have no idea what fucking losers are out here downvoting people for their personal recommendations, but I can't think of much worse basement-dweller behavior.
I got myself and can recommend:
Returnal (29.99€) (Rogue-like shooter),
Wisper (6.99€) (Open world exploration) and Crossroads OS (3.74€) (Puzzle game).
I can further recommend:
Studio System (8.84€) (Horror),
With My Past (6.59€) (Puzzle),
Signalis (13.99€) (Horror).
Kenshi is back on sale for 12$. It's a special kind of special, but someone out there might connect with it. Lots of yt videos to get a feel for gameplay.
This is one of those games that I love the description, love the sales pitches, streamers do a good job of promoting it. In paper I should love this game, but it just doesn't gel with me. There's something about video games that just cannot be conveyed through video or text.
I have over 600 hours in Anno 1800 and highly recommend it buuuut I would advise people consider the more expensive edition that includes all the expansions.
Can anyone recommend a good multiplayer shooter with a high player population? (Either 2D or VR is fine.) Or any non-MMO, non-role-playing PvP game that is mostly online and has populated servers? Something my 37-year-old ass can just jump into and play a quick match without having to dedicate my life to it?
Getting sick of all the PUBGs, Counter-Strikes, Call of Duties, and Overwatches/Marvel Rivalses. My best gaming memories were during the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 days. I never had more fun in a shooter than when I was playing Rush. But unfortunately EA never managed to recapture that same magic in the sequels. After the 2042 flop I quit Battlefield for good.
BattleBit Remastered is legitimately the tightest battlefield-like fps i’ve ever played, better than name-brand battlefield even. it fills the exact same niche for me.
i play with mic off and still manage serviceable communication with a squad of randies pretty much every game. there’s relatively frequent balance updates, so the meta isn’t focused on any one single playstyle. it’s exactly what i imagine an fps made by fps-junkies to look like.
Also playing support actually feels rewarding, and i think that’s proper rare in multiplayer games.
e: fuck hahah just kidding apparently it was abandoned by the devs. last update 15 months ago, rip to my favorite fps :c
this is the worst way to find out my favorite game had a scummy dev the whole time lmao
there’s reviews from February that say you can still find populated servers, but that might be region dependant and you almost certainly won’t have a choice for gamemode.
guess we’re both just waiting for the next next good battlefield game 🙃
Due Process is a multiplayer competitive shooter similar in vein to Counterstrike or Rainbow Six Siege, but the maps are somewhat procedurally generated (there's tilesets and certain rooms layouts for every map) meaning there's no consistant strategy and sniper points to meta game. You play as defenders guarding a bomb or attackers breaking into the building to disarm the bomb, switching sides after 3 rounds. Rounds last 2 minutes with an extra minute given at the start to plan out the strategy. The economy of weapons works in that all the guns for 3 rounds are all available at the start and only the living players get to bring weapons to the next round. The original devs are no longer working on it I believe, but it is being updated and maintained by volunteers.
Operation Harsh Doorstop is my favorite fps, it is a semi-realistic vehicle big map shooter.. but it has mod support and mods like Casualfield (which has active multiplayer servers) have much more Call Of Duty like gameplay. It is free, no live service crap. Even if you don't like where the vanilla game is right now, keep your eye on it, it is an easy platform for other shooters to be modded on. Player population isn't huge but there are consistently full servers. I also don't think the realistic nature of the game makes it less accessible than a game like battlebit, since there is such a specific gun meta at certain ranges in arcadey games like battlebit, and everything happens so fast with constantly rushing smg players... it is actually really hard to break into when you are playing on even normal pub servers. Apex Legends is in my opinion the worst game with this. In a game like OHD though, an assault rifle with a scope can do pretty much anything well enough, though you might prefer a more specific kit for a situation, but there isn't this crazy focus on constantly changing weird metas and gun balances to pump up paid skins for a gun that was just added... This is just a free moddable big map vehicle shooter with a server browser and barebones singleplayer, which is awesome.
Halo Infinite I grew up with Halo 1-3, I don't have any special love for 343, but Halo Infinite big team battle is the best halo multiplayer has ever been. Capture the flag is amazing with the warthogs the way they are balanced in halo infinite, I can't stand microsoft lol but damn halo infinite is in a nice state now.
Splitgate Ok, player population isn't massive, but this is a realllllly good game, even outside the portal gun mechanic. The gunplay is great and the jetpack is tuned perfectly. Can't recommend it enough!
Easy Red 2 Alright now I am just straight up lying, this game never has huge concurrent numbers, but you can give large numbers of forces commands pretty easy in the interface (like you can drive a half track up to an objective and order your squad to dismount and assault). It is another WW2 game... but this game actually strives for historical specificity in lots of areas that aren't usually covered in WW2 games. There is a great diversity of armor, vehicles and fighter planes, the games is a blast and is a steal at around $10. Cross platform tooo!!?!?!?! Great for bot bashing.
I'm liking that 3 feels more like Shaft than a stereotypical mobster movie game, so I could see how it might not be what you're looking for if you want the good ol' Italian mob themes.
I just bought Suicide Squad (I know, I know, but it was on sale and I want to experience it at least a little); Pine; and Sniper Elite 2R, 3 and 4.
I'm very excited to get into the Sniper Elite games. I played 5 back when I had Game Pass, but never finished. I figured the others might be just as good.
I'm making myself finish Fell Seal before I start it, but I picked up Triangle Strategy at what gg.deals says is the record low price. As an FFT fanboy, it looks great (and so is Fell Seal for that matter).
