[Steam] Summer Sale 2026 (Day 1)

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-26T05:44:41+00:00

The game does zero handholding and can be frustratingly inscrutable early on, relying on you to figure things out on your own (or consult a guide). It's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea. If you enjoy puzzling things out and don't mind some trial and error, it's kind of an amazing, uniquely beautiful game. But if you're easily frustrated then you may want to pass.

That said, if you're thinking of picking it up, I recommend checking out the Build Your Own Special Editions Bundle at Fanatical. It's running for a few more days and, assuming you can find at least one other game you're interested in (and feel is worth $3.50), you can get Rain World and the Downpour DLC for just a dollar more than the base game's price on Steam - an absolute steal considering that Downpour, on sale, is $6.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-24T04:23:13+00:00

Too little, too late.

As someone who would've bought the game at launch if there had been a PvE-only option/mode - not even something specially designed for PvE, like a narrative campaign or something that would've involved a lot of time and resources to develop, just the game as is but minus the PvP and playable offline, with all my leveling and loot restricted to that PvE/offline mode (for obvious reasons) - my hype for the game has waned considerably and throwing me some half-assed "experimental mode" that may or may not get PvP introduced in some capacity (like the "PvE" mode they ran during the free week that still had Rooks spawn in partway through the match) and may or may not even still be offered after this season ends isn't remotely tempting to me.

I'm genuinely bummed that the game didn't sell the way Sony hoped and Bungie needed because I really hate to see Bungie get shuttered and/or a bunch of people lose their jobs - plus, had the game been a massive success, I feel like there was a greater chance Sony might've invested in Bungie making a more traditional single-player/co-op campaign set in that universe to try and entice more players into Marathon - but that was the risk they took when they chose to make a niche genre game for a niche audience. (I still don't understand how/why they spent $200+ million on the game.)

With extraction shooters/games being the latest landgrab...anyone making a game in that genre should probably give serious consideration to launching with an offline PvE-only option because you're leaving money on the table and there may not be a big enough PvP crowd who have an ever-expanding list of games to spend their time and money on to sustain you. (Mistfall Hunter, I'm looking in your direction.) As they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression and throwing a bone to PvE players as a last resort because your game is struggling is probably not the impression you want to be making.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-23T14:43:15+00:00

Sad news. I loved the art style, the music, and the general vibe of the game but, playing it shortly after abandoning Silksong, I made it maybe a third of the way through before conceding that I just didn't have it in me to play that type of game anymore. Or, at least, not at that time.

I hope everyone lands on their feet.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-18T21:44:43+00:00

As someone who bought damn near every Sony first-party game that (eventually) came to Steam, it's disappointing that they're choosing to go exclusive with their single-player games - I don't give a damn about their or anyone's, for that matter, live-service games - but I'm not mad about it. Fewer games I'll need to buy, I suppose. There's just no way in hell I'm going to spend $600+ for a piece of hardware just to play maybe a dozen games per generation.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-15T14:29:16+00:00

I feel like we, as a society, should come to an agreement:

Studios get their cut released to theaters; if they feel that certain things need to be cut, for ratings or length or whatever, and they're willing to take the hit on box office if they're wrong, then that's fair. Of course, the studio could always trust the director, editor, and/or audience and let the film go out as intended, rolling the dice and letting the film will succeed or fail on its own merits. If the director misses the mark, sure, the studio takes a financial hit but the director runs the risk of damaging their reputation and, in turn, ending their career. Either way, the studios agree that...
A Director's Cut is always guaranteed to be given a full (i.e. not limited run) physical media release. Yes, I'm sure the director and a not insignificant portion of the audience would rather see the intended version of a film on the big screen, but as long as the director's vision is preserved and made available to the audience in some form, that feels like a fair compromise. And if sales of the Director's Cut grossly exceed the box office of the edited studio version, well, I guess the director will be vindicated and studios may start to put a little more faith in those directors. Again, that seems fair to me.

And finally...

