At a loss as to what to give your gamer friends this Christmas? Don’t worry. It really is a difficult thing to come up with a good gift. Allow us to take the burden from you with this list of games you can buy right off Steam and send as lovely holiday presents—no muss, no fuss, and we guarantee they’ll enjoy these titles all throughout the Christmas break. The prices listed are the games’ regular prices, but worry not, check back during any of the Steam sales, and you’re likely going to get these titles at a significant discount.
1. FTL: Faster Than Light (PHP 319.95)
If you ever want to be in command of a space ship, with all the peril, adventure and thrill of the same, this is your bet. FTL puts you in control of a spaceship and its crew as they race to Federation headquarters while being pursued by Rebel forces seeking to destroy you and the information you carry. At the start of a game, the player is made to pick a ship with a specific layout of rooms. These rooms (Piloting, engines, weapons, life support, among others) are then populated with a crew. A map is then generated, with eight sectors, each with about two dozen interesting waypoints in each sector. The player then jumps from waypoint to waypoint, unaware of what each one holds, as they make their way to the system exit. This process goes on until the player makes it to the Federation HQ. Players are allowed to back-track, though this is at the cost of fuel; a finite resource, and allows the rebel forces to catch up with the player’s vessel. Waypoints can give fuel, ammo, new crew members, and repairs. Some have ships in distress, and others have traps.
The core of the game lies in combat. The player can distribute power to different systems as the situation requires, have crew move around to kill fires, repair damage, or operate weapon systems to hit opposing forces. Hull breaches, exploded rooms, disabled systems, and hostile boarding forces happen with frightening regularity, and each has to be dealt with, otherwise the player is killed, and has to start over. It offers infuriatingly difficult but addictive gameplay, and is the epitome of “one more round before going to bed.” If you’re the kind who likes a challenge, a refreshing gameplay model, and hair-pulling difficulty, this is the perfect game.
2. Risk of Rain (PHP 319.95)
Another rouge-like game that takes the side-scrolling action platformer to a difficult new level, Risk of Rain puts the player in the shoes of a survivor of a space-train crash on a hostile planet. Users choose from a stable of different characters (with more available once they are unlocked), and fight increasing hordes of enemies as they make their way through a set number of levels to defeat a final boss. Time is an element in this game, as there is just one timer for the whole playthrough, with enemies getting tougher as time rolls on.
Like all other rouge-like games, the player gets punished severely for dying. While you do have health, once it hits zero, you have to restart from the very beginning. Fortunately, the game helps you along by giving you items in collectible chests, each one (of several dozen) gives your player special abilities, attacks, or traits that help you along the journey. Characters also have their own list of special moves that let you control the tempo of the conflict a little better, make you invincible, faster, or hit harder. Part of the fun of the game is the frantic gameplay, though it’s followed very closely by the item hunt, and that drive to find the perfect set of items for your playstyle. The enemies are also satisfyingly varied, with many different monster types across the different levels you fight through. As a bonus, networked multiplayer is available so you can share the frustration with a few friends.
3. Zombie Army Trilogy (PHP 1,119.95)
Built upon the successful game Sniper Elite 3, Zombie Army Trilogy (ZAT) puts you, and up to three other friends in the shoes of combatants stuck in a zombie-occupied Nazi Europe. Storytelling really isn’t the game’s strong suit, but that’s okay. You’re here to pop some zombie skulls as you travel between maps to complete each chapter.
While Sniper Elite 3 was heavy on stealth, planning, and the fine execution of a well-thought out plan, ZAT is basically a more refined Left 4 Dead. With the same complicated ballistics as the game it is born from, ZAT really tests your ability to nail consistent precision shots, and rewards you with awesome X-Ray bullet-time footage of the kind of damage you did to your poor undead victim. If we’ve just made the game sound easy, allow us to say that it isn’t. Easily one of the harder first person shooters out there, ZAT isn’t for the faint of heart, or twitchy of hand. It’s a great game regardless though.
4. Gang Beasts (PHP 499.95)
Though this game is currently in early access, Gang Beasts is a heaping load of fun and adorableness mixed with subtle violence. It’s a fun party game involving at most eight players taking control of monotone blobs of jelly humans with large cartoonish eyes. The goal is to be the last man standing, and you can beat others up to zero health, throw them into hazards, or push them off the map in order to gain that status. With a simple control scheme, wonky in-game physics, and eight maps to choose from, it’s one you’ll play frequently with friends.
5. Saints Row Ultimate Franchise Pack (PHP 1,239.95)
Grand Theft Auto’s over-the-top sibling, Saints Row is a definite must play. Seriously. Sure there’s the regular shoot, steal a car, drive to here, get item XYZ, and rinse and repeat formula of the genre, but what sets the franchise apart is its comedic and light-hearted approach to the whole thing. The developers frequently break the fourth wall by references to the absurdity of the game (satires about clichés, callouts to a player who’s been idle for a long time, etc.). Heck, the latest game even has you parading as the USA’s super powered president taking on a maniacal and theatrical alien overlord. If that doesn’t sound like a blast, we don’t know what does.
Also published in December 2015 to January 2016 Issue
Words by Ren Alcantara and Chris Hidalgo