Since I bought myself a modern PC in summer last year I bought a ton of games on Steam. Some for their full prices, many during sales and many through bundles and the humble monthly subscription.

I thought it might be useful for some of you If I share and mini-review some of the many titles that were quite outstanding experiences but are not the type of games everyone knows. 

 


Train Valley

Released in September 2015, Steam price usually 10 Euro, length to play it through, around 7-15 hours. My playtime all in all was around 18 hours.

I got this one through Humble Monthly last year and tried it rather out to see what I got but the game catched my interest quickly. So much that it became addicting because it is not an easy one and is rather challenging.
In short words, you have to create and connect rails and train stations and have to take care that you make money as well as that your trains are not colliding. Sounds simple, but thanks to the level design and a lot of obstacles it is one of the few train related games that is not a total snorefest and has actually more action than many games declared as action rpg’s 🙂

Really cool is that you are starting in the past, short after trains were invented while the last levels are in the modern Japan. It starts in Europe, following are the Wild West, Syberia and finally Asia. The game is showing you some of the most important stations in the relative short history of the trains.

Its worth the ten bucks but during a 50% or more discount it is a real steal. It’s also getting a sequel next year.

Mini Review for Train Valley:

Graphics: 3D, The Unity Engine was used. The graphics are not impressive but fit the game really good.

Music & Sound: Nice, not annoying tracks, no spoken words. Some of the train noises can be annoying.

Gameplay and Replayability: This is where the game really shines, it can become hectic in the later levels but it’s really possible to figure out how everything works. Thanks to a sandbox mode it can be interesting for a much longer while after beating and mastering all levels that have some extra challenges. Train Valley has 39 Achievements. 

Train Valley is available in 13 languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Polish, It also has a mode for people who are color blind. You can also test Train valley via a Demo available on Steam. 

My Verdict for Train valley: Absolutely worth to buy if you are not totally hating anything related to trains 

If you love numbers to determine how good a game might be, here is one: 9/10.

The game is what it tries to be and its few flaws are affecting the fun you can have with this game. 

 



GemCraft: Chasing Shadows

Released on Steam in 2015, Steam price usually 10 Euro, length to play it through, around 30+hours. My playtime all in all was around 179 hours making it the game on steam I played for the longest time so far.

This is a Tower Defense Game, but one like no other. It has a great story and a rather dark one but the feature that makes it addicting and very very fun are the many factors that get you to increase the difficulty, try out the same levels with different bonuses and try out what works the best for you in the end. The game is also very big with over 100 stages and an Iron Wizard” mode that offers you another challenge.

This is a game I never heard before and bought it in a bundle of over 15 games on Bundlestars, now renamed to Fanatical. I paid maybe 50cent for it due to it being bundled like that which makes it an irony that it is one of my most played games on PC together with Diablo II.

If you like Tower Defense games, forget Kingdom Rush or Defense Grid. GemCraft is the King of this genre.

Mini Review for GemCraft: Chasing Shadows

Graphics: 2D, relative detailed from the birds perspective. They look fine for such a game, but its recommended to turn them on the low if you are planning to face over 100 enemy waves.

Music & Sound: Absolutely fitting gritty music tracks that are enjoyable without playing the game as well. The sound fx are all fitting the action as well 

Gameplay and Replayability: GemCraft is one of the technically most advanced Tower Defense Games out there, it’s just flawless. It has over 100 levels and tons of challenges, it takes many many hours to see everything in the game. 

My Verdict for GemCraft. Chasing Shadows: Absolutely worth to buy if you like Tower Defense Games.

If you love numbers to determine how good a game might be, here is one: 9,5/10

The game is what it tries to be and its only little flaw are slowdowns after many enemy waves.

 



Kingdom: New Lands

Released on Steam in 2016, Steam price usually 5 Euro, length to play if you know how to do it, around 2-5 hours but since you won’t know how to do it you will most likely need over 20 like myself. I played it for around 70 hours so far.

Imagine you are a King but you have to start a new Kingdom on an Island and you have to figure out how to do it.
I strongly recommend to not use any guides and letsplay videos for this one, its a lot more fun to discover what this game has to offer and to find out how everything works out for your favours. A big feature are its beautiful 2d graphics and a very fitting soundtrack as well. I read it’s getting a new expansion or version in 2018 that adds multiplayer actually. 

Mini Review for Kingdom: New Lands:

Graphics: Beautiful 2D Graphics that are totally doing their job. 

Music & Sound: The Soundtrack of Kingdom New Lands is one of the best I listened to in video games from 2016-2017. The sound effects are fitting and well done as well. 

Gameplay and Replayability: Its rare to see a new game that does not tell you anything about how it’s played but this one does it very well and you are going to love the gameplay that  requires you to think strategic, to learn and to act fast often. After seeing everything however you won’t come back often.

My Verdict for Kingdom: New Lands: Absolutely worth to buy if you like interesting experiences and challenges as well as 16bit Sprite based graphics.

If you love numbers to determine how good a game might be, here is one: 10/10 it’s totally worth its small price.


 

These are my recommended games in November 2017, see you again with 3 other ones in December 🙂

 

 

 

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of the game developers and recommend these games because I had a great time with them. 

You are welcome to recommend me games via comments of course!