Free Game Watch

[BFTD]

2 minutes ago, Ric said:

From second hand info, yes. A friend has a bit of a soft spot for early Assassin's Creed and got the first couple of games in the recent Steam sale. I asked if it needed uPlay too (because it used to) and he said he certainly doesn't have it installed and it never popped up when he kicked the game off from Steam. Whether it's still there in the background I couldn't say but it looks like it isn't.

So take it as a soft "it's not needed".

Aye, I've got them too, and they've always been part of the 'that old' category. It was around Far Cry 3 that they started making a Uplay account necessary, even if you bought on Steam. I only remember because the wean wanted it for a birthday or Christmas. It wasn't a very popular move on Ubi's part at the time. Doesn't mean they haven't now scrapped the Uplay requirement for those titles, of course. Did they go Uplay exclusive for any of their titles? Thinking about it, I don't think I've played a UbiSoft game for any length of time since the Nineties. They all seem either really generic, or made for kids.

I don't think you ever needed Origin to play their games on Steam - EA just stopped selling the new ones on Steam altogether, from roughly the time Mass Effect 3 came out. The only way anyone was ever going to touch Origin was if they had to; presumably they've got enough people signed up now that they can go back to allowing sales on other platforms.

[Ric]

Oh, and while we are here, I suppose I better list the free games from Epic (seeing as "that's my thing" recently)..

I'm not going to lie, it's not a particularly bountiful harvest this time round, with two smallish indie games. One is a set of mini games all tied together under one sort of meta plot about video game development. Maybe I'm being too harsh on this, but... well make up your own mind, maybe it'll float someone's boat...

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/3-out-of-10-ep-1/home

 

The second one looks a standard by the numbers puzzle game, now it's hard to be too harsh on this as it isn't anywhere near as pretentious or annoying as the previous title, but it does just feel like someone's personal project that's made it to a full release.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/wilmots-warehouse/home

I know of a few people who would like this simply because whenever I play online games with them they spend more time organising their inventory or my storage than they do anything else. If inventory management is your thing I can see you getting some love out of this. Another title I've not played before so really can't say anything other than.. "it's free, so what have you got to lose".

[Ric]

6 minutes ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

Aye, I've got them too, and they've always been part of the 'that old' category. It was around Far Cry 3 that they started making a Uplay account necessary, even if you bought on Steam. I only remember because the wean wanted it for a birthday or Christmas. It wasn't a very popular move on Ubi's part at the time. Doesn't mean they haven't now scrapped the Uplay requirement for those titles, of course. Did they go Uplay exclusive for any of their titles? Thinking about it, I don't think I've played a UbiSoft game for any length of time since the Nineties. They all seem either really generic, or made for kids.

The reason I refuse to use uPlay or play Ubisoft games (btw, I should have mentioned I refuse to use uPlay or play Ubisoft games) is that I bought the early Assassin's Creed games on Steam (this was some time ago) and Steam only offered you the key, which you then had to use on uPlay. I played the games for about 10 minutes to check them, then came back about 2 weeks later only for uPlay to tell me the games were being used by another player. I contacted Ubisoft and got a really snippy response from them saying "you were using cracked keys" but I sent them the Steam purchase details but they continued to claim I was a pirate and were trying to steal their games and that I got what I deserved. So, yeah, if it involves uPlay I'm not in. I did play a cracked copy of FC3 and Black Flag, and to be fair both were decent games (best ones in their franchises?) but every other title from them seems to be cut and paste - I don't feel I'm missing out.

 

So, f**k me, long story even longer.. but bottom line, if uPlay is required from a Steam Ubisoft purchase then I'm not buying it.

