I’m Kinglink and it’s currently July 4th, which only can mean its time for the Humble Choice July 2024 Review. 

This month we got a couple of big games, and some surprises from the smaller titles but before we get into that, I’ll remind you that I play each game on stream for an hour, I get to check out how they play, what they’re about and who is going to like them. And now I’m here to tell you what I’ve found. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it. 

With that said this is a pretty solid month with several good titles long-time fans might already recognize this game, when I checked it out on Game Pass, though I will admit I got a sense of Déjà vu while playing it because … I forgot I covered it before. 

Let’s get started with what’s on the screen. 

A Plague Tale: Requiem. It’s a cinematic sequel to a great game. 

Plague Tale: Requiem continues the story from A Plague Tale: Innocence. Honestly, this is a bit hard to talk about because so much of this game is a spoiler for that previous title, and A Plague Tale: Innocence is extremely good, so I’ll just say that players who want to check this out, should start by playing through the first game rather than read a synopsis. 

As for everything else, A Plague Tale: Requiem delivers. In the first hour there’s good storytelling, interesting areas, and characters. Some large areas show the difference in the size and scale between the titles. There’s still a lot of darkness but Plague Tale: Requiem does a better job balancing that, which only makes the game that much darker when it goes there. 

At the same time, I will say I did notice some performance issues, and unlike many games, I didn’t turn this game up to the highest setting but used the default or recommended and still had issues. This was a complaint at launch and I think the game is still a bit of a performance hog. Also, this story has not got the best reception. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen when playing it, but I also have to acknowledge the number of times people have said this is a step back in just the narrative. 

Pick this up if you played the original game. Seriously, go play that first, it was in a Humble Choice a couple of years ago, and it’s currently in the Steam Summer Sale for 8 bucks, it’s going to be worth playing that before this. After that, if you want more, you know where to find it. 

Ghostrunner 2. A wild ninja ride. 

Ghostrunner 2 is a continuation where the players once again run through levels, eliminating enemies with a sword and a couple of slick powers. There’s a strong focus on blocking, parrying, and using a mid-air dash move that when done right will make you feel like an invincible ninja. 

However, when you struggle, and I struggled a lot, it can be a little brutal. I don’t know if the levels are weaker, or if I was just missing something but I do feel it was more of a user error than bad game design. In addition, there are supposedly performance issues, I didn’t have any that I noticed, but I do recognize that’s a strong constant criticism of this game, and know people who had those issues. I’ll just throw out that I run everything off an M. 2 SSD, and maybe that’s why I’m ok, but I have no clue.

Pick this up if you like the original game, some fans didn’t enjoy this one as much but it’s still the same fast-paced combat. It’s a game that makes you want to retry, and even as the first boss destroyed me over 50 times, I felt like I was learning the fight. I may have just shoved my face through the difficulty wall, but I did eventually beat him. 

Starship Troopers: Terran Command. A traditional RTS.

Looking at Starship Troopers, I’m taken back to the 1990s when the RTS genre was relatively simple, there was a good solid single-player campaign that was enjoyable on its own. The games did hold players’ hands, usually too much and do so here, but the experience was tackling different obstacles the computer created, and that’s also here. 

Every level here has two bonus achievements. The main gameplay loop is about requisitioning troops and building defenses. You play as the humans fighting against the bugs, in the Starship Trooper franchise, and this is more based on the movies.

However, I’m not kidding about the hand holding, at least in the first hour the game lays out your battle plan for you. In addition, the voice work sounds ok, but there’s no emotion. If you’re on an alien world fighting against bugs, maybe don’t sound like you’re sitting in a studio reading lines off a paper in a comfy chair. I also will say I would have liked to play as the aliens for some variety, but you can’t in this title. 

Pick this up because you want to be reminded of how RTSes used to be made. That’s not necessarily a value judgment. I do fondly remember the genre when they made games like this, but I also can understand why the genre isn’t made anymore, and why this progression fell out of style. It’s a bit too rigid at times.

Would You Like to Know More? 

Sticky Business. A very uncreative Sticker Business.

Sticky Business has players starting a sticker company, creating stickers by combining other stickers and then selling them to the public who just seem to come rushing in and wanting to buy your goods no matter what. There’s no risk of loss and people just seem to line up no matter what you create, so it’s more of a cozy game than a capitalism simulator… Cozy Capitalism? Maybe that’s a good moniker for it. 

I was excited to play Sticky Business because I have recently been building model kits and could think of a ton of great sticker designers, especially waterslides. The problem is there’s not a lot of freedom in creation, or there’s a lot of freedom but the tools are all stickers themselves so rather than writing down a word and drawing a design, you’re building stickers out of other stickers and it stifles creativity. 

