I’m Kinglink it’s November 2023 so it’s time for the Humble Choice November 2023 Review

I’ve had a chance to do an eight-hour straight stream of the titles this month as well as having a lot of previous experience with three of them, so I’m here ready to tell you what I think of each title, what they’re like and who should check them out. 

There’s a ton to talk about so let’s start with a title I already owned. 

Hardspace: Shipbreaker:  A casual game about ripping apart giant hulking spacecrafts.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker could easily have the word simulator added to the end of it. This is a game in the same vein as House Flipper or Powerwash Simulator. Each ship almost feels like a puzzle box with players needing to split the ship apart and then sort it to be broken down. It’s a strange but rewarding experience for the right type of people. There is also an upgrade system for your tools and a rank system that will provide harder and harder ships to break apart. 

The one thing that never really worked for me in this title after 30 hours, is the story. I can rip the story apart, but it’s more how it’s told. Rather than having chatter while you’re working on a ship for 15 minutes, instead, it’s a very passive experience where you’re forced to stand or sit still while the game lectures in a blunt way. There’s also not a ton to do after you finish the game, and this is only going to appeal to some people who like that incremental type of game where they grind down a large debt. Kind of like real life. 

Pick this up if you like the simulator genre. This is a very slow game, like I said, I spent about 30 hours here, but it’s also extremely chill and relaxed and honestly, I enjoyed the entire time I played it. My biggest issue is I want more, more challenges, more ships, and maybe some unique challenges. That’s a pretty good complaint after spending 30 hours with a title. 

WWE 2K23. Wrestling and Microtransactions. Of Course. 

WWE 2K23 tries to remind players of why wrestling is big. It has all the big bright larger-than-life experiences that fans might want. The loud personalities, the big events, and the amazing spectacle, and in the right moment you’ll get caught up in it and see amazing stunts. While the controls feel almost like suggestions at times, it’s still awe-inspiring to see your chosen wrestlers dominate in the ring. 

But the problem is there are so many negatives. There’s a whole microtransaction mode, but because of that mode, every character has a rating and a stat for the card. Very little feels custom, so when Hulk Hogan fights Andre the Giant, his size and weight aren’t accounted for. There’s also a lot of advertising like just the Snickers logo plastered everywhere because they sponsored Wrestlemania. 

Pick this up if you love the spectacle of wrestling. You’ll buy this for the spectacle though, the rest of it is fine, but it’s just fine. However, for modern Wrestling fans, you probably already have this. For fans of the Legends of Wrestling, I’m sure there’s a better game out there than this. This just feels so gross with the microtransactions, and everything being a card, and there’s a lot of itemization even if not everything is paid for by cash. And yeah, that’s a modern game, or a modern sports game, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore or praise a game for diving into those practices.

Unpacking. Storytelling by finding a place for everything. 

Unpacking is mostly about a unique narrative told through the act of unpacking boxes. The player has to open boxes and move items around to figure out where everything goes. It can be as simple as finding an underwear drawer and throwing all the panties in it. But it also can be anything from finding a good place for a clock radio or a diary. 

The problem is there’s not a lot of puzzle.  When the game is confusing and players can’t figure out what’s wrong with their choice, the game just kind of waits until players figure it out, and that’s just frustrating.  The player sometimes doesn’t even know what an object is, which makes finding a place for it clicking around, rather than storytelling. 

Before someone tells me, I know there’s intentionally no text, but without that text, it often feels like the storytelling can be accidental. I’m avoiding spoilers, but when something has to go under the bed, players of the game will know what I am talking about,  it feels more like a problem with the design of the apartment than a point in the narrative because no direct rule is being explained to the player, instead, it’s where the game will allow you to place something. This isn’t a horrible negative, but it’s something that always bothers me with the praise the game gets for that moment. 

Pick this up if you want a story told uniquely. Not necessarily a unique story, but this delivers an experience unlike anything else. That being said, it is only about 2 hours long, and it’s more of a game to be discussed than a game to challenge players. I’m torn on it but I did enjoy my first playthrough and this time was interesting enough.

Friends Vs Friends. But what if you don’t have friends?

Friends Vs. Friends is an online-only First Person Shooter where players can play cards to activate abilities and then fight each other in a battle for the best out of 5. There are deck building aspects, and players will spend a lot of time opening packs and leveling up cards for small progression. There are several different systems here and it creates a good feedback loop for playing the game. 

But ultimately I feel like this is a game for top-tier FPS players, who probably already have a lot of other options. Steamcharts says there’s only a peak of about 300 players playing this right now and while I did well enough to get some highlights to show you here, it’s hard to get up to speed when teams are going to be stomping you over and over in the early game. 