I also picked this up recently and am enjoying it a lot. Can't speak for the multiplayer, but the singleplayer is very good. There are a lot of meaningful choices and variety that keep things fresh throughout and between runs.
Lingo ($6.99/$9.99) is an incredible exploration and word puzzle game. It also has a few excellent custom maps such as Duolingo and Liduongo.
A sequel (Lingo 2 $9.99) just released and is also excellent. It changes how puzzle rules are presented, making them playable in either order. It's a more polished experience though, so playing the first game after would probably feel like a step backward.
Can you elaborate where your confusion lies? It's a digital good, there is no marginal cost. So they can pretty much price a game however they want. So pricing is mostly about maximising revenue, i.e. get as many sales as you can at the highest possible price.
A sale is a relatively straightforward strategy where you first sell the game at a high price to all the people who are fine with paying a lot, then you lower the price to sell more copies to the people who weren't willing to pay the higher price. The result is more total profit. There is a time limit too to create a sense of urgency ("I better buy now so I don't miss the opportunity").
Real goods have a limited lifespan, they usually go on sales when they are about to reach the end of their life or when you physically have to get rid of them. Software doesn't expire.
A price is usually set to cover the initial costs and to make a reasonable profit not to squeeze how much money you can from people.
Games on Steam are not usually recurring purchases, one person won't buy the same product over and over like they need to for food. This means the market of people willing to pay the full price gets saturated over time.
Sales are a way to increase the market size by lowering the "barrier to entry" (price). Sometimes a price will be permanently lowered, however usually not because a temporary sale encourages people to buy now instead of later.
Sounds like videogames sales are made to make money and the original price has not much to do with cover costs bur rather making as much profits as people are willing to pay
Of course they are made to cover costs and make money, but you can cover more costs for future games or ongoing development the game if more people are buying the game, even if it isn't at full price
Basically nothing is sold to cover the cost. That's the basic of how making a profit works.
So let's start from there. Second, when you make a digital product, you invest X and you have no idea how many copies you will sell. It's much harder to compute the marginal cost compared to a physical item.
Videogames are a luxury item, they are by no means necessary. So there is no harm in letting demand and offer regulate the price. If you feel that paying a certain amount is not worth for a game, you don't pay it, or you wait until the price drops.
It's a digital good, just a bunch of 1s and 0s in a particular order. The manufacturing cost of making a copy is near 0. There are license fees, but those are almost always pencentage based. Valve takes 30%, the publisher takes a percentage, and so on.
Then it's a balance of volume vs price. If you can sell 10,000 copies at $10, vs 1,000 at $15, ($100,000 vs. $15,000), it is more profitable to sell the game at $10.
And human psychology is manipulable. Seeing the original price at $15 will influence them to value the game around $15, and so $10 would be a good deal. If they want it, they should buy it on sale. Where as seeing the original price at $10 would influence them to value the game at $10, which could mean it's not as good as a $15 game they can get for $10 on sale.
The developers need to make enough profit to cover the development costs' debt. Then after that, the rest of the profit goes to the next project and maybe bonuses... Probably to the executives. Part of that is also to cover the cost of past and future non-pofitable games. Not all games make a profit and developers and publishers need to offset the cost of past and future failures.
A price is usually set to cover the initial costs and to make a reasonable profit not to squeeze how much money you can from people.
There are exceptions, but usually that is absolutely not true. Making as much money as you can is 100% the goal for the vast majority of goods produced, physical or digital.
Its for the people that only buy when its a "good deal". Its usually for old games that are well liked or for newer games that are maybe a year old now. The non sale price is for people who can't wait for the discount. Sorta like waiting for a movie to go to video/streaming rather than go to the theater.
I’m not rich but I’m definitely not poor. I only buy video games when they’re like $30 CAD or less. Only time I went against this rule was for Baldurs Gate.
141 hours of gameplay from start to finish and local split screen coop campaign. Probably the best gaming experience I’ve had together with my wife. Absolutely worth it at full price.
Companies often create incentives so that their customers will want to buy more of their products. Sales exist within every industry and happen for various reasons. Even with your example of grocery stores, there are other reasons for having sales. I believe it was Kmart that had the famous blue light special. Publix, a southeastern US chain has a weekly rotating sale. Costco has a similar rotating sale. Maybe items are deteriorating, maybe there is an excess of stock. Maybe an item goes on sale for the purpose of luring customers into a store in hopes that they will buy more things. Maybe the item of sale already had a huge markup and the sale brings the price down so there is only a moderate markup, which is often employed by department stores in malls. There are many more reasons for a company to put items of sale i won't get into here.
Yes, there are videogames sales no wonder there are sales for every other product. Originally sales are made because grocery expire, you can have sales for any reason you want such as tricking people into buy more of your products but then that's what you are doing: tricking people.
Yes my department store example was kind of alluding to that. As far as video games go, either sales are poor, or the game was never worth the original price. Also sales such as the ones Steam has are often great for advertising. I always see games I've never heard of. Those developers take a hit on their per unit price so that they can potentially sell more units. The fact that these are digital items means they aren't losing money on manufacturing costs. Patient gamer communities exist for customers that smell the bullshit.
Software often loses its value compared with other newer better offerings that come out with time. I doubt very much anyone would pay $50 in 2025 for Heroes of Might and Magic 3, a very well regarded game released in 1999, that tons of people gladly paid the full $50 MSRP price for that year because it was cutting edge.
The game is still great even today. It hasn't changed one bit but people aren't going to be willing to pay the same price for it today that they were willing to back in 1999 because there are more competing options with newer tech/ideas that have released since then. However it is consistently one of the top sellers on Good Old Games at around a price point of $5 today
Outer Wilds is on sale. Great game if you like space, puzzles or platforming!
