At least once a week, we'll add new games to our catalog. We try to mix it up with games that support different operating systems and genres so everyone gets a little bit of something. This week's list is unusually large, but don't get used to it. You'll find out why towards the end of this post.
By PlayBound Team Published
New Games
At least once a week, we'll add new games to our catalog. We try to mix it up with games that support different operating systems and genres so everyone gets a little bit of something. This week's list is unusually large, but don't get used to it. You'll find out why towards the end of this post. So without further ado, here's this week's game release list:
This one is an oldie but goodie. Anyone who's ever played Harvest Moon needs to play Stardew Valley. Now the question is, why did we add it? Well, it turns out you can play Stardew Valley online co-op. So we've wired it up for multiplayer support through our party system.
Barotrauma is one of the most unique games we've ever played. It's kind of like a submarine version of Starbound with shades of Xcom base building mixed in. You build and run a submarine with a group of NPCs and work together to explore the world. There are are monsters and bad guys all over the world. But it doesn't stop there because you can play online co-op with your friends. And it doesn't stop there because you can play online pvp against your friends. You can see why we added it.
The classic Battlefield 1942 was released completely free a few years back, so of course we added it and wired it up to our party system. Infantry, tanks, and planes with up to 64 players at a time. This is one of our favorite games of all time and needs no explanation. Now if they'd just bring back BF 1943 that was on the Xbox 360, life would be complete.
From its quirky style to its simple yet rewarding combat. This one took us by surprise. It's part resource gathering and survival and part dungeon crawler. Crazy enemies are going to show up all the time and you have to figure out how to kill them, and of course, find food. It's online multiplayer and works through our party system.
Another hybrid game, Necesse is part base builder and party dungeon explorer. It has a nice pixel art style which reminds us of Stardew Valley. The monsters look absolutely awesome and can range from hordes to large bosses. Plus, you can build little go-karts to get around, and the maps are gigantic. Multiplayer, of course, and integrated into our party system
If you haven't played Factorio yet, you've been missing out. You'll never understand how you can obsess over the most minute details of a production pipeline for hours, only to realize you've been playing for 8 hours, the sun is coming up, and you have to go to work in 30 minutes. And you guessed it, online multiplayer
If you've been living in a cave your entire life, you've probably never heard of Counter-Strike, for everyone else, you know it as the closest thing to a sport that exists in video games. This is the middle-step version between CS 1.6 and CS 2. There's still a large following, and it's a great game, so it meets the PlayBound bar.
Full disclosure, we love builder games. City builders, theme park builders....really any builders. If you haven't played the original Theme Hospital and you like city builders, you need to give it a try. It's simple at the beginning but picks up steam pretty quickly. The reason we added it to PlayBound is because of CorsixTH, which is a total modern conversion of the game. Improved resolutions and quality-of-life improvements. You can one-click install it through our launcher and be playing a modern version of TH in no time.
Does this one really need an explanation? It's multiplayer Goldeneye in the Source engine. The greatest console couch-cop shooter of all time has been brought to PC's with modern graphics and online multiplayer. Just go play it.
Deus Ex changed the FPS genre forever. It was one of the first games to tie RPG and stealth mechanics with traditional FPS gameplay. The story is awesome, and there are tons of ways to beat every mission. There are two great editions for this one: GMDX, which completely modernizes the game and Deus Ex: HX, which lets you play the complete game in co-op, which is mind-blowingly awesome. It's set-up to play through our party system
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the NES. One of our favorite childhood games, even if we never got passes the first few levels. This is a full fan remake with some really nice enhancements. And the best part? We set it up through our virtual LAN system so you can play it online multiplayer with up to 4 friends. Don't wait, go play it now.
OutRun has a special place in our hearts. This '80s game was in every arcade you walked into as a kid. The gameplay is just....smooth. It's incredibly simple yet incredibly difficult as you attempt your coast-to-coast drive. This is a full fan remake, and we added controller support for it. Give it a whirl and you'll be wondering where those aviators on your head came from on no time.
It's Mario Kart, but in the Sonic universe, and it's a full fan-made game. Some of the tracks are really out there, giving vibes of the recent Mario Kart entries. It's easy to pick up and play with friends and we've made sure controllers work well with it. Full online play, so you know why we added it.
Hawken is a simpler, more action-oriented version of Mech Warrior. You fight with your mech against other mechs in arena-style matches. It looks great, and it plays great. The only problem is we can never find anyone to play it with, so let's fix that. This is a fan-supported version of a defunct game, and you can see the love the team behind it poured into it. Download it, play the training and then setup a game night with your friends through our event system. You won't regret it.
If you ever played SNK's Super Sidekicks, this is like the Base Wars version of that. A more fighting-oriented soccer game with a ton of personality. This isn't a simulation game like Fifa; this is an arcade soccer game. It's easy to pick up, the matches are quick, and it's a ton of fun to play with friends. So much fun, in fact, that we set it up for online multiplayer with full controller support. You can thank us later.
If you're a fan of Age of Empires and a fan of Star Wars, this one might get you all hot and bothered. It's an Age of Empires-skinned game, but everything Star Wars. If RTS games are your jam, this is a fun one to pick up. There's a reason we added it, and it's called Expanding Fronts. This is a massive modern mod for a 20-year-old game that is extremely well done. We've packaged it up as an edition and included it in our party system. If you already own the base game, it's time to dust it off and install Expanding Fronts.
Platform Updates
We now have a full deals page on the platform. It aggregates deals from Amazon Prime, GOG, Steam, Epic and Alienware. We'll also be adding GamersGate in a future release. You can use tags to sort between free offers and 75% discounts, with genre sorting as well. We wanted to focus on extreme value deals for this, not 10 or 15% off.
https://playbound.club/deals
We've also added a new piece of tech to the platform called PlayBound Controls. We already map native controls ahead of time so they are pre-configured for most games before you load them, but there were still a ton of games that didn't have controller support but would feel more natural using one. For those games, that's what this new system covers. It allowed about 25 games that previously didn't have controller support to now feature it.
We've also released the latest public version of our launcher which has some pretty major bug fixes and UI improvements, so don't forget to update!
We've had a couple PlayBounders ask if we offer dedicated server hosting, so we've been busy building it, and it will be released in the next two weeks.
Lastly, we are also testing the first phase of game streaming, which will allow you to stream games from a desktop to a less powerful device like a laptop. This will work over LAN at first (Plug your laptop into your TV for a couch co-op game night with friends) and then over the internet so you'll eventually be able to stream directly to your TV.
That's it for this week! Let us know if you have any questions, have any recommendations/feedback or need any help.
