I don't know if anybody else cares about these end-of-year round-ups,
but it's become something of a tradition (as in, I've done it for the
last two years), so I'm going to keep doing it. And by "it", I mean
I'm going to do a round-up of all the games you could have claimed
this year without paying a single dime. More specifically, these are
free games that were announced here on CSIPGA; there may have been
other offers available, but I'm only counting the ones that got
mentioned here simply because those are the only ones I knew about.
Not that wasn't enough of a selection!

So, let's look at the totals first. For games that were completely
free, there was a total of 210 games you could have claimed. This
included 95 games from Epic, 91 games from Steam, 17 games from GOG,
and another 7 from a variety of sources (I'll list all the titles by
platform below... if only to give my line-count a massive boost!).
That's a huge number of games to add to your collection. There were surprisingly few duplicates, too (at least amongst the games released
this year. There were a number of games offered in 2025 that had
already been given away for free in previous years). Epic games were
the best of the lot; their selection included a good number of
"triple-A" (or double-A) games, although this was mixed in with a good
number of Indie titles of mixed quality (and a few F2P stinkers).
Almost all of these were several years old, however. Steam games were
almost entirely Indie titles; most were crap but a few were worth
getting, and the vast bulk of these games were fairly new. The
developers were obviously using the freebie to jumpstart their
player-counts. GOG's games were very mixed; about half of them came
from an (embarrassingly bad) collection of adult games, with the
others being single-day give-aways by the game's publishers for some anniversary or another.


But there were more than just free games on offer. There were also a
lot of games available from Amazon Prime and HumbleChoice. These games
weren't free, but the prices per game were so ridiculously low that
they were /close/ to free. Amazon Prime Gaming posted 179 games; at a
cost of $139USD for a yearly Prime membership, that comes to $0.77USD
per game! Pretty good! HumbleChoice doesn't fare as well; the price
for a 2025 membership was $162 and you only got 88 games for that
price. $1.84USD per game isn't bad, but it pales compared to Amazon's offering... and paying Amazon also gets you movies and free shipping.
The selection of games, overall, were better on Amazon too... and I
really liked that about half of those games were redeemed on GOG,
which meant I could play those games forever (or as long as I kept the executables on disk).

[I /hate/ that I'm praising Amazon. They're such a scummy
company. But I can't deny that they were the better deal
this year than HumbleChoice]

If you add it all up --free games and 'cheap' games-- that comes to
477 games in total... and if you paid for both subscriptions, the
total cost would be $301USD... or an average cost of $1.58USD per
game, at a rate of 9 games added to your library per week. Or, in
other words, for the price of about four new 'triple-A' titles, you
could get 100x as many games. However you slice it, that's a pretty
good deal.

Of course, a lot of the games were of the sort you'd never play. Even
if they were good, the sheer variety meant that, inevitably, you'd run
across games that just don't interest you. Heck, even /I/ didn't add
the full 477 games to my library this year (although, I admit, I
missed out on more games because I already owned them than because I
refused to click the 'add to library' button ;-). But even if you were
a discerning gamer, you probably added at least a dozen new titles to
your personal Number... just because free games have become so
prevalent.


So how many games did you add to your library this year? Were these
enough to keep you busy, or did you buy other games too? And, as
important... how many did you actually play?!






----------------------
Note: What follows is a pointlessly long list of all free and 'nearly
free' games mentioned in CSIPGA in 2025 that I know nobody will read
but I feel an urge to include regardless. There's no need to keep
reading past this point unless you /really/ want to see a bunch of
game titles. There's no real content below. Honest.


//// EPIC GAMES \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
112 Operator * Albion Online F2P * Amnesia: The Bunker * Arcadegeddon
* Backpack Hero * Battle of Polytopia * Behind the Frame: The Finest
Scenery * Bendy and the Ink Machine * Beyond Blue * Blood West *
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night * Bloons TD 6 (mobile) * Botanicula
* Callisto Protocol * Cassette Beasts * Cat Quest * Cat Quest II *
Chivalry II * Chuchel * Civilization VI Platinum * Dead Island 2 *
Deadtime Defenders * Deathloop * Deliver at All Costs * Disco Elysium:
The Final Cut * Eastern Exorcist * Endless: Apogee (mobile) *
Eternights * F1 Manager 2024 * Fear the Spotlight * Felix the Reaper *
Figment * Figment 2: Creed Valley * Firestone Online Idle RPG * Five
Nights at Freddy s: Into the Pit * Garden Story * Ghostrunner 2 *
Gigapocalypse * Godzilla: Voxel Wars * Gravity Circuit * Happy Game *
Hell Let Loose * Hidden Folks * Hogwarts Legacy * Humankind * Idle
Champions of the Forgotten Realms * Jorel's Brother and the Most
Important Game of the Galaxy * Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel * Jurassic
World Evolution 2 * Kameru * Keylocker * Kingdom Come Deliverance *
Limbo * Machinarium * Mages of Mystralia * Make Way * Monument Valley
* Monument Valley 2 * Mortal Shell * Neko Ghost Jump * Nightingale *
Ogu and the Secret Forest * Paradise Killer * Pilgrims * Project
Winter * River City Girls * Road Redemption * Samorost 2 * Samorost 3
* Scourgebringer * Sifu * SKALD: Against the Dark Priory * Sky Racket
* Songs of Silence * Sorry, We're Closed * Strange Horticulture *
Super Space Club * The Darkside Detective * The Jackbox Party Pack 4 *
The Operator * The Sims 4 * Them's Fighting Herds * Tiny Tina's
Wonderlands * Totally Reliable Delivery Service * Touch Type Tale *
Trine Classic Collection (Trine #1-4) * Turmoil * Two Point Hospital *
Undying (2021) * Universe For Sale * Viewfinder * We Were Here
Together * World War Z Aftermath * Zero Hour * Zoeti




//// STEAM GAMES \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
112 Operator * 911 Operator * A Story About Farting * Aaero (via
Fanatical) * Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy 1999 * Asterix & Obelix
XXL: Romastered (via Fanatical) * AtmaSphere * Atuel: Explore Your
Dreams * Away * Banana Hell: Mountain of Madness * Barro GT *
Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock * Bioprototype * Black Desert * Black
Desert * Borderlands 2 * Bricks Over Blocks * Broilers * Bulb Boy *
Caribbean Crashers * Caveman World: Mountains of Unga Boonga *
Children of Clay * Cybarian: The Time Travelling Warrior * Darkenstein
3D * Dead in Bermuda * Down the Rabbit Hole: Flattened * Dracomanton *
Dreams of Aether * Fantasy General II * Field of Glory II: Medieval *
Free Solitaire * Furi: Demake * Game of Thrones: Kingsroad * Golden
Light * Guntouchables * Havok Ballons Tech Showcase * Hellslave * Holy
Clash Cards * Humankind: Cultures of Latin America Pack (DLC) *
Infinity Nikki * Isle of Jura * Jaded * Just Ignore Them * Keali *
Kitchen Wars * Lawn Mower Simulator (via Lenovo/Gameplanet) * Legion
TD 2 * Lunacid: Tears of the Moon * Mangui * Metro 2033 Redux * Mini
Thief * Minos: Home Alabyrinth * Mouthhole * Next Jump: Shmup Tactics
* Nubs: Arena * One Gun Guy * One Shift * Paradox Soul * Party Club *
Pico Park Classic Edition * Press Any Button * Prologue: Go Wayback
(Early Access) * Puzzle Chambers * Rat Quest * Sable * Shade Silver *
Snake Eyes Dungeon * Space Pilgrim Episode II: Epsilon Indi * Space
Pilgrim: Episode 1 - Alpha Centauri * Steamworld Dig * Stellar Mess:
The Princess Conundrum - Chapter 1 * Strange Antiquities * Tell Me Why
* The Deed * The Deed Dynasty * The Flayed Man * Three Sisters *
Towaga: Among Shadows * Toy Tinker Simulator * Ultimate Zombie Defense
* Undercroft Warriors * Walking Survival * Warhammer: Vermintide 2 *
Wednesdays * WereCleaner * WH40K: Boltgun - Words of Vengance * What
the Pak?! * Whiskey Mafia: Leo's Family * Wild Terra 2: New Lands *
Will Glow the Wisp * Zomborg




