It’s that time again. The Steam Autumn Sale! The seasons never match up here in Australia. For us, I guess this is the Spring sale? Anyway, the season doesn’t really matter. This is yet another perfectly engineered excuse to lever hard-earned cash out of our wallets for more delicious digital content that we absolutely don’t need. I bought twelve games this sale. Did I need any of them? Oh sweet raptor Jesus, no. Did I buy them anyway? Mate, this is a Steam sale. Of course I fuckin’ did. I wouldn’t say I splurged in the last sale, but I picked up a bunch of quality titles and this sale was no different.
After putting it off for what feels like forever, I finally pulled the trigger on Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s been recommended to me by literally everyone I know who plays video games in any capacity, and at the time of writing, it’s sitting at a historical low price: about $67.50 AUD. Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 are two of my all-time favourite PC games, so it feels right to own the third even if it’s not a direct sequel. I’m interested to see how the recent Steam Deck version runs, I’ve heard good things. It just feels like the right time to dive into a massive world with a big-budget story after sticking to mostly shorter titles this year. Once I’m through Baldur’s Gate 3, I’ll probably dig into both Red Dead Redemption games. Steam has a two-pack available. The first one is still sitting at a pretty steep price, while Red Dead Redemption 2 has been around $22 for a while now, so I feel at about $30 each this isn’t a bad deal. Between Baldur’s Gate 3 and the Red Dead Redemption games, I’ve probably got more than enough to keep me busy for a loooooong time.
Did I stop there? Of course not. I knocked a few more off my wishlist with Prodeus and Turbo Overkill. You can buy them both in one handy bundle for about $30, aptly named: Turbo Prodeus Bundle. Boomer shooters are still unreal and compared to bigger budget releases, the indies have been killing it. I recently played Warhammer 40K Boltgun and I was pretty pumped to give it a go only for my hopes to be dashed. It’s so fucking stale. I get that boomer shooters can be pretty hollow and repetitive, but after a couple levels it really just felt like a shameless cash-in on the Warhammer franchise. Prodeus takes me back to the first-person shooters I grew up with. I’m working my way through it now and I’m having an absolute blast. Turbo Overkill looks similar, but way more over the top. On the same theme but with a touch of nostalgia, I came across a remaster of The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki. Dubbed the “Fancy Edition” I absolutely believe it will be anything but. I remember this game being pure dogshit and I can’t wait to be disappointed with it all over again. For the cost of a Red Bull, I figure: why the hell not.
Earlier this year I really enjoyed The Precinct, that’ll be part of my Q3 wrap-up. I never played the developer’s earlier game for the criminal side, American Fugitive. Both are in the style of the original top-down Grand Theft Auto games and since The Precinct was top notch, I’m keen to have a look at how they’ve presented the other side. It’s sat on my wishlist for a while and I hear it’s pretty mid, but I’m willing to give it a shot. I’ve also always had a bit of a soft spot for rally-style racing games and art of rally from Funselektor Labs Inc. really caught my eye. It looks like a pretty laid back, stylised throwback to those old Colin McRae titles on PC and PlayStation. I’ve sunk countless hours into those back in the day and I still have Colin McRae Rally 2005 installed on my Steam Deck for when the mood strikes. The graphics are pretty simplified, but the reviews seem to be great so I’m keen to give it a run.
No Steam sale is complete without me buying a few adventure games and this time around I grabbed the Black Mirror series. I lurk in multiple adventure game groups and subreddits, I see the Black Mirror series getting recommended constantly. It’s already well established at Dad with a Deck: Adventure games rule. I haven’t played a lot of newer adventure games, but I will get there. Desperados 3 also looked fairly compelling at about $5, even though I haven’t played the first two. All up, I’d say it was a pretty successful haul out of the Autumn Sale. I’m well and truly sorted for the rest of the year, or at least until the next sale, heh. I might even do a few posts on Baldur’s Gate 3 as I push through it, given that it’s an 80-hour or so beast. If nothing else, Steam sales are a reminder that my backlog isn’t getting any smaller. But hey, that’s half the fun. Now it’s just a matter of finding time to actually play all of these.
Dad with a Deck 
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