I think there’s a problem in the developer mentality. This is a guess, but perhaps the developers were afraid of what people might create if they were given unlimited freedom, but the problem is, when you’re afraid of WHAT people might create, you stifle their creativity by limiting their choices. There are no alphabet letters to add a new word, I just wanted a sticker that said F-91 which is a Gundam Classification, but the best I could do at first was “F” which sold well because …everything sells  

There are limited gaming icons and no fantasy or sci-fi choices. 4 Types of Sushi and 3 boba drinks were the best of what I found, but that’s about it. This isn’t a problem with what’s already in the game. The choices available are acceptable, the problem is this isn’t designing a NEW sticker, this is combining already existing stickers and then reselling them, which limits what players can do. 

Pick this up if you want something your kids can play and pretend they’re running a sticker business, however, if you’re hoping for any challenge, you’re playing the wrong game. And honestly, I’d probably rather my kid open up Krita, or Gimp and just play with actual art tools, and maybe decide they can create something special and maybe open an actual sticker business if they want. My daughter did that for a while with jewelry. But I think she would quickly get bored with this because it feels limiting and without workshop support, or a way to create new ideas without a lot of work, this is the whole experience.

By the way, I forgot that I was going to be recording some of the footage for the video… enjoy my juvenile stickers, but do note that my Fart Sticker sold shockingly well, Some people wanted 12 or 14 of them in one order. Seriously, what’s wrong with people? 

Zoeti. Card-based Rogue-lite I guess we’re doing these again.

Zoeti feels like someone wanted to make a game that’s like Slay the Spire, but also not. You have typical poker hands, which you can equip a skill to each, so when you make a full house, you might trigger an attack, a three-of-a-kind might be a buff, and a single card might end up being a shield. There’s also a lot more versatility because instead of a full house, those cards could be more useful as a pair and a three-of-a-kind. 

Conceptually a lot of the game works well, and there are a few clever moments, rather than building out larger and larger decks, this is more designed to get multiple skills, artifacts, and usable items, each making you more powerful and the first game is played over five dungeons. There are also 2 additional stories, two additional characters, and five difficulty levels where Normal is the bottom. It also looks like something from your upgrades might carry over once you finish. 

This all sounds great, but there’s just something about the game that nags at me. I think the game is a bit easier than it should be and, of course, I could increase the difficulty, but it feels more focused on the journey than the rogue-lite aspects of the game. Defense felt easy to pump up, and I’m not sure how often I would want to replay the same mission structure, but perhaps I’m still standing in the tutorial section, so maybe the game will open up more in a couple of hours. 

Pick this up if you want another card-based rogue-lite. We used to get so many of these that it was overkill. Now Humble is being more selective. This one is good, but I do think there’s still better. I think Aces & Adventures pushed this concept further, but this one will still be a good game to pick up if you’re a fan of card-based rogue-lites. Though do notice I’m not saying Deck-Building, because that moniker doesn’t fit this gameplay. 

Figment 2: Creed Valley. Inside Out the game. 

Figment is a series set in a human brain. Players take on the role of Dusty, a character who has to fight his way through the mind. On his trip, he’ll fight the fears of the man whose mind he’s inhabiting as he’s dealing with buying a house or work/life balance. However, the focus is on the innovative ideas at play as the character explores the mind. 

These can be anything from opening and closing the character’s mind to progress and talk to various creatures, to fighting the embodiment of a fear of the dark. There are a lot of clever concepts in here, and the fact that each boss encounter has a unique song is good.

Still, Figment 2 had a nasty habit of taking two steps forward and one back often. The first boss and song were excellent, as was the second. However, the Mayor’s song just felt more annoying and tedious. Many puzzles are good but every once in a while, a puzzle has a lot of backtracking. The experience is mostly good, but mostly, not always. Also, there’s a lack of variety in bosses, and the whole game is only about five hours long. The only actual negative thing I’ll say is the game just tosses you in the middle of the story. Perhaps the game is assuming you played the first title, or maybe this just doesn’t have the best opening but it’s not a huge criticism, you get the idea of what’s going on quickly.

Pick this up if you want a novel or interesting world to explore with some clever ideas but are also willing to put up with a weaker package, to get at those moments of inspiration the developers had. I liked this game quite a bit, but I can also say it still didn’t fire on all cylinders like it should have. 

Also, just a quick mention there is a Disney character named Figment, who was a purple dragon on the ride Journey into the Imagination. I have a pin of him on my shelf.  Last month, it was announced that Journey into Imagination is being replaced by Inside Out.   RIP Figment. Not a big thing about the game, just some interesting coincidences. 

Heretic’s Fork. A Tower Defense Rogue-lite that impresses. 

Heretic’s Fork starts with the game talking about attacking souls in hell. The levels appear to be based on the seven deadly sins, and the game starts with the look of an OS. The main gameplay loop is mostly letting you defend your base from the souls automatically, and then using a few cards in between rounds. However, about halfway through my first attempt at this game, how I viewed the gameplay changed.