//// GOG GAMES \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
Agony (w/ Unrated edition) * Being a DIK (season 1) * Fetish Locator
(week 1) * Helping the Hotties * House Party * Hunie Pop * Leap of
Faith * Leap of Love * Lust Theory * Metro 2033 Redux * Postal 2 *
Sapphire Safari * Stasis * Summer's Gone (season 1) * Treasures of
Nadia * Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War * Warhammer 40,000:
Rites of War




//// OTHER PLATFORMS \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
Brutal Legend (via Itch.io) * Dreaming Sarah (via IndieGala) * Fly
around your home with Alex and the Jets (MetaQuest) * Immortals: Fenyx
Rising (Ubisoft) * Starship Unlimited (via Apezone) * Toree 3D (via
Itch.io) * Vile: Exhumed (via DreadXP.com)




//// AMAZON PRIME GAMING \\\\ (cost: $139USD)
After Image (via Amazon) * AK-xolotl: Together (via EPIC) * Amnesia:
Rebirth (via EPIC) * Amnesia: The Dark Descent (via EPIC) * Another
World 20th Anniversary Ed (via GOG) * Are you Smarter Than a 5th
Grader (via EPIC) * Ashworld (via GOG) * Beserk Boy (via GOG) *
Besiege (w/DLC) (via Amazon) * Big Adventure Trip to Europe CE (via
Legacy) * Bioshock 2 Remastered (via GOG) * Bioshock Infinite Complete
Ed (via GOG) * Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain (via GOG) * Blood Omen:
Legacy of Kain (via GOG) * Blood West (via GOG) * Bo: Path of the Teal
Lotus (via GOG) * Boxes: Lost Fragments (via EPIC) * Chessarama (via
Epic) * Christmas Adventure: Candy Storm (via Legacy) * City Legends:
The Ghost of Misty Hill CE (via Legacy) * Civilization IV Complete
Edition (via GOG) * Colt Canyon (via GOG) * Crime Boss: Rockay City
(via Epic) * D&D Dark Sun series (via GOG) * Dark City: Kyiv CE (via
Amazon) * Dark Deity - Complete Edition (via GOG) * Dark Envoy (via
GOG) * Dark Sky (via GOG) * Death Squared (via GOG) * Deus Ex GOTY
(via GOG) * Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (via GOG) * Deus
Ex: Invisible War (via GOG) * Doors: Paradox (via EPIC) * DragonStrike
(via GOG) * Dread Out 2 (via Amazon) * Dream Tactics (via GOG) *
Dungeon & Dragons: Ravenloft Series (via GOG) * Dungeon of the Endless Definitive Edition (via Amazon) * Dungeons & Dragons: Krynn Series
(via GOG) * Eastern Exorcist (via Epic) * El Hijo: A Wild West Tale
(via Epic) * Empty Shell (via GOG) * Ender Lilies: Quietus of the
Knights (via EPIC) * Endless Legend: Definitive Edition (via Amazon)
* Endless Space 2 Definitive Edition (via Amazon) * Endless Space
Definitive Edition (via Amazon) * Fallout 3 GOTY (via GOG) * Fallout
76 (via BethesdaNet) * Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate (via GOG) * Fantasy
Empires (via GOG) * Fashion Police Squad (via EPIC) * FATE (via GOG) *
FATE: The Cursed King (via GOG) * FATE: The Traitor Soul (via GOG) *
FATE: Undiscovered Realms (via GOG) * Figment 2: Creed Valley (via
AMAZ) * Filthy Animals: Heist Simulators (via EPIC) * Football Manager
2024 (via EPIC) * Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection 1 (via
GOG) * Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection 2 (via GOG) *
Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection 3 (via GOG) * Fort Solis
(via GOG) * Gallery of Things: Reverie (via Legacy) * GameDec -
Definitive Edition (via GOG) * Gas Station Simulator (via Epic) *
Gloomhaven (via EPIC) * God's Trigger (via GOG) * Golf With Your
Friends (via GOG) * GRIP: Combat Racing (via GOG) * GunSlugs (via GOG)
* Gunslugs 2 (via GOG) * Gylt (via Amazon) * Halloween Stories Horror
Movie CE (via AMAZ) * Hardspace: Shipbreaker (via EPIC) * Hellslave
(via GOG) * Heroes of Loot (via GOG) * Heroes of Loot 2 (via GOG) *
Hypnospace Outlaw (via GOG) * I Love Finding Wild Friends (via Legacy)
* Into the Breach (via EPIC) * Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely
Revolutionaries (via EPIC) * Jupiter Hell (via GOG) * Labyrinth City:
Pierre the Maze Detective (via Amazon) * Legacy of Kain: Defiance (via
GOG) * Lego 2K Drive (via Epic) * Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
(via GOG) * Let's Build A Zoo (via Epic) * Liberte (via Epic) * Lost &
Found Agency CE (via Legacy) * Lost and Found Agency CE (via Luna) *
Lost Ashford Ring (via Legacy) * Love Finding Wild Friends CE (via
Legacy) * Lovecraft's Untold Stories (via GOG) * Lysfanga: The Time
Shift Warrior (via EPIC) * Mafia II: Definitive Edition (via GOG) *
Mafia III: Definitive Edition (via GOG) * Mail Time (via GOG) *
Marvel's Midnight Suns (via EPIC) * Minecraft Legends (via Microsoft's
XBox thing) * Mordheim: City of the Damned (via GOG) * Mortal Shell
(via Epic) * Mutazione (via GOG) * Mystical Riddles: Ghostly Park CE
(Legacy) * Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master (via Amazon) * Necroking (via
GOG) * New Tales from the Borderlands (via EPIC) * New York Mysteries
(via Legacy) * New York Mysteries Power of Art (via Legacy) * Night
Reverie (via Amazon) * Paleo Pines (via Amazon) * Paquerette Down the Bunborrows (via EPIC) * Pixel Cafe (via AMAZ) * PlateUp! (via EPIC) *
Priest Simulator: Vampire Show (via Epic) * Projection: First Light
(via Amazon) * Redemption Reapers (via Epic) * Republic of Jungle (via
Epic) * Residual (via GOG) * Royal Romances: Cursed Heart CE (via
Legacy) * Saints Row 2 (via GOG) * Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (via GOG)
* Saints Row The Third: Remastered (via GOG) * Saints Row: Gat Out of
Hell (via GOG) * Sands of Aura (via EPIC) * Session: Skate Sim (via
Epic) * Sid Meier's Civilization 3 Complete (via GOG) * Silver Box
Classics (via GOG) * Skydrift Infinity (via EPIC) * Spelljammer:
Pirates of Realmspace (via GOG) * Spirit Mancer (via Amazon) *
Spitlings (via AMAZ) * Star Stuff (via EPIC) * Star Wars Dark Forces
II Jedi Knight (via GOG) * Star Wars Rebellion (via GOG) * Star Wars:
Galactic Battlegrounds Saga (via GOG) * Station to Station (via
Amazon) * Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech (via GOG) * Stray Gods:
Orpheus Edition (via GOG) * Stunt Kite Party (via Amazon) * Styx:
Master of Shadows (via GOG) * Subterrain: Mines of Titan (via Amazon)
* Super Meat Boy Forever (via EPIC) * Surf World Series (via Amazon)
* Syberia: The World Before (via GOG) * Talos Principle: Gold Ed. (via
GOG) * The Abandoned Planet (via Amazon) * The Bridge (via Epic) * The Forgotten City (via AMAZ) * The Invisible Hand (via Amazon) * The Last
Show of Mr. Chardish (via EPIC) * The Last Spell (via GOG) * The Lost
Ashford Ring (via Legacy) * The Smurfs 2: Prisoner of the Green Stone
(via GOG) * The Town of Light (via GOG) * The Wisbey Mystery (via
Legacy) * Thief 4 Definitive Edition (via GOG) * Thief Gold (via GOG)
* Thief II: The Metal Age (via GOG) * Thief: Deadly Shadows (via GOG)
* Tin Hearts (via GOG) * To the Rescue! (via EPIC) * TOEM (via GOG) *
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (via GOG) * Tormented Souls (via AMAZ) *
Trinity Fusion (via Amazon) * Troublemaker (via EPIC) * True Fear:
Forsaken Souls Part 1 (via GOG) * True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 2
(via GOG) * Vampire: The Masquerade ? Reckoning of New York * Venba
(via GOG) * Werewolf The Apocalypse Heart of the Forest (via AMAZ) *
Wild Country (via GOG) * Wolfenstein II: The New Collossus (via MS) * Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (via MS) * Wolfenstein: Youngblood (via
Microsoft) * XCOM 2 (via GOG) * Yes, Your Grace (via GOG) * You Will
Die Here Tonight (via GOG) * Zombie Army 4: Dead War (via GOG)