My personal greatest game of all time. Do go on blind tho.
Absolutely, what i would give to play again with no knowledge
I went in blind and gave up after about 3 hours. I have no idea what the fuck is going on, which makes it too easy to die to the same thing over and over again, because I can't remember which paths lead to progress and which ones lead to death.
Outer Wilds is a game for normies with a good memory and proper motor skills.
If you're still willing to give the game a shot, there is the expiditon log in your ship which keeps that's off all your discoveries and keep bulletpoints on the important bits of knowledge. It also allows you to track the corresponding location should you wish to visit it again to dig deeper.
I think it's expected to be overwhelmed at first. Maybe try to stick to one clue and follow it trough before going out into a another part of the world.
People keep telling me that but my "expedition log" is always empty as far as I can tell.
If it is truly empty, then you have not visited a site of importance yet.
Probably. Like I said, I keep dying to the same shit cause I can't remember where I've already been.
I’ve still never beaten it. I’m near the end I’m pretty sure. Great game.
You're always near the end.
I have just picked it up!
Or just flying around space in a tiny solar system
Celeste is 75% off and is a near-masterpiece of a game.
Portal 1 and Portal 2 are on sale again of course on the chance you haven't yet hit these absolutely classic legendary games.
Persona 4 Golden is 40% off and is awesome, and Persona 5 Royal is 60% and is even more awesome.
Metal: Hellsinger is 70% off and while it isn't a GOTY type game, it's a hell of a lot of fun if you're a contemporary metal music fan.
but my biggest recommendation is probably gonna be
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale at 80% for only $3.99 (US) which is an completely underrated hidden gem of a game and a huge recommendation for anyone who likes quirky cozy-hybrid games or who, like me, spent way too long on the shopkeeper segments in RPGs like Torneko Taloon's chapter in DQIV.
edit: why in the world would anyone ever downvote a personal recommendation comment? Weird behavior, fam
If you like Recettear you should check out Final Profit:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1705140/Final_Profit_A_Shop_RPG/
Will do! I just started playing Moonlighter recently which is currently scratching that itch a bit
This game rocks. 'Nuff said.
Have you played BPM: Bullets Per Minute? If so, how would you say it compares? I like metal and I like shooting demons, but that one never really grabbed me, I'm not sure why.
I haven't ever played BPM, I'm sorry.
Btw Recettear is getting a HD remaster in 2025.
Eyyy I hadn't heard that yet! That's awesome, thanks for sharing!
Undertale is at a new all time love at $0.99. It's not really my jam but it's the time to pick it up if you always wanted to play it but never did.
I watched someone's entire playthrough of it on YouTube, which I find to be a decent middle ground. In fact, someone else I know doesn't even game any more and just watches playthroughs; better to see an expert do it with insightful or fun commentary than to get frustrated from not knowing what to do, etc. when we have such limited time in our lives anyway. Maybe that's why I generally prioritize roguelites nowadays; if I'm gonna play something, I wanna ensure it's a unique challenge that possibly not even the devs have ever exactly seen, and not simply be treated like a rat in a fixed maze to figure out precisely or struggle otherwise when other people have done it.
Anyway, I digress; Infested Planet is $1.94 USD for another recommendation, and it's awesome. The trailer undersells it if anything.
Never heard of it and I can swing $1.94 – thanks.
The inability to resize the Undertale window without using a third-party program like Sizer continues to be INFURIATING to me.
Undertale is a good game, but it just makes me so goddamn angry every time I open it to not have control over the sizing on my own goddamn monitor that I haven't been able to finish it.
Sounds like they should have called it Underscale
I’ll see myself out
I think I missed the window on Undertale. Who knows, if I played it when I was 17 I might have a different opinion but the whole "I'm so quirky and random" schtick doesn't really land with me.
Doom 2016 for 2$, Titanfall 2 for 3$ and battlefield games from BF3 through BF1 also go for 2$
I've never played any BF games. Do they have good single player campaigns?
Not since Bad Company 2 like 15 years ago
BFBC2 was the best BF I've ever played. I wish I would have known that at the time.
Looks like that was removed from Steam a while back. It had a single player campaign from what I read.
Battlefield Hardline's campaign was actually good, though. It felt like a cop movie, which I thought was a neat change for the series.
Battlefield 1 has a really interesting campaign. They are all short stories taking place in different points of time in the war. It's also a fantastic multiplayer game that still has active servers!
BF3's campaign was average. It had an interesting story and had some memorable parts but other than that it felt short and generic.
BF4's is worse though. It was just as short and generic as BF3's in terms of gameplay, but so was the story and the general presentation this time around. Not to mention that it's really damn buggy, the bugs that were present during the game's launch were never patched for the campaign. For instance, the FOV slider doesn't work at all.
I haven't played any of the other camaigns so I can't proprerly judge them.
If you are the simmy type or like space, Elite Dangerous is insanely good, but has a learning curve up front. It's the only game I've put over 1,100 hours in and still haven't explored everything.
Subnautica is another game I can highly recommend.
If you wanna play games with friends (Elite is also MP), The Forest is a great game to bond over.
Black mesa is another banger.
X4 is on sale as well, if you want something similar to Elite
x4 has much more depth.
i would say x4 is more like EVE but single player
How does Elite Dangerous compared to starfield? I'm 20 hours into starfield but finding it quite fun.
Different genres. Starfield is mostly you running around on foot, having shootouts, and interacting with people and human-sized environments. The space combat is basically an elaborate mini-game.
