I’m Kinglink, it’s June so it’s time for the Humble Choice June 2024 review.  Almost half the year has passed and we’ve had some amazing bundles… And then there’s this month. 

Like always, I played these games on stream for an hour, 90 minutes for one of them, and I’m a bit surprised. After checking out the games, I can now tell you what the games are like, who’s going to like them, and if you should check them out. 

And if you’re wondering which game I played for 90 minutes… let’s talk about the game on the screen. 

Risk of Rain 2.  A strange sequel. 

Risk of Rain was a sidescrolling rogue-lite with tiny graphics that was amazing, Risk of Rain 2 is a third-person rogue-lite and while it’s a similar game, and I can see the original here, thus doesn’t feel like a sequel… This is so much better.  In Risk of Rain 2, you’re running through multiple vibrant worlds, hunting treasure chests, finding the damnable teleporter that will take you to the next world, and fighting a boss while it charges up.  All of this was in the original.

But if you ever played the original, you probably know this is different.  There are so many beautiful worlds, multiple fleshed-out classes, interesting enemies, tons of combat here, and a freedom of movement that feels like a massive upgrade.   There’s multiplayer that works very well, though I think it is harder than single-player.  There are also tons of items to find. 

Which is also one issue I have.  The game doesn’t tell you what an item does, so quite often you’ll have to use a mod to show that or look online for info.   I also got stuck twice while playing for over ten minutes in two different levels hunting for the teleporter that I couldn’t find.  Even knowing what to look for didn’t help.   Also, I struggled with the multiplayer but devastated the single-player, and maybe that’s a mod issue, but it did seem easier in a single-player. 

Pick this up if you like rogue-lites, if you are going to play with friends, I can tell you this is a lot of fun, and I’ve had a group of four that I’ve played with multiple times.  While playing this solo on stream this is the first time I remember winning so… yeah maybe it’s easier solo.  

I spent 90 minutes playing this because I was having a good time, a great time.  Winning helps but it’s just a well-designed game. 

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign. A Paradox game not by Paradox Interactive.

This is made by THQ Nordic, but in every way, this screams “Paradox”.  That makes sense because the original Knights of Honor was published by them.  You have all the same expectations, a slow game focused on building up your nation, the ability to tell stories your way, and a large map with a lot of micromanagement available.  

I’m not sure if that’s a positive or a negative.  I’m not a fan of this style of game, but I talk to more than enough people who can’t get enough of them, and more power to them.  If you like this genre, go for it.  Like the rest, this is a game you’re going to spend at least 10-20 hours on before knowing if you like it, and by that time you get your money’s worth.  

Pick this up if you like Paradox-style simulators. This does feel like it’s a little more gamified with a focus on having victory conditions but overall this is what you would expect from the genre, and for that, it does its job.  I just never have been able to give these games the quantity of time I would need to get the feeling I’ve mastered them, and that’s what they need. 

Lego 2K Drive.  Lego’s take on Forza Horizon. 

I know Forza Horizon 4 has Lego DLC but that always felt a little too rigid for Lego’s.  Lego 2k Drive allows you to build cars, drive them, smash everything up, and have a great time.  I love the ability to switch from a car to an off-road vehicle and a boat, which wouldn’t work as well anywhere else but it’s so fluid and tight here that it works well.   There’s a good amount of content, solid voice acting, and tons of things to do.  Also, this package has all four Drift Passes as DLC.  That’s their version of battle passes.

But yes, there are battle passes, and even with all of that, there are other microtransactions, FOMO mechanics, which I hate, and there’s a bit of that 2K’s monetization mentality, that constantly needs to remind you you’re playing a game, one that wants more money.  In addition, the game is a bit easy.  While it is similar to Forza Horizon there are Mario Kart-style weapons that might upset some people.  At 8 hours for the story, it’s short, but How Long to Beat says it’s about 80 hours for full completion so there are tons here for people who want to dive in.  Also, why isn’t there a search bar for downloading vehicles? 

Pick this up if you like Forza’s open-world style of gameplay, want a relatively easy game, AND you’re getting the Humble Choice.  I do stress the last part.  This is fun, and worth the bundle for it, but that’s 12 dollars.  If the game was 20 bucks as it is now, and doesn’t have all the Awesome Pack, that’s not as good a deal, and even with the Awesome Pack… there’s still more DLC not included… 2K pushes the limit on this stuff. 