//// HUMBLE CHOICE \\\\ (cost: $162USD)
1000x Resist * Against the Storm * Aliens: Dark Descent * Amnesia:
The Bunker * Another Crab's Treasure * Atomic Heart * Banishers: Ghost
of New Eden * Beholder: Conductor * Beneath Oresa * Biped * Blanc *
Blasphemous 2 * Boxes: Lost Fragments * Caravan Sandwitch * Cat Quest
II * Cavern of Dreams * Corpse Keeper * Cryptmaster * Daemon X Machina
* Death's Door * Diplomacy Is Not An Option * Distant Worlds 2 *
Dordogne * Dredge * Dungeon Tycoon * Dungeons of Hinterberg * Eastern
Exorcist * Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes * Etrian Odyssey HD *
Everafter Falls * Evil West * Fort Solis * Godlike Burger * Grapple
Dog * Gravity Circuit * Havendock * Homeworld 3 * Hotel Renovator *
Intravenous II * Jagged Alliance 3 * Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered * Let's School! * Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased
His Name * Lil Gator Game * Lost Skies * My Time at Sandrock * Neo Cab
* Nine Sols * No More Heroes 3 * Nobody Wants to Die * Nomad Survival
* Nova Lands * Pacific Drive * Paleo Pines * Persona 5 Royal *
Pharaoh: A New Era * Plucky Squire, The * Racine * Return to Monkey
Island * Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew * Shogun Showdown * Sir
Whoopass: Immortal Death * Sker Ritual * Spellforce: Conquest of Eo *
Spin Hero * Star Wars: Bounty Hunter * Story of Seasons: Pioneers of
Olive Town * Streets of Rage 4 * Synergy * Tales of Kenzera: Zau (via
EA Origin) * Tchia * The Pegasus Expedition * The Thaumaturge: Deluxe
Edition * Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip * Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered * Total
War: Warhammer III * Ultros * V Rising * Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun *
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader * Warhammer 40K: Speed Freeks * WarPips
* Wild Hearts (via EA Origin) * Wildmender * Wizard with a Gun * WWE
2K25






--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 12/31/2025 8:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So how many games did you add to your library this year? Were these
enough to keep you busy, or did you buy other games too? And, as
important... how many did you actually play?!

I'm not entirely sure, most of them though.

I didn't take any Humble Bundle, as they almost never have anything I
actually want, and can't see paying the price for more games I'm not interested in.

I didn't take any of the Prime games from Xbox as I don't want to pay
for live just to play them on xbox 360 if they even work on it, which is
the only xbox I have. I also didn't take any Prime games on that other service I don't even remember the name of that seems to be a bunch of
not even mobile worthy point and click game. I stopped taking Luna
games as the lag from cloud streaming is too annoying. I took
everything else for Prime from GOG and EPIC if I didn't have it already.

Epic I've been deliberately trying not to collect a bunch of trash, but
my willpower isn't great in that regard, and took most of the free
games. I greatly enjoyed Control, and consider that the big win this
year (or was it last and it took me a year to get around to it? Or was
it from Prime on Epic. I don't really care.)

I waffled on GoG if I wanted the adult games or not and they were gone
before I could make a decision so missed out, maybe a good thing
*shrug*. Everything else free was taken from them. I like to support
them. Does it actually support them if I take free games? I've no idea.

Steam... Steam has 14,829 free games on it this moment. I'm very picky
when someone posts free games from Steam because of being anti-clutter.
I've taken a handful or two, I may even have played a couple, and
enjoyed at least one.

And I got at least Arx Fatalis from you Spalls. Since I got it from you
I'll give it a try as soon as I can hype myself up to.

I also played a bunch of games on PS+, enough that I liked enough to
quite well justify the cost, and saved me a fortune in other games that
I didn't like enough, but I'm probably not going to do that again unless
I see something that's expensive enough justify it that I want to give a
try before I buy. Those were all effectively "free" in the same way
Prime ones were, even if only temporarily so while paying for PS+.
Expedition 33 maybe if it comes to it, on the other hand it's on sale
low enough that it's only a handful of dollars more than PS+ right now,
but at least I could try other games if I don't like it for the month.
I'd rather do it on Game Pass so I'm not taking up the PS5 though.

--
-Justisaur

?-?
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
?ª'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Too many!!!!!!


Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't know if anybody else cares about these end-of-year round-ups,
but it's become something of a tradition (as in, I've done it for the
last two years), so I'm going to keep doing it. And by "it", I mean
I'm going to do a round-up of all the games you could have claimed
this year without paying a single dime. More specifically, these are
free games that were announced here on CSIPGA; there may have been
other offers available, but I'm only counting the ones that got
mentioned here simply because those are the only ones I knew about.
Not that wasn't enough of a selection!

So, let's look at the totals first. For games that were completely
free, there was a total of 210 games you could have claimed. This
included 95 games from Epic, 91 games from Steam, 17 games from GOG,
and another 7 from a variety of sources (I'll list all the titles by
platform below... if only to give my line-count a massive boost!).
That's a huge number of games to add to your collection. There were surprisingly few duplicates, too (at least amongst the games released
this year. There were a number of games offered in 2025 that had
already been given away for free in previous years). Epic games were
the best of the lot; their selection included a good number of
"triple-A" (or double-A) games, although this was mixed in with a good
number of Indie titles of mixed quality (and a few F2P stinkers).
Almost all of these were several years old, however. Steam games were
almost entirely Indie titles; most were crap but a few were worth
getting, and the vast bulk of these games were fairly new. The
developers were obviously using the freebie to jumpstart their
player-counts. GOG's games were very mixed; about half of them came
from an (embarrassingly bad) collection of adult games, with the
others being single-day give-aways by the game's publishers for some anniversary or another.