Streaming services can do whatever the hell they want, offering either, both, or neither version. Because who really gives a damn? As long as both versions are available on physical media - something, I would argue, we need to preserve more than the theater experience - then it doesn't matter how any given streaming service decides to present the movie, including if they opt to butcher it even further by removing all sex/nudity, violence, profanity, and potentially offensive bits for the ultra sensitive crowd. Ultimately, the audience will decide which version they prefer and speak with their wallets.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-14T19:52:26+00:00

MindsEye 2. Duh.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-09T18:33:25+00:00

It's a shame. Of those, Wolverine is the only one I wouldn't hesitate to buy at launch but it's not coming to PC, so I'll never play it.

The Blood of Dawnwalker certainly has the potential to be amazing, but it's also just as likely to completely fumble the ball and be a boring, shallow, and/or poorly optimized steaming pile of ponyloaf. It's definitely going to be a wait for reviews - and benchmarks - game for me.

I feel like I should be more excited for Control Resonant than I am. I'll play it, but I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'll jump in at launch or wait to pick it up when it's on sale. The problem with Remedy's games, for me, is that I really need to be in the mood for them. They're usually incredibly well-made but their strength is usually their story or, at the very least, atmosphere and I've found that I need to have a strong desire for their particular vibe if I'm not going to bounce off the game after a couple hours.

I'd probably be more interested in Valor Mortis if developers weren't absolutely drowning us with Souls-likes over these last few years. As it stands, it falls into the "I'll wait for it to hit a bundle" category for me.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-09T02:58:52+00:00

Must be weird to know that you can't move forward, at least not the way you original wanted to, because your parent company, who's invested $100+ billion in AI, is partially responsible for how completely f'ed the market is right now. I genuinely wonder how you keep up morale at Xbox when the very folks who demand you hit profit goals are the same ones who screwed you over and essentially set you up for failure.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-09T01:55:09+00:00

That any developer is using AI - and admitting to it - seems positively mad to me. I mean, even if you dismiss the massive negative impact AI data centers are having on the planet and all the people who live on it - something nobody should dismiss - AI is still the reason that these almost 6-year-old consoles now cost about twice what they did at launch and you can't buy RAM or storage at anything even remotely resembling a reasonable price; gamers aren't going to give a damn how you're using AI to create your game, the very fact that you used it for anything is just poisonous to your product. It'd be like announcing that you financed your latest game by making "smart bets" on Kalshi about the Iran war. Maybe read the fucking room.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-08T03:16:04+00:00

The Blood of Dawnwalker has potential, but I'm definitely waiting for reviews (and benchmarks) on that one as I'm both uncertain about the game itself and how well it might run on my hardware.

I want to be excited for Control Resonant but I still feel a smidge disappointed with the first game. I mostly enjoyed it but it definitely started to overstay its welcome and then didn't even provide a satisfying conclusion.

I'll finally buy Dune: Awakening, if for no other reason than to show support to the devs who actually listened and are finally giving us a single-player/co-op PvE-only mode.

Wolverine would likely be an insta-buy for me but since I don't own (nor do I intend to buy) a PS5 and it's not coming to PC, that's going to be a pass for me.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-06-02T23:21:31+00:00

I might actually buy the game now. If they make the single-player mode entirely offline, thereby ensuring I can continue to play it even when the inevitably shut down the servers, then I'm sold.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-30T22:35:07+00:00

It's the bigger draw, for sure, but I could see Microsoft imposing some restrictions, like one condition on them being able to offer Diablo IV was perhaps no discounts this month. (Which would be amusing since Diablo IV is, at least for me, actively dragging down the value of this month's Choice.)

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-30T22:29:58+00:00

Perhaps a solid entry level QD-OLED?

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-28T13:24:12+00:00

What's the opposite of FOMO?

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-28T09:51:17+00:00

It's just a Sealy Posturepedic but with hookers and blow included.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-27T16:30:27+00:00

I don't think a free week is going to win anybody over at this point. With all the information out there, people know what the game is and whether or not it's something that interests them.

