GOG's Summer Gaming Sale—or #SummerGaming Sale as it's stylised on-site—is live now through June 18. To mark the occasion, the digital storefront is giving away sci-fi strategy game Xenonauts free-of-charge from today through Wednesday, June 6 at 6am PST / 2pm BST.
First, let's talk deals. I like D-Pad Studio's retro-styled platformer Owlboy, which, at 40 percent off, costs £10.69/$14.99. I'm also fond of Fallout: New Vegas, the best of the post-apocalyptic role-playing series, whose Ultimate Edition comes in at £7.49/$10.59, 50 percent less its recommended retail value.
Subset Games' FTL follow-up, Into the Breach is another great pickup for £8.49/$11.99—as is Larian's all-consuming CRPG Divinity: Original Sin 2 for £23.99/$33.89. If you're after something less bloodthirsty, I'd recommend Campo Santo's gorgeous and often eerie Firewatch at £6.09/$8.49, or Jonathan Blow's 2016 Myst-inspired puzzler The Witness at £12.09/$16.99.
Spending £3.59/$5 or more in GOG's Summer Sale also nets you a free copy of Failbetter's narrative adventure Sunless Sea, while spending £14.19/$20 unlocks Rime too. Swing by the PC Gamer Collection for more shoutouts from the PCG team, and, as always, share your own picks in the comments below.
Onto Xenonauts. Ian Birnbaum's 85-scoring review is well worth reading, but I'm going to quote Phil here instead.
If Xenonauts were receiving a proper award, it would be X-Com of the Year. It is, in its design, structure, depth and challenge, utterly X-Com. It's blatant in its similarities, almost flagrant. Not even XCOM, the Firaxis reboot, was this much like X-Com. That's why Xenonauts could never hold a place in our Game of the Year Awards proper. It's intentionally derivative. It's not forging a bright, new future for PC gaming. It's not even proving that new design innovations can fit snugly into older templates, a la Divinity: Original Sin or Endless Legend. It is, pretty much, just X-Com again.
That's a good thing, to be clear—or, at least, a thing that I'm happy has happened.
Phil goes into more detail from there in his 2014 Personal Pick, however the above captures the essence of Xenonauts and why it's worth your time. Besides being, you know, free till Wednesday.
Check out GOG's Summer Sale in full in this direction.
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