Kerrik52's Budget Gaming Guide

I realised when I wrote my GOTY blog for this year that I don't really burn money on new hot games that often. It's probably for the best, wallets deserve some love too.

But that means that I know a quite a bit about budget games, so I thought I'd share. Keep in mind that the games I've chosen are only on PC due to the prolific sales on the platform and the ease of access.

I've picked out games I like which are cheap, easy to run and last long. There are of course exceptions to the rules, but you're bound to find something fun here. Unless your taste in games is completely opposed to mine, you savage.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Detailed, Complex, Fanservice, Speedwagon

Requirements: Low

As far as fangames go, this is pretty impressive. It's a complete RPG version of Stardust Crusaders where your character gets to join the rest of the heroes and fight Dio and his minions.

Absolver

Usual Sale Price: $15

Pros: Custom moves, Fashion, PVP, Co-op

Requirements: Medium

I have to pay some lipservice to my GOTY 2017. It's a very unique fighting game built on learning and character building. Be wary of some bad connectivity however.

Bayonetta

Usual Sale Price: $10

Pros: Stylish, Replayable, Cinematic, Depth

Requirements: Medium

A very tough character action game oozing with style and pretty colours. And a few crappy minigames.

Binary Domain

Usual Sale Price: $8

Pros: Brotastic, Diverse, Explosions

Requirements: Medium

Ever wanted to shoot hundreds of robots whilst aided by a French robot, a giant American meatwall and a no-nonsense Brit? Then this is the game for you.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin

Usual Sale Price: $10

Pros: Replayable, PVP, Co-op, Fashion, Depth, Exploration, Long, DLC

Requirements: Medium

Souls-games are always something to bite into. I picked the complete version of the second game since it actually goes on sale and is longer than the third game. With it being so difficult to get into, I recommend researching before you buy it.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director's Cut

Usual Sale Price: $4

Pros: Cool, Dense, Stealth, DLC, Exploration

Requirements: Medium

Out of all the Deus Ex I've played, this is the one I can recommend the easiest. It's very long if you decide to dive into all the sidequests and do a ghost playthrough.

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition

Usual Sale Price: $10

Pros: Stylish, Multiple characters, Cinematic, Replayable, Depth

Requirements: Medium

The DMC game with the most complex combat system. You get 5 characters with different feel and loads of room for mastery.

An Untitled Story

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Good music, Atmospheric

Requirements: Low

You're an egg. Then you're not, and you get to do some fancy metrodvania stuff. Well worth a try.

Fairy Bloom Freesia

Usual Sale Price: $5

Pros: Cute, Relaxing, Replayable

Requirements: Low

A cute character action game with just enough depth to be fun. See my review for details.

Good Robot

Usual Sale Price: $3

Pros: Roguelike, Chill OST, Hats

Requirements: Low

A simple little shooter that manages to create randomized levels that don't feel lke they're made of premade chunks.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Usual Sale Price: $13

Pros: Complex, Queen, Replayable

Requirements: Medium

The most gigantic PSP game known to man. It's technically related to FFXIII, but I have no clue how. Something, something Crystarium. It's a weird FF instalment built on action combat and light strategy gameplay. In order to get the full story, you need to replay it, which means you can do all the hard quests you left behind in the first playthrough.

Iji

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Reacts to choices, Secrets, Replayable, Speedrunning, Aliens with character

Requirements: Low

Iji is an intersting sidescroller that feels inspired by System Shock 2 due to the leveling system. It's good for a casual playthrough, but incentivizes the player to go out of their way to find secrets.

Katawa Shoujo

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Waifus, Writing, Optional lewdness, Kenji

Requirements: Low

I haven't played many romance VNs, but this one impressed me. Every girl gets ample screentime that deals with their disability.

SMT: Synchronicity Prologue

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Jack Frost, Aesthetics, Music

Requirements: Low

Who can say no to a free SMT Metroidvania starring Jack Frost that somehow acts as a prequel to Strange Journey? If you find such a person, give them your dissappointed eyes. I think the same devs have also made a Konosuba game that's a bit more like Megaman as well.

Last Scenario

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Story, Exploration, Subversions

Requirements: Low

This game is love letter to Final Fantasy set out to give more depth to standard fantasy tropes. It mixes RPGMaker assets with some pretty decent artwork to help build the world.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Usual Sale Price: $9

Pros: Detailed, Long, Worldbuilding, Tita hugs

Requirements: Low

I could put the whole Trails series here, but the latter instalments are still a bit pricey. But this first game is plenty. It's a masterful JRPG overflowing with detail and charm. And now they all have turbo modes to speed up combat!