Speaking of which… 

Warhammer 40,000: BattleSector. X-COM Warhammer style. 

Battlesector takes all the Warhammer lore and puts almost all of it on a shelf, you have Space Marines, you have an alien race like the Zerg, and you fight.  The combat is done in X-COM’s style, moving on a grid and taking shots at enemies, with a lot of randomness involved, but also a lot of awesome space battles.  It’s distilled from Warhammer in a pure essence and is the most similar to the board game with those changes.  There’s a story mode here, as well as two other single-player modes, custom campaigns are available also apparently, and multiplayer. 

But there are two races I mentioned.  I believe there are also four others.  The problem is you don’t get those.  If you want the entire game now, you’re paying 60 dollars.  And those additional races are only for the additional modes, plus there are elites for the two main races as well.  There are no new additional campaigns involving them.  That’s a lot of money, and I know Warhammer is one of the most expensive hobbies, but does that make it ok for the game to demand double the price to get all the content in it?  I’ll answer that, absolutely not. 

Pick this up if you want X-COM in the Warhammer universe, the campaign is over 20 hours, and there are two other modes you can play more of and even playing online.  However, I do struggle with how the DLC feels like they should have given players a bit more for the purchase.  This is what I was afraid of when Game Pass came around, a lot of games where you get only a part of the game upfront and have to pay for more DLC just to get what feels like a complete experience. 

There are coupons for some of the DLC in the bundle but it’s still about 30 dollars for the rest of the game, and even that isn’t all the DLC, or all the races, because of course there’s more.   And I do have a bit more experience with this title, due to Xbox Game Pass playtime, but I can say this really does stand up.  Speaking of X-Com Games… 

Miasma Chronicles.  X-COM with stealth. 

The entire time I played Miasma Chronicles I thought “This feels like Mutant Year Zero.”  and it’s obvious why.  This is made by the same developer, likely the same engine.  This time you’re a loner who has a robot who is trying to figure out the secret of the Miasma and a special arm your mom left you.  The story sounds good enough to work, but I was more interested in the combat.  The combat heavily focuses on stealth and getting into position to execute surprise attacks on enemies and take them apart.  If you played Mutant Year Zero you might know what I’m talking about.

While I did skip a couple of cutscenes, a lot of the story felt like stuff I had heard before, missing parents, giving strange items to their kid, and the kid having to learn how to use them. It’s all a bit cliche.  There’s a post-apocalyptic world where the focus is on a First Family of sorts that rules the land.   The gameplay was fun, but I also remember thinking the same on Mutant Year Zero and that wore off after a while.  This is a twenty-hour story, but I wonder if it can keep up the early momentum.

Pick this up if you liked Mutant Year Zero, or want another X-COM title. Combined with Warhammer Battlesector, this is a good combination, but Miasma Chronicles does feel like the weaker of the pair.  Still, it’s trying something different and not a lot of strategy games try to include stealth like Miasma Chronicles does. 

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical.  American Gods the Musical. 

Stray Gods does feel like a different take on American Gods, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s hard not to feel that this is a lighter version of American Gods, that doesn’t push the concept as far as it should have.  The main idea is that the Greek Gods are now in America and have been in hiding.  Grace, our main character, inherits the soul of a god but now needs to find out who killed the god to show she’s not a threat.  

The entire game is done as a visual novel with a lot of musical numbers, using many of those musical numbers as the points where players make choices.  The choices usually seem to be about who you will side with but are done in a somewhat entertaining and clever way.  There’s a decent amount of music in this game as well. 

Which, I’m not a huge fan of.  I do like musicals, but I’m very picky and while the singing is good at times, it’s a very passive experience.  It is a visual novel, but the experience isn’t great.  The animation feels a touch cheap, at times, with it just moving between still images, and if anyone wants to see everything in the game you’ll have to play through it multiple times or just Youtube it. 

Pick this up if you are interested, or like what you see.  There are a lot of clever moments in the first hour, the songs aren’t terrible, and I’m just being picky as hell when I say I don’t like the music.  It’s a me thing, and the game as it is will be enjoyable.  I just have a bit of a high bar when it comes to music and this doesn’t reach it. 

