I’m Kinglink, it’s March, so it’s time for the Humble Choice March 2024 Review. 

Once again I’ve streamed each game for an hour on Twitch and if you watch you probably know what I’m thinking but if not, I’m ready to let you know what’s hot and what’s not about each title, as well as if you should check them out, and who should play them. 

We have 8 games, as well as a mega-hit that hasn’t gone for that cheap before.  I also have a bit of history with two games, but it’s a pretty high-power month.  Let’s get started with what’s already on screen…

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin.  A Tactical RTS with a little more micromanagement focus. 

Realms of Ruin is another Warhammer game, and a RTS, similar to the Dawn of War Franchise.  This is set in the fantasy realm of the original Warhammer. This feels like a well-made made competent RTS, mostly focused on capturing points in a style similar to Dawn of War or Company of Heroes, rather than building bases.  There’s also a strong focus on Melee combat, with the idea that units aren’t allowed to disengage from battle, without using a special skill. 

There’s also a conquest mode which is designed to be more like a rogue-lite where you get a randomized map and different “twists” that amount to different rules on some maps.  If you’re into this game, that could bring quite a lot of replayability. 

At the same time, those special skills can feel a bit more like a MOBA, also you have to find the unit that has the skill you want to use.   The forced melee is going to take some time to get used to.  I’ve seen the AI do some remarkably stupid actions like walk right past my archers and then fight some fresh melee fighters.  Also the multiplayer is… dead. The player count was barely hitting 20 in the week before Humble.

Pick this up if you like the tactical RTS genre or enjoy Warhammer, but get this for the single-player, you probably won’t be able to find a multiplayer game.  Also, this game did release in November of Last year, so … that’s a fast turnaround, and probably a bad sign, still the gameplay isn’t bad if you’re looking for a more melee-focused RTS. 

Nioh 2.  Dark Souls if it was made even harder. 

Nioh is the Dark Souls Franchise if it was made by even crueler devs.  Team Ninja was well known for Dead Or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, the latter being an extremely punishing remake.  They’re dedicated to excellent fighting systems that will push for excellence in precision.   Nioh 2 is no different, with a solid fighting system but it also feels more punishing than most souls-like, which I think is what people are looking for. 

But… I’m not.  This isn’t necessarily a negative but I found both Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 to have huge cliffs of difficulty, and you will struggle against it at least early.   There are interesting enemies, but they all can be brutal in the wrong situation, and I know some people will love that, but for me, I probably won’t tackle this one. 

Before I end I will say there’s also a good variety of weapons and each weapon style feels different, along with having four stances per weapon, and skills designed for each stance. 

Pick this up if you like Souls-like but want harder challenges or just want more in-depth combat.  If there’s one thing Team Ninja knows it’s how to add systems to their combat without making it feel bloated, and Nioh 2 succeeds at that. 

Saints Row. I don’t want to talk about this one. 

This needs context.  I’ve avoided talking about a certain topic on my channel, perhaps foolishly.  My first job in the game industry was working on Saints Row 2, I was the 6th programmer on it, and worked on it through completion working on activities, diversions, making all of that work in co-op, UI, and multiplayer gameplay.  That was the first game I ever published, and I’m extremely proud of it even today.   I’ve chosen to never talk about Volition or any of my former employers on this channel, and now I’m going to break that rule. Mostly because Volition is no more, but also because it is in Humble, but I will say, I’m biased, because I love Saints Row and Volition was the company that gave me my start in the industry, and really as a programmer…. Ok, that’s said this is a short version. 

I feel like Saints Row is a parody of the entire Saints Row Franchise, and not in a funny way.  It’s as if they took the characters that would be made fun of, or harmed for comedy and made them star in the series.  I struggle to feel like this is a “Gangster simulator” because it never really feels like you’re doing crime, since you’re constantly moralizing it, and not in a funny way.   Ultimately I don’t find the main characters interesting, likable, or even people I’d want to spend time with, and you’re with them most of the game, that’s a problem. 

However, I feel it would be completely incorrect to say everything in Saints Row is bad.  The wingsuit is great, and while done better in Just Case, it’s still very fun here.  There are a few good moments when not focused on the current cast of the Saints.  The gunplay is good at times, depending on which faction you fight, and some missions work.  The problem is this is vastly overshadowed by the story and characters you are forced to interact with. 

I don’t like this game, but if you buy the bundle, and liked any of the Saints Row or are curious, try it out.  As I said, I am biased because I feel like I was a part of the original franchise’s legacy, and I’m proud of that.  But I also really liked every game in the franchise except this one.  I didn’t even finish this one, only playing for ten hours.  That’s a very bad sign.  