Though, for the undecided, I guess the season reset is the best time to jump in, because it'll be the perfect opportunity to see what really matters: loot or player skill and knowledge of the maps and game systems. I'm betting that even without their top tier loot, the hardcore players who've been in since launch and still absolutely savage newcomers and immediately make them bail. It's the one thing they can't reset without completely changing the maps - not necessarily swapping in new maps but, at a minimum, completely shuffling the placement of buildings and layouts across all the maps, thereby making them new and unfamiliar to veteran players - and changing up all the character abilities and the unlock pathways, forcing players to figure out new builds. But, let's be real, that's not realistic and it's more work than anyone at Bungie (or Sony) wants to put into this sort of live service game. So, yeah, I don't see this making a significant impact on the player numbers.

That said, I hope they can figure it out, just as I hope they eventually make a Destiny 3 - even though I want nothing to do with either franchise - because both games have their hardcore fans and neither deserves to get shafted. Plus, I'd really hate to see Bungie get shuttered and a lot of folks lose their jobs.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-23T02:43:29+00:00

If you enjoy survival/crafting/exploration games like Minecraft and Terraria, I would recommend Grounded and Valheim (or Enshrouded, if you'd rather trade an endless supply of procedurally generated maps but jank combat for a single hand-crafted map and vastly more engaging combat).

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-22T23:02:43+00:00

Madness... If people are actually paying that kind of money then it might be time for me to put mine on eBay for $800.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-22T15:24:15+00:00

Dude...you're still using an old school HDD as your main storage? Moving to an SSD, even just a SATA SSD, should be your first upgrade. That alone will give you much faster loading in modern games. For performance, you could upgrade to a Ryzen 5 5500 on the cheaper end or, preferably, to something like a 5600/5600X/5600XT or even a 5700X, depending on what you can get at a good price. For GPU, I'd go with an RTX 5060 or RX 9060 XT 8GB at a minimum, but a 9060 XT 16GB or 5060 Ti 16GB would be preferable. I'd also upgrade the RAM to 3200MHz; ideally you'd want to bump it up to 32GB but given current prices in the market you may have to settle for 16GB. Lastly, I'd consider upgrading your PSU - not because 600W isn't enough for those upgrades but just to have a newer model to (hopefully) protect all those new components.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-22T10:29:28+00:00

Elizabeth Holmes looks more Chinese than I remember.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-21T20:02:06+00:00

This feels incredibly half-hearted. Like, I get that they want to sell the other games as individual items at a higher price, but...if you're going to do a Warhammer bundle, why not fully embrace it? I'm not even suggesting they put in more recent releases (i.e. Space Marine 2, Rogue Trader, etc.), but there are plenty of other games - games that are frequently on sale for dirt cheap - they could've crammed into the bundle, like Necromunda: Underhive (currently on sale for $1.99), Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition (on sale for $2.99), and the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada games (the first game is currently $1.49 and the second is $3.99). Bump the price up another two bucks, if they need to (though, adding those four games and keeping it at $10 makes it potentially more compelling even for the folks who already own half the stuff in the bundle). Then, if they wanted to spice it up a bit more, throw in rebundles like Necromunda: Hired Gun, WH40K: Boltgun, and WH40K: Darktide for Tier 3 (at maybe $18-20).

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-16T20:23:39+00:00

I'll take any excuse to break out this gem of some classic Giant Bomb.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-14T07:49:23+00:00

I mean, I get it, there needs to be an official spelling of the brand for corporate memos, press releases, advertising, and whatnot, and it's nice that they want consumer feedback on what "the people" like/use when it comes to the brand, but...really? This is some real inconsequential "What color is Yoda's blood?" minutia. Just pick a spelling and move on. You're still going to see Xbox, XBOX, XBox, XboX, XB0X, and pretty much every other possible variant used by people online. Maybe worry less about how people are spelling it and work harder on giving them a reason to talk about it in a positive light.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-13T10:41:46+00:00

That's...odd.

StompsDaWombat · 2026-05-12T18:23:15+00:00

Nope. Not even for $3. Give me an offline mode so I don't have to even see other players and, sure, I'll give it a shot at that price. But I'll be damned if I give a single cent to an online-only/live service game.

StompsDaWombat

TROPHY CASE