Started playing Wildfrost, a deckbuilder with some unique mechanics. I slept on it for a long time because it had somewhat mixed reviews early on with some players complaining that it was too luck based or that it was too difficult to evaluate game state. To me this hasn’t been a problem and the game was a very pleasant surprise. Thankfully it doesn’t try to be a “better Slay the Spire” since nobody seems to get that right but goes on its own way. There is no mana system, instead you pay for cards with time: playing a card (usually) takes up your turn. Some of your cards will stay on the board and periodically trigger based on a cooldowns - and so do enemies. It’s all about timing, sequencing and positioning.

These mechanics make the game flow very smoothly and the turn puzzle is satisfying. The implementation and art are great too making it a very pleasant overall experience.

Undertale is at a new all time love at $0.99. It’s not really my jam but it’s the time to pick it up if you always wanted to play it but never did.

I haven’t played the game yet but I am very curious what about it might have this effect. Is it story related or some gameplay element?

I don’t mind spoilers but maybe mark it up as such if needed in case others do.

On PC and Steamdeck Binding of Isaac and Brotato mostly, my most played comfort games. Looking to get started with Lonestar soon.

On mobile I got back into Shattered Pixel Dungeon. I’ve been paying classic roguelikes for a very long time. Never gotten very good at them but I still enjoy every run and inevitable death.

Another vote for HotS, it’s the only MOBA that has ever truly clicked for me (and I am not even particularly into the rest of the Blizzard stuff).

I’d say it’s definitely worth a look despite the “maintenance mode”. There is an active player base, the game is well balanced and it still receives occasional tweaks. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is if you are enjoying yourself or not.

Like other commenters I take advantage of them but only if I can do so on my terms: on Linux or the Steam Deck using Heroic or a similar solution. There is absolutely no way I’d use Windows or the Epic launcher for this.

And since these methods are not officially supported and could break in the future I can’t spend money at the Epic store. I only leech on the free stuff while it’s practical to do so.

No WASD, no strafe, not fair.

I got it by running around the imps and going for the grunts (all enemies are “monsters” in Doom)

Do you know if the controls still require tweaks or does it work out of the box these days?

Same here. I finished last year by beating Mega Satan for the first time and starting the new year with some more Isaac.

The Binding of Isaac Rebirth Complete Bundle as well as its individual components are at a new all time low. The game is an absolute classic and IMO it’s still the best at what it does. It’s perfect on the Steam Deck too.

If you like the base game I highly recommend all the DLCs. Besides a ton of new content they also add many quality of life changes that make the game even more enjoyable.

It’s not super old but I patiently waited for a sale on the Repentence DLC for The Binding of Isaac. Besides the new content it’s also a sort of v2.5 of the game (if Rebirth/Afterbirth was v2.0) with many quality of life changes. Admittedly some of the changes were a bit startling at first but I quickly got used to them and after a few hours it felt like home again.

I have about 500 hours in Isaac and this refresher has breathed new life into it so perhaps I am good for another 500.

There is a series of tabletop games called MicroMacro that are sort of the same idea with a similar art style if you are into that. You have to solve various mysteries by tracing sequences of events. Good fun either solo or with friends.

I’ve been waiting forever for this to get a real price cut but instead it just got 50% more expensive. I guess I will just have to be patient for another decade.

Nice, now just another year to go while they fix it to run well on the Steamdeck.

Anno 1800

I’ve been eyeing the boardgame version which is also highly regarded. I guess will have to look into the original too. Always fun when hobbies intersect.

With Fez I feel I may have forever missed the window when I could have picked it up. It used to go on sale for $1.99 with an all time low of $0.99. Now it never gets under $4.99.

In a vacuum I’d probably just pick it up for 4.99 but knowing the pricing history I just can’t do it.

I’m only here to appreciate OP’s username. Quazatron is such a cool game, I still fire it up every once in a while.

Yep, that’s the only answer that makes sense to anybody who actually plays and likes roguelikes.

As a rule of thumb I like say that if it needs a pause button it’s a 'lite. This doesn’t come close to covering the criteria but it’s a good shortcut to weed out a lot of them.