LiEat/Alicemare/1bitHeart

Usual Sale Price: $3

Pros: Cute, Quirky Characters, Multiple endings

Requirements: Low

The Miwashi games are a group of weird Japanese games about relationships. That's about the best way I can describe them. Buying one is cheap enough, so give them a go.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Usual Sale Price: $6

Pros: Cinematic, Frantic, Nanomachines, DLC, Replayable

Requirements: Medium

Playing MGR is like riding on a rocket that's steadily going faster. It starts crazy and goes to batshit places.

Momodora Series

Usual Sale Price: Free!/$2/$7

Pros: Cute, Aesthetics

Requirements: Low

Playing the Momodora series and seeing it develop is pretty cool. It starts with Cave Story as its inspiration and ends at Bloodborne.

Cave Story/+

Usual Sale Price: Free!/$13

Pros: Aesthetics, Multiple endings, Hover machine gun

Requirements: Low

Ahh, the original indie darling. It's a fun platformer sprinkled with metroidvania elements and fun characters.

Zombie Army Trilogy

Usual Sale Price: $9

Pros: Shooting Nazi zombies in the face, Co-op, Sniping

Requirements: Medium

Nazi zombies, a classic. And for good reason, especially with Sniper Elite mechanics.

No One Lives Forever 1 & 2

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Quirky

Requirements: Medium?

Due to potenial owners of the IP not giving a damn, you can just download HD versions of both NoLF games for free, complete with patches to make them run on modern systems. What a world we live in.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+

Usual Sale Price: $3

Pro: Aesthetics, Multiple game modes

Requirements: Low

It's Pac-Man, but all pretty and exciting.

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

Usual Sale Price: $4

Pros: Capitalism, Infinite mode, Cute, Dungeon crawling

Requirements: Low

Ever wanted to run an item store and exploit the wallets of children and the elderly? Look no further, this game is here for you. Capitalism ho!

Poacher

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Exploration, Bunnies, Multiple endings, Asshole bonus boss

Requirements: Low

One of Yahtzee's games, this one starring a poor British bloke stuck in an underground kingdom armed only with a shotgun and a ghost.

Resident Evil 4

Usual Sale Price: $6

Pros: Replayable, Depth, Cinematic, It's Resident Evil 4

Requirements: Medium

It's Resident Evil 4 people! Go read my review if you're somehow doubtful of its greatness.

Resident Evil 6

Usual Sale Price: $8

Pros: Friendship, Explosive, Co-op, Suplexes

Requirements: Medium

If you can distance yourself from the award-winning Resident Evil canon, you'll find a gigantic adventure with explosions around every corner.

Salt and Sanctuary

Usual Sale Price: $8

Pros: Exploration, Replayable

Requirements: Low

This game is the child of Dark Souls and Symphony of the Night and carries that brand proudly. It's loaded with secrets and challenge, plus some fun metroidvania powers.

System Shock 2

Usual Sale Price: $3

Pros: Music, Depth, Resource scavenging, Cyberpunk, Co-op?

Requirements: Low

The defining immersive sim game full of robots and mutants that want to eat your face. It has a great atmosphere helped by the awesomesoundtrack.

Trilby: Art of Theft

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Stealth, Speedrunning

Requirements: Low

Another Yahtzee game, this one being a stealth game akin to Thief. It's pretty fun to traverse the diverse levels whilst looking for loot and avoiding alarms and guards.

Fortune Summoners

Usual Sale Price: $3

Pros: Cute

Requirements: Low

A nice and innocent little 2d RPG beat-em-up. Sometimes, that's all you need.

1213

Usual Sale Price: Free!

Pros: Psychological

Requirements: Low

One more Yathzee game for the road. This is a cinematic platformer built around light puzzle solving interspersed with some suspenseful drama.

Turnabout Substitution

Usual Sale Price: Free

Pros: Fanservice, Mystery

Requirements: Low

This is a fanmade chapter 5 for Apollo Justice for people who felt like the game needed a better ending. Due to the engine, it forsakes the proper game's gimmicks and instead plays like the first three games.

That's that. Enjoy your backlog, suckers!

- Welcome to my world, Enjoy your stay, But always remember, There is no return.

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Kerrik52   

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Kevin Mersereau   89

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Inquisitive Ravenclaw   58

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homeoftheolliollioxenfree   27

LaTerror   22

Chris Hovermale   11

Bass   11

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NSFTW   2

AvtrSpirit   1