David’s 2021 Steam Winter Sale Recommendations

The weather (and pretty much everything else) outside is frightful, but once again, the Steam sales are quite delightful. I hope you’ll find the continuation of my biannual tradition of writing up a lengthy list of game suggestions during this year’s Steam Winter Sale to be both helpful and equally enjoyable. If you’re familiar with this little institution of mine, however, you’re well aware that I have a couple of caveats and disclaimers to include before we get to the reason you’re reading this article.

The first bit of quasi-legal semi-nonsense I feel compelled to declare is that, as always, this article will function in the exact same manner that all of its predecessors have. The only difference lies in the variety of games I intend to present for your perusal and consideration on this most wintry occasion. There will not be a single game on this list that I personally haven’t played. I would never recommend that you spend your hard-earned money on anything with which I’m not familiar. That would simply be lazy and outright inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.

Secondly, I will refrain entirely from re-listing games I’ve previously mentioned within a piece like this unless any of the games in question have received a significant update and/or piece of DLC since their previous turn in the spotlight. That is to say, you won’t see a game here if I’ve discussed it before in this context unless I feel I have proper justification for breaking this self-imposed rule. I like to keep these lists as fresh as possible, so I always do my best to present a new variety of titles during each significant Steam sale.

My final trio of points is as follows: the games presented here are arranged in no particular order, and all prices listed are in USD. As such, you may want to keep a currency converter handy if necessary. Lastly, the prices you see within this article will be valid until the sale ends on January 5th, 2022. With all of that stuff taken care of, we can now turn our attention to the main event. As per usual, I invite you to grab a cup of your winter-themed beverage of choice and make yourself comfortable. Without further ado, let us embark on our journey through some of my highlights of 2021’s Steam Winter Sale.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Anthology – Discount: 83% – Sale Price: $35.08

Let’s not kid ourselves, folks. I’m not a betting man by any stretch of the imagination, but I still think it’s a safe wager to theorize that at least some portion of our longtime audience saw this entry coming from a mile away. We’re in the midst of another significant Steam sale and there’s been a new edition of Civilization VI released since the previous one. These factors combined mean that I’m both morally and contractually obligated to include the Civilization VI Anthology on this list.

So, then, what all does this newest edition of Civ 6 get you in exchange for your cold, hard cash? I’m glad you asked! The Civilization VI Anthology will net you the base game, all of its Digital Deluxe Edition downloadable content, both of its full expansions, and all six DLC packs which combine to form its season pass (aka the New Frontier Pass). I think it would be most advantageous if I were to break down at least a majority of the content that each aspect of this bundle will grant you, so please allow me to elaborate.

I’ll begin with the DLC you get from the game’s Digital Deluxe Edition. This portion of the Anthology bundle includes at least three scenario packs and the following set of seven new playable Civs: Poland, Indonesia, Macedon, Persia, Australia, Nubia, and Khmer. Then comes the content present within Civ 6’s first expansion, Rise & Fall. This expansion pack includes eight new playable Civs and a total of nine new leaders to go along with them.

The new Civs in question are the Dutch, Korea, Scotland, Mongolia, the Cree, Georgia, the Zulu, and the Mapuche. Each of these Civs has its own unique leader, which brings us up to eight. The ninth and final leader introduced in this expansion is Chandragupta, who can be selected to stand in for Gandhi as an alternate leader of India. As you might expect, though, the new Civs and new leaders are just the tip of the metaphorical iceberg that encompasses everything the Rise & Fall expansion offers Civ fans.

This DLC also introduces concepts like Governors, who can be assigned to a maximum of seven cities in each Civ’s empire. Through the use of promotions called Governor Titles, they provide specific benefits to the cities in which they’re situated. Governors also increase a city’s Loyalty to its founding Civ, which constitutes another new gameplay mechanic introduced in Rise & Fall. If a city’s Loyalty falls too low, it may begin to spawn rebellious military units that will need to be dealt with.

Sufficiently unhappy and disloyal cities might also secede from their founding Civ entirely and possibly petition to join a different empire. When this happens, these so-called “Free Cities” can be incorporated into any Civ that either exerts the necessary amount of Loyalty pressure or captures the city militarily. This mechanic emphasizes the importance of players keeping their empire’s inhabitants as pleased as possible. Essentially, if you strive to ensure that your citizens are content with your rule, you probably won’t have to worry about any potential uprisings.

