Humble Choice: April 2021
I’m looking for a word- or maybe a phrase. A way to express in the strongest way possible the feeling of, ‘Eh. It’s alright.’
Although even as I put words to that, I begin to doubt it. I’m sort of bouncing between that sensation and one of perhaps this one really isn’t so bad after all. Of the few titles in this bundle that I recognise, I have at some point wanted — at least in passing — a number of them. Although clearly never enough to actually make the leap toward purchasing. I suppose, at the very least, none of the included titles make my eyes roll so hard they threaten to break tether with their optical nerves.
It’s another month of Classic and Premium subscribers getting all titles in the bundle again. So if you’re on those plans and make the call not to pause, no choice necessary. For those on the lower tiers plans, I’ll attempt to rank the games in order of preference, starting with most preferred to and ending with least preferred. Where I own a game already I will pretend for the purposes of this list that I don’t.
My Picks for April 2021’s Humble Choice
Yep. My top pick for April’s Humble Choice isn’t even one of the ‘premium’ titles. Rock of Ages III is the least well received of the series — but the first two entries set an incredibly high bar. The main addition this entry brings to the table is a built-in level creator.
I won’t lie — part of the personal appeal for this title may not apply to all or even most of you. I’m keen because the creator looks easy enough that a child could use it. So setting up challenges for my youngest child and having him build levels in turn is quite an appealing prospect.
Having said that — I still think you wouldn’t go too far wrong by having this near the top of your personal picks too, even kid considerations aside. :)
| Rank | Game | Genre(s) / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rock of Ages III: Make & Break | Action, Tower Defense, Marbl- Boulder Run. |
| 2 | Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts | Stealth, Tactical Shooter |
| 3 | Aven Colony | Colony Builder, Strategy |
| 4 | Main Assembly | Sandbox, Vehicle Construction (Ground -> Space), Toy |
| 5 | Shenmue III | ARPG, Fighting |
| 6 | In Other Waters | Adventure, Minimalist |
| 7 | F1 2020 | Racing, Team Management, |
| 8 | Skully | Adventure, Platform |
| 9 | Popup Dungeon | Paper-art, Tactical Roguelike |
| 10 | Colt Canyon | Lo-Fi Pixel Art Shooter, Roguelike |
| 11 | Simulacra + Simulacra 2 | Horror, Found Phone… Look, you’re just going to have to check these ones. |
| 12 | Remothered: Broken Porcelain | Horror and wait, they want how much for this game normally? Wow. |
Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts (what a mouthful of a name!) looks like it has more depth than my cursory looks in the past might’ve otherwise suggested.
Having looked at it a tiny bit more now, it reminds me in some ways of the Hitman games. And no, not just because there is also a ‘Contracts’ game out of that series. There for sure isn’t the same degree of freedom here to be found in the mainline Hitman games. There isn’t going to be an option to poison. Or make it look like an accident. There probably won’t even be any disguises.
But otherwise, with the context of putting bullets in bad guys from really long distances, it seems like you’re going to have a lot of freedom of approach. So I might end up giving this one a shot after all.
Right down at the other end of the spectrum, Remothered shows off some of the worst voice acting I think I’ve heard — at least from its adult characters. The children/teens seem to do, funnily enough, a much better job. If I was to ever play this game it would likely have to be with the VO off entirely.
But given the extent of my backlog around, it’s incredibly unlikely it will ever surface up far enough to make it to play time. Who knows though. It isn’t bad enough that I won’t bother to redeem it at all, and stranger things have certainly happened!