But there were more than just free games on offer. There were also a
lot of games available from Amazon Prime and HumbleChoice. These games weren't free, but the prices per game were so ridiculously low that
they were /close/ to free. Amazon Prime Gaming posted 179 games; at a
cost of $139USD for a yearly Prime membership, that comes to $0.77USD
per game! Pretty good! HumbleChoice doesn't fare as well; the price
for a 2025 membership was $162 and you only got 88 games for that
price. $1.84USD per game isn't bad, but it pales compared to Amazon's offering... and paying Amazon also gets you movies and free shipping.
The selection of games, overall, were better on Amazon too... and I
really liked that about half of those games were redeemed on GOG,
which meant I could play those games forever (or as long as I kept the executables on disk).

[I /hate/ that I'm praising Amazon. They're such a scummy
company. But I can't deny that they were the better deal
this year than HumbleChoice]

If you add it all up --free games and 'cheap' games-- that comes to
477 games in total... and if you paid for both subscriptions, the
total cost would be $301USD... or an average cost of $1.58USD per
game, at a rate of 9 games added to your library per week. Or, in
other words, for the price of about four new 'triple-A' titles, you
could get 100x as many games. However you slice it, that's a pretty
good deal.

Of course, a lot of the games were of the sort you'd never play. Even
if they were good, the sheer variety meant that, inevitably, you'd run
across games that just don't interest you. Heck, even /I/ didn't add
the full 477 games to my library this year (although, I admit, I
missed out on more games because I already owned them than because I
refused to click the 'add to library' button ;-). But even if you were
a discerning gamer, you probably added at least a dozen new titles to
your personal Number... just because free games have become so
prevalent.

So how many games did you add to your library this year? Were these
enough to keep you busy, or did you buy other games too? And, as
important... how many did you actually play?!

----------------------
Note: What follows is a pointlessly long list of all free and 'nearly
free' games mentioned in CSIPGA in 2025 that I know nobody will read
but I feel an urge to include regardless. There's no need to keep
reading past this point unless you /really/ want to see a bunch of
game titles. There's no real content below. Honest.

//// EPIC GAMES \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
112 Operator * Albion Online F2P * Amnesia: The Bunker * Arcadegeddon
* Backpack Hero * Battle of Polytopia * Behind the Frame: The Finest
Scenery * Bendy and the Ink Machine * Beyond Blue * Blood West * Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night * Bloons TD 6 (mobile) * Botanicula
* Callisto Protocol * Cassette Beasts * Cat Quest * Cat Quest II *
Chivalry II * Chuchel * Civilization VI Platinum * Dead Island 2 *
Deadtime Defenders * Deathloop * Deliver at All Costs * Disco Elysium:
The Final Cut * Eastern Exorcist * Endless: Apogee (mobile) *
Eternights * F1 Manager 2024 * Fear the Spotlight * Felix the Reaper * Figment * Figment 2: Creed Valley * Firestone Online Idle RPG * Five
Nights at Freddy s: Into the Pit * Garden Story * Ghostrunner 2 * Gigapocalypse * Godzilla: Voxel Wars * Gravity Circuit * Happy Game *
Hell Let Loose * Hidden Folks * Hogwarts Legacy * Humankind * Idle
Champions of the Forgotten Realms * Jorel's Brother and the Most
Important Game of the Galaxy * Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel * Jurassic
World Evolution 2 * Kameru * Keylocker * Kingdom Come Deliverance *
Limbo * Machinarium * Mages of Mystralia * Make Way * Monument Valley
* Monument Valley 2 * Mortal Shell * Neko Ghost Jump * Nightingale *
Ogu and the Secret Forest * Paradise Killer * Pilgrims * Project
Winter * River City Girls * Road Redemption * Samorost 2 * Samorost 3
* Scourgebringer * Sifu * SKALD: Against the Dark Priory * Sky Racket
* Songs of Silence * Sorry, We're Closed * Strange Horticulture *
Super Space Club * The Darkside Detective * The Jackbox Party Pack 4 *
The Operator * The Sims 4 * Them's Fighting Herds * Tiny Tina's
Wonderlands * Totally Reliable Delivery Service * Touch Type Tale *
Trine Classic Collection (Trine #1-4) * Turmoil * Two Point Hospital * Undying (2021) * Universe For Sale * Viewfinder * We Were Here
Together * World War Z Aftermath * Zero Hour * Zoeti

//// STEAM GAMES \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
112 Operator * 911 Operator * A Story About Farting * Aaero (via
Fanatical) * Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy 1999 * Asterix & Obelix
XXL: Romastered (via Fanatical) * AtmaSphere * Atuel: Explore Your
Dreams * Away * Banana Hell: Mountain of Madness * Barro GT *
Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock * Bioprototype * Black Desert * Black
Desert * Borderlands 2 * Bricks Over Blocks * Broilers * Bulb Boy *
Caribbean Crashers * Caveman World: Mountains of Unga Boonga *
Children of Clay * Cybarian: The Time Travelling Warrior * Darkenstein
3D * Dead in Bermuda * Down the Rabbit Hole: Flattened * Dracomanton *
Dreams of Aether * Fantasy General II * Field of Glory II: Medieval *
Free Solitaire * Furi: Demake * Game of Thrones: Kingsroad * Golden
Light * Guntouchables * Havok Ballons Tech Showcase * Hellslave * Holy
Clash Cards * Humankind: Cultures of Latin America Pack (DLC) *
Infinity Nikki * Isle of Jura * Jaded * Just Ignore Them * Keali *
Kitchen Wars * Lawn Mower Simulator (via Lenovo/Gameplanet) * Legion
TD 2 * Lunacid: Tears of the Moon * Mangui * Metro 2033 Redux * Mini
Thief * Minos: Home Alabyrinth * Mouthhole * Next Jump: Shmup Tactics
* Nubs: Arena * One Gun Guy * One Shift * Paradox Soul * Party Club *
Pico Park Classic Edition * Press Any Button * Prologue: Go Wayback
(Early Access) * Puzzle Chambers * Rat Quest * Sable * Shade Silver *
Snake Eyes Dungeon * Space Pilgrim Episode II: Epsilon Indi * Space
Pilgrim: Episode 1 - Alpha Centauri * Steamworld Dig * Stellar Mess:
The Princess Conundrum - Chapter 1 * Strange Antiquities * Tell Me Why
* The Deed * The Deed Dynasty * The Flayed Man * Three Sisters *
Towaga: Among Shadows * Toy Tinker Simulator * Ultimate Zombie Defense
* Undercroft Warriors * Walking Survival * Warhammer: Vermintide 2 * Wednesdays * WereCleaner * WH40K: Boltgun - Words of Vengance * What
the Pak?! * Whiskey Mafia: Leo's Family * Wild Terra 2: New Lands *
Will Glow the Wisp * Zomborg

//// GOG GAMES \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
Agony (w/ Unrated edition) * Being a DIK (season 1) * Fetish Locator
(week 1) * Helping the Hotties * House Party * Hunie Pop * Leap of
Faith * Leap of Love * Lust Theory * Metro 2033 Redux * Postal 2 *
Sapphire Safari * Stasis * Summer's Gone (season 1) * Treasures of
Nadia * Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War * Warhammer 40,000:
Rites of War