Elite Dangerous is mostly about flying space ships around.
Personally, I liked Starfield, though I think that it's weaker than most prior Bethesda offerings. I stopped playing Elite Dangerous, though I have enjoyed some past space-combat-and-trading games, like Escape Velocity. Just never really hooked me. I didn't like the Elite Dangerous "faux online multiplayer" thing at all --- multiplayer breaking immersion in crafted environments is one thing that I'm not a fan of, and unnecessarily adding that just seemed obnoxious to me. The cockpit UI felt like it was more-oriented towards VR use to me, which may be good if you have a VR headset.
It may make you happy to know that ED has solo mode. Player fleet carriers are still around (as they act as psuedo stations out past the edge of developed space) and the markets are still effected by player actions, but you don't have to worry about Cmdr Immersion Breaker screaming by in his hot pink jankmobile, or ganking you with it.
It's also worth noting that compared to the size of the universe in ED, the amount of "crafted" environments is relatively small (but definitely there). The universe is so big that depending on where you are in it, you can also go long periods without encountering other players. It's a simulation before any sort of RPG.
Thanks brotits
I have 1000 hours in Elite and it's nowhere near as on rails or limited. It's set in a full scale Milky Way where you can pick up missions from a station's bulletin board, hunt pirates, or just pick a direction and jump to make discoveries, spending months alone scanning systems. The game has well developed lore that regularly updates through an in game feed, but it's mostly background fluff unless you want to strengthen your faction or if there's a major community event. It's also a good time to jump in since new ships have been added and the galaxy is rebuilding after the last war event.
o7 #KRAITKREW
Space sim? How's exploration compared to no man's sky?
Mostly combat focused?
It's not very arcady, and has a bit of a learning curve, though a HOTAS helps a lot. It's a lot more simulation-esque. Not as much as MSFS, but closer to that end. Combat, exploration, mining, tourism, rescue. It's a 1:1* replica of the Milky Way in about 1,300 years. Trailer for context: https://youtu.be/YESNObZJTgQ
It will blow your nuts off in VR, especially the Ship Launched Fighters (SLFs). One of the coolest VR experiences I've ever had, particularly near the center of the galaxy where the stars are much more dense than in our portion of the Milky Way.
*Some stars had to be removed near the center of the galaxy because they are so close, it makes it nearly impossible to navigate between them. On older computers, the galaxy map in the core of our galaxy will make your computer lag. Yes, we have that many stars IRL.
Starfield has a focus on running around with your legs (or wheels), while ED is more about flying around with your spaceship (or wheels).
Thanks matey
Noita is currently 60% off and is hands down the best game I have ever played (kind of). It is ridiculously brutal and you will die very often but you have the potential to get ludicrously powerful as well. The game will cheese you so don't be afraid to cheese it back. In has so much content that beating the final boss for the first time is considered beating the tutorial.
Also if the some aspects are too bullshit for you there is a variety of mods to fix these, and there is absolutely no shame in using them.
I use the mod that respawns you at the last checkpoint. It's SOO nice to have.
The entire Creeper World series is on sale- Creeper World 1 and 2 are $2.49, Creeper World 3 is $4.94, and Creeper World 4 is $9.99. Personally, I don't like Creeper World 2 so I would suggest any of them but that one. CW2 is side on and I'm not a fan. CW1 and 3 are top down, and CW4 is properly 3D.
The first couple of Creeper World games used to be flash games you could play in browser, but after the age of Java games they ported them to Steam and kept making more and better games.
The basic concept is that it's a cross between a very simplified RTS and a tower defense game, with the added curveball that the enemy is just a liquid that won't stop showing up everywhere.
He also recently released IXE which is a bit like 2, but with mobile units instead.
Yep. I wish I liked the side-on games. I'm not sure what it is about them exactly that doesn't click like the rest.
Are these like a Minecraft game?
Very much no.
They're more like those pixel physics sandboxes combined with a real-time strategy game. The enemy faction is a simulated liquid.
Not even vaguely!
Like I said, it's a RTS/Tower defense.
CW2 was my favorite!
No Man’s Sky is down to $23.99. I remember the launch was poor but they kept working on it and improving it. I picked it up a couple years ago on Xbox and have enjoyed it
NMS was such a mixed bag for me. I spent over a hundred hours on it yet still walked away wondering what there was to do in the game.
It is way more of an enjoyable experience now than it was on launch. I just still find it sort of flawed on a core level. The exploration is clearly supposed to be a primary focus of the game, but I just find it incredibly bland after a bit. After I finished with that, I don't really know what to do with the game aside from.. keep flying around trying to find something worth finding.
I put 40hrs into it. I don't regret that, but I also have zero interest in continuing to play it past that.
Here is a link to Steam DB showing popular games more than 50% off:
https://steamdb.info/sales/?min_discount=50&min_rating=70&min_reviews=500
Mass Effect legendary edition (all 3 games + all DLCs) is on for 6 Euro.
That's a great deal IMO
On the third game myself, I can't believe I didn't play these sooner. I understand the hype this series generated now.
They may not have lived up to the hype when initially released, which was understandable as there were a lot of promises that weren't keeps, but they are undoubtedly still absolutely amazing games.
I added Cyberpunk to the cart. We’ll see if I actually purchase it.
I’m in the same boat. Got it in the cart, unsure if I’ll hit buy
I bought it a couple of months ago and oh boy this game is amazing. The story is really well written. I am not much of a first person shooter guy but this game is definitely worth it. The story is great, the atmosphere is amazing, it is a really well made game and especially now with the overall international state of affairs and the rise of AI, its depressively dystopian story feels even more relatable and even the fighting is fun and versatile.
