The Onward March of the Bundles [Join group for full coverage]

[alms]

And the First Bundles of 2021: Humble Choice and Fanatical Sci-Fi

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My personal take

Fanatical steals Choice’s expected win to the first bundle of 2021, slipping in an unremarkable Sci-Fi Bundle, that is half filler and half not-so-bad: for only 2 cu and a half, we won’t hold a grudge …but only because it’s such a forgettable way to begin the new year.

So, Choice January 2021 stakes the claim for first real bundle of the year, and yet it places PC Building Simulator in the driver’s seat? It looks almost like they had no pleaser for the crowd that doesn’t care too much about indie games, but twice before bundled PC Builder Simulator isn’t the “shut up and take my money” headliner that has been missing for a number of months, now.

Fortunately, the rest of the line-up being essentially unbundled thus far at least provides an argument in favor, and there is plenty of monetary value for anybody who wanted a few of these.

The conundrum, as of late, is no deal riveter in sight. Humble better be packing some ace up their sleeves to lay down soon.

Humble Bundle

Humble Choice: January 2021 - until 05/02/2021

X-Ray View

• Please consider using or spreading my referral link, thanks muchly!!!1111ONEONEONE
• Premium sub: All 12 for $19.99. Basic: Pick 3 for $14.99. Classic: All 12 for $12.
• PC Building Simulator
• Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
• Pathologic 2
• Warhammer: Chaosbane
• Total Tank Simulator
• SONG OF HORROR COMPLETE EDITION
• Not Tonight
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York
• Tales of the Neon Sea
• Minoria
• Deleveled
• The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
• Extra: Heey! Park-boy (DRM-Free)

Main Sites

Fanatical Sci-fi - until ?

X-Ray View - Go to Deal

• €2.55
• Starward Rogue
• Redirection
• The Uncertain - The Last Quiet Day
• JYDGE
• Voidship: The Long Journey
• Phoning Home
• ROOT

[alms]

Oh nice, thanks! Perhaps it’s some consolation that nothing added after Jan. 2019 has been removed yet (if I’m reading your list correctly)?

Little consolation, I’m sad to say: looks like many games had a contract signed for two years of Trove (though this is by no means a constant), meaning 2021 might be seeing more 2019 additions leaving. The majority of what is left from previous years is Humble Originals.

On average, 4 new games were being added up to about early 2019, then dropped to 3, and in 2020 it was down to 1 or 2 extras per month, so 2021 should be seeing the shrinking trend continue at good clip.

[alms]

FTR having paused, they offered me again the $4 discount coupon: I don’t remember ever having been given a coupon this soon after a charge; my last was November, and December was full price.

[The_Velour_Fog]

Even with my personal bar being lowered for the last year or so this was a very easy pause

Cant help but feel they’ve missed a big chance here for the first bunde of 2021 to be something to catch the eye…if they had any aces left up the sleeve at all

[alms]

For those who took the 6x6 deal reserved to Premium subscribers, this is incredible value.

Most games in this bundle have been discounted in the $6 - $12 range, so all they need is one wishlist title to break even.

Contrarians are expecting 6 months of draught because of the 6x6, though. Time will tell, I guess.

[Hanimalle]

Even with my personal bar being lowered for the last year or so this was a very easy pause

Cant help but feel they’ve missed a big chance here for the first bunde of 2021 to be something to catch the eye…if they had any aces left up the sleeve at all

I agree with you, this is once again proving to be a bit of a letdown. There might be two titles at most I’m interested in that list but no big headliner, certainly nothing that is currently on my wishlist.

[Arnvidr]

No wishlist games this month, but at least half of the games seem at least interesting, and mostly well reviewed. I won’t immediately cancel this month, and expect to fill my backlog of shame up a bit more. Maybe I’ll bite on that discount for once though.

[Kiril]

I am in again for this month, Chaosbane and Not Tonight are worth my €10. I wouldn’t really go for either on there own unless very cheap but the bundle I can do.

Ancestors and Pathologic 2 are good games but weird. Both are very interesting but they didn’t flow for me and I bounced off both of them but if you are up for it and look up some basic things online they could work for you.

Tales of the Neon Sea is a very good point and click adventure. You play as a private dectecive that gets dragged into a mystery with robots and death. Its controled like a 2D platformer so no pixel hunting, it will pop up with prompt to interact, most puzzles take place in the same zone so not much going back and forth and the puzzles are decent. There is also some helpful cats. It has a demo on steam and its now complete, they added the full ending not so long ago. Its a Chinese game translate to English so some of the grammer might not be proper like.

[alms]

Its a Chinese game translate to English so some of the grammer might not be proper like.