[BFTD]

5 minutes ago, Ric said:

The reason I refuse to use uPlay or play Ubisoft games (btw, I should have mentioned I refuse to use uPlay or play Ubisoft games) is that I bought the early Assassin's Creed games on Steam (this was some time ago) and Steam only offered you the key, which you then had to use on uPlay. I played the games for about 10 minutes to check them, then came back about 2 weeks later only for uPlay to tell me the games were being used by another player. I contacted Ubisoft and got a really snippy response from them saying "you were using cracked keys" but I sent them the Steam purchase details but they continued to claim I was a pirate and were trying to steal their games and that I got what I deserved. So, yeah, if it involves uPlay I'm not in. I did play a cracked copy of FC3 and Black Flag, and to be fair both were decent games (best ones in their franchises?) but every other title from them seems to be cut and paste - I don't feel I'm missing out.

So, f**k me, long story even longer.. but bottom line, if uPlay is required from a Steam Ubisoft purchase then I'm not buying it.

Sounds like Ubi have been fucking about with the Uplay thing for a while, then. I do hope that nobody gets the idea that pirating their releases might just be easier and more convenient, he said unconvincingly.

UbiSoft used to be one of my favourite publishers back in the early Nineties. France used to produce some bizarre, experimental stuff, with audiovisuals notably better than what the UK/US publishers put out. Shame they became so bland and forgettable, other than covering for abusers, of course.

[Ric]

Well if we are talking Delphine and Infogrammes sure, after all who could forget Another World and Flashback or Alone in the Dark.

[spud131]

Total War: Troy is getting released tomorrow and is free on the epic games store for 24 hours only.
Not sure if their servers will cope with demand tho!

[Homer Thompson]

35 minutes ago, spud131 said:

Total War: Troy is getting released tomorrow and is free on the epic games store for 24 hours only.
Not sure if their servers will cope with demand tho!

I loved the early Rome and Shogun games but when I tried some of the newer ones I got bored very quickly

[spud131]

I loved the early Rome and Shogun games but when I tried some of the newer ones I got bored very quickly

To be honest I've never been able to get into any of these games, always wanted to but always seemed abit too complex for me.

[spud131]

Total War: Troy is getting released tomorrow and is free on the epic games store for 24 hours only.
Not sure if their servers will cope with demand tho!

Got onto their site and 'purchased' it with absolutely no issues. Likely to remain in my library unplayed but good to have it!

[Homer Thompson]

1 minute ago, spud131 said:

22 hours ago, spud131 said:

Total War: Troy is getting released tomorrow and is free on the epic games store for 24 hours only.
Not sure if their servers will cope with demand tho!

Got onto their site and 'purchased' it with absolutely no issues. Likely to remain in my library unplayed but good to have it!

Same and same 

[Ric]

Just on to give that Troy Total War link:

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/a-total-war-saga-troy/home

It's a pretty beefy offering, and it seems to be more than just a reskin of The Three Kingdoms and for free it's an absolute steal. Like all Total War games before it, to get the most out of it, you need to sink a lot of time into learning it's foibles and strategies and I expect this to be no different. It's not a casual game and anyone expecting to just jump in and knock out a quick campaign will only be disappointed. If you're willing to invest a couple of hours then you'll get that investment returned. Here is an IGN review of it, which, in short, gives it the "this is good but could do with a couple of patches to even things out". As it's only available for free for the next 24 hours, stick it into your library now.

 

While we are on the subject of free games from Epic, after several weeks of fairly thin weekly offerings, they have gone balls deep with 'Remnant: From the Ashes'. I'm not a big fan of 3PP shooters but this one is a very decent title. Lots of comparisons to Dark Souls, it's got rogue-like elements and while the story itself is fairly short there is a decent multiplayer element to it which, not that I'd know as "I've nae mates", is apparently quite the hoot. Even Steam has it rated at 'overly positive' so there's that.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/remnant-from-the-ashes/home

First off here is the trailer:

And secondly here is a Zero Punctuation review, which, believe it or not, ZP actually comes out not hating it - which could be considered "a win" for any title to be fair..