Good to know. I played a little bit of it at launch and thought it was pretty cool (I didn’t notice many bugs when I played), but never bought it. I know it’s supposed to be much better now and I’ve heard good things about the DLC too. Maybe I will hit that buy button
The game is amazing. It's not the same game it was at launch, it's now up there with CDPR's best.
This game is fun with all the different mission choices it's good for atleast 2 or 3 full play through.
I've added hell divers 2 and Chivalry 2 to the cart so far haven't purchased.
I was thinking about this one too. Not sure if I'll buy it, but it's the only one I'm considering at the moment.
Do it!
The gameplay is boring and the story is confusing; don't bother unless you just want some eye candy to show off what your 4090/5090 can do. The game is a heavily polished turd.
Talos Principle is $5
Talos Principle 2 is $15
Highly recommend both games!
Both combined is $15.58. That doesn't include the excellent expansions for either game though.
They are the only portal-likes (chamber-based player movement puzzlers) that I'd place on the same level as the Portal games.
Imo they're better. Portal was more groundbreaking because of when the first one came out, what valve was doing at the time, because everybody played it, and because of its connection with other games at the time.
But now, it's just a very good game that (re)introduced portals as a concept into pop culture and repopulatized and proved that AAA puzzle games were possible.
Talos, on the other hand, is a philosophical indie sleeper, and more of a social experiment. I don't like comparing it to portal, because most people see portal as an insurmountable peak with an impenetrable meme forcefield. And yeah, portal is great. But the Talos games are something very different and stands all on its own.
Solasta Crown of the Magister for $8.99.
For me it's the best game ever to capture the D&D feeling. The custom Warlock subclass, Timekeeper, is ridiculously fun.
I don’t see it mentioned elsewhere - but if we’re going down the CRPG route and enjoying it I’d recommend to others Divinity Original Sin 1&2.
I’d also recommend Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition. But it’s age might scare some people away – so I typically don’t lead with that.
Rain World and its DLC Downpour are 50% off (just above 11 bucks)
Going to vouch for this game. I’ve been really enjoying it.
Best experienced without spoilers. Don’t even look up the creatures if you can resist.
You are not a hero, you’re are a small animal in a living ecosystem.
Love this game conceptually but I'm going to have to try again when I have mental bandwidth to get absorbed into it
This is my son's favorite game. Seems to have decent replay value.
Rain World is very, very niche in its appeal, but it's perhaps the best argument for games as art that I've ever come across. I've never had to rethink what a game even is in order to engage with something before.
I went to check it out and it's already in my library. Must have snagged it in the last sale.
Dead cells bundle
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30317/
Here’s what I picked up during the Steam Spring Sale:
That's...weird. When I checked the price yesterday Fallen Order was 18.99? Did they do a deeper discount?
Probably different price regions.
Maybe? I see it at $3.99, $4.99 is for the deluxe version. I don't see it at $18.99 on Is There Any Deal, but who knows!
You sure you didn't get the price for Survivor?
Yeah this is probably it. Getting my titles mixed up or something.
Double checked receipt, and I did indeed get it for that price
Elite Is a space flight economics simulator.
Fly around buy here sell there look at stuff for fun and get into battles
Great game but you will want a hotas set up if you really get into it
I keep trying to get into Elite but it never clicks for me. I was flying around earlier trying to dock into a station but everyone was refusing me so I closed the game. I’ll probably look up a new players guide before giving it another attempt later.
Was it Elite Dangerous? Stations grant docking clearance if you're within range when you request it; I think it's about 7500 meters. Check out the in-game the tutorials. One of them teaches this.
Unfortunately it was due to being “friends only.” Player fleet I guess? I just couldn’t figure out how to filter them out before I got there and kept coming across them.
That range one caught me out once but I figured that one out since it tells you to come closer. I’m going to take that tutorial suggestion though. Cheers!
Ah... Yes, it was most likely a fleet carrier, then. Those are owned by players, and not always open to the public.
If they were playing online, it's likely all of the pads were full. You can either wait for someone to leave, or super cruise out and back in to load a new instance with available pads.
Good point. I forgot about that possibility because I don't spend much time playing in Open mode.
The same thing tends to happen on stronghold carriers in Solo mode, I suspect because Frontier programmed the game to spawn a bunch of NPC ships eager to dock with those carriers when a mini-instance is created. You can be the only player within light years, and still have to wait several minutes for all those NPCs to leave before you can dock.
*facepalm*
Hotas?
"Hands On Throttle And Stick;" i.e. flight sim gear
Like el_psd said flight sim gear.
Ideally one with rotation in the stick too.
I have the A10 Warthog set up but have to screw around for side thrusters because they're replicas of the A10 warthog controls which obviously doesn't have side thrusters.
You can play without it all but it does make flying more fun and imersive and afterall thats what it's all about
my reccomendation? whatever's on gog
in all seriousness, you can't go very wrong with games made by valve, portal especially.
gog?
Good Old Games.
We picked up Journey and Star Traders Frontier. I've wanted to play Journey since it came out but I didn't have the proper console. Well, I forgot I put it on the wishlist, and that's a real good price so.
I've (sung? musically yelled at?) another person already.
I like this indie game critic, he has a recommendation video for sale
https://youtu.be/uN51VdTNzTg
Thanks for the recommendation! Just watched a couple of his vids and ended up adding like ten games to my wishlist.
Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, Helldivers 2, Broforce
Borderlands 3, if you somehow missed it, for under £5 is just a good value.
