Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! Sorry, I should probably explain what’s going on before I shout things across the room at people in hopes they’ll listen, but it is how I got to sleep with your dad, so it works. Currently, it is Tuesday, July 1st and I’ve spent far too much already on the Steam sale as well as planning on spending more. If R.E.M. were right, I might as well feel fine by engaging in our favorite quarterly activity, capitalism.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – $44.99

Look, if you haven’t had it enough from people who smell and eat bread the long way, let me tell you that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is something you’ll want to play now. Very much a story-first sort of experience with active turn-based combat, this might not be for the childish Dark Souls fans or those who play Call of Duty for the twitchy reactions so they feel they can shout slurs. In quite a dark story, you start off playing as Gustave, a young man who is 33 and meets up with his older ex, Sophie (34).

In this twisted version of Paris (Lumiére), there is a far-off monument where The Paintress paints a number on the monument every year, with the age of the previous number reaching their Gommage. A bit like Joanne’s boring stories and Latin, if you know French, that’s sort of a spoiler of what is to come. Gustave and co set off after the yearly ceremony on a year-long expedition (there are others) intending to stop The Paintress from Gommaging them. Your job is just to get to her, battling everything along the way.

Fans of Final Fantasy are already in, but I’ll throw in fans of The Witcher or Disco Elysium in there too for those who should be playing Clair Obscur. Of course, this is a bit less action-based, but there is plenty of humor and decent writing to enjoy. For the benefit of living another day and not having my editor (or Clair Obscur fans) kill me, I’m saying “decent” to avoid spoilers. The ideas are quite dark and heavy, but are lightened up by flecks of humor. If you don’t start playing Clair Obscur right now, you’ll be surprised when it wins Game of the Year from everyone.

Also, just as a bit of a hint, it might be better to pick up one of the bundles, especially if you already have one. There was one for Dead Cells back when I added the bundle to my cart, so I may have gotten Clair Obscur a little cheaper than usual, but there are also Windblown, Pacific Drive, and Sifu as other options currently.

Lies of P: Overture Bundle – $59.98

I’ll keep this one simple and short, mostly because I’m supposed to be doing a full review of this one. Though Alexx has reasonable issues with NEOWIZ’s 2023 title for reasons I could go into detail on, I sing (almost) nothing but strong praise and recommendations for Lies of P. It is like Dark Souls (1) in a Bloodborne-esque puppet-based world to the tune of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio. It is as simple an idea as can be, and there is very little to entirely complain about. However, I’m sure some do complain about the update with the Overture DLC, as there was the addition of a three-tier difficulty option.

I know it is hard for some to hear, but if you don’t like it then don’t touch it. Nonetheless, the Overture DLC acts as a prequel to the main plot of Lies of P, taking you “to the city of Krat in its final days of haunting, late-19th-century Belle Époque beauty.” With the Puppet Frenzy on the horizon, you go around baking cakes for everyone. No, of course not! You go around hitting things with sharp sticks, hoping they wither and die like that one guy you hope dies and is all over the news. If you like Lies of P, pick up the DLC, but that isn’t discounted. If you’re a fan of Souls-likes but have yet to pick up Lies of P, then the Overture Bundle is currently 33% off.

Planet Zoo: Ultimate Edition – $106.63 ($13.49 for the base game alone)

Speaking of DLCs, Frontier Developments’ Planet Zoo just got the Asia Animal Pack DLC, which isn’t discounted sadly. The main game and a couple of its special editions are, however. This is not the first zoo-based business sim from Frontier. I’m not talking about the Jurassic variety, either, as the studio did the reboot of Blue Fang Games’ Zoo Tycoon from 2001 in 2013. Improving on that in practically every way by using the studio’s engine used for Planet Coaster, land deformation, crowd density, and more, is as good as can be. All the while, you decorate and improve the lives of animals as you run the zoo as a conservationist.