//// OTHER PLATFORMS \\\\ (cost: $0USD)
Brutal Legend (via Itch.io) * Dreaming Sarah (via IndieGala) * Fly
around your home with Alex and the Jets (MetaQuest) * Immortals: Fenyx
Rising (Ubisoft) * Starship Unlimited (via Apezone) * Toree 3D (via
Itch.io) * Vile: Exhumed (via DreadXP.com)

//// AMAZON PRIME GAMING \\\\ (cost: $139USD)
After Image (via Amazon) * AK-xolotl: Together (via EPIC) * Amnesia:
Rebirth (via EPIC) * Amnesia: The Dark Descent (via EPIC) * Another
World 20th Anniversary Ed (via GOG) * Are you Smarter Than a 5th
Grader (via EPIC) * Ashworld (via GOG) * Beserk Boy (via GOG) *
Besiege (w/DLC) (via Amazon) * Big Adventure Trip to Europe CE (via
Legacy) * Bioshock 2 Remastered (via GOG) * Bioshock Infinite Complete
Ed (via GOG) * Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain (via GOG) * Blood Omen:
Legacy of Kain (via GOG) * Blood West (via GOG) * Bo: Path of the Teal
Lotus (via GOG) * Boxes: Lost Fragments (via EPIC) * Chessarama (via
Epic) * Christmas Adventure: Candy Storm (via Legacy) * City Legends:
The Ghost of Misty Hill CE (via Legacy) * Civilization IV Complete
Edition (via GOG) * Colt Canyon (via GOG) * Crime Boss: Rockay City
(via Epic) * D&D Dark Sun series (via GOG) * Dark City: Kyiv CE (via
Amazon) * Dark Deity - Complete Edition (via GOG) * Dark Envoy (via
GOG) * Dark Sky (via GOG) * Death Squared (via GOG) * Deus Ex GOTY
(via GOG) * Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (via GOG) * Deus
Ex: Invisible War (via GOG) * Doors: Paradox (via EPIC) * DragonStrike
(via GOG) * Dread Out 2 (via Amazon) * Dream Tactics (via GOG) *
Dungeon & Dragons: Ravenloft Series (via GOG) * Dungeon of the Endless Definitive Edition (via Amazon) * Dungeons & Dragons: Krynn Series
(via GOG) * Eastern Exorcist (via Epic) * El Hijo: A Wild West Tale
(via Epic) * Empty Shell (via GOG) * Ender Lilies: Quietus of the
Knights (via EPIC) * Endless Legend: Definitive Edition (via Amazon)
* Endless Space 2 Definitive Edition (via Amazon) * Endless Space
Definitive Edition (via Amazon) * Fallout 3 GOTY (via GOG) * Fallout
76 (via BethesdaNet) * Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate (via GOG) * Fantasy Empires (via GOG) * Fashion Police Squad (via EPIC) * FATE (via GOG) *
FATE: The Cursed King (via GOG) * FATE: The Traitor Soul (via GOG) *
FATE: Undiscovered Realms (via GOG) * Figment 2: Creed Valley (via
AMAZ) * Filthy Animals: Heist Simulators (via EPIC) * Football Manager
2024 (via EPIC) * Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection 1 (via
GOG) * Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection 2 (via GOG) *
Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection 3 (via GOG) * Fort Solis
(via GOG) * Gallery of Things: Reverie (via Legacy) * GameDec -
Definitive Edition (via GOG) * Gas Station Simulator (via Epic) *
Gloomhaven (via EPIC) * God's Trigger (via GOG) * Golf With Your
Friends (via GOG) * GRIP: Combat Racing (via GOG) * GunSlugs (via GOG)
* Gunslugs 2 (via GOG) * Gylt (via Amazon) * Halloween Stories Horror
Movie CE (via AMAZ) * Hardspace: Shipbreaker (via EPIC) * Hellslave
(via GOG) * Heroes of Loot (via GOG) * Heroes of Loot 2 (via GOG) * Hypnospace Outlaw (via GOG) * I Love Finding Wild Friends (via Legacy)
* Into the Breach (via EPIC) * Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely
Revolutionaries (via EPIC) * Jupiter Hell (via GOG) * Labyrinth City:
Pierre the Maze Detective (via Amazon) * Legacy of Kain: Defiance (via
GOG) * Lego 2K Drive (via Epic) * Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
(via GOG) * Let's Build A Zoo (via Epic) * Liberte (via Epic) * Lost &
Found Agency CE (via Legacy) * Lost and Found Agency CE (via Luna) *
Lost Ashford Ring (via Legacy) * Love Finding Wild Friends CE (via
Legacy) * Lovecraft's Untold Stories (via GOG) * Lysfanga: The Time
Shift Warrior (via EPIC) * Mafia II: Definitive Edition (via GOG) *
Mafia III: Definitive Edition (via GOG) * Mail Time (via GOG) *
Marvel's Midnight Suns (via EPIC) * Minecraft Legends (via Microsoft's
XBox thing) * Mordheim: City of the Damned (via GOG) * Mortal Shell
(via Epic) * Mutazione (via GOG) * Mystical Riddles: Ghostly Park CE
(Legacy) * Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master (via Amazon) * Necroking (via
GOG) * New Tales from the Borderlands (via EPIC) * New York Mysteries
(via Legacy) * New York Mysteries Power of Art (via Legacy) * Night
Reverie (via Amazon) * Paleo Pines (via Amazon) * Paquerette Down the Bunborrows (via EPIC) * Pixel Cafe (via AMAZ) * PlateUp! (via EPIC) *
Priest Simulator: Vampire Show (via Epic) * Projection: First Light
(via Amazon) * Redemption Reapers (via Epic) * Republic of Jungle (via
Epic) * Residual (via GOG) * Royal Romances: Cursed Heart CE (via
Legacy) * Saints Row 2 (via GOG) * Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (via GOG)
* Saints Row The Third: Remastered (via GOG) * Saints Row: Gat Out of
Hell (via GOG) * Sands of Aura (via EPIC) * Session: Skate Sim (via
Epic) * Sid Meier's Civilization 3 Complete (via GOG) * Silver Box
Classics (via GOG) * Skydrift Infinity (via EPIC) * Spelljammer:
Pirates of Realmspace (via GOG) * Spirit Mancer (via Amazon) *
Spitlings (via AMAZ) * Star Stuff (via EPIC) * Star Wars Dark Forces
II Jedi Knight (via GOG) * Star Wars Rebellion (via GOG) * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Saga (via GOG) * Station to Station (via
Amazon) * Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech (via GOG) * Stray Gods:
Orpheus Edition (via GOG) * Stunt Kite Party (via Amazon) * Styx:
Master of Shadows (via GOG) * Subterrain: Mines of Titan (via Amazon)
* Super Meat Boy Forever (via EPIC) * Surf World Series (via Amazon)
* Syberia: The World Before (via GOG) * Talos Principle: Gold Ed. (via
GOG) * The Abandoned Planet (via Amazon) * The Bridge (via Epic) * The Forgotten City (via AMAZ) * The Invisible Hand (via Amazon) * The Last
Show of Mr. Chardish (via EPIC) * The Last Spell (via GOG) * The Lost
Ashford Ring (via Legacy) * The Smurfs 2: Prisoner of the Green Stone
(via GOG) * The Town of Light (via GOG) * The Wisbey Mystery (via
Legacy) * Thief 4 Definitive Edition (via GOG) * Thief Gold (via GOG)
* Thief II: The Metal Age (via GOG) * Thief: Deadly Shadows (via GOG)
* Tin Hearts (via GOG) * To the Rescue! (via EPIC) * TOEM (via GOG) *
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (via GOG) * Tormented Souls (via AMAZ) *
Trinity Fusion (via Amazon) * Troublemaker (via EPIC) * True Fear:
Forsaken Souls Part 1 (via GOG) * True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 2
(via GOG) * Vampire: The Masquerade ? Reckoning of New York * Venba
(via GOG) * Werewolf The Apocalypse Heart of the Forest (via AMAZ) *
Wild Country (via GOG) * Wolfenstein II: The New Collossus (via MS) * Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (via MS) * Wolfenstein: Youngblood (via
Microsoft) * XCOM 2 (via GOG) * Yes, Your Grace (via GOG) * You Will
Die Here Tonight (via GOG) * Zombie Army 4: Dead War (via GOG)

