The Witness @ Epic store (1 Viewer)

[Jomba]

As you might be aware, Epic has big plans with it's store in the future, it's trying to throw Steam off it's throne. Will they succeed or not (probably not), wither way the consumer will profit. And we already are - currently The Witness is absolutlty free on Epic store (just install and create an account and you can download it) and there is no reason not to play it - because this really is a top notch game. (they plan to release more free games)

What is Witness: It's a relased first person 3D puzzle game (kind of like Portal or Talos principle). You are on an island full of different puzzles, trying to solve them and figure out what is going on. I've had this game on Steam wishlist for ages, but it never received the discount i was hoping for.

From Metacritic (score 87):
"Summary: You awaken, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that challenge and surprise you. You can't remember who you are, and you don't remember how you came to be here, but there's one thing you can do: explore the island in hope of discovering clues, regaining your memory, and somehow finding your way home. The Witness is a single-player game in an open world with dozens of locations to explore and over 500 puzzles to solve. This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There's no filler; each of those puzzles brings its own new idea into the mix. "

 

[Cluck]

They're certainly rocking the boat but I can't help thinking that exclusives do nothing but hurt, rather than harm. I have to have launchers from Rockstar, Epic, Steam, EA and Ubisoft to play the games I want to play. It's just annoying now that you have to go searching which 'store' has the game you want to buy. If SMS succeed with their new console, no doubt that will be another location. Oh and then there's the Windows Store too.

You know what I liked? The days when you bought a game and just played it

Thanks for the heads up on The Witness though. I loved The Talos Principle and didn't know The Witness was like that, most of the Epic freebies haven't really caught my attention so I hadn't even got around to installing their store application

 

[Jomba]

That's why I posted, because I feel The witness really is one notch higher then other freebies. I've been playing it for the least few days and really like it, it makes your brain work. I also like how the game doesn't tell you anything, you really have to figure things out on yourself.

Multiple digital stores are a pain in the ass, that's for sure. Steam is at fault here mainly - they almost had the monopoly but were/are really greedy with their pricing, so offer and demand sprung out elsewhere. If they adapt, people will probably revert back to steam, because they have big libraries there.

Another concern for me became really evident when steam was down last week. Noone could access their games - you don't own anything physically, so when steam ceases to exist (nothing is forever), all our games paid with real cash could be gone.

 

[Cluck]

With regards 'greed', as I recall from reading, Steam take 30%. If you run a bricks and mortar store, you need to be making 30% to exist, so I don't see Steam as greedy in that regard. Sure, they don't have shops but they have offices, they have staff, they have servers to run and they offer a service over and above just delivering the game. Now, this is not trying to defend Steam, because if it is indeed possible to take a much smaller cut and still have a viable business (in other words, doing what Epic are doing) then that is good competition and could force Steam to offer a better deal to developers - I sincerely doubt that we will see lower prices ourselves, but if the developers can make more money then they can continue to provide the games that we want to play, so it's a good thing no doubt. Also, don't forget, if you buy a boxed game, a large proportion of the time it gets loaded into Steam and Steam provide the files, updates etc. and Steam certainly aren't getting anything like 30% of the retail price for that.

The trouble with all of these online stores (with the exception of gog.com) is that they hold the keys to our games. That said, Steam will at least let you launch 'offline' but if the game needs an internet connection to launch or needs to contact Steam, yeah, we're **** out of luck. Unless one of the big players goes out of business, at which point the gamers will look at their non-launching service and start screaming "this mustn't be allowed to happen", the chances of it changing soon are slim. Multiple industries are moving to "thing as a service" where you never get to hold a physical product in your hand any more, with the right to access that thing entirely at the creator's behest.

I'm just grumpy and remember the simpler times. That said, would I trade what we have in games now, for what we had back then? Hell no! I might well play a lot of the older games still, but when it comes to racing games, leave them behind in your memory of how great they were when they came out. Racing games rarely age well.

 

[Jomba]

Another gem is currently available on Epic store: World of goo. In a way it's lik a bridge bulder, only that the building components are alive (species called goo ). Very fun and challenging puzzle levels with gooey physics.

I already finished this one years ago and can confirm that it's great. (This game is also available on phones/tablets, but I don't recommend that one, since it lacks control precision - nothing beats a mouse.)