Last month I had a bit of a grump. Shortly after that post I had another good look at what bundles have brought us of late, and yeah- there have been some disappointing months without a doubt. But you don’t have to go back too far to find stuff I was pretty happy about. November 2020 was a great month. So was October right before.
There were a few relatively ‘dry’ months in between, by my reckoning, but I’m rather thankful for February’s 2021 top picks. I don’t think this bundle is going to go blowing anyone’s sock’s off, but my top pick (Outward) is one I’ve been interested in since near the beginning of this blog! And it will come with the expansion, too. More on this shortly.
For now- let’s jump into it. Yes, yet again the ‘limited’ offer of classic and premium subscribers getting everything on offer is in play, so if you’re on one of those plans no ‘choice’ is necessary beyond whether or not to pause for the month. If you’re on a lower plan then I’ll be listing the choice bundle in order of descending preference, pretending for the purposes of this list that I don’t own anything on it even if I do.
My Picks for February 2021’s Humble Choice
Outward! Outward plus ‘The Soroboreans’ expansion is included this month. The base game, as noted in the intro, I’ve been interested in since before it came out. Enough so that I was sure I was going to buy it at launch and play the living bejeebus out of it.
Welp… That didn’t happen. The launch price (>$60 NZD) certainly was a contributing factor. But more than that, I’ve actually purchased the game during a sale before but ended up being incredibly put off by the animation quality before even finishing the tutorial and ended up refunding.
Graphics, while something I certainly appreciate, aren’t normally a deal breaker to this extent for me. Trying to put my finger on why it did here, I think it is because of the importance of animations when it comes to the combat style on offer here. The action, dodge, roll, parry style combat just didn’t feel very good… Or even right.
So why so interested now? Well- frankly? I wasn’t willing to put up with those issues for the asking price, even on sale (as it was still >$40 NZD if I recall rightly). But I’ve still always viewed this as a bit of a shame as the ideas of being (at least at the start of the game) as a bit of a nobody-special villager, with less handholding, with more player agency and meaningful player decision making are ones I was onboard with.
So here we are — a humble choice bundle gives me this opportunity to try it again without the insane asking price. And? If it ends up grabbing me, there is a second expansion now out which I can purchase at the normal price to show my support. Good timing all around.
In any case, there are other games in this bundle too. So let’s get to the table. ;)
| Rank | Game | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outward (+ The Soroboreans) | RPG, Survival |
| 2 | Valkyria Chronicles 4: Complete Edition | Tactical RPG, Strategy |
| 3 | Endless Space 2 | 4X Strategy |
| 4 | Trine 4 | Puzzle Platformer |
| 5 | Valfaris | Side-scroller Shooter |
| 6 | Iris and the Giant | CCG/RPG/Roguelike |
| 7 | Boomerang Fu | Local Multiplayer Brawler |
| 8 | Lovecraft’s Untold Stories | Action Rogue-lite |
| 9 | The Wild Eight | Survival Adventure |
| 10 | Moving Out | Local Co-op Physics |
| 11 | Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest | Interactive Fiction |
| 12 | Train Station Renovation | ‘Simulator’ |
As much as I went on about Outward above, Valkyria Chronicles 4 could easily jump into that top spot, it’s that close. I fell in love with the Valkyria Chronicles only around the 3rd entry when it had a re-release on PC. Funnily enough, not too long before 4 came out.
I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t pick up 4 for myself, I just… Haven’t. It was probably for no other reason than I already had so much on the backlog and for once I showed a modicum of restraint in not purchasing it.
The other callouts here are Boomerang Fu and Moving Out — they’re both local/couch co-op only. At least in terms of what’s supported in the games themselves. This might be something you can work around with remote play, but just worth noting this out of the box.
Overall — a bundle to turn last month’s frown back upside down. More like this please, Humble!
Definitely feeling super positive about this bundle, despite already owning Endless Space 2 and Outward with no DLC. I think it’s because the other games feel like more solid, good games in and of themselves.
I wanted Werewolf: Heart of the Forest pretty badly, but didn’t want to bite without a bundle. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is also a good headliner, and I liked Outward during my time with it, so getting an extra DLC for it feels good. Those make it worth $12usd to me. Then much of the other games all look like stuff that I would be interested to give a try if it came bundled, just not willing to buy them separately, so they seem like perfect bundle fodder bonus games.
Agree! Everything in here feels at least logical part of a bundle of games for gamers. Gamers of different stripes and types to be sure. But it’s a significant step up over some of the recent offerings.
I’m kinda looking forward to giving Outward another try with expectations set to a more appropriate level going in. But lord only knows when, with BDO being as engrossing as it is right now.
I love how different your ranking is compared to mine… I mean, Outward, Endless Space 2, and Valkyria Chronicles 4 scoring high in both of our rankings is similar… but apart from that, it’s all kinda different. :D
Aye! I was amazed how highly you ranked The Wild Eight for example- but then realised you probably don’t have all the context on the developer. Hell, I wouldn’t have except for watching an overview of their recently announced survival/The Division clone game.
They have a bad track record of abandoning games, leaving them unfinished and it seems that unfortunately, The Wild Eight was one to receive such treatment.
I didn’t put it as italic right at the bottom of the list even so though, because I do agree with you that how it looks right now could still be a decent time. :)
Oh, I didn’t know about that at all! Interesting… I’ll have to see how playable it is once I get to it. :)
This is definitely a return to form, I was very disappointed with December and January, Outward, Trine 4 and Endless Space 2 are all pluses for me
Yup! I do have Endless Space 2 already, but being able to give this copy away to someone will still be great. Get some multiplayer running perhaps. :D Hopefully they can continue in this vein for a while!