It’s that time of the year again, where Steam guns for our wallets. Steam always puts out crazy seasonal sales with close to rock bottom prices on all types of games. To sweeten the deals even more, your first purchase of $30 or more will net you another $5 discount.
You should see this offer in your cart
There are way too many games on sale to even consider listing them out so check the store out for yourself. Sales will run until July 9 so don’t wait too long!
EA announced back in October 2019 that they would be moving many games to Steam.
Many of those games are now available on the Steam store. As a bonus they are discounting a ton of titles on the steam store as well! You can snag star wars, need for speed, battlefield titles, and more!
APEX Legends will also definitely be moving to steam and the store page is already available but listed as TBA.
The common question is – will you still need Origin?
Unfortunately, yes, you will still need Origin installed and running to play these games even if they were bought and installed on Steam. A common model used by other publishers like Ubisoft’s Uplay. However, you still reap the benefits of Steam’s download servers and stability. I often have problems with many other publisher’s launchers, and steam has remained the best in functionality and stability. Steam also never fails to give me MAX download speeds on games.
New Releases
Even without APEX, lots of titles are already available. A Way Out is exclusively a 2 player co-op game where you explore prison life and try to escape. I’m personally excited to try this one out.
Gears of War makes an entry into the turn based world.
Microsoft has pulled the old trick once again, releasing Gears Tactics as their turn based game spinning off of the Gears of War world. A little different than how they created Halo Wars as a real time strategy game. Many compare Gears Tactics directly to X-COM.
Gameplay
The Gears of War franchise has largely used almost the exact same gameplay mechanics since 2006 with its original installment. I found myself losing interest after heavily playing GoW2 and a little of GoW3. Gears tactics brings a very refreshing and much needed break from the typical third person shooter style.
This game is immediately enjoyable from the start. I started the game in normal mode and it definitely has a great difficulty balance off the bat, you will easily die if you don’t actually put some thought into your moves.
Each character has a certain number of action moves they can pull each turn, such as shooting, reloading, healing, or tossing nades. They also have an interesting mechanic called overwatch, in which your characters (or enemies) can cover an area and shoot at anyone that moves through it.
Playing this game gave me flashbacks to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which I had beaten a little while ago. You have a set of main characters, and along with them, you can recruit a rotating pool of soldiers as well. There’s also a mix of classes such as support, heavy, sniper, etc.
There is no grid system that you have to move your characters through, which makes the game feel very fluid and open. You will also be using the good old signature GoW slide into cover pretty much every move, which is as satisfying here as it is in third person (so is the chainsaw).
Gears Tactics Trailer
Visuals
The game surprised me with how they blend the bird’s eye view with third person action views. I thought the graphics would be dumbed down like how most strategy games are, but when action scenes are shown, it looks almost exactly like a regular Gears game.
There were times where I thought to myself, “oh the animators/designers definitely cheaped out here, like when I chainsawed someone in the upper body and somehow his legs fall off instead, or when you rescue someone from a torture chamber and he looks fully intact and healthy. But nothing was bad enough to subtract from the experience, I just chuckled to myself and kept playing. Attention to detail is not this game’s strong suite.
This game can push your PC pretty hard; I am running it at 1440p, 144hz on ultra. It looks wonderful and as a PC player, I couldn’t ask for more.
TLDR
If you like strategy games or are a Gears of War player – don’t sleep on this title. I am thoroughly enjoying this and I would recommend it. The combat is surprisingly fluid and the level design is excellent in providing a challenge. Everything that was satisfying in a regular Gears game is still satisfying here – chainsaws, headshots, explosions, sliding around, etc.
If you haven’t heard, Crucible is being released TOMORROW – May 20, 2020 12:00 p.m. Pacific.
What is Crucible?
Crucible is a new game developed by Amazon Games, debuting on Steam. At a first glance it looks like the game takes elements from other competitive games to put a new spin on shooters. I see hints from MOBAs, competitive shooters with unique character abilities, and objective based shooters. The graphics look pretty spiffy, but hopefully their focus as a competitive game means it’ll be optimized to run on a wide range of PC specs and at high FPS as well.
The 3 game modes seem like they would play quite different, one being more Wingman/Deathmatch style, while others are objective based similar to Domination (COD) or capturing bosses like you would in League/Dota. There will be 10 characters or hunters at launch, each with special abilities and weapons. The game also involves a load out configuration in which you select in the pregame and gain access to as you level up by killing enemy NPCs. You can see where they are taking influences from various different games to create something completely new!
I’m excited for a new competitive 3rd person shooter and to see how Amazon’s new venture into gaming ramps up. I don’t want to make too many assumptions just yet, so expect a follow up initial impressions review after we enjoy the launch! Take a look at the game modes available on launch as Steam describes it
Game Modes
Heart of the Hives Hives are lethal drone-spitting terrors that spawn across the battlefield. Capturing the hearts they leave behind as they die is your key to victory. Each match is a four-on-four fight to be the first team to capture three hearts. Alpha Hunters There are no safety nets in Alpha Hunters: once you fall in combat, that’s it. Eight teams of two fight to be the last team—or solo hunter—standing. If your teammate dies, you can form a temporary alliance with another hunter, but that temporary truce will be broken if both of you make it to the final three. Harvester Command Essence harvesters are scattered across Crucible’s surface. Each one you control generates Essence points for your eight-player team. Each harvester your enemies hold will cancel out your own. You’ll need to control a majority of harvesters in order to rack up any Essence—the more, the better. You can also take out enemy hunters for points. The first team to 100 points wins!
