A new year, and a new Humble Bundle Humble Choice For January. Today we will evaluate what’s offered in the January Humble Choice and decide, “Is it awesome, or is it awful?”.
The last few months have been a little disappointing when it comes to triple AAA titles. For an example you can look at our rating of the December Humble Choice. While none of the Humble Choice bundles have been awful, there have definitely been some stronger ones in the past.
We will review each game in the January Humble Choice Bundle individually. At the end we will give the January Humble Choice a rating based on how the individual games stack up.
The January Humble Choice Games
Mafia Definitive Edition
I almost bought this during all of the holiday sales, but decided to wait. I’m glad I did! Mafia is the ultimate mob RPG.
If you’ve played the original Mafia, the definitive edition manages to keep all the aspects that made the game good, and bring aspects like the graphics, and some of the gameplay up to modern standards. It is one of the few remakes I can say is absolutely worth it.
If you’ve never played Mafia, being a mobster is a lot of work. Despite the fact that Mafia is a linear story, there is always a ton to do, and a ton of collectables to collect.
With beautiful graphics, excellent gameplay, and a ton of collectables, Mafia Definitive Edition is a good start to our January Humble Choice Bundle.
Tip: If you are experiencing any stuttering, disable the 2k launcher. It is causing problems for a few people.
Iron Harvest
I actually had to download this to see what version it was. A lot of people are, understandably, upset as the picture on Steam shows Iron Harvest 1920+ which is a completed game. Iron Harvest base is being confused on Steam as 1920+ due to this. The game only has two factions and a short campaign.
Regardless of the version, the deceptive marketing by the publisher already lowers my opinion of this game.
The January Humble Choice version does include the 1920+ DLC (confirmed).
Iron Harvest actually has excellent graphics, and gameplay is very similar to Company of Heroes. It’s a great RTS game only shadowed over by deceptive marketing.
Project Winter
If you’ve played Among Us, you’ll already be familiar with the Project Winter concept. Project Winter is basically Among Us with better graphics, more players per game, and multiple betrayers.
Essentially you have 8 people per game. Some of those will be betrayers, while the rest are survivors. You have to work together to finish your tasks, figure out who the betrayers are, and escape.
Gameplay is a ton of fun and graphics are decent. The current problem right now isn’t quite a large enough player base. Hopefully throwing Project Winter in the Humble Bundle will help.
When the players are online, Project Winter is an absolute blast.
Rebel Cops
Rebel Cops is a spin-off of This Is Police in which a rag-tag squad of cops face off against the towns new criminal power. If you like the assault missions in This Is Police 2, you will probably love Rebel Cops.
Rebel Cops doesn’t contain much story. Mostly turn-based stealth combat. The game has some interesting game play mechanics.
If you love turn based strategical combat, stealth, and don’t mind a lack of story you will probably love this game. Personally, I was not a huge fan.
Rustler
In Grand Theft Horse, I mean Rustler, you become a medieval thug in a crazy open world action game.
If you’ve ever played the older GTA games, before they had plots or story, Rustler is one of those with horses instead of cars.
Rustler is a funny game with multiple pop culture references, but it is also flawed. For instance, horse riding is one of the most complicated things to do in the game.
While fun Rustler can get frustrating fast. It could definitely do with a fun control over hall.
The Henry Stickmin Collection
The Henry Stickman Collection, as well as Brut@l, Stardew Valley, and Undertale, are great examples of how you don’t need great graphics to have great games.
The Henry Stickmin Collection is a choose your own adventure type game, with 6 games in one.
This game has great story, a large number of collectables, plenty of Easter Eggs, and multiple endings.
The best part? How many ways you can die. Sometimes you want to die just for fun, to see how it happens.
A good addition to the January Humble Choice, you won’t be disappointed with this one.
Farmers Dynasty
Farmer’s Dynasty tries to mix a life sim with a farm sim, and it almost makes it.
Farmer’s Dynasty isn’t a bad game. It can be almost relaxing to play.
I say almost because the voice acting is horrible. Almost Robotic for most characters. And as soon as I relax, someone else talks and it gets to me.
As far as a farm sim, it does feel relatively accurate. If you want to feel like you are in a true farm sim, Farmer’s Dynasty may be the game for you.
Overall I would rate this January Humble Choice game a neutral. With a few updates and modifications it could be great, but as is needs some work.
Between the Stars
Between the Stars is a space sim RPG done pretty well. There are some opportunities for improvement but the game is still in early access and not quite complete yet. The developers are still actively developing the game.
Between the Stars feels a lot like a cross between Rebel Galaxy and Star Wars Squadrons. It’s one of the better space sims I have played.
The largest drawback is the game can feel a bit repetitive at times.
Hopefully by the time of full release the repetitiveness is broken up a bit.
Retrowave
Retrowave was designed as a retro arcade racer, and it manages to do exactly what it is trying to do.
There are 4 different game modes in Retrowave: one way, two way, speed bomb, and time attack.
Retrowave is a simple but effective game. It is also exactly what it sounds like. It’s the kind of game you’d put a quarter in backs in the 80’s, for 5 minutes of joy.
It’s not a complicated game, but it is a good addition to the January Humble Choice.
Midnight Protocol
Midnight Protocol is a tactical narrative driven RPG essentially based on hacking. It supports keyboard controls only, so it may be a disappointment for the controller lovers out there.
Midnight Protocol is unique in the turn based games, and doe a relatively good job of making you feel fully immersed as a hacker.
The randomness of the trace mechanic will make some love, and some hate the game. It can make things extremely challenging at times.
Midnight protocol is a relatively addictive game, especially for those who already enjoy hacker games. Overall it its a positive addition to the January Humble Choice Bundle.
While almost all of the games are positive, to neutral positive, the January Humble Choice is a little bit lacking compared to many of the Humble Choice Offerings.
First, I am not sure there are any titles that can be truly considered triple A games. Mafia is probably the closest though I would probably consider it a AA.
There are always some early access games in Humble Choice Packages but the amount of early access seems a little overwhelming for the January Humble Choice. I think is has to do more with not enough top tier games to balance the early access, a opposed to there being more early access.
November received a 77% rating, and December received a 74% rating. The January Humble Choice comes in a solid 74%.
If you aren’t subscribed to Humble Choice it is a great way to get a wide collection of games at a low price. I have been a subscriber (on and off) for about 5 years and love the monthly surprises.
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