Idk why you got downvoted. Borderlands 3 for $6 is a pretty good deal. And $16 for the complete edition isn't bad either. I already own the full collection on steam so I can't see the price of that, but when I bought it during the last sale I wanna say I spent like maybe $50 on the entire Borderlands series.
There really is a "Lemmy hive mind" starting to form, just like reddit.
I don't think there were downvotes, just me myself removing 1 upvote (as I am a shy person). I bought it at full price myself, and have no regrets.
there's an option to split the updown vote display on Lemmy
Yeah I have no idea what fucking losers are out here downvoting people for their personal recommendations, but I can't think of much worse basement-dweller behavior.
Because Borderlands is boring and repetitive, especially if you don't have a friend group to play with.
So comment your dissenting opinion instead of just downvoting with no further context.
I got myself and can recommend:
Returnal (29.99€) (Rogue-like shooter),
Wisper (6.99€) (Open world exploration) and Crossroads OS (3.74€) (Puzzle game).
I can further recommend:
Studio System (8.84€) (Horror),
With My Past (6.59€) (Puzzle),
Signalis (13.99€) (Horror).
I fucking loved Returnal on ps5 and it’s a steal for the sale price right now!!
I love it, too! Played the whole weekend up to the third boss. Mouse and keyboard controls are great on PC.
Well i enjoy snowrunner on my steamdeck quite well... Think i will get the year one pass
That will get me through till the next sale xD
Dark souls in mud
also check out
offroad mania
-much more focused and bitesized
https://youtu.be/uN51VdTNzTg
motortown behind the wheel
-the everything but advanced mud mechanics driving simulator king (and I mean everything )
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369670/Motor_Town_Behind_The_Wheel/
ok, there is beamng too...
Kenshi is back on sale for 12$. It's a special kind of special, but someone out there might connect with it. Lots of yt videos to get a feel for gameplay.
This is one of those games that I love the description, love the sales pitches, streamers do a good job of promoting it. In paper I should love this game, but it just doesn't gel with me. There's something about video games that just cannot be conveyed through video or text.
Ori & the Will of the Whisps is an incredible story, on sale for pretty cheap right now!
Anno 1800 is 5 bucks. I love it, but you need to deal with Uplay as well
I have over 600 hours in Anno 1800 and highly recommend it buuuut I would advise people consider the more expensive edition that includes all the expansions.
True, but if it annoys you enough, there are tools to help you remove the requirement.
https://github.com/YoteZip/LinuxCrackingBible?tab=readme-ov-file#6-drm-stripping-guides
There are other tools too.
I've heard great things about steam world heist 2 and just picked it up.
There's a truly great indie beat-em-up RPG with Brian David Gilbert that just released called: INK INSIDE and it's on sale for $15.
He's from Pink Floyd, right?
From polygon, and now on Dropout. He's the new fact checker on Um, Actually.
Can anyone recommend a good multiplayer shooter with a high player population? (Either 2D or VR is fine.) Or any non-MMO, non-role-playing PvP game that is mostly online and has populated servers? Something my 37-year-old ass can just jump into and play a quick match without having to dedicate my life to it?
Getting sick of all the PUBGs, Counter-Strikes, Call of Duties, and Overwatches/Marvel Rivalses. My best gaming memories were during the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 days. I never had more fun in a shooter than when I was playing Rush. But unfortunately EA never managed to recapture that same magic in the sequels. After the 2042 flop I quit Battlefield for good.
BattleBit Remastered is legitimately the tightest battlefield-like fps i’ve ever played, better than name-brand battlefield even. it fills the exact same niche for me.
i play with mic off and still manage serviceable communication with a squad of randies pretty much every game. there’s relatively frequent balance updates, so the meta isn’t focused on any one single playstyle. it’s exactly what i imagine an fps made by fps-junkies to look like.
Also playing support actually feels rewarding, and i think that’s proper rare in multiplayer games.
e: fuck hahah just kidding apparently it was abandoned by the devs. last update 15 months ago, rip to my favorite fps :c
God damnit; you had me sold up until the very end. :(
this is the worst way to find out my favorite game had a scummy dev the whole time lmao
there’s reviews from February that say you can still find populated servers, but that might be region dependant and you almost certainly won’t have a choice for gamemode.
guess we’re both just waiting for the next next good battlefield game 🙃
Due Process is a multiplayer competitive shooter similar in vein to Counterstrike or Rainbow Six Siege, but the maps are somewhat procedurally generated (there's tilesets and certain rooms layouts for every map) meaning there's no consistant strategy and sniper points to meta game. You play as defenders guarding a bomb or attackers breaking into the building to disarm the bomb, switching sides after 3 rounds. Rounds last 2 minutes with an extra minute given at the start to plan out the strategy. The economy of weapons works in that all the guns for 3 rounds are all available at the start and only the living players get to bring weapons to the next round. The original devs are no longer working on it I believe, but it is being updated and maintained by volunteers.