//// HUMBLE CHOICE \\\\ (cost: $162USD)
1000x Resist * Against the Storm * Aliens: Dark Descent * Amnesia:
The Bunker * Another Crab's Treasure * Atomic Heart * Banishers: Ghost
of New Eden * Beholder: Conductor * Beneath Oresa * Biped * Blanc * Blasphemous 2 * Boxes: Lost Fragments * Caravan Sandwitch * Cat Quest
II * Cavern of Dreams * Corpse Keeper * Cryptmaster * Daemon X Machina
* Death's Door * Diplomacy Is Not An Option * Distant Worlds 2 *
Dordogne * Dredge * Dungeon Tycoon * Dungeons of Hinterberg * Eastern Exorcist * Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes * Etrian Odyssey HD *
Everafter Falls * Evil West * Fort Solis * Godlike Burger * Grapple
Dog * Gravity Circuit * Havendock * Homeworld 3 * Hotel Renovator * Intravenous II * Jagged Alliance 3 * Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered * Let's School! * Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased
His Name * Lil Gator Game * Lost Skies * My Time at Sandrock * Neo Cab
* Nine Sols * No More Heroes 3 * Nobody Wants to Die * Nomad Survival
* Nova Lands * Pacific Drive * Paleo Pines * Persona 5 Royal *
Pharaoh: A New Era * Plucky Squire, The * Racine * Return to Monkey
Island * Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew * Shogun Showdown * Sir
Whoopass: Immortal Death * Sker Ritual * Spellforce: Conquest of Eo *
Spin Hero * Star Wars: Bounty Hunter * Story of Seasons: Pioneers of
Olive Town * Streets of Rage 4 * Synergy * Tales of Kenzera: Zau (via
EA Origin) * Tchia * The Pegasus Expedition * The Thaumaturge: Deluxe
Edition * Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip * Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered * Total
War: Warhammer III * Ultros * V Rising * Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun * Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader * Warhammer 40K: Speed Freeks * WarPips
* Wild Hearts (via EA Origin) * Wildmender * Wizard with a Gun * WWE
2K25

--
"In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'" ?John 3:3. Let's all be reborn! :) NY (eve)!
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Wed, 31 Dec 2025 14:04:06 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 12/31/2025 8:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So how many games did you add to your library this year? Were these
enough to keep you busy, or did you buy other games too? And, as
important... how many did you actually play?!

I'm not entirely sure, most of them though.
I didn't take any Humble Bundle, as they almost never have anything I >actually want, and can't see paying the price for more games I'm not >interested in.

No disagreement here (even though I /have/ been paying that price
myself). I've been bemoaning the lack of quality games from Humble for
a while now, but this compilation really put into focus how bad things
have gotten. All the more so since you actually pay MORE for Humble
than you do for to get half that number games you'd get from from
Amazon. I HATE that Amazon is the better deal... but it really is.
Humble used to be amazing, but now? I can't recommend them at all. The
quality of games has gone down, the quantity of games is average, and
their prices have gone up (barring any price increases, a year's games
from Humble will cost near $200USD in 2026).

Mind you, one of the problems Humble is facing is that they've already
picked a lot of the 'low-hanging fruit'. Their Choices have already
included all the classic Star Wars and D&D games, the Deus Ex and Tomb
Raiders, the Bioshocks... all the classics that were still valued by
gamers but inexpensively priced on the market. The more modern
triple-A titles are still pulling premium prices ($40USD and higher),
and those are obviously out of budget for the service. I think Amazon
will soon be running into the same problem, where they are forced to
give-away cheapo Indie titles because they've already given away all
the GOOD games and are desperate for new (but cheap) titles to throw
our way.

Steam... Steam has 14,829 free games on it this moment. I'm very picky
when someone posts free games from Steam because of being anti-clutter.
I've taken a handful or two, I may even have played a couple, and
enjoyed at least one.

I think one of my goals with this yearly round-up was to show just how
BIG the 'free game market' has become. You can quite easily do nothing
but play free (or nearly free) games entirely now... and not just
grindy free-to-play MTX crap, but actually triple-A quality titles.
You can get a year's worth of worthwhile gameplay all without paying a
cent. Yes, there's also a lot of crud mixed into those freebies...but
when the list includes games like Civilization VI, Kingdom Come
Deliverance, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Deathloop and more, its not like
you are lacking for 'real' games.

And that's got to be a real problem for publishers. It's yet another
reason why people aren't paying $80USD for new games. In fact, I'd
wager that this 100% legitimate free game market probably is hurting
their bottom line far more than ever did piracy. And while a part of
me cheers at the idea of greedy corporations getting their comeuppance
(and loving that I can get free games out of it), I also recognize
that this sort of loss only pushes corporations to look more and more
towards alternate forms of income: MTX, lootboxes, subscriptions,
whatever. So I've mixed feelings about all these free offers.

Even as I grab the games hand-over-fist ;-)

And I got at least Arx Fatalis from you Spalls. Since I got it from you >I'll give it a try as soon as I can hype myself up to.

Oh great, now I live in fear of that game not being as good as I hyped
it up to be. Which... is probably the case. Don't mistake me; I think
"Arx" is a good game, and it's certainly a better experience for
modern gamers than "Ultima Underworld"... but it's also from 24 years
ago. It can't help but to have aged in that time.

Fun fact: eating a lot of garlic in "Arx Fatalis" and then talking to
NPCs right after will sometimes cause them to call the guards on you
for a 'garlic attack'. Bad breath kills. ;-)




--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/1/2026 8:50 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 31 Dec 2025 14:04:06 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

And I got at least Arx Fatalis from you Spalls. Since I got it from you
I'll give it a try as soon as I can hype myself up to.

Oh great, now I live in fear of that game not being as good as I hyped
it up to be. Which... is probably the case. Don't mistake me; I think
"Arx" is a good game, and it's certainly a better experience for
modern gamers than "Ultima Underworld"... but it's also from 24 years
ago. It can't help but to have aged in that time.

Don't worry about it, if I don't like it, it's no big deal. I've at
least tried so many games I didn't like in the last couple years I'm
used to it. All the free an cheap games. I've literally got
thousand(s) of games now. That would've been unthinkable in my early
years, where I just had to suck it up and try to enjoy games no matter
how bad. Some were so bad I just couldn't. Now I can be much more discerning.

I had tried to get into one of the later Ultimas, Ultima IV (I think, as
I remember it had the virtues at creation) but just didn't. I only ever
really liked the original Ultima. I briefly played UO which I
absolutely hated. I'm surprised I ever got into EQ and other MMOs after
that disaster, I did enjoy playing with my friends in EQ, that's
probably the only reason.

Fun fact: eating a lot of garlic in "Arx Fatalis" and then talking to
NPCs right after will sometimes cause them to call the guards on you
for a 'garlic attack'. Bad breath kills. ;-)

Lol! Now if you could damage enemies with your breath attack. Maybe
vampires at least?

