Thread: Steam Backlog

I've knocked out Trine 1&2 in the past month...I found both to be highly enjoyable.

My backlog is:

Bioshock 1,2 & infinite
Dark Souls: Prepare to die
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition

There are some nice mods for The Witcher 2. Coincidentally, the nude mods are in the base game and are used at all times. The mods just alter clothing options so to speak. That being said, there are some nice quality of life changes. Further, unlike with the first Witcher, I wouldn't recommend the Full Combat Rebalance mod. For the first game, it was spot on. Not so much for the second one.

Combat is different from the first game. The tutorial is necessary to learn the basics, however, it's always (across multiple laptops and desktop builds) been buggy for me. It also seems to run worse then the rest of the game.

Replay value is higher than the first game to me. The BIG plot branch leads to other endings that feel more in line with the Witcher mythos. I actually have liked the three endings I've seen. The third game is going to have over 30 endings.

Lastly, even if you have the Witcher games on Steam, you can register them at GoG.com (owned by CD Projekt Red). They let you DL a DRM-free version of each from them AND give a huge discount on the upcoming title for each Witcher game registered with them. It's a little drawn out, but that's to make sure no one unscrupulous registers "their" copy.

Dark Souls also has a lot of replay value with the different builds you can have and the 6 levels of new game+ (difficulty goes up each time). Leveling up also gets prohibitively expensive very quickly. You need to be careful how and when to level up. Leveling up your gear on the other hand is preferable. DO NOT USE SOULS until you need to use them. PVP and Jolly Co-op might be more difficult due to the newer game drawing the population away. Use this wiki, it is the best one out there. Prepare to die. Oh, and learn to dodge. Almost everything can be dodged. Blocking is harder in terms of being sustainable. Learn to parry. Lots of physical attacks can be parried. Successfully parry and you can counter. Counters and backstabs hurt. The enemies can and WILL do them to you.

If for some reason, you're constantly getting cheesed by invaders who pray on low level noobs (PVPers), don't go Hollow for a fight. Being Human has its advantages though (increased resists/damage). Now that I think about it, did they convert the first Dark Souls to Steamworks, cause if not...no PVP/Co-op. That game was originally a GFWL game.

Human revolution can be played multiple ways (kill, no kills and get caught, and no kills/not caught). The third option is called ghost. It nets the most experience. Hacking anything and everything including the devices/computers you have passwords for nets A METRIC SHIT TON of exp.
Five things: when you're..uh...up and running again. Don't dawdle starting the first mission. Start it ASAP. You won't miss anything. Secondly, there are some low life gangbangers in one particular area. If they get taken care before any missions take you there, you might have an easier time going ghost. If going non-lethal, go for the long range option at the beginning. It's much harder to get that weapon early (not available until the second locale/freaking expensive). The short range option can be found quite easily within minutes of getting back from the first mission for free (if you can hack, chummer). Fourthly, Bosses must be killed, but they don't count against the Steam achievement for no kills/not getting caught. Lastly, before leaving for a new locale, buy every praxis kit and find the ones available through exploration. Those kits refresh if you go back to that locale later in the game.

Bioshock: amazing.
Bioshock 2: Less amazing. I'm not sure its metacritic is a B+ though. I'd rate it closer to a C.
Infinite: pretty and fun, but not as mindblowing as the first game. I haven't played the DLC yet, however.

Next month I'm going to start on the Dark Souls series. Right now I'm working through Dead Space 1 & 2.

I loved dead space. The 3rd game is good as well. It is not as scary, but it is definitely a good conclusion to the series. I ended up picking up the Awakened DLC during the summer sale and it is on my backlog to play.

Lost Planet 3 gets compared to Dead Space which is why it is the current backlog item I am playing. I'll let you know if it is even close once I get further into it.

I guess I need to install Origin and DS3 again.