Operation Harsh Doorstop is my favorite fps, it is a semi-realistic vehicle big map shooter.. but it has mod support and mods like Casualfield (which has active multiplayer servers) have much more Call Of Duty like gameplay. It is free, no live service crap. Even if you don't like where the vanilla game is right now, keep your eye on it, it is an easy platform for other shooters to be modded on. Player population isn't huge but there are consistently full servers. I also don't think the realistic nature of the game makes it less accessible than a game like battlebit, since there is such a specific gun meta at certain ranges in arcadey games like battlebit, and everything happens so fast with constantly rushing smg players... it is actually really hard to break into when you are playing on even normal pub servers. Apex Legends is in my opinion the worst game with this. In a game like OHD though, an assault rifle with a scope can do pretty much anything well enough, though you might prefer a more specific kit for a situation, but there isn't this crazy focus on constantly changing weird metas and gun balances to pump up paid skins for a gun that was just added... This is just a free moddable big map vehicle shooter with a server browser and barebones singleplayer, which is awesome.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/736590/Operation_Harsh_Doorstop/
Halo Infinite I grew up with Halo 1-3, I don't have any special love for 343, but Halo Infinite big team battle is the best halo multiplayer has ever been. Capture the flag is amazing with the warthogs the way they are balanced in halo infinite, I can't stand microsoft lol but damn halo infinite is in a nice state now.
Splitgate Ok, player population isn't massive, but this is a realllllly good game, even outside the portal gun mechanic. The gunplay is great and the jetpack is tuned perfectly. Can't recommend it enough!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/677620/Splitgate/
Easy Red 2 Alright now I am just straight up lying, this game never has huge concurrent numbers, but you can give large numbers of forces commands pretty easy in the interface (like you can drive a half track up to an objective and order your squad to dismount and assault). It is another WW2 game... but this game actually strives for historical specificity in lots of areas that aren't usually covered in WW2 games. There is a great diversity of armor, vehicles and fighter planes, the games is a blast and is a steal at around $10. Cross platform tooo!!?!?!?! Great for bot bashing.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324780/Easy_Red_2/
Xonotic is the best arena fps ever, playerbase is HUGEEEE E
https://xonotic.org/
ok but I love it
Next battlefield could turn things around, respawn /Vince zampella was given control of the series
I went back to the finals, i played the beta a lot but kinda lost interst at launch. It's a really fun, solid and pretty shooter.
Caves of Qud has a small discount. I’ve been playing it a lot lately on the Steam Deck.
Enter the gungeon is like 1.50
I dont know if I can recommend them yet, but I picked up Enter the Gungeon, Heavy Rain, Undertale, Doom, and Pillars of Eternity.
The Mafia Trilogy is $15 for the whole shebang, or $7.50 for any one of the individual games. I grabbed Mafia 3.
Mafia 2 is the only one worth playing.
I'm liking that 3 feels more like Shaft than a stereotypical mobster movie game, so I could see how it might not be what you're looking for if you want the good ol' Italian mob themes.
I just bought Suicide Squad (I know, I know, but it was on sale and I want to experience it at least a little); Pine; and Sniper Elite 2R, 3 and 4.
I'm very excited to get into the Sniper Elite games. I played 5 back when I had Game Pass, but never finished. I figured the others might be just as good.
If it's your thing btd6 is on sale for $3
Bang the donkey 6? Didn't know they continued after 3
I believe it's "Bloons Tower Defense 6".
They expanded to include alpacas
I picked up civilization VI (for my PC), hades and outer wilds for my deck.
I'm enjoying Railway Empire. It's on for 75% off the base game and pretty good deal for the entire DLC & Japan collections.
If you love time-wasters with some challenges, then I'd recommend it.
I liked it until the timed missions kicked in. It was a free game on EGS years ago.
I'm making myself finish Fell Seal before I start it, but I picked up Triangle Strategy at what gg.deals says is the record low price. As an FFT fanboy, it looks great (and so is Fell Seal for that matter).
Ooh thank you for mentioning Triangle Strategy. It's been on my mind because it seems it'll scratch that FFT itch but I didn't have it in my wishlist.
Age of Wonders 4 has been a surprise and a delight. I was actually so impressed with it I ended up buying my best friend a copy yesterday.
I also picked this up recently and am enjoying it a lot. Can't speak for the multiplayer, but the singleplayer is very good. There are a lot of meaningful choices and variety that keep things fresh throughout and between runs.
I'll always recommend Catherine, Bayonetta, and Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion. Cheap, extremely fun, and very replayable.
Also, one of the best fighting games of all-time for $4: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R.
And if you're a Persona person, maybe don't sleep on Persona 4 Arena Ultimax? Super fun fighting game and relatively cheap.
I don’t recommend any games because I purchased a large backlog I can't complete.
Lingo ($6.99/$9.99) is an incredible exploration and word puzzle game. It also has a few excellent custom maps such as Duolingo and Liduongo.
A sequel (Lingo 2 $9.99) just released and is also excellent. It changes how puzzle rules are presented, making them playable in either order. It's a more polished experience though, so playing the first game after would probably feel like a step backward.
The Witcher 1, 2, and 3 + DLC ;)
Can someone explain videogames sales to me? How can a game be 12$ and 8.99$ the day after?
Can you elaborate where your confusion lies? It's a digital good, there is no marginal cost. So they can pretty much price a game however they want. So pricing is mostly about maximising revenue, i.e. get as many sales as you can at the highest possible price.
A sale is a relatively straightforward strategy where you first sell the game at a high price to all the people who are fine with paying a lot, then you lower the price to sell more copies to the people who weren't willing to pay the higher price. The result is more total profit. There is a time limit too to create a sense of urgency ("I better buy now so I don't miss the opportunity").
Real goods have a limited lifespan, they usually go on sales when they are about to reach the end of their life or when you physically have to get rid of them. Software doesn't expire.
A price is usually set to cover the initial costs and to make a reasonable profit not to squeeze how much money you can from people.
Games on Steam are not usually recurring purchases, one person won't buy the same product over and over like they need to for food. This means the market of people willing to pay the full price gets saturated over time.