Pick this up if you need a good FPS, or you want to challenge a friend of yours who also has this game. I like the art, the voice acting is hilarious at times, and the gunplay is good. There’s just a limited amount of content, 4 maps, and only 1v1 and 2v2 that is available. Bots will only be good for about 5 minutes, as I won both games I played there, and yet never won more than a couple of rounds online.

Prodeus. Doom 2020. 

As I played Prodeus I couldn’t help myself, this is a game that screams Doom’s name as it emulates the king of all shooters so hard, and yet, that’s me praising Prodeus. The levels look great, the music got my blood pumping, and the enemies while taken from Doom look awesome. This feels like a version of the original Doom done in the modern era, with a similar-sized team. This just gave me flashbacks to 30 years ago when I was running around Phobos and Deimos for the first time, just having the most awesome time blasting enemies through a variety of levels. Prodeus is a boomer shooter that also seems to remind people why this genre is popular rather than trying to reinvent the wheel at every turn. 

I wish I could end there, but Prodeus does have some issues. There’s almost no difficulty in the early levels. I played on Medium and rarely went below 90 percent health and armor.  On Ultra Hard, the hardest difficulty level, I had almost no death the entire third level, and the respawn system will trivialize the difficulty I think. I’ve heard the game does get harder after what people call the first world, but experienced players won’t be too challenged. 

Pick this up if you were ever a fan of the original Doom, this lives up to the original incarnation, and that’s about as much praise as I can give. I’d have to play more but I could even see giving this a nod over Doom Eternal, as sacrilegious as that is to say. I like it that much. 

The Legend Of Tianding. A Taiwanese folk hero story and a beat ‘em up. 

The Legend of Tianding has players taking on the role of a famous folk hero from Taiwan in what amounts to a form of Robin Hood, robbing the corrupt rich and giving to the poor. This is done through excellent platforming and a solid beat ‘em up with a special ability for players to steal enemy weapons after enough damage is done. There’s also a variety of upgrades and collectibles that players can chase after throughout the game.

That being said, the combat is good, but it’s going to be a typical beat ’em up outside of a few of the harder enemies. The bosses are all great, but there are a lot of ways to stunlock enemies, and being able to steal their weapons renders them almost simple to beat. The one thing I remember from the first time I played it though is there’s a decent amount of running around and backtracking between the main levels, which does slow down the pace of the game. 

Pick this up if you like what you’re seeing or want a good beat ‘em up. The level design here is good, and while there’s a bit of repetition, the art, story, and gameplay are still well done. 

SCP: Secret Files. An anthology of spookiness

SCP: Secret Files involves players experiencing 5 stories, each a different style and different gameplay, at least from what I gathered online. The two stories I went through were a very simple collection minigame and a spooky office.. Well kind of. SCP as a mythos is all about everyday objects and the anomalies they hide. The first story had a desert that… Well honestly I’m not quite clear on but the experience heavily unsettled me, and the second story had me jumping at mannequins though I’ll hold off on saying more. 

At the same time this being an anthology, that means five stories, five types of games, and five different qualities, and not all of them are the best. The desert story was a bit weak and the office was damn creepy. Both will probably stick with me, but the direct experience wasn’t consistent, and the other stories will also change formats which means who knows what the rest of the game is. 

Pick this up if you’re a fan of the SCP mythos, and want to be spooked, if not completely terrified. This has a great quality to the writing and experience but like I said, it’s going to be up to the player, and I can’t say more than I won’t be returning because I don’t like how nervous this game was making me. But that’s a positive opinion on a horror game because I’m a little scaredy cat. 

Souldiers. A Metroidvania with three playable classes. 

In Souldiers, you can choose to play as a warrior, an archer, or a mage, and it looks like all three will have different experiences or at least combat options. There is what feels like a massive world awaiting the player, with the first area being the spider’s lair, and inside is a large map with a lot of opportunities to double back when players earn more abilities. The combat is slick, and before long it will challenge the player, along with major boss battles. However, I didn’t see much more than that area. 

I’ve heard from someone that the game’s launch was problematic with a lot of issues. Those reviews are also on Steam, however, it does appear a lot of changes have happened since then including three new difficulty modes to address a big issue many people had, and the challenge here feels more reasonable. 

Pick this up if you want a big Metroidvania and want to take a risk. There are a lot of differing opinions on this, but it does seem like the studio was able to take the negative reviews and improve the game, rather than letting it suffer a slow death, I can’t speak to that as I didn’t get far enough to experience it. 

And that’s what we have for this month. 

But of course, let’s do our monthly trip to isthereadeal.com and the answer is of course, yes. WWE has never been below 26 dollars. Prodeus has never been below 16, and Hardspace Shipbreaker has never been below 12. So getting any of those games and seven others is a pretty great deal. 

