While some games cost a pretty penny, others will cost you just a few. So for all those gamers who want to try something new for $1 or less, look no further. Here are 5 games that make it possible.
I'll start this list off with a third-person puzzle game by the name of, Neuragun.
This game gives you a series of challenging puzzles that put you to the test to solve a maze of mysteries, all for the purpose of trying to escape the science complex.
Neuragun can be snagged for $0.83, so if you have a buck, you're in luck!
We remain in the sci-fi category with a fantasy flare in this top down action-based tactical adventure known as, We Are The Dwarves. You embark on an expedition to find a new star in the depths of the Endless Stone with three Dwarven astronauts. The action may seem overwhelming to some, but the active pause gives you the ability to deliver your best strategies in battle with the Forcer dwarf, Smashfist dwarf, and the Shadow dwarf. If you use them to the best of your ability, victory will be yours. We Are The Dwarves is available for $0.55!
The sci-fi action continues with the futuristing ninja action in, The Divine Invasion. In this game, you join a social experienment where moral values are lagging behind technological progress, meaning synthetic life-forms, and AI will challenge you as you waver between light and darkness. Combat in this third person game revolves around sword fights and martial arts action. Grab, The Divine Invasion for $1.24!
The last two games may appear to be a bit of a head scratcher because, Euphoria: Supreme Mechanics, seems to have screenshots pulled right out of, Dofamine (although it's a slightly darker tone). However, the gameplay video is different for Euphoria, it looks as if you're playing with a superhuman character in a third person game that lacks of environmental appeal. Natural things like land and trees are there, but building are not. You just sort of navigate around these invisible platforms that are lit glowing.
Don't be fooled by this, they're both puzzle games with similar paths as far as solving mysteries. No biggie if you like these sort of games, especially since they're both sitting at $0.80!
Below is the actual gameplay as presented by WandaWeb:
Regardless of what you snag, just know what you're supporting indie devs, plus a charity.
So enjoy doing good things and as always, game on!
You wake up stranded, after seemingly crashing your ship on The Sarcophagus — a giant, space-drifting, cosmic uterus holding an ancient demonic being known asULTROS. Trapped in the eternal loop of a black hole, you will have to explore The Sarcophagus and meet its inhabitants to understand the part you play.
Are you the gruesome breaker of this cycle, or can you become a link from destruction to rebirth?
A PSYCHEDELIC SCI-FI JOURNEY
ULTROS is set in a multifaceted realm - a vast alien landscape teeming with life. Grounded in science fiction, ULTROS comes wrapped in an eccentric art style and a mystical soundtrack from the visionary El Huervo, renowned for his work on Hotline Miami. ULTROS explores meta-themes of mental health, life, death, and karmic cycles through deep lore and environmental storytelling.
A WORLD OF CONTRAST
Experience brutal, intimate, close-quarter combat with cosmic lifeforms, driven by a sense of urgency – where precision is paramount and every cut of your blade counts. Yet this intense combat is juxtaposed with cultivating the greenery and tending to plant life in The Sarcophagus, providing precious moments of contemplation and peace. In turn, this grants deeper access to obscured paths.
A MYSTERIOUS, LAYERED LOOP
The rich world ofULTROSholds many secrets for those curious enough — and fearless enough — to seek them out. A unique loop-based mechanic will allow you to start over at key moments in the story, providing opportunities to unfold such secrets, unlock different areas of the world and new abilities on a branching skill tree. Experiment with and master your own specific fighting style as you explore the world ofULTROS. Each loop brings you closer to the truth...
The Last Train Home is a... heart-wrenching journey of survival, and we appreciate THQ Nordic for supplying us with a copy to review (my opinions are my own). Is the Last Train Home worth the challenging journey? Let's find out!
