Since it is the first Friday of October, it is time for me to power through all the games in my new Humble Monthly and give my impressions on each included title.  I do this for two reasons:  One, because starting a game makes me more likely to remember to go back and finish it, and also because these bundles tend to have little-known indie titles that I want to make people aware of.  Without any further ado, let’s get started!

 

Ollie & Bollie’s Outdoor Estate

Humble Original Title

Ollie & Bollie’s Outdoor Estate is weird, and I’m not sure that this is a good thing.   The player moves these two characters around that can lift and jump, with the goal being to complete a series of small tasks, like repair a fence and corral sheep in it.  In my time playing this title, I found the controls finicky and and the tasks I completed tedious and boring.  Most Humble Original titles are short and unique, but this one doesn’t seem to have enough gameplay in it for me to come back to it later.

 

American Truck Simulator

Release Date:  February 2, 2016

Price:  $19.99

I already own American Truck Simulator, and have attempted to play it previously.  This title definitely needs a specific type of gamer, and that gamer is certainly not me.  While I have examples of nearly all genres that I am willing to play, I have yet to find any sort of racing or driving simulation game that I enjoy, so a title that revolves around driving a truck from point A to point B is just never going to be my thing.  The highlight of this game, however, is just watching my truck bounce around like a pinball because I am wholly incapable of keeping it straight on the road.  It’s a fully functional game for those who are into this sort of thing (although note that only a few states are actually available in the game), but I won’t be playing it.

 

Dungeons III

Release Date:  October 13, 2017

Price:  $39.99

Dungeons III is a strategy game where the player takes on the task of being the evil overlord trying to defeat all of the good in the world.  Like many titles in its genre, going about the task of defeating the forces of good means a mixture of building livable conditions for the varying minions who reside in the evil lair, and light RTS elements as the forces of evil battle the forces of good.  I have a weird relationship with strategy titles.  The ones I love, like Tropico 5 and Rollercoaster Tycoon, become instant favorites of mine and I play them for hundreds of hours.  On the whole, however, I am very picky about what I am willing to brave the learning curve for.  Based on my initial play session through the tutorials of this game, however, I could see myself really getting into this one!  I’m not sure if I’ll play this specific title, or go back and play Dungeons II first, but I’m definitely going to play something in this series in the near future.

 

Gremlins, Inc.

Release Date:  March 10, 2016

Price:  $14.99

Similarly to American Truck Simulator, this game needs a certain type of audience.  I don’t mind the occasional board or card game, but this title’s learning curve is pretty steep, which makes it a difficult sell.  Additionally, I don’t have any friends who play this game, which cuts heavily into the potential amount of fun I could have here even if I was willing to dive deep into the mechanics.  There is a tutorial, but it rushes fairly quickly through the varying mechanics in order to get the player into the main game as soon as possible.  Maybe if I watch some Youtube videos, I could get into this, but in all likelihood, I won’t be playing this again.

 

Hidden Folks

Release Date:  February 15, 2017

Price:  $7.99

I already owned Hidden Folks previously as a time-wasting app on my phone, but I can honestly say that the PC version is the definitive experience.  This title is a Where’s Waldo-style hidden object game where the player is tasked with finding certain items in different landscape drawings.  The game offers different difficulties in the sense that a player can just go straight to finding the objects hidden in the drawings or look at the hints for each object to better hone in on specific aspects of the drawing.  While I played about halfway through on my phone, I will likely play on the PC from now on, as the larger screen makes for a far more pleasant gaming experience.

 

Old Man’s Journey

Release Date:  May 17, 2017

Price:  $7.99

I actually have a review of Old Man’s Journey because I played it a few months ago.  This is a really short and sweet title about, as the name would suggest, an old man going on a journey.  There are some very basic puzzle mechanics to keep the player engaged, but this game is mostly about relaxing and watching the story unfold.  Since I’ve already played it, I won’t be going back to it, but I would highly recommend it to anyone that hasn’t tried it yet.

 

Overwatch

Release Date:  May 24, 2016

Price:  $59.99

Like, I suspect, many others who got the Humble Monthly for October, I already own Overwatch and have put in a decent amount of hours.  It’s not my favorite multiplayer shooter (Team Fortress 2 will always hold a special place in my heart), but it is a great choice for some casual fun with friends.  What makes Overwatch special is that there are so many classes that any group of friends with diverse game tastes can each find a character with a style that feels comfortable.  Since I’ve put quite a few hours in already, I will certainly play more in the coming years.

 

We Were Here Too

Release Date:  February 2, 2018

Price:  $9.99

There is very little that I can say about We Were Here Too, because I cannot play it.  The game requires co-op multiplayer, and I don’t have any friends who own a second copy of this game.  I tried to do random matchmaking, but there were only four people online and no public rooms available.  Ultimately, I noticed that there’s an earlier game in this franchise that is free, so I will try and convince a friend of mine to play the free title with me and report back later as to whether this series is worth the time and money.

 

Well, that was, overall, probably the most disappointing bundle I’ve received in my time subscribed to Humble Monthly.  I owned several games already, with the worst offender, American Truck Simulator, being a game I received via a previous Humble Bundle.  For me personally, the only new game I intend to go back to is Dungeons III, though I will also play Hidden Folks now that I own it on PC.  Even aside from the games I already owned, this bundle had a heavy reliance on online multiplayer games that nearly (or actually, in the case of We Were Here Too) require the player to have other friends to play with.  The one silver lining here is that November’s bundle looks promising, with Hollow Knight, HITMAN Season 1, and 7 Days to Die being the early unlocks.  The bundles this year have been quite promising, with the exception of this month, so I hope that November and December’s quality is a little higher.

How did you feel about this month’s bundle?  Let me know in the comments below!

Note:  This post is imported from a prior blog, HannieBee Games.