Sales are a way to increase the market size by lowering the "barrier to entry" (price). Sometimes a price will be permanently lowered, however usually not because a temporary sale encourages people to buy now instead of later.
Sounds like videogames sales are made to make money and the original price has not much to do with cover costs bur rather making as much profits as people are willing to pay
Of course they are made to cover costs and make money, but you can cover more costs for future games or ongoing development the game if more people are buying the game, even if it isn't at full price
yes you can also buy a billionare fleet of mega yachts
Yes famously all video game developers are billionaires
That's how sales of anything works. Everything is sold at the highest possible price that people are willing to pay.
That's not true, especially for software that has infinite supply
Basically nothing is sold to cover the cost. That's the basic of how making a profit works. So let's start from there. Second, when you make a digital product, you invest X and you have no idea how many copies you will sell. It's much harder to compute the marginal cost compared to a physical item. Videogames are a luxury item, they are by no means necessary. So there is no harm in letting demand and offer regulate the price. If you feel that paying a certain amount is not worth for a game, you don't pay it, or you wait until the price drops.
It's a digital good, just a bunch of 1s and 0s in a particular order. The manufacturing cost of making a copy is near 0. There are license fees, but those are almost always pencentage based. Valve takes 30%, the publisher takes a percentage, and so on.
Then it's a balance of volume vs price. If you can sell 10,000 copies at $10, vs 1,000 at $15, ($100,000 vs. $15,000), it is more profitable to sell the game at $10.
And human psychology is manipulable. Seeing the original price at $15 will influence them to value the game around $15, and so $10 would be a good deal. If they want it, they should buy it on sale. Where as seeing the original price at $10 would influence them to value the game at $10, which could mean it's not as good as a $15 game they can get for $10 on sale.
The developers need to make enough profit to cover the development costs' debt. Then after that, the rest of the profit goes to the next project and maybe bonuses... Probably to the executives. Part of that is also to cover the cost of past and future non-pofitable games. Not all games make a profit and developers and publishers need to offset the cost of past and future failures.
Valve ceo is thinking about the next project from his mega yachts
There are exceptions, but usually that is absolutely not true. Making as much money as you can is 100% the goal for the vast majority of goods produced, physical or digital.
We are talking in a platform that has not such greedy goals
Its for the people that only buy when its a "good deal". Its usually for old games that are well liked or for newer games that are maybe a year old now. The non sale price is for people who can't wait for the discount. Sorta like waiting for a movie to go to video/streaming rather than go to the theater.
So what you are saying is that it is only a marketing move to appeal to poorer people?
Frugality does not imply a lack of wealth.
I would think it usually implies the opposite
We cannot get it because we are not rich but rich people aren't frugal they don't wait a videogame to drop 5$ in price to buy it
They don't have to, but still can purchase the lower priced game, to get the same sale as you or me. Hence, frugality.
I’m not rich but I’m definitely not poor. I only buy video games when they’re like $30 CAD or less. Only time I went against this rule was for Baldurs Gate.
Hard agree. Too risky these days but bg3 was a sure bet.
141 hours of gameplay from start to finish and local split screen coop campaign. Probably the best gaming experience I’ve had together with my wife. Absolutely worth it at full price.
You can also view it as a strategy to extract more money from richer people, without sacrificing all the poorer customers.
The same way your grocery can be selling something for $10 one day and put it on sale for $6 the day after.
Grocery deteriorates, when it's about to expire it goes on sales and if nobody buys they throw it away. Software doesn't rotten.
Companies often create incentives so that their customers will want to buy more of their products. Sales exist within every industry and happen for various reasons. Even with your example of grocery stores, there are other reasons for having sales. I believe it was Kmart that had the famous blue light special. Publix, a southeastern US chain has a weekly rotating sale. Costco has a similar rotating sale. Maybe items are deteriorating, maybe there is an excess of stock. Maybe an item goes on sale for the purpose of luring customers into a store in hopes that they will buy more things. Maybe the item of sale already had a huge markup and the sale brings the price down so there is only a moderate markup, which is often employed by department stores in malls. There are many more reasons for a company to put items of sale i won't get into here.
Yes, there are videogames sales no wonder there are sales for every other product. Originally sales are made because grocery expire, you can have sales for any reason you want such as tricking people into buy more of your products but then that's what you are doing: tricking people.
Yes my department store example was kind of alluding to that. As far as video games go, either sales are poor, or the game was never worth the original price. Also sales such as the ones Steam has are often great for advertising. I always see games I've never heard of. Those developers take a hit on their per unit price so that they can potentially sell more units. The fact that these are digital items means they aren't losing money on manufacturing costs. Patient gamer communities exist for customers that smell the bullshit.
Software often loses its value compared with other newer better offerings that come out with time. I doubt very much anyone would pay $50 in 2025 for Heroes of Might and Magic 3, a very well regarded game released in 1999, that tons of people gladly paid the full $50 MSRP price for that year because it was cutting edge.
The game is still great even today. It hasn't changed one bit but people aren't going to be willing to pay the same price for it today that they were willing to back in 1999 because there are more competing options with newer tech/ideas that have released since then. However it is consistently one of the top sellers on Good Old Games at around a price point of $5 today
Nobody would be willing to pay 50$ for a game released in 1999 because they know the costs to make the game are already covered
Ah, I see you're one of those basement dwellers who've never done your own grocery shopping in your life.
Just a reminder that while we all love Steam, they run an underage gambling ring in the form of CS skins, which they refuse to address.
Armchair Activist
Too true. I'm getting my games from the communist on the corner from now on.
Lmao
Lol
Critiquing capitalism while participating in it and name dropping a brand huh? 🤔