Steam Summer Sale 2015

“The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated.” —B. C. Forbes

Yet another Steam Sale is drawing to a close, right as Summer Solstice and Father’s Day kicks off. It’s officially summer now, and I have been enjoying the lengthening days leading up to summer’s start. This year’s sale came much earlier than it did in previous years (last year’s ended on June 30, and 2013’s was in late July), coinciding with the E3 2015 Expo. An earlier start to the Steam Sale means there’s more summer left to actually experience and enjoy one’s acquisitions, and this year, despite already having spent a small sum on the Wolfenstein bundle and Modern Warfare 3, there were some fantastic deals: I spent a total of not more than twenty Canadian dollars on Metro 2033: Redux, DeadCore, Just Cause 2 and Sakura Angels. Three of these titles lie within the scope of my interests. I’ve been wondering what Metro 2033 was like ever since beating Metro: Last Light back in 2013, DeadCore‘s a 3D platformer that I saw a preview of back in October, and one of my friends noted that Just Cause 2 was a game that practically paid for itself (he has roughly 91 hours in game and picked it up for the same price I did). I’ll see to starting Metro 2033: Redux in July, once I finish Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, and as for the other games, I’ll start them when I start them.

• This year, my purchases were broken up into two rounds: on the first round, I picked up Metro 2033: Redux and DeadCore. One thing I have noticed that doing talks on Steam Sales is that it’s possible to see how software icons change over time, and if one were to take a look at the application icons for things like Steam and iTunes, they’re dramatically different from the ones from last year.

• Then on Friday, round two of purchasing titles occurred. Just Cause 2 was a no-brainer, but why Sakura Angels, one wonders? I was swayed by the low price and hilarious reviews on Steam, and decided that the visual novel’s rather unique content outweighed any limitations it might’ve had. It’s supposed to be quite short, with all routes being doable within the space of four hours. I’ll go through this one later in the summer and see if I can’t provide a proper review on it. Unusual it may sound, no one’s unfriended me…yet.

• I’ve finally gotten my Go! Go! Nippon ~My First Trip to Japan~ badge up to full level, and I’ve got my eye on levelling up the Sakura Angels badge at next opportunity for the kicks. Friday also was the week to the Flood of 2013: I was set to go visit the downtown core, but rising river waters closed off the downtown. This year, I was able to head downtown after the day’s research had concluded and celebrate my recipient of a scholarship, as well as make another donation to the flood redevelopment efforts.

• I’ll swing by to do a talk on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided before the week is out: posting will come to a close today, since it’s Father’s Day today (besides being a cool, grey first day of summer). This year’s itinerary encompassed helping move new furniture and building a new desk, and today, we’re also to pick up a TV shelf, bookcase and a pair of desk chairs from IKEA, as well as siu laap (燒臘, or Cantonese-style roasted meat) for dinner. It’s as busy as it sounds, so I’ve taken this respite to get this here post up before heading out.

How I came to pick up DeadCore was quite an interesting story: the Steam Summer Sale 2015’s main event was a monster-hunting mini-game that featured unlockable milestones, and when certain objectives (number of players joined, enemies damaged, items used, mouse clicks registered, etc) were met, deals would unlock. On the second day of the sale, I noticed that DeadCore was offered, and realised it was the same game I was looking at back in October. There was one title that was not offered during the Steam Summer Sale 2015, and this was SUPERHOT: I’ve been following its development since 2013, and from the looks of things, the game will be available in the fourth quarter of 2015. I’ll pick it up onec the time comes; the delay in its release is entirely forgivable, since the developers have implemented so many new features into the game that it’s nigh-unrecognisable from the Unity prototype from 2013. Of course, to keep this wait exciting, I’ll have a graduate thesis project and four new titles to keep me occupied.