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From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Humble Choice February 2025
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2025 14:02:39 -0500
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How do we know another month has begun? Is it because what the
calendar says? Is it because people start saying, "Hey, it's
February?" Is it because we track the Earth's orbit around the Sun?
Fuck no! It's because there's new games in HumbleChoice. Well, that's
how _I_ tell it's a new month, anyway. 

This month's games are:


* Immortals of Aveum
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2009100/Immortals_of_Aveum/
    A first person shooter, except instead of guns you have 
    magic spells. I guess it's sort of a modern-day "Heretic", 
    except not as well done. The gameplay itself isn't too bad 
    but it doesn't stand out in any way, and the game suffers 
    from numerous bugs and performance issues. A shame, since 
    with a bit more care the game might have been an average 
    (not great, but passable) experience, but right now it's 
    just suffering from too many technical issues to be any 
    fun.


* Trepang 2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1164940/Trepang2/
    Another FPS (with guns this time!) and not a bad one. Not a 
    great one either, but not bad. It most reminds me of FEAR, 
    just not as novel or polished. A perfectly adequate shooter; 
    don't expect the world from it and you'll probably not be 
    disappointed.


* Total War: Pharaoh Dynasties
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2951630/Total_War_PHARAOH_DYNASTIES/
    Another Total War game. I didn't even know this one existed. 
    It's gotten sort of hard to keep track of them all. This one 
    (obviously) takes place in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean. 
    But beyond that, it's 'more of the same' when it comes to the 
    Total War series, and honestly --if you've ever played TW:Rome 
    (which also featured Egypt)-- not really that much more either. 
    Good for die-hard fans of the series but otherwise fairly average.
    It's not really a good place for new players to start either. 
    It's fine, I guess.


* Fabledom
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1651560/Fabledom/
    A too-cutesy fantasy city-builder. It has fairly shallow 
    mechanics and is aimed at the 'cozy-game' crowd; it's just not
    really my thing.


* Griftlands
https://store.steampowered.com/app/601840/Griftlands/
    Not, as you might expect given the title (and the current 
    political climate there) a game about the United States, but 
    instead another 'deck-building roguelite'. Those last three 
    words were enough to kill any interest in the game. Honestly, 
    even a game about America's current criminal-in-chief would 
    be more welcome at this point...


* Tales & Tactics
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1652250/Tales__Tactics/
    Oh good, another word to add to my 'instantly dislike' list: 
    this one is an 'autobattler'. It's board-game aesthetics are
    actually sort of appealing, but the gameplay? Nah.


* Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2005160/Naheulbeuks_Dungeon_Master/
    I guess this one is aiming to be a modern take on "Dungeon 
    Master" (the classic Bullfrog games from the late 90s). Alas,
    unentertaining gameplay, unfunny humor and a heap of technical 
    issues make this a game that you struggles to keep playing. It 
    was shoved out the gate too early, and then abandoned by its 
    publisher. 


* My Little Universe
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2328750/My_Little_Universe/
    One of (far too many) resource gathering/crafting games, albeit 
    one stripped down to the very basics. I suppose if you like the 
    genre, the simplicity of this game might appeal; no need to 
    bother with story or clever visuals; just hack away at trees 
    and rocks so you can craft new tools to make more complicated 
    tools to gather new types of resources. Onwards and upwards 
    until you build a spaceship so you can jump to and ravage 
    another planet. I can (almost) see the appeal... but this sort 
    of game looks entirely too boring to me. 


Yeah, not a great month for HumbleChoice. The games are either too
unpolished, too niche or just plain bad to worth the purchase. This is
definitely a 'skip' month. ZiffDavis (current owners of Humble) need
to start offering some _really good_ games if they don't want to see
their subscribers jump ship. Doesn't have to be every month, but at
least once in a while to keep up the faith, y'know?

Well, at least February is a short month, so only 28 days until the
next offerings. 'Til then!