My recommendations for the Steam Winter Sale of December 26 to December 27

Now that all of the recent Steam issues have been properly fixed we can once more focus on what's really important, buying more games than we could ever have enough free time to play!

Or if you're interested in only grabbing a couple of good ones at a big discount then take a look at my recommended list for today's Steam sale, you might find something that interests you:

Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition (-66%)

Fallout New Vegas is one of my favorite RPG games ever made

If you've found yourself disappointed in the RPG elements of Fallout 4 then I've got the perfect cure for you, and you don't even have to inject it in to yourself with an overly large needle. I am talking about Fallout 3: New Vegas, one of my favorite RPG games and one that I reinstall in order to play throughevery few years. With plenty of choices, detailed characters and amazing writing it is everything that Fallout 4 isn't though I will concede that as far as graphics and gunplay go Fallout 4 has it beat by a landslide.

The Ultimate Edition gets you the base game as well as all of the rather excellent DLC, the best one being Old World Blues where you get to see how and why a lot of the technology in the wasteland was created while interacting with some rather... odd characters. I can't tell you much more without spoiling the fun of it so just take my word when I say its a great piece of DLC for a great game.

Also, given that New Vegas has been around for years now it has accrued quite the modding community behind it so if the base game has something that annoys you odds are a modder has already fixed it. In short, New Vegas is a mediocre shooter but such an excellent RPG that I am willing to recommend it to anyone that likes a good story with plenty of choices to make despite the combat being a bit bland.

Left 4 Dead 2 (-80%)

Left 4 Dead 2 is an excellent coop game though a bit lackluster when solo

Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the best games to play when you have a couple of friends and beers among you as well as a lust for some zombie-whacking action. With the updates L4D2 received over the years it now has double the content it had on launch and with the added mod support you can extend the game's lifespan even further with some really quality maps.

While the horror element is mostly cosmetic L4D2 can get pretty damn scary at times. My most memorable moment in the game was when me and a couple of friends were stuck in a corn plantation in the middle of a thunderstorm. The in game thunder, rain and zombie shrieks were so loud our voice communication was near useless and given the corn field we couldn't even see each other.

Once we finally got through the place and the rain subsided a bit we realized that one of us got killed while constantly screaming for help, screams that fell on completely deaf ears as he got mauled to death in a muddy cornfield. It might no be Amnesia but it will give you quite the scare if you end up being the one left behind.

In any case, Left 4 Dead is silly-cheap right now so if you like FPS games, especially team based ones, I'd suggest you buy it for yourself and your friends because the zombie apocalypse just isn't the same unless you have other people with you to screw over. 

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (-75%)

Assassins Creed Black Flag is by far the best of the series

If you haven't played any of the other Assassins Creed games I'd suggest you play Black Flag first and only go for the rest if you want the complete story because as far as gameplay goes Black Flag has everything that makes the series fun as well as the amazing boating system.

By the tail end of Black Flag I simply couldn't care less about the story or the land based missions given that I've done the same thing a hundred times over in other games but I still kept going back because exploring the high seas, whaling and ship-combat were so unique and entertaining I couldn't resist launching the game every once in a while.

So if you want an Assassins Creed game that also has a fun side-game if you ever get bored of all the stabbing then I'd recommend you go with Black Flag.

Talos Principle (-75%)

 Talos Principle proved that Serious Sam developers are indeed capable of being serious

Imagine if the guys behind Serious Sam, a game where bomb-headed maniacs carrying bombs in both hands charge at you while screaming AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, made a puzzle game, that would be just hilarious! Or so I thought until I played the Talos Principle, a puzzle game by the guys behind Serious Sam. But it isn't just a puzzle game, it also raises some interesting philosophical questions on the nature of existence and what makes a sentient being truly alive. 

Its not something that is easily explain but if you want a game that is well made, has a ton of levels, is cleverly written and has some very tricky puzzles then I fully recommend both the Talos Principle and its DLC as they are incredible value for your money given their current price point.

Gothic: Universe Edition (-80%)

The Gothic series are one of the first well made open world indie RPGs

The Gothic series is quite old at this point and most definitely clunky but if you're willing to get past that you'll find some truly immersive "sort of open world" RPGs filled with a lot more humor than is common in these sort of games.

The first two Gothic games are timeless classics but Gothic 3 is noticeably worse given that it was rushed out of the door for a quick buck. However, since the series has so many dedicated fans there are a couple of mods that will fix up all three and make their transition in to the modern era much easier but even so I'd recommend playing the first two more than the third.

I can't and won't recommend the Gothic series to everyone but if you're an oldschool RPG lover and consider Morrowind one of the better games out there then I'd suggest you give the Gothic series a try, just make sure you google for the bug fixing mods before you start your playthrough.

 

And that's it for today. Not that many games but as far as pure value for your money is concerned it is here in spades, really big spades, as most of these games are pretty darn cheap at this point.

I hope you enjoy the games and I'll see you tomorrow when the Steam sale shuffles itself once more.