The drop for March 2021 came and went over the last week. I was a bit busy trying to keep up with my Masters of Teaching coursework and my day job as a musician (weirdly enough, we had work this week!)... so, I've not had enough time until this weekend to take a good look at the 12 games that dropped in the March Subscription bundle. However, a quick look at the front page of the March Bundle was quite exciting! There are a couple of games that are leading the Bundle that have been on my wish list for quite some time!

The big name leading the Bundle is the highly acclaimed Control. Sadly, it is only the Standard edition and not the recently released Ultimate Edition with all the DLC included. Still, this has been a game that I've been wanting to get for ages, but have resisted because of my game backlog. This is one of the benefits of the Humble Subscription, you do get some pretty nice drops that lead the bundle each month. Some of them are AAA games from only a few months ago! So, definitely a keeper and an instant installation for this one!

Next up is the story heavy Chimera Squad. Chimera Squad was a slight deviation and experimentation upon the turn-based tactics that was honed to a fine edge in XCOM2. It followed a tighter controlled story line that focused on the individual members of Chimera Squad in the years after the success of XCOM in XCOM2. I'm such an XCOM fan that I actually bought this game at launch! So, this is an extra key that will go straight to my Bengy's Game Store!

ELEX is another game that has been on my wishlist for quite some time. It is a RPG from the makers of the Gothic series. Now Gothic is a series that is more in the European style of RPGs, and as such is much more punishing than the ones that come out of the United States. So, Gothic was met with quite some horror from players that were more accustomed to being super-powered at all points in the game. ELEX is a similar style, but with a futuristic setting instead. So, something that I'm definitely claiming for myself!

Kingdoms Two Crowns is the sequel to Kingdoms (surprise surprise....). Apart from new mechanics, the biggest addition is the co-op play. I did enjoy the original Kingdoms as a sort of relaxing casual play... but it was a bit confusing as to what was actually happening most of the time. I see from the reviews that that aspect hasn't been really fixed though. Co-op is pretty cool though, I'm always on the lookout to find games that would be interesting to play with my oldest daughter, and Kingdoms was such a pretty little retro styled game! So, a keeper!

WWE 2K Battlegrounds... sigh, I think this sounds like a franchise cash-in. I wouldn't touch this game if I had to pay money for it... as part of a bundle, I'm slightly curious. But after reading the reviews, with more micro-transactions within the game... I think this one is a hard pass. Maybe it could be vaguely interesting to a WWE fan, but not for me!

The graphics from Hotshot Racing reminds me of that old favourite from around 2000, Interstate 76. However, this is 2020... and I'm really sure that we have better racing games with better graphics. In fact, Mario Kart 8 on the Switch looks more enticing to play than this game. Hard pass.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind seems to be another franchise game. I'm not familiar at all with Peaky Blinders, but I have heard of it. The game seems to be a sort of Commandos clone, but I'm intrigued enough by the setting and the look of the game to hang on to this key. We will see if my curiosity will be rewarded... or if the game will be a disappointment!

Cyber Hook, another retro style platformer. There is something to be said of distilling a game down to fundamental mechanics, but I think this sort of game is more interesting for a specific type of gamer. Someone who has more of a speed-runner mentality... not me with my preference for slow thinking. Pass!

Pesterquest is a Visual Novel game set in a completely new universe setting for me (Homestuck/Hiveswap). Ha ha... Hiveswap caught my eye immediately! Anyway, I'm pretty curious about this game, I've been getting into Visual Novel games recently... they can be pretty decent if they are set up in an already established narrative universe. So, definitely intrigued about this one. Keeper!

Another pixel type game in the form of Wildfire, where your hero character controls the elements in a 2D platformer. Interesting, but not interesting enough... I'm not a fan of platformer games, so I'm relatively sure that this game just isn't going to click for me! Straight to the game store!

Boreal Blade is an Early Access game, so still in the early stages of development. A game based solely around medieval melee combat and designed as a team-based multiplayer experience. It does look interesting, but I'm afraid that I am well past the age where online multiplayer appeals to me. I think I would prefer to return back to Mount and Blade 2 instead of installing this game... sorry, I would prefer to have a game that had much more than the hand-to-hand combat! To the store!

Ageless... retro visuals, platformer gaming. Straight to the store!

MARCH 2021

Control
XCOM®: Chimera Squad
ELEX
Kingdom Two Crowns
WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS
Hotshot Racing
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
Cyber Hook
Pesterquest
Wildfire
Boreal Blade
Ageless

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Humble Bundle is an awesome subscription service, dropping up to 10 games each month of around 300 euros in price for the low low price of 12 USD. In addition you get access to the Humble Trove of downloadable games that accessible as long as you have a subscription and up to 20% discounts on the games being sold on the main store (in addition to any other discounts).

So, a super great deal... however, I have found that it is incredibly annoying to not have a historical listing of ALL the past Monthly drops in a place that is easy to find and accessible. I have to trawl through my old monthly purchases to look individually to see what has already dropped! There doesn't even seem to be a compilation of this information anywhere on the internet (not that I could find at least...).... so, I'm going to be releasing an updated historical list of Monthly Bundles each month (surprise...) when the Choice bundle drops.

Mostly, this is more for my own sanity... and I really hope that it is of some use to other people as well. When a sale goes up, I always am wondering if I already own the game (I don't tend to claim the purchases and keys immediately...) and if I'm going to be double buying the Steam key... or if the game goes on sale on Switch or a different platform, I don't want to be buying a second copy again!... or maybe someone will see this and see what a great deal
Humble Bundle really is! Plus, if you like e-books (comics and books) or audiobooks, there are often Pay-What-You-Want deals going on all the time!

So, without further ADO!... the historical listings, in reverse chronological order (newest first..) of the Humble Choice games... from when I first joined! This is being done manually... it is a pain in the arse, but Humble doesn't make it easy! Still, when it is done, each new month will be easier to do! Just got to remember to make a template...

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Humble Bundle

Have you heard of Humble Bundle? It's a place to get some really great deals on Games, e-books and comic bundles. However, if you sign up for a Humble Bundle Subscription (12 USD per month) you get some really nice bonuses!

1. A 100+ USD bundle of games delivered direct to you each month, redeemable on Steam, Uplay or direct download (depending on the game). This includes recent Triple A games!
2. Access to the Humble Bundle "Trove", a list of 60 games (and growing...) which are free to play as long as you remain a subscriber!
3. Additional Discounts on the Humble Bundle store, with the choice of supporting charities, Humble Bundle or developers in whatever percentage that you wish!

Humble Bundle Subscriptions, it's a no brainer for the dedicated gamer!