Put aside the fact that loud vegans won’t shut up long enough for you to explain some zoos do that, you’ll create habitats for lots of strange and wonderful animals. At 51% off, the ultimate edition gets you all the DLCs and base game, meaning you can save everything from a Hermann’s Tortoise, Bush Dogs, Bighorn Sheep, Gibbons, and more. If you’re the type who enjoys podcasts and creative games, this is the one for you.

Hitman Collection – $3.60

This is back when the series was focused and had clear intentions, and you get Absolution too, sadly. With IO Interactive moving on to make a game about a snarky, quippy killer with a penchant, for lack of a French word, for dressing up and occasionally killing truly evil people, you can go back to the studio’s roots with this bundle. However, if you were born after the year 2000 and don’t know that one Busted song, then you’ll find the PC controls of Codename 47, Silent Assassin, Contracts, and Blood Money to be quite dated. Don’t worry about Absolution, you’ll see the sexy nuns with rocket launchers and stop playing.

A misstep like Germany’s misstep into Poland in 1939, Absolution is the most recent of the bundle, but if we’re honest, modern doesn’t mean good. At 90% off and with four decent-to-great games, you can’t go wrong here.

DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT – $15.99

Might as well, shouldn’t I? Kojima doing Kojima things, I’d have an easier time explaining the plot of Interstellar than trying to explain why Norman Reedus is holding an oily naked baby in a jar, walking millions of miles, shooting goons from a Tom Clancy game, and the motorbike races. The man is a mentalist, so if you’re a fan of the Metal Gear Solid series and haven’t gotten around to DEATH STRANDING just yet, ahead of the eventual PC release of Australia Simulator, then this is worth it.

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition – $7.49

I have an odd spot for State of Decay 2, being one of the first Xbox titles I played properly on my Xbox One through Game Pass. A bit of a survival-crafting mess of a zombie thing, Undead Labs’ 2018 title is the Triple-A industry’s idea of that DayZ thing as developed by a studio that could only pull off a Double-A game. That sounds like I’m being derogatory, but if we’re honest, I love a bit of Double-A messiness with a few good ideas and roughness surrounding it.

Plot-wise, the world has turned to toffee and you need to survive because doing a Cobain just isn’t an option. So if you want to Walking Dead yourself in an open world with a couple of friends without the extreme-jank of 7 Days to Die, then State of Decay 2 is a great option.

COCOON – $14.99

Not the film by Ron Howard, the first game from Geometric Interactive is a wonderful, sometimes mind-bending cosmic puzzle. Ok, not the team’s first game overall, as LIMBO and INSIDE gameplay designer Jeppe Carlsen co-founded the studio with INSIDE’s audio programmer, Jakob Schmid. A game I reviewed back in 2023, the main selling point of COCOON is that you are jumping in and out of certain worlds to solve puzzles. One of the more visually interesting isometric puzzlers, there is something well worth checking out here.

Schedule 1 – $13.99

Ok, I get it, I’m recommending something overwhelmingly positive on Steam. However, this one is more for those who wanted GTA to be a bit more crime focused, or who played a bit too much of GTA Chinatown Wars and on their way to school would drive around Liberty City slinging dope, Columbian marching powder, and maybe some of the blue stuff, if you know what I mean. A bit less Walt Whitman’s #1 fan and a bit more Rick Sanchez, there is a bit of a comedy element to this drug dealer simulator, simply from the art style to its overall feel.

One thing that I will say about Schedule 1, however, is that you need to pay attention to the tutorials and directions it gives you. I locked myself out of completing the tutorial because I figured out how to sell baggies with single weed buds before you’re told to go do it. So that’s fun. Otherwise, I’m only a couple of hours into this one and have seen quite a bit of late-game clips. If you enjoy the simulator genre and a bit of GTA crime ‘em up gameplay, then Schedule 1 has that for you in bucket loads for a reasonable price.