I can't help myself, buying a bunch of cheap games today on the Steam
Winter sale. Alan Wake got me started then I checked my wishlist. So
not sure when I'll get to AF.

--
-Justisaur

?-?
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
?ª'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 2 Jan 2026 11:51:24 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

I had tried to get into one of the later Ultimas, Ultima IV (I think, as
I remember it had the virtues at creation) but just didn't. I only ever >really liked the original Ultima. I briefly played UO which I
absolutely hated. I'm surprised I ever got into EQ and other MMOs after >that disaster, I did enjoy playing with my friends in EQ, that's
probably the only reason.

That is how I played EverQuest for the first time. With a friend.
Otherwise, I would not have bothered with it. I enjoyed it while
playing it together with him, less so without him. I tried World of
Warcraft when it came out and liked that so much more because it was
an easier, more forgiving game. Now that particular version of World
of Warcraft is considered hardcore! How things have changed.

As for Ultima, if you ever want to give another one a chance, try
Ultima 7 through Exult. The series peaked with that entry.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 2 Jan 2026 11:51:24 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 1/1/2026 8:50 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 31 Dec 2025 14:04:06 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

And I got at least Arx Fatalis from you Spalls. Since I got it from you >>> I'll give it a try as soon as I can hype myself up to.

Oh great, now I live in fear of that game not being as good as I hyped
it up to be. Which... is probably the case. Don't mistake me; I think
"Arx" is a good game, and it's certainly a better experience for
modern gamers than "Ultima Underworld"... but it's also from 24 years
ago. It can't help but to have aged in that time.

Don't worry about it, if I don't like it, it's no big deal. I've at
least tried so many games I didn't like in the last couple years I'm
used to it. All the free an cheap games. I've literally got
thousand(s) of games now. That would've been unthinkable in my early
years, where I just had to suck it up and try to enjoy games no matter
how bad. Some were so bad I just couldn't. Now I can be much more >discerning.

I had tried to get into one of the later Ultimas, Ultima IV (I think, as
I remember it had the virtues at creation) but just didn't. I only ever >really liked the original Ultima. I briefly played UO which I
absolutely hated. I'm surprised I ever got into EQ and other MMOs after >that disaster, I did enjoy playing with my friends in EQ, that's
probably the only reason.

As much as I love them, the Ultima games really were products of their
time; while they have great historical value, its also really
difficult to recommend people go back and re-play them today. What
made them so special was how advanced they felt compared to the
previous generation of games (and, indeed, even to their
contemporaries)... but now that they are so old, all the things that
once made them stand out are taken as de rigueur features. The fact
that a game has a day-night cycle once was an amazing idea, but now?
The idea that a CRPG doesn't have it is almost unthinkable.

I can see people still enjoying "Ultima I" because it's just a
bog-simple action/RPG; run around and smack things to death, go back
and get XP from Lord British; eventually accumulate the magic tokens
necessary to kill the evil foozle (if its presentation wasn't so
primitive, I think "Akalabeth" would fare even better in this regard. Similarly, "Ultima III" can scratch the itch for a simple 8-bit CRPG
(although I think more people would prefer the early Final Fantasy
games, which play very similar but look better).

"Ultima IV" was revolutionary in many ways. It added the
aforementioned day/night cycle; NPCs started moving around rather than
just be immobile quest-givers. The moons above moved across the sky,
there were animated tiles that made the world look more alive, and the
story tried to be more than just "kill the evil foozle and save the
world". But that complexity also demands more engagement from the
players, and I think most people facing that say, "Well, if I'm going
to play something that demands so much of my time and brainpower, I
might as well play something that isn't quite so primitive". The game
is paradoxically both TOO complex and TOO simple at the same time.

If I had to recommend an Ultima for modern gamers to play, it would
probably be either "Ultima VII", or "Ultima Underworld". Those are the
two games that have held up the best. "Ultima VII" has its own
problems (the story is a bit repetitive, the inventory management is a
pain, and the combat is pretty pointless) but it feels closest to a
modern top-down CRPG. "Underworld" is, mechanically, more playable,
but its clunky interface and controls still make it a hard sell.

[That said: there was a port of "Ultima Underworld" to
Playstation sold in Japan... but fans have added an English
translation. It can be found in the usual dark corners of
the Internet and is arguably more playable than the original
PC version. Certainly the full-screen view window makes it
feel a lot more modern.]



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:

As for Ultima, if you ever want to give another one a chance, try
Ultima 7 through Exult. The series peaked with that entry.

I'd have a hard time recommending Ultima VII to anyone. I don't think
it's really held up at all. Compared to the earlier Ultimas it had
amazing graphics and presentation but its gameplay is and was crap.
It's basically a long plodding adventure game. No one today is going to
be impressed by the fullscreen presentation or the ability to bake bread.

(Also playing the game with Exult at a higher resolution can make it much
more obvious just how much Ultima VII's scale transformed the world of Britannia to a theme park imitation of itself.)

I mentioned this before, but Ultima III is the game I'd recommend
to people who want see what Ultima was about. It has all the basic
mechanics of the of the first five games without the pretense of telling
some groundbreaking story that's just going seem threadbare and trite
to anyone whose played a CRPG released in the last 30 years.

Ultima VII and its predecessor Ultima VI were evolutionary dead ends and
were probably resonsible for the CRPG slump that lasted until Fallout,
Diablo and Baldur's Gate showed how good RPGs could be by basically
rejecting every inovation the Ultima series made after the fifth game.

I think few people would enjoy playing Ultima III today, but it's
what I'd recommend as the one Ultima game to play by anyone wanted to personally experience what it was like to play the Ultima games that
were actually influential.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 17:35:59 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

I'd have a hard time recommending Ultima VII to anyone. I don't think
it's really held up at all. Compared to the earlier Ultimas it had
amazing graphics and presentation but its gameplay is and was crap.
It's basically a long plodding adventure game. No one today is going to
be impressed by the fullscreen presentation or the ability to bake bread.

Admittedly, I have not played 7 since it was new. I loved it then, and
I think I will now. But maybe the gameplay has not held up. Maybe you
are right. I won't know until I play it again and that won't be soon.

I mentioned this before, but Ultima III is the game I'd recommend
to people who want see what Ultima was about. It has all the basic
mechanics of the of the first five games without the pretense of telling
some groundbreaking story that's just going seem threadbare and trite
to anyone whose played a CRPG released in the last 30 years.

I played Ultima 1 through 5 a number of years ago for the first time.
I did not like 1 through 3 very much. But since Justisaur did like 1,
he may like 3 more than I did. 4 and 5 I loved. I still need to play
6.

I think few people would enjoy playing Ultima III today, but it's
what I'd recommend as the one Ultima game to play by anyone wanted to >personally experience what it was like to play the Ultima games that
were actually influential.

I would personally recommend 4 over the earlier entries. And if that
one were too old-school for them, I would say skip to 7. And the most influential Ultima was likely Ultima Underworld anyway.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/2/2026 11:51 AM, Justisaur wrote:

On 1/1/2026 8:50 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 31 Dec 2025 14:04:06 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

And I got at least Arx Fatalis from you Spalls.ÿ Since I got it from you >>> I'll give it a try as soon as I can hype myself up to.

Oh great, now I live in fear of that game not being as good as I hyped
it up to be. Which... is probably the case. Don't mistake me; I think
"Arx" is a good game, and it's certainly a better experience for
modern gamers than "Ultima Underworld"... but it's also from 24 years
ago. It can't help but to have aged in that time.

