I'm addicted to Steam, hardcore. Suggest games for me?

The Game Room
1

I like anything, really, save for sports and racing games.
I like RPG, but am not heavily into them. They’re nice on occasion.

Mostly I love horror games. I loved all the Resident Evils and Silent Hills.
I’ve heard of Fallout, Bioshock, Left4Dead, Dead Rising, Still Life, etc…but haven’t tried them yet. I plan to, because from the looks of it, those games look like games I’d love.

I also love puzzle games and games that are simplistic yet have great graphics.
The game I think is the absolute best is Limbo. Simplistic, yet amazing. I’ve only tried out the demo version of Limbo, yet already I’m in love with it.

Lastly, I like mission-based games. I loved all the GTAs, Bully, Hitman games, Mafia, L.A. Noire…those type are great.

Other than all of the games mentioned here, I have not played any other games. I didn’t own any consoles for years and years, so I’m basically unknowing of the types of games that have come out in the last three or four years.

My level of entertainment and amusement are very, very low, by the way. I like MOST games that I play. A game has to really be horrible for me to dislike it.

For example: I’ve played about 10 demo versions of games on Steam since yesterday. I’ve liked them all, pretty much.
Suggestions, then? For a Steam newbie? What’s really good?

2

I suggest Orcs Must Die!

It’s a 1st-person “tower defense” game with nice graphics, unique and addictive action/puzzle game-play, and a great sense of humor. There’s a free demo, and the full game is only $15. Check it out!

3

Have you played Half Life 2? I only got around to playing it fairly recently and really enjoyed it. And right now Fallout: New Vegas is completely eating my life so I would have to recommend that also.

4

You are talking thousands of games across dozens of genres, so this is a bit hard to pin down. Games that I think you would like that are likely fairly cheap now are Portal, Braid, Limbo, Trine, and Fallout 3 / Fallout New Vegas.

Though I caution you, Steam runs some crazy good sales. Do not buy anything for full price unless you really really really want to play it right this minute. Pretty much everything goes on sale 50-75% off around Christmas. I know, a ways away from right now, but I can usually get my year’s worth of single player games for around $100 at that time.

For multiplayer, talk to SenorBeef for some suggestions. He tends to organize most of our multiplayer games. We’ve played everything from Battlefield 3, to Left 4 Dead 2, to Lead & Gold, to The Ship, and tons more. He’ll steer you in the right direction for what is coming down the pipe.

5

Just down the page, you may find a thread about Bastion, a remarkably good game that caught a lot of us by surprise. There’s a demo on Steam, if you want to try it out first. It’s action-RPG, which may not be entirely what you’re looking for, but it’s really very good.

For mission-based games, Fallout 3 is a good choice. It’s very quest-oriented, with a mix of shooter and RPG elements, and it’s a lot of fun. Definitely try it.

For puzzle games, Portal and Portal 2 are standouts. If you have not already played them, you should.

If you like horror, Bioshock definitely has elements that will appeal to you, though it’s not actually a horror game.

Oh, and Team Fortress 2 is free to play, if you like multiplayer shooting frenzies. It can be pretty fun even if you suck at it. (I know. I’ve done experiments.) Even if I hated playing it, I would still appreciate it for producing the “Meet the Team” videos.

Now, the big piece of advice:

Concentrate on the older games that already have pretty good discounts for now. There’s plenty to keep you busy for a while. For the higher-priced games, wait until one of the big sales comes along; you just missed the Christmas sale, but there should be another in the summer, and possibly smaller events between now and then.

6

I was looking at that one earlier, thanks for the second opinion!

Yeah, I saw. I mentioned it on your FB wall (I’m Chris Nealon). I’ve never tried Half Life, but again, I’ve heard of it a lot of times. It’s always been one of those games that I’d want to play if I had the console for it, but with Steam now, I can just get it directly on the computer. Pretty nice. I’ll try both of them out soon.
Thanks for all of the recommendations, Balance!

7

Oh, that’s you. :slight_smile:

Yeah, I enjoyed HL2 quite a bit, although it didn’t quite consume me the way FNV is. I guess maybe I’m more of a quest game person? I don’t know. Also FNV is just a bigger game.

