Briley’s Weekend Haunts [July 13-14]

Ah! The fucking Steam Summer Sale is here! It’s that wonderful time of year (and there are two) where gamers, geeks and nerds alike go apeshit over the crazy sales. Many people complain that they will probably never play the games they purchase, and I definitely understand. There are a lot of games in my Steam library that I have yet to touch. So what though! I don’t know a person on this planet that doesn’t have a backlog of titles they want to play. No one can play everything, because real world obligations always seem to get in the way.

What I’m getting at is, I’m not going to go crazy, but if there’s a game I want on sale then I’m damn sure going to get it. ‘Murrica!

Steam Trading Cards have made gaming so much better, and they’re probably the biggest reason I’m going to be playing a lot of these games this weekend. Yes, I know you can just idle on the main menu to collect them (and if you didn’t know you’re probably screaming in agony right now), but I prefer to play my games- thank you. The only thing I really hate about these new digital cards is that I’m afraid they’re going to bend and warp, I really want to put those plastic cases on them for protection. First world problems, eh?

Anyway, without further ado, here are the titles that I expect to play this weekend and why (if you don’t give a shit then move along, it’s all I have for you):

Guild Wars 2

Get used to this game being on the list, because I’ll probably always include it. Especially now that the developers have announced they’ll be releasing weekly content updates every two weeks. Fuck yeah!

Plus, you know damn well I have to get my daily and monthly achievement rewards for pretty much fucking around in-game.

I love everything about Guild Wars 2. Call me a fan boy, I don’t give two shits (I might give one if you poke my tummy though). If you have any interest in finding me in the world of Tyria, I’m on the Blackgate server. If I see any comments below requesting such, I’ll throw out my main display name. Otherwise, fuck off because I hate spam.

Hotline Miami

Dude, just yes. This game now supports Steam Trading Cards! Holy shit, right?

Hopefully, I don’t need to tell you that Hotline Miami has one of the best soundtracks of any retro or indie title. I don’t need to tell you because you’ve already played it, right? RIGHT?

The game is mad cheap right now thanks to Valve’s crazy promotion, and it’s totes worth it. If you love beating the shit out of things, serious gore or experiencing in-your-face intense action then check it out. You won’t regret it. Well, unless you have a weak stomach then you might regret it.

FTL (Faster Than Light)

This is another game that now supports -you guessed it- Steam Trading Cards.

FTL has you managing a spacecraft, whilst trying to warp away from an ominously approaching evil force with plans to take over the universe. Hm, that definitely sounds familiar.

Where FTL differs from other outer-space, strategy style games is in it’s difficulty. The developers bill it as a “spaceship simulation realtime rogue-like”. It’s definitely frustrating at times, especially on the higher difficulty settings, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. Once everyone in your crew dies or your craft is blown to hell, the game is over. That’s where all the fun comes in though! You manage your craft, upgrade components and try to keep your crew alive as long as possible in order to beat your previous high score. Along the way you will unlock new components and upgrades, as well as new starting ships.

It’s cheap right now thanks to the Steam Sale ($4.99), so pick it up if you have the cash.

Dungeon Siege III

This is a game I played in the past, but I was never interested in dropping the cash for it. At the time there were just too many quirks with the game to justify dropping a full $60 on it. Besides, I knew later it would be released for a lower price with the DLC included. I was right, because I just paid under $8 for the full game and the DLC. Thank you Steam Summer Sale, for the bajillionth time.

This is not really a game you play for the story, as the plot is pretty cut-and-dry. In fact, I would call it downright boring and silly at times. That being said, I love a good action RPG with Diablo style gameplay and the Dungeon Siege series has always delivered on that front. Dungeon Siege III is no exception, although in the past it was optimized terribly on the PC. It has since been improved, but the control scheme is still a bit wonky. Thanks to some mods or a connected gamepad controller it gets a lot better.

To close this one out, yes I’ll be playing it this weekend, because I did just buy it. In other words, it won’t just sit in my library collecting pixel dust [read: ‘pixel dust’ not pixie dust you fairy lovers].

That’s my weekend incarnate 

Well, there you have it those are the titles I’ll be playing this weekend. If you cared enough to read this far, why don’t you leave a comment below and point out some of the titles that you’ll be playing.

This is now officially a monthly thing. At this point I know I can handle posting once a month on this.