The main aspect introduced in Rise & Fall is that which its title subtly references. That is to say, this expansion brings about the concept of Civs experiencing different types of so-called “Ages” as time passes based on the player’s performance. If you’re familiar with this title’s predecessor, Civilization V, you’re probably aware of the existence of Golden Ages. However, what you might not know in that case is that within Civilization VI: Rise & Fall, Golden Ages last entire in-game eras rather than just a small handful of turns. This DLC also introduces Dark Ages and Heroic Ages to go along with them.

After that brief overview of some of the features present within Civilization VI’s first expansion, let us now move on to its second, which is entitled Gathering Storm. This DLC pack adds such things as natural disasters and climate change for players to contend with, as well as two new scenario packs and the Diplomatic Victory condition. Gathering Storm also adds a further eight playable Civs and nine leaders to serve as their accompaniments. The new empires in question are those of Hungary, Canada, the Inca, Mali, Sweden, the Ottomans, the Māori, and the Phoenicians.

This list accounts for eight of Gathering Storm’s leaders. The ninth and final head of state added in this expansion is Eleanor of Aquitaine, who can be chosen to lead either England or France. The concept of a single leader serving at the helm of more than one playable Civ was unheard of within Civilization VI when the Gathering Storm expansion was released, although the New Frontier Pass would later go on to add a second example of this mechanic in the form of Kublai Khan.

I noted a second ago that Gathering Storm introduces the concept of the Diplomatic Victory condition to Civ 6. Logic dictates that the expansion also introduced methods whereby this victory type can be achieved. Your goal this time around is to earn a specific number of Diplomatic Victory points. These can be earned either with the cooperation of your fellow Civs voting for you to earn them in the World Congress, or entirely by yourself if you have enough Diplomatic Favor to override the opinions of any Civs who vote against you on this matter.

Ideally, given the nature of the “Diplomatic” Victory, you would want to take the first of those two routes to glory if at all possible. I think it’s the more noble way to win via this method because you earned the respect and adoration of your opponents. However, if you install yourself as Suzerain of enough City-States, develop the Civics necessary to modernize your government type as quickly as you can, and strategically utilize Social Policy cards to maximize your per-turn “income” of Diplomatic Favor, you can ensure that the only opinion that matters in the World Congress is yours.

That is, assuming climate change and natural disasters don’t render the world completely uninhabitable before the World Congress essentially declares you “President of Earth.” Just as we do in the real world today, Civ fans with the Gathering Storm expansion will have to contend with a changing climate and the pouring of carbon dioxide, whether inadvertent or otherwise, into the atmosphere by humanity that’s contributing to it.

You see, as the in-game world begins to industrialize within Gathering Storm, Civs can research technologies that allow them to provide electricity to their cities through various means. This expansion introduces five primary methods of doing this: coal power plants, oil power plants, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric dams, and geothermal vents. There are other, secondary routes as well, such as offshore wind turbines and solar farms that can be constructed as tile improvements by Builders. As you can probably imagine, each of these methods has a measurable effect on the environment in one direction or the other.

That is to say, coal and oil power plants spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a near-breakneck pace. This isn’t ideal, but they’re virtually your only option for powering your cities in the relatively early game. Nuclear power plants are considerably more efficient than their earlier counterparts. Thus, they minimize their negative environmental effects. The catch when using them is the fact that they require fairly frequent maintenance in the form of a specific city project so that they don’t, to use a highly technical term, “go boom.”

Things like hydroelectric dams and naturally-occurring geothermal vents are the most efficient and environmentally-friendly ways to power your cities as each game progresses into its later stages. What’s more, if you’ve already built a dam on a river near one of your cities to mitigate the effects of that river flooding, you can spend either some Production or some gold to upgrade it to a hydroelectric dam when you research the necessary technology. Basically, this means the dam will still protect any nearby tiles from flood damage and power any cities within a certain range of it. That’s a win-win if I’ve ever seen one!

Speaking of floods, they are but one type of natural disaster that can occur and ruin your day within Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. There are also things like blizzards, droughts, dust storms, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Each type of disaster will typically damage any cities, tile improvements, specialty districts, and military units caught in its vicinity. They can additionally reduce a city’s population if the event is severe enough. This may lead you to think you can avoid certain types of disasters by simply not settling any cities near rivers or volcanoes.

While that idea is technically true, there are a couple of inherent flaws with it. Firstly, although floods and volcanic activity can indeed be avoided by staying far enough away from their sources, it’s impossible to ward off every type of in-game natural disaster. A sufficiently severe drought can still take a fairly heavy toll on one of your cities if you’re barely managing to keep its citizens fed, for example. While droughts don’t damage city walls or pillage districts as other disaster types do, as I said, there’s no real way to prevent them as far as I’m aware.

