Rich or poor, any game collector will tell you that it is an expensive hobby! Go ahead…right now…go have a look at all the games you own and attach a price to each one as you go. It’s ok, I’ll wait.
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All done? That number is kinda shocking isn’t it? Even for a small collection of games it can get pretty pricey, pretty fast! Especially if you want to keep abreast with all those new titles being pumped out every single day.
Well here at The Backlog Odyssey, we feel your pain believe me. We are called the Backlog Odyssey for a reason after all! So, recently, we put our heads together in one of our epic brainstorming sessions over coffee and Halloween candy in an attempt to think of a fresh idea for a stream that wouldn’t break the bank. And from this tête-à-tête The Backlog Buck Club was born!
We rifled through all the digital content and sales available to us and chose four games that cost one dollar or less. We’ll have you all help us choose one to play, then we’ll stream it and put out a short review. The goal is to find super cheap games that just about anyone can afford that are still really fun to play!
See the beauty in this idea comes from the fact that a lot of games that are down in the dollar range are not very good…at all. But there are definitely some gems that get overlooked! And between the Switch and Steam at least, the frequency of 80-90% off sales means you’re really able to get some fantastic titles for super cheap. Games that otherwise you may not have wanted to pull the trigger on at $10 but will definitely give a go at $0.99 or less!
So, this time around we chose our bargain games from the Switch, for no real reason other then we both have a Switch and could peruse the eshop at our own leisure. Or to put it another way, I get motion sick watching Patrick blow through the titles when he looks, and he gets bored and frustrated watching me. So, in the interest of marital bliss, and me not barfing everywhere, we each used our own device for searching.
These are the games we reached a consensus on:
Made by Awesome Games, with a regular price of $4.99, this game is not really a wallet buster to begin with, but we chose this one because it looks like the type of game we would play together anyway. I know, I know, it’s a real softball choice, but with such a low price point, how does this zombie infested, top-down shooter defense game stand up against the big hitters like Dead Nation or Riddled Corpses?
Made by Bulbware, with a regular price of $8.99, Bulb Boy might seem like another softball choice given it’s a point and click horror game. Who doesn’t love those? But I will say despite the eye-catching neon glow this game exudes, I was wary of the graphics and how they would interfere with gameplay. It’s one thing to be a 3D character walking around in a dark area where you can closely examine your surroundings, it’s a whole other can of worms to have to move around a pointer during an action sequence, trying to find the proper place to click. But let’s find out, shall we?
Headup games released this little diddy over a year ago at a whopping $11.99! This game, I’m not gonna lie here, looks like a straight up rip-off of Limbo, but with the additions of some colorful puzzle aspects, an adorable cat-like character and the fact that the game’s name corresponds with one of our personal favorite felines…We were willing to overlook the clear “inspiration” similarities.
Developed by Forever Entertainment, with an original price of $4.99, this entry looks like it’s one of those games that could put you right to sleep. Now that could mean it's boring as ole heck or that it's just a feel good, relaxing experience. The unique microscopic aesthetics are what earned this game its place among this list, mostly because it reminded me of the very beginning part of Spore which was super fun but always seemed too short. Well, here’s a whole game based around it! Will it be too much of a good thing though?
So those are the choices we have lined up for this newfangled idea we dubbed The Backlog Buck Club! Make sure to vote on our Twitter poll and let us know which game you’d be interested in seeing us stream!
