Cheap but good PC games?

[DementedSheep]

Basically I?m bored and I?m? trying to break away from just the AAA game market.
A) Because it just too damn expensive and B) because I?m sick of seeing the same thing over and over again even if it does have drool worthy graphics. I admit to being a bit of graphics whore.

Problem is I only ever hear about the big expensive titles. So anyone know of any good games for under $20 that they would recommend? I don?t particularly care about what type of game it is. I?m mostly just looking for something with a good story, characters and decent gameplay (more interested in story right now). I have heard good things about Beyond Good & Evil and it is only $10 at the moment. Is it worth it?

 

[Zoe Castillo]

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[DementedSheep]

Thanks! I will have to look those up.

 

[Ver1ty]

Make a Steam account (unless you already own one). Tons of awesome cheap and awesome games, and there is a discount on a certain game almost every day.

 

[Fangv2]

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
The Ball
Dues Ex
Killing Floor

Etc.
They can all be found on Steam [ttp://store.steampowered.com/], and Steam has a whole collection of Indies, AAA games, and Demos that would be worth looking at. Also they have great great great sales during the holidays.

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

Basically I?m bored and I?m? trying to break away from just the AAA game market.
A) Because it just too damn expensive and B) because I?m sick of seeing the same thing over and over again even if it does have drool worthy graphics. I admit to being a bit of graphics whore.

Problem is I only ever hear about the big expensive titles. So anyone know of any good games for under $20 that they would recommend? I don?t particularly care about what type of game it is. I?m mostly just looking for something with a good story, characters and decent gameplay. I have heard good things about Beyond Good & Evil and it is only $10 at the moment. Is it worth it?

Try Killing Floor. The Graphics aren't world changing, but it's a pretty fun game with a perk system that you can build on. It's similar to L4D2, but rather then survive against other players, you survive vs waves of mutants instead, working as a steam to make it with 7 unique 'perks' or classes. Each class specializes in certain weapons, and as you level that class up, you get bonuses for those kinds of weapons & that type of gameplay.

Lotsa ESC people play and it's I think 20 dollars or possibly less on Steam.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. There's even a Killing Floor Steam group and server, though I'm not totally sure if that server is still up. I tried to connect yesterday and it wasn't working :S

But yeah, I'd definitely go with Killing Floor. There's lots of fun to be had when you've got a good team.

 

[Aeshi]

I'd nominate Alien Swarm.

Not as good as some of the others on this list but it's free.

 

[superbatranger]

Basically I?m bored and I?m? trying to break away from just the AAA game market.
A) Because it just too damn expensive and B) because I?m sick of seeing the same thing over and over again even if it does have drool worthy graphics. I admit to being a bit of graphics whore.

Problem is I only ever hear about the big expensive titles. So anyone know of any good games for under $20 that they would recommend? I don?t particularly care about what type of game it is. I?m mostly just looking for something with a good story, characters and decent gameplay. I have heard good things about Beyond Good & Evil and it is only $10 at the moment. Is it worth it?

Try Killing Floor. The Graphics aren't world changing, but it's a pretty fun game with a perk system that you can build on. It's similar to L4D2, but rather then survive against other players, you survive vs waves of mutants instead, working as a steam to make it with 7 unique 'perks' or classes. Each class specializes in certain weapons, and as you level that class up, you get bonuses for those kinds of weapons & that type of gameplay.

Lotsa ESC people play and it's I think 20 dollars or possibly less on Steam.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. There's even a Killing Floor Steam group and server, though I'm not totally sure if that server is still up. I tried to connect yesterday and it wasn't working :S

But yeah, I'd definitely go with Killing Floor. There's lots of fun to be had when you've got a good team.

I think it's down. I will have to ask Kross about that. For a time, the game fell in popularity among the core ESC users who played but it's kicking pretty hard now so maybe I can get it rehosted. If not, I can always host my server for people.

That would be perfect. I've been wanting to get back into Killing Floor, but I wasn't so keen on playing with people I didn't really know.

 

[Valkyrie101]

Minecraft is a no-brainer here, ad if you haven't played it I'd look up Medieval II: Total War.

 

[Berethond]

Magicka is really awesome.
As is Minecraft.
As well as Team Fortress 2.

And, if you look around for a while, you can find tons of games that have been released for free on the internet. <url=http://www.gamesradar.com/f/30-commercial-games-released-for-free/a-20100202122153157099>Hit up this article for starters.

 

[BonsaiK]

Basically I?m bored and I?m? trying to break away from just the AAA game market.
A) Because it just too damn expensive and B) because I?m sick of seeing the same thing over and over again even if it does have drool worthy graphics. I admit to being a bit of graphics whore.

Problem is I only ever hear about the big expensive titles. So anyone know of any good games for under $20 that they would recommend? I don?t particularly care about what type of game it is. I?m mostly just looking for something with a good story, characters and decent gameplay (more interested in story right now). I have heard good things about Beyond Good & Evil and it is only $10 at the moment. Is it worth it?

To answer the question no-one else has answered yet:

Beyond Good And Evil is quite good. It's not flawless, it's got a few bugs that never got patched (hey, it's a Ubi product, goes without saying) but it's genuinely different to everything else out there, easy to play without being stupidly daft, and it has loads of personality and charm. The story is the usual "saving the world" fucking crap but it's not intolerable, it's got character. $10, hell yes.

If you like story, but want something darker, try Amnesia: The Dark Descent. If nothing else it's got one hell of a way of delivering the narrative.

You should also play Minecraft if you haven't. Best game I've played in years. Doesn't need a story because you make your own. And it's cheap.

Also, Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords. It'll change your mind about casual colour-matching games, and the story utterly kicks ass. Don't waste your time with any of the spin-offs or sequels though, the stories in them are all rubbish.

 

[AndrewF022]

Company of Heroes for $10 through steam, great RTS with a decent (if predictable seeing as its a WWII game) campaign and solid multiplayer that doesn't revolve around base building and resource mining.

OR Deus Ex for $10 once again from steam, great story, great gameplay and is fun no matter how many times you replay it (in my experience anyway).

 

[MrShowerHead]

Just checked the Steam Store and Audiosurf is just 10$
And Day Of Defeat: Source 10$
Also, Company of Heroes for 8$

Those could work

 

[mxfox408]

Use steam dude every weekend they have discounts and a buch of cheap games, www.steampowered.com

 

[itstimeforpie]

This hasn't been mentioned yet, but Gratuitous Space battles is pretty good, I think its around 20 dollars, and if you get into it, there's a lot of DLC available for pretty cheap too.

 

[MrCollins]

You can get Morrowind for 10$, I think, well I got it for 10 euros, so...
Great game, on of the most moded, almost brand new graphics ( if you can find the right mod) + great gameplay and story

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

A few indie games I have been playing up constantly:

Beat Hazard
Audiosurf

I think they are about $9.99 on steam and I've already invested about 15 hours or so in them total. Nothing is more fun than listening to my own music and playing a game with psychedelic colors and pictures manipulated from said music. Great fun.

 

[The Zango]

My main recommendation... Dwarf fortress, if you get the Lazy Newb pack with a tileset and if you find a good video tutorial like this .... http://www.youtube.com/user/captnduck then you can have ages of addictive, deep and hilarious Dwarfy fun.

However if thats not up your alley, then you can do what I've been meaning to do for years and play Planescape torment or something from Goodoldgames. Whatever tickles your fancy really.

Audiosurf

This!