Generally I stop paying attention whenever I realize an indie is Asian made, ever since I realized that they cannot be bothered to do any proper translation work. It’s a race between them and Eastern Europeans for who’s going to mangle English into a singularity point that starts the Apocalypse.

It’s too bad because the game had caught my eye, too, but life is too short to put up with stuff like that.

Not Tonight is the only one on my wishlist, however, I’m also not going to pick the bundle just for that.

I don’t think there’s ever been a game inspired by Papers, Please that can hold a candle to the original, so it’s going to have to be a lot cheaper and/or part of a more relevant selection for me to consider.

[disconnect]

I don’t think there’s ever been a game inspired by Papers, Please that can hold a candle to the original, so it’s going to have to be a lot cheaper and/or part of a more relevant selection for me to consider.

If it’s any use to you, the Switch version has had a 90% off sale (down to £1.94/$2.49/€2.29) a few times, and based on prior price cuts (on or around 15/7, 15/9 and 15/11) I wouldn’t be surprised if it went on sale again in a week or so.

[alms]

This Monday: Front End Web Dev by Packt; (NSFW) Hentai Tricks

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Humble Bundle

Humble Book: Front End Web Development by Packt - until 25/01/2021

Go to Deal

• PWYW, €1 minimum:
  • Building Forms with Vue.js by Includes supplementary material
  • Learning React by Video
  • Redux Quick Start Guide by Includes supplementary material
  • Vue CLI 3 Quick Start Guide by Includes supplementary material
• Pay €6.57+:
  • Clean Code in JavaScript by Includes supplementary material
  • An Introduction to Typescript by Video
  • Hands-On Full Stack Development with Spring Boot 2 and React by Includes supplementary material
    Second Edition
  • React Projects by Includes supplementary material
  • Hands-On Web Development with React and GatsbyJS by Video
  • Learning Angular by Includes supplementary material
    Third Edition
  • Vue.js 2 Academy: Learn Vue Step by Step by Video
  • Modern Web Design Patterns in Angular 8 by Video
  • Angular Projects by Includes supplementary material
• Pay €12.33+:
  • React and React Native by Includes supplementary material
    Third Edition
  • Learn React Hooks by Includes supplementary material
  • Full-Stack React Projects by Includes supplementary material
    Second Edition
  • React.js Academy for Beginners with Firebase by Video
  • JavaScript Bible - JavaScript and ES6 Bootcamp 2019 by Video
  • Hands-on JavaScript for Python Developers by Includes supplementary material
  • React Design Patterns and Best Practices. by Includes supplementary material
    Second Edition
  • Vue.js 3 Cookbook by Includes supplementary material
  • Advanced Laravel and Vue.js: Build a YouTube Clone by Video
  • Full-Stack Vue with GraphQL - The Ultimate Guide by Video
  • Angular 10 Masterclass with TypeScript, Firebase, and Material by Video
  • Svelte 3 Up and Running by Includes supplementary material
  • ASP.NET Core 3 and Angular 9 by Includes supplementary material
    Third Edition
  • ASP.NET Core 3 and React by Includes supplementary material

Main Sites

[NSFW] IndieGala Hentai Tricks - until 25/01/2021

X-Ray View - Go to Deal

• $3.49 minimum:

• Hentai Nazi

• Hentai Nazi HITLER is Back

• Hentai Arena | Battle Royale

• Hentai - Area 51

• Anime Nazi Biohazard

• Kill the Hentai

• WoW Hentai 2!

• Hentai Loli 3D

• WoW Hentai!

• Hentai Nazi: Battle of Japan

• Anime Memes

[AlexClockwork]

[NSFW] IndieGala Hentai Tricks - until 25/01/2021

What the hell is this.

[ColdSpiral]

What the hell is this.

Irredeemably awful?
I have no strong opinions about porn games, but Nazi porn games are far across a line I didn’t think even needed to be drawn.

[Baines]

What the hell is this.

The next level of shovelware. I’m not even being entirely sarcastic.

For years, developers realized they could resell the same sliding block puzzle just by slapping different softcore anime-style art on each release and pricing it for a dollar or two (and then discounting it in every Steam sale). For years, “developers” have also realized they could pump out 3D asset flips with minimal to near-zero effort.

Some developers realized you could combine the two, and started slapping a busty, skimpily clothed anime-style 3D model into an asset flip and/or beginner’s tutorial FPS/TPS game. You give the whole project some weird theme to draw attention and wait for people to buy it as a joke. That even gives you a benefit over other super-low quality 3D shovelware, as most of your buyers are people who don’t even expect a good game, they just want a few LOLs and the chance to post a (positive) joke review.