Secondly, there’s actually a gameplay mechanic that encourages you to settle near potentially hazardous natural features like rivers and volcanoes. When a river floods or a volcano erupts, no matter the intensity with which they do so, at least some of the surrounding tiles are considered “renewed.” This primarily increases their food output if you capitalize on such events by building farms on these tiles. Granted, it can be quite annoying to have to frequently send builders to repair any farms that are damaged by these disasters, but I would argue this trade-off can easily prove worthwhile more often than not.

At this point, let’s switch gears once again and turn our attention to Civilization VI’s New Frontier Pass. This season pass is a collection of six DLC packs which each contribute something new to help keep your next several thousand rounds of Civ even fresher than the expansions could on their own. It goes about this by adding a further eight playable Civs, nine leaders, new Natural and World Wonders, and eight new optional game modifiers.

Everyone who owns the entirety of the New Frontier Pass (you if you purchase the Civ 6 Anthology bundle) also received two bonus so-called “Persona Packs” which affect the leaders of America and France. These packs add new playable versions of President Theodore Roosevelt and Queen Catherine de Medici. Their alternate incarnations have new character models and gameplay agendas, among other changes. I suppose if you want to get technical, these Persona Packs mean that the New Frontier Pass adds a total of eleven leaders rather than nine, but I’ll leave that to you to decide.

The new Civs added by the New Frontier Pass are as follows: Vietnam, Babylon, Portugal, Byzantium, Gran Colombia, Gaul, the Maya, and Ethiopia. The ninth new leader is the aforementioned Kublai Khan, who can be selected as ruler of both Mongolia and China. Lastly, the two different versions of the American and French heads of state are known as “Rough Rider” Teddy Roosevelt and “Magnificence” Catherine de Medici.

That brings us to those optional game modifiers I mentioned. These are as follows: Heroes and Legends Mode, Secret Societies Mode, Monopolies & Corporations Mode, Zombie Defense Mode, Dramatic Ages Mode, Apocalypse Mode, Tech & Civic Shuffle Mode, and Barbarian Clans Mode. Of these eight new gameplay options, three require both the Rise & Fall and Gathering Storm expansions due to certain mechanics without which these modes cannot function.

For example, Apocalypse Mode requires Gathering Storm because the gameplay modifier increases the intensity and frequency of the expansion’s natural disaster mechanics and introduces a new unit that relies on those same gameplay aspects. Of course, if you take my advice and purchase the whole Civilization VI Anthology bundle, you won’t have to worry about missing any content because you’ll own everything the game has to offer. Perhaps next year, I’ll be able to make it through all of one of these lists without mentioning Civ 6, but I have my doubts.

Midnight Protocol – Discount: 20% – Sale Price: $11.99

The way I see it, there are two main types of people you should never cross, lawyers and hackers. Both have their unique ways to make your life miserable if you get on their bad side, but I’d argue that skilled hackers are far more dangerous than even the most proficient practicing attorney. After all, when a lawyer initiates litigation against you, at least you know who they are and why they’re doing that. Hackers, on the other hand, can exact revenge in so many different ways and cover their tracks so well that it can seem like the universe itself is out to get you.

The subject of this entry, LuGus Studios and Iceberg Interactive’s Midnight Protocol, is a tale about a hacker who was crossed by one of their own. It’s your goal to step into the virtual shoes of the hacktivist known as “Data” and track down your adversary “Kraken.” You need to find out why they leaked your identity to the authorities and landed you behind bars in United Nations custody for criminal hacking-related activities. To do that, you’ll need to use your advanced technical skills and capitalize on any mistakes Kraken may have made once they thought they were rid of you.

If you’re interested in learning more about Midnight Protocol and what I think of this title, I humbly suggest that you check out my review that was published back in October. However, if you need to make a split-second decision about whether or not to purchase the game and don’t have time to read that article, I’ve got you covered. Allow me to briefly summarize my opinion of Midnight Protocol so as to give you a more informed concept of it.

I think the game is aimed more towards a tech-savvy audience, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play it if you aren’t as comfortable with computers and networking as I happen to be. The game’s developers likely knew they wouldn’t sell Midnight Protocol exclusively to tech nerds like myself, so they included a great deal of quite helpful tutorials to assist in the process of getting you acclimated to the core gameplay loop.

Because of those tutorials, I never felt like any of my mistakes were even remotely the game’s fault because it hadn’t told me how a mechanic works or when I’ve gotten myself into a jam. In short, if you’re in the market for a thrilling tale of cyber-warfare and/or just want to experience some part of what it’s like to be a hacker, Midnight Protocol might very well be right up your alley. That’s why I’m so confident in saying the game has earned its spot on this list.