Also, because people have talked about it before, this game has extremely harsh language. While on stream there were multiple curses, and I think there was the big MF.  That’s not a problem, it’s a Mature game, but if you have children, this has very harsh language, and probably some crude humor

Citizen Sleeper.  A visual novel with resource management.

Citizen Sleeper has good writing and interesting ideas.  The writing almost reminds me of Disco Elysium, but I feel like that comparison is a little far.  Still, the situations have a real weight on them, it feels like the odds are stacked against the player and the characters are interesting.   The gameplay revolves around slotting dice into different actions, to determine the odds of your success.  Better dice have better odds, and that influences the actions you can take in a day. 

However, having played this in Game Pass, I can tell you after the first hour or so, the game starts to resolve some of the stressful situations, and make the player’s lives easier.  It feels like every big bad danger seems to get resolved just as it gets intense, and while it feels like your decisions are stressful early on by the end of the game, you’ve amassed so much power that it’s just waiting for time, or just plunking away at a challenge to pass the time.  The story loses all its intensity. 

Pick this up if you like a good story.  The narrative here starts strong and the resolution to the story is well told.  The only problem is almost all the highest and most dangerous stakes in the story have been resolved about halfway through the story, and there’s no randomness so a second playthrough means all the same reveals will happen allowing you to manipulate the playthrough to your liking. 

Black Skylands. A pixel art game that impresses. 

I’m not normally a fan of pixel art, but Black Skylands shines.  The character models look great, the world looks interesting, and it’s always clear what every object should be.  At least mostly.   There’s a huge massive world to explore with what appears to be tons of interesting locations.  The player pilots a small boat that can shoot cannons at enemies and the player can hookshot between islands, boats, and more.  

However, I struggled with the controls.  I will say I think it’s more user error, but if it’s not it might take players a while to get used to the game.  There are no huge penalties, but it still is a bit frustrating.  Also, it’s not always clear what areas are right for the player’s experience so I’m not sure if I struggled, or just found areas and enemies that should be fought in the late game. 

Pick this up if you like the art style here, and want to explore a large vast world.  There’s a lot to discover and find here, and that’s really what worked.  I kept wondering what would happen on the next trip. I’d want to continue to play to see where my next trip took me. 

Soulstice.  Bayonetta while missing the charm. 

Soulstice is designed as an action game.  There are long levels separated into arenas.  There’s a scoring system designed for replayability and a ton of mechanics that need to be tried and mastered. While playing Soulstice there were a lot of games that came to mind.  Metal Gear Revengeance, God of War, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and even Darksiders.  And Soulstice feels like it’s standing on the shoulders of greatness with its combat system. 

However Soulstice is missing something important compared to all those games, it’s not one simple thing, but more a style, a presentation, a defining animation, or a character personality that works here.  Solstice just feels like it’s lacking an important part of the DNA of this genre, and it’s noticeable. 

Pick this up if you like the action-adventure hack and slash, like Devil May Cry, but understand this is a B-tier effort.  There are also a lot of different mechanics at play here, perhaps too many but also it allows players to get engrossed in the combat system. 

Afterimage.  A beautiful Metroidvania.

Afterimage has a large world with multiple different paths that tantalize players with its secrets.   There are tight controls along with a combat system with multiple different weapons. I’ve already found 5 weapons, including a normal sword, a greatsword, a scythe, and a whip, and also enjoyed using all four of those weapons.  Each weapon feels well balanced as well, the slower weapons doing twice the damage of the quicker ones. 

Afterimage does a poor job with its signposts telling players which direction is the path to the next area.  The story also is a little harder to follow with many characters referring to things players won’t know about.  The English voice acting was ok but some viewers of the stream preferred the Japanese, and it is a better version.  There’s an Experience level-based system, but try as I might, I have no clue where those values are shown to the player.   While the controls are good, they did take a bit to get used to. 

Pick this up if you like Metroidvanias.  Though this is on the easy side so far it is a great example of the Metroidvania experience, especially building out a map and then backtracking to open up new areas.  There’s a number of large open areas too that just make the player feel like there’s a ton of different directions they want to go at the same time.

Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter.  A simulator game. Not being clever that’s what this is. 

This is just a highly technical simulator of a Destroyer, where players take on the role of the captain.  Players have limited resources to find and sink submarines They can be shot with cannons, but more likely will be sunk with depth charges.  Distance, depth, speed, and more have to be taken into account and every little thing is done extremely realistically in a way many players won’t enjoy.   Oh wait, that’s the positives of the game. Uh oh. 

This is a simulator and that’s fine.  However, the graphics especially in the cutscenes feel like they are from the Playstation 2 era.  This was released in 2022 or 2023 depending on who you listen to.   I was able to pass missions just by ramming the convoys, failing the missions, and potentially “skipping” the failure screen.  I get why this game will be fun, but it’s also going to only be fun for a tiny section of gamers. 