Story: In terms of the story, the Last Train Home is... inspired by real historical events that put you in charge of Czechoslovak soldiers. The mission is to make your way back home aboard an armored train in Siberia during a Russian civil war (the White Army vs the Red Army). I think fans of history are really going to love this game and the true story behind it, and if you like branching paths to a story... you will find that decisions will have an impact on the narrative. This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed The Walking Dead game franchise so much. Granted the decisions aren't as frequent, but they're still there in the Last Train Home. Hmmm, I shouldn't say that they aren't as frequent... because your decisions in the field matter greatly. Before we go into gameplay, here's a bit of info Sophi came across regarding the historical events that inspired the game (while we aren't glorifying war, the history is... interesting):
In May 1918, the Czechoslovak Legion found themselves spread out along the Trans-Siberian Railway, stretching from Penza to Vladivostok. However, the process of evacuating them was not going as smoothly as anticipated. The railway was in poor condition, locomotives were in short supply, and negotiations with local Soviets along the way were causing delays. On the 14th of May, a disagreement at the Chelyabinsk station between legionaries heading east and Magyar POWs heading west resulted in the People's Commissar for War, Leon Trotsky, ordering the arrest and disarmament of the legionaries. A few days later, at an army congress in Chelyabinsk, the Czechoslovaks, against the wishes of the National Council, refused to disarm and instead began issuing ultimatums for their passage to Vladivostok. This event ignited what would be known as the Revolt of the Legions.
As May came to a close in 1918, clashes between the Czechoslovak Legion and the Bolsheviks erupted at different points along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The fighting intensified along the railway route from Penza to Krasnoyarsk in June. By the end of the month, General Mikhail Diterikhs and his legionaries had successfully seized control of Vladivostok, overthrowing the local Bolshevik administration.
Legionnaires returned via the Trans-Siberian Railway to provide assistance to their fellow fighters in the west. In their initial encounters with the fledgling Red Army, the Czechoslovaks emerged victorious. By mid-July, they had taken control of the railway from Samara to Irkutsk, and by early September, they had driven out Bolshevik forces along the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The legionnaires conquered major cities in Siberia, including Yekaterinburg, but unfortunately, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed under the direct orders of Yakov Sverdlov just days before the arrival of the Legion.
The news of the Czechoslovak Legion's Siberian campaign in the summer of 1918 was met with enthusiasm by Allied leaders in Great Britain and France. They viewed this operation as an opportunity to establish an eastern front against Germany. Facing pressure from both domestic and international sources, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who had previously resisted Allied calls for intervention in Russia, eventually agreed to support the evacuation of the legionaries from Siberia. In July 1918, he released a memorandum advocating for a limited U.S. intervention in Siberia.
In Transbaikal, the Czechoslovak Legion had already arrived to greet the American and Japanese units once they landed in Vladivostok. The impressive campaign of the Czechoslovak Legion in Siberia caught the attention of Allied statesmen and sparked their interest in the concept of an independent Czechoslovak state. Throughout the victorious summer, as the legionaries achieved one triumph after another, the Czechoslovak National Council received official acknowledgments from different Allied governments.
Fun Fact: I met several gamers, including one from the Czech Republic the day before I published this review, and let's just say... he looks forward to checking it out.
Gameplay: Some RTS games are more forgiving than others, but the Last Train Home... isn't one of those games. You have to maintain morale, obtain food to feed everyone and avoid starvation, keep them on a good schedule (they need to rest), and keep them safe. Don't risk simply running into battle-depleting ammo and medkits, because they aren't located at every turn, and also remember... you don't have to fight everyone. Survive, recruit, gather your resources, upgrade your train, and keep moving (again... survive). When it comes to the train, they wanted to maintain the experience inspired by the true events, so you are challenged with maintaining and upgrading... the Last Train Home. By this point, you may be wondering if it's a management game vs an RTS game, but... it's basically a hybrid of sorts.
You will find that you have many people aboard the train with "No Combat Role" but... don't underestimate the role of anyone, simply make sure that you use them wisely during the journey... home to increase their experience in various ways, taking care of them as well as upgrading the train are highly important. If the danger is low out in the field, consider taking someone with little to no experience out to gain some, they can learn a thing or two and could become useful in combat if necessary.