Don't worry about it, if I don't like it, it's no big deal.ÿ I've at
least tried so many games I didn't like in the last couple years I'm
used to it.ÿ All the free an cheap games.ÿ I've literally got
thousand(s) of games now.ÿ That would've been unthinkable in my early
years, where I just had to suck it up and try to enjoy games no matter
how bad.ÿ Some were so bad I just couldn't.ÿ Now I can be much more discerning.

I gave it a try, 2 hours and I couldn't get through the tutorial. I eventually gave up. It's the controls. I couldn't even light a fire.
It seemed like I was doing the spell right, though it took me about 20
times to get that far, but the campfire didn't light. Inventory
management was horrendous. The old low poly didn't bother me and it
looked like it'd be a fun game if I could get past the really bad
controls, but I couldn't.

I'm tempted to see if there's some mods that make everything better, but
I started playing other games. Maybe another time.

Speaking of mods, I see there's some that can remove or let you control
the time limit in Nightreign. Everyone's saying it'd be boring without
the time limit, but not playing at all seems a waste. Or just playing
that way until I feel more confident, I may be getting too old for that though.

--
-Justisaur

?-?
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
?ª'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:

Admittedly, I have not played 7 since it was new. I loved it then, and
I think I will now. But maybe the gameplay has not held up. Maybe you
are right. I won't know until I play it again and that won't be soon.

I think people were able to forgive Ultima VII's faults, includings its
many bugs on release, because of its technological innovations and the
general hype the Ultima series had back then. The dumbed down mechanics
also helped make it more accessable, drawing more players in, but that
just set the stage for the disaster that was Ultima VIII.

I think few people would enjoy playing Ultima III today, but it's
what I'd recommend as the one Ultima game to play by anyone wanted to >>personally experience what it was like to play the Ultima games that
were actually influential.

I would personally recommend 4 over the earlier entries. And if that
one were too old-school for them, I would say skip to 7.

Any of the Ultima games is going to seem primitive to anyone who didn't
grow up with them. Though I think the graphics of the first five games
are actually be more inline with the pixel graphics aestetic of today.
The 256-colour VGA graphics of the later games have a touch of realism
that retro games today don't try to mimic.

And the most influential Ultima was likely Ultima Underworld anyway.

Well, I meant of the mainline Ultima games. The first Ultima Underworld
game in particular was barely connected to the other Ultima games and
could have easily been transplanted into any other fantasy setting.
Ultima Underworld was also influential for an entirely different set of
reasons than the mainline games, so should be played in addition to one
of the mainline Ultimas.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 03 Jan 2026 14:12:35 -0500, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 17:35:59 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

I'd have a hard time recommending Ultima VII to anyone. I don't think
it's really held up at all. Compared to the earlier Ultimas it had
amazing graphics and presentation but its gameplay is and was crap.
It's basically a long plodding adventure game. No one today is going to
be impressed by the fullscreen presentation or the ability to bake bread.

Admittedly, I have not played 7 since it was new. I loved it then, and
I think I will now. But maybe the gameplay has not held up. Maybe you
are right. I won't know until I play it again and that won't be soon.

I mentioned this before, but Ultima III is the game I'd recommend
to people who want see what Ultima was about. It has all the basic >>mechanics of the of the first five games without the pretense of telling >>some groundbreaking story that's just going seem threadbare and trite
to anyone whose played a CRPG released in the last 30 years.

I played Ultima 1 through 5 a number of years ago for the first time.
I did not like 1 through 3 very much. But since Justisaur did like 1,
he may like 3 more than I did. 4 and 5 I loved. I still need to play
6.

I think few people would enjoy playing Ultima III today, but it's
what I'd recommend as the one Ultima game to play by anyone wanted to >>personally experience what it was like to play the Ultima games that
were actually influential.

I would personally recommend 4 over the earlier entries. And if that
one were too old-school for them, I would say skip to 7. And the most >influential Ultima was likely Ultima Underworld anyway.

I'd argue that. Ultima 7 has frequently been cited by developers as
one of the inspirations for many other CRPGs, ranging from Gothic to
Baldurs Gate 3. And its impressive-for-the-time crafting (that existed
for no other reason than to make the world feel more immersive and
alive) became synonymous with 'real' roleplaying games; if a game
/didn't/ include "baking bread", then it was just a pale imitation.
Developers started adding in crafting for no other reason because of
that, and I think that the excessive crafting trees we see in some
games can directly trace that design back to the success of Ultima 7.

"Underworld" was an excellent game, and it influenced numerous other
games since its inception. Certainly its attempts to be a 3D
open-world sandbox helped to birth games ranging fromn Deus Ex to
Prey. It was undoubtedly an influential game.

I just think "Ultima 7" was slightly more influential. ;-)




--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 20:34:43 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:

Admittedly, I have not played 7 since it was new. I loved it then, and
I think I will now. But maybe the gameplay has not held up. Maybe you
are right. I won't know until I play it again and that won't be soon.

I think people were able to forgive Ultima VII's faults, includings its
many bugs on release, because of its technological innovations and the >general hype the Ultima series had back then. The dumbed down mechanics
also helped make it more accessable, drawing more players in, but that
just set the stage for the disaster that was Ultima VIII.

It certainly was a technological masterpiece for its time. There was
/nothing/ on the market that was like "Ultima VII" on release. The fully-speeched introduction was positively mindblowing, with the (more
or less) lip-synced monster speaking directly to the player. The
full-screen, HUDless interface controlled entirely by mouse was
clumsy, but also fairly original. The world was incredibly detailed
too, with 'living' NPCs acting out their entire lives on a daily
basis. You'd even find animals hunting other animals!* It was a game
that made PC owners sure of their chosen platform's technological
superiority over pretty much any other home computer (or console).

But everything else about the game was built around that idea of
'world first, everything else' second; Origin had built the world
first and bolted game mechanics and story onto that framework
afterwards. But I disagree with the idea this was done to 'dumb down'
the game and make it more accessible.

Rather, there was also a significant move towards making the game more
about the exploration and interaction with the world than focused on
the combat (not a new idea: it had been something Origin had been
working towards since Ultima 4), which made the game less 'traditional
CRPG' (as it was thought of at the time, with games like "Pool of
Radiance" and "Might and Magic" being seen as the exemplars) and more
like an adventure game. The combat and plot were secondary to the
world design and ability to explore. (Bethesda would later advance
this concept with their Oblivion/Skywind/Fallout games).

"Ultima 8", made under the direction of EA, definitely was an attempt
to make the game more palatable towards a larger audience. But Ultima
7" was more about trying to do something different.

Well, I meant of the mainline Ultima games. The first Ultima Underworld
game in particular was barely connected to the other Ultima games and
could have easily been transplanted into any other fantasy setting.
Ultima Underworld was also influential for an entirely different set of >reasons than the mainline games, so should be played in addition to one
of the mainline Ultimas.

Well, it was initially developed as a stand-alone dungeon-crawler and
only gained its Ultima trappings after every other publisher but
Origin rejected Blue Sky's (ne Looking Glass's) demo. And even then, a
good chunk of the game made under Origin's care was done without a
producer to direct the game's plot... at least until Warren Spector
got assigned the job. The Ultima stuff was retrofitted onto the game afterwards. Even so, I think they did a pretty good job of capturing a
lot of the feel of the mainline series: creating an immersive
realistic world where exploration and conversation was as much a part
of the adventure as combat.

Ultima... the only game I'll happily talk about even than truck
simulation ;-)







----
* years later, STALKER would boast about its "A-Life" systems doing
the same thing and it made me smile because U7 had done it nearly 20
years earlier




--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)