A Guidebook of Babel. Point-and-click Time manipulation 

A Guidebook of Babel focuses on the afterlife where people get sent after passing away.  In the game, you have certain quests and goals and have to achieve them by going back in time and rewriting the story.  You can only rewrite certain pieces, but they’ll change the story so you’ll be able to achieve the set goals.   You’ll be rewatching the same scene but also can skip most of the dialogue.

However I just don’t think that’s enough, I could usually spot the solutions in the first hour within seconds of starting a scene.  However, I would still have to play through a rather long scene and then do it a second time when trying to solve it and while a lot is skippable, not everything is.  The monotonous music or gameplay just made me feel tired, and the story just didn’t grip mostly because I was seeing things twice or three times. Also, there’s the ever-present “Guess what the developer was thinking” to the puzzles.  There’s a clever hint system in the game but it’s one of those hint systems that it’s required by the style of puzzles, rather than to help people who are lost. 

Pick this up if you like point-and-click games.  The time manipulation is interesting at first.  I love the idea of time manipulation or changing the past, and just didn’t enjoy how this game did it.  It reminded me of the Sexy Brutale which did a lot of this better and with a more straightforward experience.  I’m not a fan, and maybe I needed more engagement with the game, but overall I just didn’t enjoy myself with this title. 

Empyrion – Galactic Survival.  Another survival game in the No Man Sky’s vein. 

Empyrion – Galactic Survival is a survival game on alien planets.  The big selling point is the ability to create large-scale ships, and you can pilot massive ships in this game.  You also will have to earn those ships by digging up ore, building components, and developing a large ship one piece at a time.  Think of the biggest Minecraft build you ever made, and think about it as if it was a functional spacecraft as well. 

But that also might be the issue with the game.  It feels like everything takes a long time to do in this game.  You’ll likely have to farm a lot of ore to make this work and that also means you’ll have to find a lot of that ore.  I’m sure there are ways to make all of this work faster, but in general, the experience feels slow.  Also, the tutorial doesn’t work well and tries to tell a story but also fails to teach players too much, and the main game has its short tutorial which is better. 

Finally, I felt a strong pull to just go play No Man’s Sky, which admittedly is a more simplistic game than this, but if you just want to zoom around the galaxy, No Man’s Sky or Elite Dangerous does this far better.  If you want to feel like you earned the right to explore the galaxy, then Empyrion will give you a better sense of satisfaction for that.  Also, the game does feel a touch rough around the edges. It feels almost like it’s not finished, but that’s probably due to how the game has to be made to allow so much freedom in what you can create… which also means you’ll have to spend a lot of time looking online for tutorials or assistance. 

Pick this up if you want a game where you can build your spacecraft and explore the galaxy.  This is not a fast game and will take a lot of effort if you don’t play creative mode.   There is a strong depth to the game, and the ability to dig into the ground is unique, but also it feels like the progress in the game is a bit slow and I wasn’t seeing a way to get upgrades that I was hoping for, which probably means it’s on a different screen. 

And we are going to end on that title. Honestly, Empyrion made me struggle, I hated it the first night and came around as I thought more about it.  It’s at least an interesting endcap for the list. 

With that said, let’s take a peek at isthereanydeal.com, and… yeah ok that’s a different opinion on Empyrion.  But also the full list has a few surprises for me.    Empyrion was actually in Jingle Jam 2021, which isn’t acceptable in my opinion.  It was bundled three years ago?  Come on Humble.  

Knights of Honor, A Guidebook of Babel, Battle Sector, Stray Gods, and Miasma Chronicles all have great value and haven’t been under 10 dollars. Also, I don’t know if Voidu’s price for Lego 2k is correct.  That’s a special edition, and the base version has never been under 16, so that’s a good price too. 

As for the bundle… well that’s the thing, There’s tons of deals… but the bundle itself feels lacking.  Maybe it’s because I already own Risk of Rain 2, which is a good game, but outside of X-COM fans who should be buying this bundle in a heartbeat, there’s not a ton here.  

Lego 2k Drive was fun, but It’s great for a 12-dollar title, not amazing at full price.  Knights of Honor is trying to be Paradox so much it’s a humble choice, and Stray Gods and A Guidebook of Babel fell flat to me, so this feels like a weaker offering.  

But let’s throw the titles in the tier list and see what comes out, it might surprise us.  I know it surprised me this month.  Four categories, Misses, Average, Strong Contender, and games worth the full bundle price of 12 dollars.  I know you can get it cheaper but that’s what I pay and that’s what I compare it against.   If you get it for less, it’s even better value. 