Pick this up if you want a destroyer simulator.  For what it does, it’s not bad, it’s just very few people will want it for what it does.  However, I will say I’m going to give this a thumbs up on Steam because for what it’s trying to do, it does extremely well.   But in a bundle like this.  Yikes. 

And those are the games for the Humble Choice, eight titles, and yeah.  Once again we’re ending on a rough choice.  I’ll just let it play on. 

So as always let’s take a look at Is there any deal, who have changed their format, but if you look closely, you’ll see this isn’t a bad choice. Nioh 2 is a hot commodity.  It’s rarely under 30 bucks, and never been below 24.  Realm of Ruin is also in that boat, but remember that it came out only about six months ago.  Destroyer has retained a good price… but umm, yeah, I don’t think people are going to pick this up for that.  

However the rest of the bundle kind of bottoms out in the price.  Saints Row is currently 10 bucks on Steam and many of the rest go for cheaper.  Soulstice has been bundled in Fanatical pick-and-mix deals.  It’s currently in one so if you only want that game, that might be a better way to get it.  Afterimage is the same story, but not currently bundled. 

There are a couple of coupons I’ll mention, they’re a little strange.  Destroyer has a supporter DLC that honestly should have been included.  Saints Row has their Expansion but I can tell you that it’s not worth it from what I saw.  I played Murder Circus a bit, but it was only ok.  Then there are two coupons for Turbo Golf Racing which come out of nowhere. 

The bundle has some big games, Nioh 2, Saints Row, and Warhammer are 60 dollars, AAA titles, at least they were. The smaller games have a solid mix though and are in popular categories, especially Metroidvanias, and Hack and Slash games. 

With that said, it’s time for the tiers.  Four tiers, Games worth the full bundle price, Strong Contenders, Average, and Misses. 

Starting with the bottom, yeah there’s a Miss this month, and not just because I couldn’t land a hit.   It’s Destroyer The U-boat Hunter.  It’s been playing for a long time on screen.  I think you can tell why it’s not going higher.  It’s not the right choice for a Humble Choice, only a simulation fan will like this. 

And going to the average games, it’s Saints Row.  I almost didn’t rank this, but I also can’t give it higher than average, and personally  it is lower, but it is a large-scale game. There’s a small amount of fun, and maybe some people will like it more than me.   But if you want my real feelings, check the description. I’ll link a Steam review I wrote when I was a lot frostier on this.

Following that up we have Soulstice.  This isn’t a bad hack and slash, but it’s not a good one, and I struggle to recommend it.  I wish there was just a little more work here because the gameplay was fun, the characters just didn’t have the charm necessary.   

And this is how we look after two tiers… but hold on, we have a ton of games in the Strong Contenders.  

Starting with Black Skylands.  The art is really good, the exploration is sweet, and while the controls did annoy me, that should fade when players get used to them.  There does seem to be a lot to see and do here and appears to have a long play time. 

Next up is Afterimage, which it’s a great Metroidvania and that’s worth checking out.  The art is nice, but it’s all the different weapon types that made me appreciate the work that went into the game.  

After that is Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm of Ruin.  I can’t ignore how fast this reached the bundle.   There’s something wrong, but also, the single-player campaign wasn’t bad.  This will please Warhammer fans, though like most Warhammer games it’s made for the fans and non-fans will struggle to get into this universe in a single game.

And the top of Strong Contenders. Citizen Sleeper, I’m a sucker for a strong story, and that’s what you get from Citizen Sleeper.   While there’s a lack of challenge, I still remember the characters from this game from the first time I played it. 

This brings us to the final category… And 1, 3, 7.  Shoot there’s only one game left.  Alright, let’s finish this off I guess. 

It’s Nioh 2. Yeah, I don’t like it but once again I understand it, I appreciate it’s just not my style.  This game looks great, has amazing controls and features, and is a challenge people will go crazy for.  It’s a big headline that will be a bundle seller, and probably already is. 

So that’s what I have this month, here’s the final list.  

Normally I have a separate bundle to try to offer to people who aren’t interested in this one, nothing has sparked that interest in me so we’ll leave it with just these eight games.   Is there a bundle I should have brought up? Is there a game that should be higher in the tier list let me know what you think. 

If you have enjoyed this coverage of Humble Choice, let me know, I’m glad to hear it, and you know what?  Don’t subscribe, let’s do a little reverse psychology.. Or normal psychology.  Right?     Also, don’t click on either video that is on screen now, they’re not about retro games that are worth hearing about, and don’t click the link to join my discord.    Man, I hope this doesn’t work. I don’t think I can be this negative in the future. I mean I can be.  I don’t even know what I want anymore. 

See you next time.