Also, none of these games have been bundled before, which is a refreshing sight. 

I will throw out there’s a free month of DC Comics Ultimate or something, so if you like DC comics that’s probably a pretty good add-on. 

On the other hand, Humble Game Collection is no more, but that might mean we see games like Unpacking and Prodeus now given to the players instead of rented.

Also speaking of WWE 2k23 before. You know how there are always people saying they want 60-dollar AAA games, hey guys… That’s one of them. People will quickly say well that’s not what I meant, but that’s the type of 60-dollar title you’ll see in Humble for better or worse. 

There are a couple of good genres covered this month, two FPSes, one online and one offline. Quite a few side scrollers, and a couple of casual games so there’s a lot of area covered here. 

Let’s talk about the tier list, as always four categories, Games worth the Full bundle prices, Strong contenders, Average games, and Misses. This is of course a discussion of the game’s essence, and not just a price comparison, which I hope most of you could do yourself. Let’s get started with the bottom. 

At the bottom, I have to put it here, it’s Friends Vs. Friends. It’s not a dead game, but the skill level is already so high, and even with Skill Based Matchmaking, you’re going to get slaughtered here unless you’re already a pro gamer. If you love the genre that much I’d probably suggest you might already be a better choice but for everyone else, this is probably not worth it. 

And we’ll just move up to the average tier. Which starts with WWE 2K23. I’ve tried to get behind this game, but average is the perfect word for it. Perhaps it’s better than WWE 2K22, it would have to be better than 2K20, but that doesn’t make it great, you know. 

There’s another game in Average, and this will be controversial… it’s Unpacking. Listen, I like the idea of the game, I like the storytelling, but it’s two hours long with either no puzzles or obtuse puzzles. I’m not saying don’t play it, but it’s just not enough bang for your buck in my opinion. 

So this is what we’re looking at after two tiers, five games to go so let’s move on to the next one. 

The Strong Contenders tier has Souldiers. This is a really solid game, but I don’t know if I could call it great just yet. I have hope but there’s also a small part of my mind that wonders if it will slump eventually. Still, it’s enjoyable enough to be here. 

And at the top of the Strong Contenders, SCP Secret Files. Yeah, I don’t like this, but if you want a horror game you can do a lot worse than this title, and I’m only stopping because I was getting too freaked out. Again that’s a pretty good recommendation. 

And here’s how we look, yeah three games remaining in the Full Bundle let’s break them down. 

We’ll start with my favorite, Hardspace: Shipbreaker. And I do mean that, if this was a list for Kinglink, Hardspace would be at the top, but I also will recognize that this appeals to a specific type of gamer, and if you don’t love the simulator genre, this is probably not for you. Still, if you do pick up the bundle, give this a shot, it might surprise you. 

Next up we have Prodeus. Original Doom in 2020, I’ll keep saying that because to me that sums up why I’m such a fan, but also I think why this game got as popular as it did. Check this out if you think fondly of that original Doom, it’s not going to be on the same level as the modern interpretations of the game, but I also wouldn’t want that over-produced style of game here. This is great as it is. 

Finally, we have Legend of Tianding. Maybe it’s a game from a foreign studio, maybe it’s a foreign folk story, or maybe it’s just a great game and art design but Legend of Tianding doesn’t feel like many other games, whether that’s for the good with the platforming or bad for the fetch quests that break up the game is up to players to decide. 

So that’s how the final tier list looks, and honestly, I’m pretty happy. I wanted my copy of Tianding, and Prodeus was a shock to me. 

But let’s say you’re not a fan of this, there is another bundle I’ll bring up here. It’s the IGN Editor’s Choice club. And I know IGN blah blah blah, but look at these games, Disco Elysium, Chivalry 2, Spirit Farer, Forgotten City, and Paradise Killer are all games I’ve played beyond the review, and most of the ones I name got top honors in the month I looked at them. Granted if you buy every Humble Choice, you’ll have all of those, but if you haven’t or you skipped a month, 16 bucks for all these titles isn’t bad. 

With that being said, we come to the end, and I know I teased a bonus video last month, but certain things took longer to come together than I expected.  I’m super excited to talk about it but I’m holding back for just a couple weeks.   This is something I’m doing outside of Youtube but could be a direction for my gaming videos and channel to go.  Don’t worry the month Humble continue to be covered, I still love this but it’s another thing I’m super passionate about.

If you’re interested in hearing what’s going on, consider subscribing to the channel and ringing the bell. And if you want to help me out more, liking, commenting, and sharing these videos with others is always appreciated. 

See you next time.