There is one more free title from Epic this week, which you'd understand if it slipped under the radar considering the previous two titles. Called the Alto Collection it is a by the numbers indie game, albeit no the worse for that. I'll throw in the idea that it's a modern take on "Horace goes skiing" and see who recognises that reference without googling.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/the-alto-collection/home

 

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by Ric

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, Ric said:

I'll throw in the idea that it's a modern take on "Horace goes skiing"

Didn't read the rest, currently downloading.

@Melanius Mullarkey

[Ric]

For those reading this before 16:00 BST, you still have time to grab Remnant. I'm having quite a lot of fun with it, so grab it for free when you can!

After 16:00, the next couple of free titles come online. Both of them are twin stick overhead shooters, one with quite the pedigree but not much (other than graphical style) to separate them.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/enter-the-gungeon/home

First up is Welcome to the Gungeon. This has been around for a while now, and is very tongue in cheek. It has a sort of Smash TV vibe (in the comedy element) about it and in terms of bullet storm, it absolutely throws a ton of shit at you on screen. Rather than link the trailer, I'll post a SplatterCat "impressions" vid:

There is a lot right with this title. It's 4 odd years old, so has had any imbalance patched out of it and has a stonking Steam rating. If you don't have a twin stick shooter then you could do a lot worse than pick this up.

 

Onto God's Trigger.. https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/gods-trigger/home

Where Gungeon completely took the piss, this revels in pretentiousness. Now that's not all bad, and in many ways it's not the same game as above, it's definitely got a much steeper learning curve and a different graphic style. I suppose it's what you are looking for, something cute cuddly and balls to the wall silliness, or something a little more serious and realistic looking. This has a decent rating on Steam too.

I'll share another SplatterCat impressions vid (I like his shtick), but as he points out at the start this one is a sponsored video. Now to be fair, he's not someone who sucks up to sponsors and he's open about it at the start. He's not a shill so you can trust the opinions he gives...

 

 

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Hitman 2016 and the Shadowrun Collection are currently free on Epic. I know nothing about Shadowrun, but Hitman is fantastic.

Into the Breach is free next week. I have it on the Switch and it is a great turn based combat game.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/free-games

[Ric]

Shadowrun has been around for absolute donkeys years. Isometric cyberpunky RPG. It's heavily story driven with an shit ton of lore behind it. It was first released in the mid 90s and I had an ex that played it religiously on the SNES, but it got a reboot about 6 or 7 years ago where they changed the combat into a fairly standard turn based number. The graphics are decent enough and all the modern versions (which are included in the free give away - Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall and Hong Kong) are rated highly on Steam. It just all depends on whether the storyline appeals or not, because the AI in combat isn't what you'd consider challenging. That said, if this sort of thing is your bag, then there is a lot (an awful lot) of game hours in the combined titles.

[BFTD]

Can also recommend Into the Breach. From the lads who brought us FTL, which I've possibly played more than anything else in the past ten years.

Into the Breach doesn't quite feel as infinitely replayable, but is near the top of my wee list of games to play if I've only got an hour to spare.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Ubisoft are giving away The Division on PC for the next week. https://register.ubisoft.com/the-division/en-US

It is also on XBox Games with Gold this month.

[Ric]

Here's a fun one..

Far Cry 3 is free from Ubisoft, but you need to claim it from the Chinese Ubisoft website:

 

As the post says, it still activates. How long it'll last once Ubisoft realises it's open to the rest of the world... *shrug* ...but for me, it's the best FC in the series.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

I bought the remastered Far Cry 3 for PS4 in a sale recently. I haven't got too far into it, but the opening scenes of the game are still great. The baddy seems far more likeable than any of the good guys.

[Ric]

1 hour ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

I bought the remastered Far Cry 3 for PS4 in a sale recently. I haven't got too far into it, but the opening scenes of the game are still great. The baddy seems far more likeable than any of the good guys.

The reason FC3 is good is that Vaz (the bad guy) is ultimately the best character in the game. You and your "gap year buddies" are absolute dicks.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Ric