Welcome gals and ghouls to a very spoopy edition of Shoestring Gaming, and boy if this is not a beautiful weekend to be a fan of the horror genre. We here at TechRaptor have delighted in celebrating the best (usually) of horror this week, and now you have a chance to celebrate a bit yourself. Yes, the game outlets have finally started the truly frightening deals, and there is a lot to cover. Your typical disclosure: these deals are mostly for a limited time only, and you'll likely want to pick them up this weekend before they disappear. Also TechRaptor does make money off some of your clicks, so keep that in mind. TechRaptor is not responsible for any physical or psychological damage that may be incurred by jumpscares caused by these games.
To start off a bit different, there is a new site being added to our typical lineup here—IndieGala offers bundles along with some impressive sales on independently made games, as well as some more well-known titles. Right now, to celebrate the scariest time of the year, they're offering some free titles with your purchase. You can get Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi with every purchase, and Slender: The Arrival with any total purchase of $3 or more. So basically, you're going to get both games, for free, along with a ton of other games you'll likely get on sale, because the amount of sales going on here is unimaginable. On the main store page you can find tons of horror games for up to 90% off, including some fairly popular titles like Killing Floor, Killing Floor 2, Bloodrayne 2, and Dying Light. There's also tons of games you may not have heard of but also look pretty awesome, including a few distinctly non-horror items for those uninterested in giving themselves nightmares.
Then there are a ton of bundles, enough to put Humble Bundle to shame, not that we don't still love Humble Bundle. You can explore time with the Get Over It! Bundle, which includes titles from the distant past and the upcoming future, from aliens to dinosaurs. You can get twelve games for less than $3, but you can pay more if you want to send a little more to these indie developers (and that goes for every bundle). Then there is the, um, Hump Day Bundle. The theme here doesn't immediately seem clear to me, but it includes some great titles, including the very addictive Velocibox. You can get all those games for a minimum of $3.19, or the top three games for only a dollar. Then there is the Lethal Mix Bundle and Deadly Strike Bundle, which both feature an assortment of indie games, again for less than the price of a coffee. And there's a ton more, too much to realistically list here. Also check out their Free to Play section. Because, it's free. Why not?
That was quite a bit of information, but there is really a lot on sale this weekend, and the rest of the Internet is no exception. Green Man Gaming has also been bitten by the Halloween sale zombie this week with several different scare-themed sales going on. First sale, the Face Your Fears Sale, featuring some AAA horror titles, from Silent Hill to Evil Within. Plus, a Left 4 Dead bundle for $6. That is, both Left 4 Dead games for $6. If you want something old, but new, Wolfenstein: The New Order is 66% off. That's not part of any huge sale, but it is a pretty great deal in itself. After you're done horrifying yourself, you might try a more relaxing game from the Might and Delight Sale, including Shelter and PID. Those games aren't scary, but may make you cry. Then there is the 11 Bit Studios Sale, prominently featuring This War of Mine. And finally the Discover Indie Sale, with titles like the eternally popular Hunie Pop. Also, if you play EVE Online, there are sales on EVE Online content.
Now GOG.com doesn't play games—their sale is very straight forward. It's called Spooky Games, Spooky Deals. Very easy to remember. Also has some great titles ranging from AAA giants like The Witcher 3 to indies like Neverending Nightmares. Again, so many titles here, can't possibly list them all. You can get all 40 titles for less than $250, and while that seems expensive, keep in mind many of these are very new release games, and one of them is The Witcher 3. This deal also includes some of the best horror games of recent years, including the entire Penumbra collection, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast, and Among the Sleep. Did I mention writing Shoestring was particularly difficult for me this week because I kept stopping to buy things? If none of those suit your needs, you can also get a few other games on sale like King of Dragon Pass and the new release GALAK-Z.
This month's Humble Bundle isn't really spooky themed, but a deal is a deal after all. You can get several titles under the usual system, including Contagion and Insurgency, with more titles being added next Tuesday. The Weekly Deal celebrates Day of the Devs, an annual celebration of independent developers, aptly named because it lands on Día de Los Muertos. Over at the Humble Store, a good old fashioned Halloween Sale, including an Alan Wake Bundle, Alien: Isolation, SOMA, all at considerable discounts (also, Goat MMO Simulator. Because why not.). As always, every purchase on Humble Bundle also benefits charity. In the spirit of the season, I again recommend Scares That Care, a spooky-themed non-profit for children with illnesses and those suffering from breast cancer. Elsewise, there are other fantastic ones like Extra Life and The Red Cross, can't go wrong there.
Alright, now that I've spent my life savings, I now have no fear traveling to Steam to see what they have on sale. Or I'll just sell my car. We'll see. The Steam Halloween Sale is a bit more ecclectic than other sales, featuring many non-horror titles like Grand Theft Auto V, though this could be because of the inevitable Halloween-themed content that will be released for it. Or because Steam just saw this as yet another reason to have a sale, themes be damned. But, as always, you can't argue with the fact that Steam's sale is incredibly expansive. The one place you can get Five Nights at Freddy's on sale, as well as Dead Space, Alice: Madness Returns, and all the Duke Nukem, which isn't a horror title but bears mentioning. There is also the Resident Evil sale, a mini-sale within the bigger sale, including two different packs of games for the most recent franchise titles and the Revelations series.
Moving on to consoles, Xbox Live doesn't have much in terms of a Halloween sale (don't be fooled, Shocktober is not a sale). There are some deals on a few XBLA games. Playstation has the much more appropriation Sale of the Dead, featuring an assortment of horror tiles like Resident Evil and The Evil Within.
Enjoy your new games, and have a very spooky Halloween! Don't spend too much money though, because the Black Friday sales are right around the corner.