By the way, get familiar with hitting the 'Esc' key to Pause and... the right mouse button to Cancel Selected Orders. I say that just in case you send someone running off in the wrong direction and into potential danger. Controls aren't bad, but... they are something you will have to get familiar with, especially if you aren't an RTS veteran. Let's take a pause for the cause and check out this first 30:
Shout out to Dan K. for providing this!
It's probably safe to say that I'll be doing some live-streaming with this one.
Your team will have different traits like their type of character, belief, and nature. For example, let's look at Bedrich Kopcky:
He has a Diligent character, representing steady and earnest work in all his duties. When it comes to his Beliefs, he's a Nationalist who values freedom, personal responsibility, and independence. Supports decisions that make the nation stronger. His beliefs can affect the narrative in dialogues and other events. Some of his choices may also affect Morale. He is Focused in nature which increases his work efficiency, and he's also Strong-willed in nature which increases his max value of Will by... 1.
Kopcky's roles include Rifleman and he's a Worker. There are other attributes there as you see here, but you get the idea.
Another soldier is... Anna Davidova is a Doctor, but she's also a Cook. She is very important, which doesn't slight the soldiers like Kopcky who keep those like Anna safe, but... I say this because she can ensure that they live another day (on the food & medical front). Her traits in terms of her character, belief, and nature include:
Character: Careless - Probably already messed something up. Can affect narrative in dialogues and other events. (That's a pretty cold description if I must say so myself.)
Belief: Communist - Values helping those in need and despises the rich. Supports the revolution and wants the same reforms as the Reds, but not their rule. Can affect narrative in dialogues and other events. Some choices may affect Morale.
Nature: Talented - Increases XP gain of any train role while working in train. (Keep this in mind.) + She is Chaotic in Nature as well, which reduces her Work Efficiency by 15%, so you will have to boost her W.E. to make sure it isn't a crutch on your journey home.
This places her roles more so on the train, but... taking her outside to get some experience doesn't hurt when it's safe. Maybe even have her shoot at some targets. By the way, their roles come with various levels of work efficiency. So let's just say you have a lot to work with to make your crew as efficient as possible... and I'm going to go ahead and throw Replay Value in here... because you can switch things up in a new game to see how the results will be different based on different decisions.
Remember the soldiers can affect the narrative in dialogues and... other events.
Price: The game is available for $39.99, but... you can grab it here for a limited time to save 15%! Is it worth $39.99? Yes and yes, it's a great game with a great story, especially for those craving a new RTS experience with depth inspired by historical events. Jump aboard and... game on!
It's about damn time that we received a Blazblue 2D platformer. It makes sense, they don't have to be stuck in an arena, open the world up and... send us on a kickass adventure! This is promising and has the potential of bleeding over into Blazblue fighting games. I can picture it now, remove the drawn-out cutscenes and let us reach the destination of battle in a certain mode. Arcade can remain arcade, and adventure can incorporate what we see here. I'll get my head out of the clouds though, because they don't need to be there with BlazBlue Entropy Effect... out now (in Early Access).
BlazBlue Entropy Effect is a brand-new action roguelike developed by a team with years of experience in action games, ready to present what they claim to be "the best 2D action combat experience the world has ever seen!"
According to the developers, each character has its own traits and hundreds of moves to choose from as you create your unique combos. The Legacy System makes each battle a unique experience. This is easy to confirm as truth because they're using the character moves from the BlazBlue universe.
Tactics come into play by way of you being able to select from eight different elements like lightning, fire, light, umbra, and more plus over 200 upgrades that you can utilize in various way to go nuts with your combos. My hands are twitching just thinking about it jumping into this Metroidvania-inspired game and its sandbox-style levels.
While the characters are familiar, BlazBlue Entropy Effect is a spin-off of the BlazBlue series. It has its own original storyline. By the way, you can snatch this game up for $19.99.