Back 4 Blood – Discount: 40% – Sale Price: $35.99 (for the Standard Edition; $53.99 for the Deluxe Edition or $59.99 for the Ultimate Edition)

It seems to me as though so-called “spiritual successor” games are always going to have their share of detractors. Yooka-Laylee was rather heavily derided in some circles of the Internet for what certain groups of people saw as the besmirching of their memories of that title’s inspiration, the pair of Rareware’s Banjo-Kazooie games. Now, thanks to the joint effort of Turtle Rock Studios and Warner Bros. Games, we have another spiritual successor that’s getting a not-insignificant amount of flak.

Although I suspect this may well be a fool’s errand, I’d like to seize this opportunity to try my hand at defending the game in question to some extent. Back 4 Blood is a title that clearly takes quite a bit of inspiration from Valve’s Left 4 Dead franchise, and it makes no secret of that. I would argue that’s to be expected, given the fact that Turtle Rock is composed to some degree of ex-Valve developers who worked on Left 4 Dead and its sequel.

Perhaps I’m just a simple man with simple tastes, but I’m more than likely not going to turn my nose up at a game that’s full of high-octane, zombie-slaying (or in this case, Ridden-slaying) action. I’ve never exactly been very skilled at these types of games, but that hasn’t stopped me from getting a great deal of enjoyment out of Back 4 Blood. In fact, for what it’s worth, it was an extraordinarily effortless decision for me to declare this title my 2021 Game of the Year without a second thought.

Yes, Back 4 Blood could ostensibly be written off as a simple L4D clone. Yes, it does that pretentious thing where it calls its enemies something other than zombies because they’re technically infected with some sort of parasite rather than being truly undead. There’s no denying any of that. I never said the game was well and truly flawless because it isn’t. I don’t know of any games I would describe in that manner, as a matter of fact.

I merely said that despite its possible over-reliance on the franchise that spawned it, I’ve personally had a blast with it up to this point. If you’ve been known to enjoy games in which you can essentially shut your brain off while you shoot some zombies (or Ridden), I strongly suspect you’ll feel similarly if you’re willing to just give this one a chance.

Brütal Legend – Discount: 50% – Sale Price: $7.49 ($9.99 for the edition that includes the game and its original soundtrack)

Ah, this one takes me back to a simpler time. Some among our audience might recall that Brütal Legend was the first game I ever reviewed here on Phenixx Gaming, right when the site initially launched in March of 2019. I almost can’t believe I’ve been fortunate enough to remain in this line of work alongside my fellow founding members for so long, but that’s neither here nor there. Regardless of my sentimentality on the matter, I think you need to enjoy three things to truly fall in love with Brütal Legend: heavy metal music, action-adventure games, and real-time strategy games.

The uninitiated among you may not immediately see how those three things are connected in this context. You see, I would argue that the game falls into both genres I just mentioned, and heavy metal music is quite literally central to its story. For the “action-adventure” portion of the title, you drive around in a custom-built hot rod, completing missions and exploring the world to find everything it has to offer. Of course, that custom car of yours features a radio that blares heavy metal music from the game’s quite extensive library of licensed songs.

Occasionally during its story campaign, however, you’ll have to contend with an abrupt pause to your ultimate quest in order to participate in a real-time strategy segment. You probably know the drill: gather and spend resources to spawn combat units that serve to both protect your base and assault the enemy stronghold. I must confess that I personally don’t care for these segments of Brütal Legend, but then again, I’ve always been more of a turn-based strategy kind of guy (as if you couldn’t already tell).

As I said in my aforementioned review, those RTS bits knocked a couple of points off of the game’s score in my opinion. However, if you can deal with them for the sake of completing the story, and you like the game’s soundtrack of metal (as well as its guest appearances from many of the musicians responsible for portions of that soundtrack), I think you’ll greatly enjoy Brütal Legend. Heck, it’s entirely possible that you’ll find the most enjoyment out of the RTS segments where I found little.

Orcs Must Die! 3 – Discount: 34% – Sale Price: $19.79

You know, folks, I’ve got to admire this game and both of its predecessors for putting their primary objective and core gameplay loop right in their titles. There are hordes of attacking orcs, they must die, and each game is more than happy to hand you several ways to get from point A to point B with few restrictions on how you go about doing that. As the metal band 3 Inches of Blood said in one of their more famous songs, “Kill the orcs, slay the orcs, destroy the orcs.” That is to say, you can phrase your task however you like so long as you prevent those orcs and their allies from entering the portal you’re tasked with guarding.