NITE Team 4: Deluxe Edition – $17.30

Well, let’s take a dark little turn, shall we? Developed by Alice & Smith for release back in 2019, NITE Team 4 – Military Hacking Division is the studio’s latest game, and it is exactly what it says on the tin. It is a game about being a new government White Hat agent, hacking, and often brute-forcing your way through problems. Though the visual style of NITE Team 4 might be slicker than the real thing, its actual gameplay feels more accomplished at making you feel like a hacker than Aiden bloody Pearce ever will. If you’re a fan of the Watch_Dogs series or maybe enjoyed watching Mr Robot, then it is for you.

However, NITE Team 4 isn’t just for the broader audience of “I want to know what hacking feels like” without getting malware installed on your phone. From references to Kevin Mitnick to broader nerdy PC-centric details that just don’t slip in on accident. If you’re not a fan of a hacker power fantasy and a bit of typing, then this will be the one to skip. However, for those of us who want to hack someone’s smart devices and cause some damage, this is for us.

Rusted Warfare – RTS – $2.99

It’s Total Annihilation but with Steam Workshop support, a modern resolution, and a whole lot of fun ideas. I will bang on about Corriding Games’ Rusted Warfare until someone starts marching out the spider tanks during World War 3 and we start launching nukes like confetti at the end of a concert. Multiplayer, sandbox, campaign, skirmishes, and modding, I have to include this one for those in need of an RTS-fix on a very, very small budget.

Atomfall Deluxe Edition – $55.99

Another that I’ve reviewed and have DLC yet to review, Atomfall is one of this year’s most unique games. Set during the 60s in Cumberland (no sausages though), following the real-world fire at the Windscale Atomic Energy site, a bit of weird, wonderful folklore (and otherwise) has crept into a containment area. You wake up in a bunker with no memory, and your job is to escape or figure out what’s going on and escape to leak this information. However, for me, it is seeing things that are uniquely not American, better still, that include the name of the place I was born.

I get it, Americans are about as well-traveled as a sheltered dog. Most games are going to aim at that audience first, then the rest of us get to laugh at GTA for just being our idea of America. Atomfall not only references The Two Ronnies and a whole Wicker Man (proper one) segment, but it also uses the whole setting and leaves very little to be seen as another culture or country. Aside from Watch Dogs: Legion or Edinburgh in Forza Horizon 4, there is nothing quite like Atomfall to capture the UK like this. I’ll fight you if you suggest We Happy Few!

South of Midnight Premium Edition – $37.49

This is sort of the same idea as the last suggestion. I’ve spoken about how video games rarely show a Black experience, and more importantly, Black history and Black folklore. Cue the “WOKE,” “DEI,” and other such nonsense from people too dumb to know Huddie Ledbetter’s use of the former phrase. In fact, developed by We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games, South of Midnight has you play as Hazel Flood, a young mixed-race woman who lives with her mother in the deep south. The setting is implied to be Louisiana, and that dark history of the Antebellum South.

South of Midnight plays with that dark fantasy, folklore, and the mythos surrounding that sort of cross-section of Black and Cajun cultures meeting. The first trailer when South of Midnight was revealed in 2023 had me hooked (pun not intended), from the stop-motion thing, which would look better in 60 FPS, to the big catfish you meet in chapter 3. Gameplay-wise, it is a typical, kind of floaty action-adventure title with combat that’s functional. However, South of Midnight is more about the setting, the story, and the feel of that, rather than the gameplay. Not to say it is bad gameplay-wise, it does just enough to support the other parts and little else.

Visually, thus far, I’ve been loving South of Midnight. The only thing that is bothering me, outside of the 30 FPS cutscenes, making the stop-motion look bad, is the Haints. Evil spirits from the old South, they are shown as tall, weird, humanoid figures with a sort of tar-ish color to the branch-like limbs, so when they are attacking, it can be difficult at first to know when to dodge roll away. There is no dedicated parry button. You just dodge roll away, and if timed well, you sort of repost the incoming attack. Those are the only “issues” thus far.

You have until the 10th of July to pick up stuff from the Steam Sale. For a different set of Steam sale recommendations, David had a whole list yesterday with a few more suggestions that might be more your type of thing. Have any idea what you’ll pick up, or do you have other suggestions? Tell us about them below!

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