I realized there’s an extremely high polish on this gameplay loop to the point that I was shocked. Players can combine cards into more powerful versions or get rid of them as they want, and normally throwing out a card is something I struggle with, but here it was easy to toss out a card I didn’t think I had a use for, and felt that I could highly optimize my deck. Even now all I can think is I want to go back and play one more game. Oh, and there’s also some awesome heavy metal playing, and there are several goals and achievements to chase as well.

That being said, I’ve only played an hour, and even bad rogue-lites should hold your attention that much. The graphics here though are pretty weak in my opinion. There’s a lot of stuff to unlock but the first character, the intern, had no perks or negatives, so I haven’t dived into all the different characters. Also, I died at the same place in both games, perhaps that’s a huge difficulty spike, but I also think I just need… well one more game to figure it out. That old chestnut.

Pick this up if you like Deck-builders and rogue-lites. This does have a bit of a tower defense concept, but the actual gameplay is more focused on refining your deck and incremental benefits over time as you build a stronger base. Though I’m not kidding, I am looking forward to going back and playing this, and that’s something I haven’t felt in quite a while. Who knows this game might have broken through my gaming malaise. 

Hyperviolent. System Shock, but not System Shock. 

Hyperviolent took inspiration from System Shock. It’s a shooter, with graphics like the original System Shock. It has all the staples, inventory management, a need to manipulate switches, a horror element, and a space station that players have to explore. There are log messages that NPCs have recorded before their death, and there’s a strange occurrence on the station where players will have to find out what’s going on while fighting off almost zombie-like hordes. Early on players will struggle for resources, but once I found the shotgun, I also felt really powerful and able to take on almost anything in the game. 

As a huge fan of System Shock, I regret to inform you most of what I just said is not System Shock. The biggest problem is this is a level-based shooter, not an immersive sim, and also really lacks the psychological part of the horror or the amazing antagonist that would be comparable with Shodan. In addition, because this is in Early Access the early levels have strange pacing, where the first starts with a story and then skips it for the second half. The second level drops the story completely. 

The newer levels do appear to have more story, but that just harms the pacing more because it’s a tonal shift from the first set. The text size on the screen is also pretty small, so trying to play this on a TV screen made it difficult or impossible to read that text, and since there’s only limited voice acting on a couple of messages, you need to be able to read. Ultimately I feel like Hyperviolent is torn between wanting to be a boomer shooter and an immersive sim, but the biggest problem is due to the Early Access experience it’s all going to be inconsistent and who knows if or when the final game will be out. 

Pick this up if… you want a long shot. Listen, I don’t think Early Access games should be in Humble, but it sounds like there’s a rough development here as well. The original planned release date was early 2024 The game hasn’t been updated in about six months, the developer claimed there was an update coming 2 months ago, and then said it’s taken more time now, it appears also they’re working on a second game, and this game is already in Humble before it even released. These are all red flags to me, but still, if you like what you see give this a shot, maybe it’ll pay off and I’ll be proven wrong, but even then it still doesn’t feel as polished due to the Early Access approach.

And that’s where we end, like usual I’m left with a weaker title, but we’ll let it play so you can see more. I keep forgetting to say this but if you do want more footage of the games, please check out my Twitch channel, I save the videos for however long Twitch allows, I think 90 days, and you can see my honest, usually stupid initial reactions to the game and this month I cosplay as Lobster Link… or I got sunburned.

Or instead, watch a Let’s Play, listen this is a 60-second overview, it’s not going to be a full tutorial. 

With that said it’s time for Is There Any Deal, and I can say I am not suspecting much, because of the Steam Sale currently going on, and looking at this, yeah I was right to be a little nervous. Still, Zoeti has a good value, and shockingly Starship Troopers does as well… You know. Let’s take a second look at this because something is off with those Voidu prices, I don’t know that site well. 

But when you go to Plague Tale Requiem here it says Historic Low of 17.50. 

Then let’s take a quick peek at Ghost Runner, that’s 9 dollars, again not 2 dollars. Now I’m not looking at Voidu’s prices there, but Voidu’s ultra deals happened over a year ago so… I don’t know maybe there’s a trick they are pulling to list those prices.

In addition to the games bundled before, Hyperviolent was on Fanaticals, and Zoeti was on Humble’s deckbuilder. Eh, annoying but I’ll live. 

Now with that said, let’s talk about the bundle, and I get the feeling we’re going to see the “Skip” posted a lot about this, Plague Tale Requiem is more of a story-based game, Ghostrunner had me struggling and probably needs that pro gamer mentality to master it, or I just suck, and Starship troopers is great, but how many RTS fans are there and do they not have this one?    This is going to be good for people who want it, but many people are not represented in these genres.