Orcs Must Die! 2 introduced co-op to the series, and the third game has kept that mechanic going provided you’ve got a partner to bring along for the orc-destroying action. As was the case in the second game, you have a choice of two playable characters, though they’re not the same duo you could control in OMD! 2. One of your characters this time around uses a magical bow as his weapon, while his counterpart wields what the game calls a “souped-up blunderbuss.”

This firearm can hold a maximum of four shots before it must be reloaded, though there’s strangely no manual reload button for it as far as I’m aware. In addition to the protagonists’ primary weapons, you’ll have access to several varieties of unlockable traps that help you slay those dastardly orcs and protect each level’s Rift. Many of these traps will be quite familiar to you if you’ve played either of the earlier games in this series.

For example, things like the Spike Trap, Arrow Wall, and Tar Trap all make triumphant returns in OMD! 3. However, the game doesn’t just rest on its laurels, it adds quite a bit in the areas of new traps and level types for you to experience. Overall, I’d say the newest Orcs Must Die! game is more than worth the nine-year wait since its predecessor’s release. If I had to name just one aspect of this title to call my favorite, though, I’d have to go with its choice of narrator. That role goes to none other than Chris Sabat, who many of you probably know as the most prominent English voice of Vegeta in the various incarnations of the Dragon Ball anime.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition [Honorable Mention] – Discount: 60% – Sale Price: $15.99

The reason I’ve classified this entry as an honorable mention is simply that I’ve technically already featured Skyrim in one of my previous recommendation rallies. That was in the context of a bundle alongside the Game of the Year editions of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, though. This time around, I want to recommend Skyrim on its own merits in case there’s somehow anyone out there who still hasn’t played this wildly-popular RPG. Its newly-released Anniversary Edition, while not exactly a groundbreaking collection of DLC by itself, has given me a suitable excuse to do just that.

Now then, I’ve elected to put Skyrim on this list because I’ve recently dived headfirst back into its content. In fact, at the time of writing, I’ve had to tear myself away from this particular title in order to sufficiently explain why I’m recommending it again. If I had to hazard a guess as to what has pulled me back into this monumental, decade-old game once again, I’d say it’s the fact that I had an urge out of the clear blue to create an Imperial character who looks as much like the legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury as Skyrim’s character creation system would allow.

Much to my delight, I think I’ve managed to accomplish that goal. I don’t think I’ll ever know what unearthly force caused me to want to recreate Mr. Mercury in Skyrim, but the more deeply I’ve gotten back into everything the game has to offer, the more content I become with leaving that question unanswered. This is just my newest way to enjoy a game I’ve loved for several years by this point, after all. I see no harm in that.

As an aside, if you’re wondering why I specifically chose to make Tamriel’s version of Freddie Mercury an Imperial, that’s primarily because of their “Voice of the Emperor” racial ability. This can be used once a day and calms everyone it hits, thus causing them to stop attacking for up to sixty seconds. I figured that was fitting because, honestly, who doesn’t calm down at least a little bit upon hearing the dulcet tones of Freddie’s pipes? I’ll tell you who: liars.

Having said all that, I wish to address the question of why I’m recommending the standard Special Edition of Skyrim rather than the aforementioned new Anniversary Edition. That’s because, judging by the Anniversary Edition’s reviews on Steam at the time of writing, much of the game’s existing player base is exceptionally unhappy with its new content and a slew of issues said content seems to be causing for them. “Exceptionally unhappy” is my attempt at phrasing that sentiment as diplomatically as I can, as you may have guessed.

That is to say, if you want to avoid potentially running into any issues caused by the Anniversary Edition but still want to play Skyrim, the Special Edition is more than likely all you’ll need. You’ll be saving a fair bit of money by skipping the Anniversary Edition, and all its extra content was actually created by the game’s community, anyway. Beyond that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that you don’t even need the Anniversary Edition to experience the fishing and Survival Mode updates you may have heard about. Bethesda gave those pieces of content away for free to all owners of the Special Edition.

There you have it, folks! Six games that I wholeheartedly advise that you should at least consider picking up before the conclusion of 2021’s Steam Winter Sale. I wanted to make this list much longer than it ended up being, but time slipped through my fingers at a more rapid pace than I anticipated. Nonetheless, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my suggestions. If you’re so inclined, do feel free to let your fellow readers and I know what (if anything) you plan to pick up during Steam’s wintry festivities!