Yea, until devs started leaking the dates way in advance for some attention. I prefer official communication over the dev of “Washcloth Simulator” spoiling the surprise.

Valve is not the one setting the prices. The publishers/developers are. One could argue that they are increasing their prices becauses of Valve’s cut, but they aren’t. A Ubisoft game for example costs the same on Steam as it does on the Ubisoft store, which is obviously not taking any cuts for its own games.

Also, 30% is the industry standard. Here is a nice overview IGN made in 2019. https://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2019/09/GameRetailerCuts_infographic-1.png

Edit for the price parity argument: If the parity would have increased game prices to include Valve’s cut, AAA games would have gotten 30% more expensive many years ago. But they didn’t.

Perfect Dark

Never played the original one.

I finished the second half of Hrot, a boomer shooter. It plays like a mix of Dusk and Quake 1, set in Czechoslovakia in the 80s.

Really good atmosphere, nice enemy variety, good level design with lots of secrets, great music, average gunplay.

I had a lot of fun and reading up about all the references to real life Czechoslovakia and Chech culture was quite interesting and educational.

I started playing Dave the Diver. It has a lot of charm, but it feels like two mobile games stiched together. I kinda like it, but I wish there was more to it.

A “tremendous turn off” he says?

The demo is really fun. Try it.

Hell yeah. Highly recommended game for everyone who enjoys retro shooters.

Or Boomishoots, how the people in the know call them.

Don’t care about Indiana Jones.

But MachineGames made some of the best FPS of the last decade… so I will at least take a look.

This sexy beast: https://claudiaandjulia.com/en/products/termo-outdoor-de-lurch?variant=39282776145981

Had it for little over a year now. Use it every day. The paint is chipping here and there, but functionally it is as good as new.