Roguelites are back on the menu, with Zoeti and Heretic’s Fork. Both of them are card-based, and yet both of them are quite different from the… well let’s just call it Slay the Spire, but deck-building genre. 

And I’ve probably been butchering Zoeti’s name, I apologize that’s not intentional. Doing a little research I have heard that if you add a S at the end it’s Zoetis for an animal company, and after hearing that, I’m kind of stuck saying that sometimes. It just doesn’t sound right.

Let’s get to tier list and as always this is not based on actual value, but enjoyment level, will you get 12 dollars worth of enjoyment out of the game… AKA you can’t say I’m wrong because that is a meaningless metric. We have four tiers, Misses, Averages, Strong Contenders, and oh yeah, games worth the Full Bundle. 

So let’s dive in… and yes, nothing in Misses, eh listen the Averages probably could slip here, but I do think they are what people call games, they’re worth playing for someone so we’ll just move on. 

The bottom of the Average tier though is… Hyperviolent, I am prepared to be wrong and the full release comes out tomorrow, there’s just no news to tell me what’s happening, and also I am prepared that it is an amazing game and not suffering from Early Access itis, a condition I just diagnosed and I’ll apologize next month. But I also will take a silent victory lap if I’m right and that doesn’t happen. As it is now, it’s average, not a recommendation.

And speaking of nonrecommendations. Sticky Business. Let me make gundam stickers! Damn it. Listen, I’ve seen some amazing work from people who spend a lot of time in this game, but even so, there’s no benefit in the game to put that effort in. This game makes me think of Suchart from long ago and I want to give that game another chance and put in the effort there, but not this one because why suffer with bad tools? Krita. Gimp or just Paint .net go for it. 

And here we are after two tiers, just to say I don’t truly believe this is the halfway point for these tiers, but technically two down two to go. 

We have a lot in the Strong Contender’s tier, we’ll start with Figment 2. I like the bosses, but I also think is game will annoy me just enough to make me struggle. Also, I mentioned I do feel a bit lost, I don’t know if that’s from not playing the first game, or if this just has a weird opening. Still, there’s something good here, it just might take a little effort to get to it.

Following that is Zoeti. Interesting game, but I think it gets a bit overshadowed in this bundle. The concept is good, but I do feel way too powerful in the game, we’ll see it probably would be worth playing through and there’s enough variety that someone can also put in a good amount of time with the multiple characters and three different stories. 

And then there’s Starship Troopers. Listen, I’m a fan of the book, I used to like the movie before reading the book, and this is good. But just good, I wish the voice actors went all out, or pushed this to more of the over-the-top parody of the movie. And both the movie and book say something deeper about why people join the military or jingoism. Here this is going to simply be an RTS. Still, I do feel that this one will be enjoyable while playing through all the missions, but it’s only standing on the shoulders of greatness.

Finally, there’s Heretic’s Fork and this borderline for me, this one has me excited, I swear I’ll be playing more while this video is rendering and maybe beyond, it’s really that good in my book, but it is also a smaller title, and maybe I’ll get bored of it quicker than I expect. Still, this one has me hyped, and that’s not happened in a while.

And that’s the Strong Contenders, I’ll be honest, the bottom three of tier shift places every time I talk about them, but Heretic’s Fork has always been in that top slot. 

And finally, we have the headliner; I mean games Worth the Full Bundle Price, and yeah, that’s how this goes. A little bias on display here, but the bottom is Ghostrunner 2. It’s a high-octane game if you play it right, speed runners will love this, and it’s just insane when it works. I just struggled to get that flow going and other players will probably do better with it. Still, it’s a great game, just will challenge players a bit.

And finally, we have Plague Tale Requiem. I did play this for Xbox Game Pass, but I also held off because I hadn’t beaten the first game. Still, this game does look incredible even if it has some performance issues and the story here is compelling. This is a major title in my book and I’m glad to add it to my library. 

And that’s what I have for the Humble Choice today and here’s the final tier list.

Now normally we look at some other bundles. If people don’t want this bundle, I don’t see anything exciting on Humble Choice yet. There’s this Muv Luv, I hate how that name feels to say, but that’s all visual novels. It does sound interesting, but it’s also visual novels.

On the other hand, if you want to spend your money on something else, I will mention that the Steam sale is going on and I would recommend checking that out, Kingdom Hearts just launched on Steam, that’s good to see, but overpriced, and I’m sure most of you want to buy a game you’re thinking of now, just imagine I mentioned it right here… Go get Hades 2… my choice is not on sale, but it’s still good.

With that said, like, subscribe, and all the other crap I’m supposed to say at the beginning of a video to drive engagement. Controversial view to drive angry comments, Gundam models and Dynasty Warrior Gundam are the only good things to come out of that franchise, but they’re very good. Here are two videos blah blah. And you know, let’s also say be good to each other.

See you next time.