You can even see the transition point in this particular developer/publisher’s release dates. They switched from tile sliding puzzles to shovelware FPS/TPS in mid-2019.

[alms]

What the hell is this.

An Adult Only bundle. AO games have been a thing for a few decades, and AO bundles for a number of years.

All are marked as NSFW so those who would rather not take a look for whatever reason can do it.

I am sorry if this bothers some, however I would rather not shine a spotlight on them, that kind of defeats the purpose, and especially if the NSFW tag is omitted (I have now changed the quote in your post to address this)

Nazi porn games are far across a line I didn’t think even needed to be drawn.

I don’t generally censor content; FTR these particular games are available in the AO section of Steam, and AO bundles, including this one, get covered by all major bundle tracking gigs.

The names of the games might be misleading, perhaps chosen for shock value or some kind of humor - I honestly have no idea.

Apologies for the commotion, I’m going to add spoiler tags to the content listing and will make sure NSFW bundles will always have them from now on.

[AlexClockwork]

An Adult Only bundle. AO games have been a thing for a few decades, and AO bundles for a number of years.

All are marked as NSFW so those who would rather not take a look for whatever reason can do it.

I am sorry if this bothers some, however I would rather not shine a spotlight on them, that kind of defeats the purpose, and especially if the NSFW tag is omitted (I have now changed the quote in your post to address this)

Oh, sorry, the way I wrote it could lead to misunderstanding.

It’s fine by me to have AO bundles shared here, and have no issues with the way you share them. I just wanted to express the sheer shock I got when reading the titles. I mean… It’s all nazi and loli hentai?

Well, the bundle exists, so by all mean share it, I guess. I’m just surprised it exists.

[Baines]

The names of the games might be misleading, perhaps chosen for shock value or some kind of humor - I honestly have no idea.

As I implied, the ones that aren’t generic tile-sliding puzzles are instead low-effort asset-flip quality shovelware passed off as joke/meme games.

The tile-sliding puzzles have 2D anime art nudity or partial nudity. The 3D games have skimpily clothed models, but any nudity (if available) tends to be locked behind a separate DLC (free or paid, this particular dev/publisher seems to prefer the paid method).

For example: “Hentai - Area 51” is a simplistic third-person wave-based military shooter with a single map, except the player character is a poorly animated anime-style character model. “Battle Royale” is a simplistic third-person single-player (against AI bots) battle royale with a single map, where everyone is an anime-style character model. “Kill the Hentai” is even lazier, it is a Doom/Quake style game with a single shooting gallery level where the targets are all the same anime girl art cardboard cutout, with the “gimmick” being the cutouts start chasing you down to kill you.

[Hanimalle]

Well, the bundle exists, so by all mean share it, I guess. I’m just surprised it exists.

I sincerely admire and even envy your ability to still be surprised by anything in 2021 . At this point Hitler himself could come back from the grave and I wouldn’t even bat an eye…

[alms]

Well, the bundle exists, so by all mean share it, I guess

Inclusion is most definitely not an endorsement.

[alms]

This Tuesday: New Year’s BYOB

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My personal take

It may be a New Year’s Build a Bundle, but the very affordable pricing should be giving away that not much is actually new.

For 50 or 60 cents a piece, you can have 10 or 5 games from a book of familiar faces, or select only one for 1 Euro.

Five again seems to be the sweet spot, and this time Fanatical isn’t making it too hard to get there, with, e.g. Chook & Sosig: Walk the Plank (PnC), Path to Mnemosyne (third person puzzle with horror overtones, Reventure (humorous side-scrolling adventure), The Crown of Leaves (VN), and DiRT Rally (formerly a freebie).

For those who have patience (or a huge backlog), it’s usually better to avoid the single game option as the degree of repetition, from one bundle to the next, often means it’s only a matter of time before a chance presents itself, to put together a handful that’s better tailored.

For many of those more worthy of pulling the trigger on, however, this bundle also sets new historical lows.

Main Sites

Fanatical New Year’s BYOB - until ?

X-Ray View - Go to Deal

• 1 Euro for 1 key; 2.99 Euros for 5 keys; 4.99 Euros for 10 keys.
• EARTH’S DAWN
• Chook & Sosig: Walk the Plank
• Cursed Treasure 2
• Path to Mnemosyne
• F1 RACE STARS™ Complete Edition
• Jalopy - Road Trip Car Driving Simulator Indie Game
• Reventure
• Shadwen
• Super Chibi Knight
• Niffelheim
• Looterkings
• Love is Dead
• The Crown of Leaves
• Days of War: Definitive Edition
• DiRT Rally
• Doodle Derby
• Table Manners: Physics-Based Dating Game
• Dungeon Rats
• Toybox Turbos