And shockingly there’s no miss.  Honestly, the only one hovering down here was Empyrion, and like I said I thought about it more. 

This leads us to the bottom of the Average tier… And it’s A Guidebook of Babel, surprise.   I just didn’t gel with this game, and I don’t know why.  It’s Average because I will admit maybe I was just tired after work, but I also played three more games and had a great time with each of them, so… I don’t know. I just didn’t enjoy myself with this title, hopefully others will. 

And that also is the story with… Stray Gods, surprise number 2.  This one is more I get it, someone is going to enjoy this one.  I just struggle because the idea of Greek Gods, musicals, and more should have worked and I just didn’t enjoy this one.   It’s too bad because conceptually this is good, I just wasn’t as engaged.    Truthfully, I’ll probably try to show it to my daughter, who is a theater kid, and loves Greek gods, so… yeah, she’s a huge fan of Hades too.  There’s my Hades plug. 

And Finally, for the Average tier, it’s Empyrion.  I thought a lot about this game and while I’m not a huge fan, and want a more fast-paced game, or a more polished experience, I have to admit for what it is, Empyrion is impressive, it’s just something I think needs a very specific audience.  If you want to play Minecraft in space and build and fly large ships around this probably will do.  It’s just going to take a lot to get there. 

And here’s how we look after the halfway point.  As I said, I’m a little surprised about how many games are left. 

At the bottom of the Strong contenders is Miasma Chronicles.  I get a good feeling on this one but I’m not sure it’s going to last. As I said, I may have oversold Mutant Year Zero and this might be an over-correction but I just don’t trust this game to be able to deliver on the story and gameplay for 20 hours.  Hope I’m wrong. 

The other game in Strong Contenders is Knights of Honor II.  I always struggle with Paradox games and maybe I should just throw them in Strong Contenders and move on, this is not a genre I enjoy but it’s all the same story.  20 hours or more to learn the game, by that point you’ll get your money’s worth and if you enjoy it, you’ll have hundreds of hours.  But it’s still a Paradox-style game so it’s going to appeal to a select few. 

This makes the tier list look like this, and that means there are three more titles to talk about. 

And the bottom of the games worth the full bundle price is Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector.  For 12 dollars, it’s hard to deny this will be a great game, there’s a lot of content and a lot of different modes, and it does feel like a very solid platform, it should because this is based on the tabletop game.   This is probably my favorite Warhammer game, and I have 15 of them, so that’s a high bar.  This is also the first time I could say I’m interested in learning more of the Warhammer lore rather than bouncing off it like usual.   But I still hate the DLC system on display here, it’s lacking a lot of content in my mind.

The middle of the tier is Lego 2K Drive. This was a really fun game to play and while it’s a casual version of Forza Horizon, which is also pretty casual, just building Legos driving them around, and smashing them up is going to be fun for a long time.   It’s also doing this without a real license attached which is even more impressive.  I’ll get my money’s worth out of this one. 

And the best game of the month.  Risk of Rain 2.  Come on, 90-minute stream, I can’t remember any other game that kept me playing that long.  I’ve also played this for about 20 hours with friends before that, and I want to play more.  I’ll probably schedule a Risk of Rain 2 session just because there’s so much you can do with it, a ton of different characters, abilities, and more. 

And that’s what I have, this is the final tier list.  I still stand by this being a weaker month, the games worth the full bundle price are exactly that, they’re worth the price of the bundle, whereas Yakuza Like a Dragon is worth the full 60-dollar price.  

Dear god, I’ve referenced Hades, and Yakuza, if I can bring up Outer Wilds, I’ll have trifecta… which I guess I just did.  Let’s talk about Retroachievements, Gundam Model Kits, and other stuff I love next….

However, if you agree with me that this is a weaker set, you might want to take a look at another choice and this month I’d recommend Playing for the Planet.  I enjoyed Carto and Lake a lot, as well as Before We Leave.  For 10 bucks, this is easily worth it. 

With that we come to an end, now if you enjoyed this video throw me a thumbs up, leave a comment about what you think about this month’s bundle, or share this with someone who you think might enjoy one or all of these games.  I’ll pop up two more videos if you want to hear more from me.

See you next time.