8

I recently played Metro 2033 and enjoyed it. It’s a very linear FPS set in the Moscow subway after a nuclear war. Great atmosphere. You can actually buy it as a download cheaper on Amazon ($15) right now and it activates on Steam ($20). Or wait for a sale; it goes down to around $5.

There’s a summer sale which mirrors the Christmas sale for stocking up. And maybe an Easter sale (there was a Halloween sale).

9

Since they haven’t been mentioned I’ll go with my standard recommendations of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and the Assassin’s Creed series. They’re on the pricey side ($20 - $50) but totally worth it; you cannot go wrong with any of them, though with AC you could skip the first one.

A lower-priced alternative to those would be the Prince of Persia series.

Also excellent is the Hitman series. I love that it’s a game that forces you to think and plan on your own. Though you have a huge arsenal of weaponry at your disposal, the goal is to use as little of it as possible. While you could run through each level guns blazing, blowing away anything that moves, you’d be entirely missing the point.

10

Tip #1: Unless the game is on a good sale, I’d only buy one at a time right now and play it before buying another. Otherwise you can easily wind up with a back catalog of games you paid full price for and still haven’t played. The time to stock up is the major sales where you can easily get enough games for cheap to last you until the next major sale.

Tip #2: Don’t restrict yourself solely to Steam, especially if you’re not buying on sale.

Other digital download sites:

Get Games Go
Green Man Gaming
Amazon Downloads
Gamers Gate

List of games activated on Steam – You’ll want to use Control+F for that one

Don’t get me wrong. I love Steam and its my first choice all things being equal. But other outlets are getting more invested in the industry and many of the products they sell can be activated on your Steam account. For example, during the Christmas sale, I found several games on sale at Steam for even cheaper at Amazon. Plus, the Amazon games came with a $5 voucher towards best-selling games in January. I bought Borderlands: GOTY for a buck or two cheaper than Steam and then used the $5 later to bring the sale price of Shogun 2 down to $2.50

11

I see GTA is your thing so Driver: San Francisco might be as well. No demo so wait for a generous discount.

12

Don’t forget Good Old Games for old favorites that have been reconfigured for modern Windows environments.

13

If you like open world sandbox style action games, you can’t go wrong with Just Cause 2. The plot isn’t anything much but you won’t pay much attention to it anyway as you run around the giant game world stealing tanks, blowing up military bases, hijacking helicopters, leaping from said helicopter onto motorcycles, tying cars to fighter jets on take off to see what happens, etc.

The third video is pretty accurate regarding game play.

To restate my previous point:
Amazon - $11.44
Steam - $14.99
(all others higher) - Activates on Steam.

14

I have a spare copy of Portal 1 if you want it. Got it during the Christmas thing and nobody wanted it, so it’s just been gathering dust. PM me your email or Steam account name and I’ll send it to you. :slight_smile:

15

If you have a spouse, do not get Orcs Must Die, because she just might get slightly annoyed at just how much time you’ll spend playing it and not paying attention to her.

::looks across the room at her husband, who has just proudly announced that he’s Top-10 at some level-or-other::

:wink:

16

Same, Half-Life 2.

17

You’ll eventually come to feel silly about buying games at full price, because you’ll quickly build up a library that will be more than you can handle. It’s best to wait for sales. Often you’ll get good sales during the week - there’s typically a midweek, and weekend sale on a popular game, and then daily sales on less popular games. But the big ones are the summer and winter sales - where for $100 you could easily 20 or 30 games and be set for the next year.

18

I’m going to throw out some vaguely obscure stuff that needs more attention, because I can count on the rest of the world to sing the praises of the same old stuff without my help. Check out:

Fate of the World
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
Aquaria
Space Pirates and Zombies
King’s Bounty: The Legend

19

You should try Die2nite. It’s not a steam game, but there is a steam group.

Some asshole on another board recommended it to me and now I can’t stop playing!

20

Kidding aside…

Have you played Portal or Portal 2? If you like puzzles and FPS, it’s a must play. I bought portal 2 for half price last christmas, but even a combo with both games is pretty cheap.