Today we are going to take a look at the games in the May Humble Choice and answer the question, is it great, or garbage?
May 2022 Humble Choice Games
- PLANET ZOO
- SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: BATTLE FOR BIKINI BOTTOM - REHYDRATED
- COMMAND & CONQUER REMASTERED COLLECTION
- SPELLCASTER UNIVERSITY
- SURVIVING THE AFTERMATH
- IF FOUND...
- GENESIS NOIR
- EMBR
PLANET ZOO
Planet Zoo is the spiritual successor to 2001’s Zoo Tycoon.
While Planet Zoo may sound like it would be primarily a sim game, it plays a lot like a survival game. You have a population of animals in a zoo that don’t want to be there. You have to keep them happy, healthy, protected, while at the same time keeping your zoo profitable.
While Planet Zoo offers a lot of improvements to Zoo Tycoon, there are some things that are done worse as well. Planet Zoo has a lot more customization options, and in some cases, too many. For instance, in Zoo Tycoon you have premade buildings. In Planet Zoo you can build your buildings plank by plank.
There is a ton of micromanagement in Zoo Tycoon and often your world flips from everything is good to it is the end of the world. This may not appeal to everyone.
Overall Planet Zoo is a decent game. For those who enjoy lots of micromanagement they will love it. The big picture types may not be a fan.
While Planet Zoo is a decent option for the May Humble Choice, it does not hold up to some of the choices in previous months for headlining games.
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: BATTLE FOR BIKINI BOTTOM - REHYDRATED
I never played, or even heard, the original Spongebob Squarepants The Battle for Bikini Bottom. This is the remake of that original game with updated graphics and some new mechanics.
Being that I have never played this game, as soon as I got my May Humble Choice package I downloaded it, loaded it up, and played for about an hour.
Spongebob Squarepants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is a fairly simple 3d platformer. While, I myself didn’t enjoy it, if I still had younger kids, I feel like this would be a great game for them.
It is not overly complex, looks exactly like playing a Sponge Bob Cartoon, and explains itself pretty well. For me personally, it was a little too easy. For a child, or an adult who just likes simple games, it could be a winner.
COMMAND & CONQUER REMASTERED COLLECTION
While I have not played the remastered version of these games, I did play the originals. Now that I have the remastered versions, I will replay them to relive my teenage years.
The Command and Conquer games have shaped many of the mechanics that are used in RTS games as we know them today. While the Command and Conquer games are much simpler than most RTS games of today, they are still fun.
As someone who still plays the original Starcraft from 1998, I highly look forward to replaying the Command & Conquer games.
This was a nice touch to the May Humble Choice. It gives newer gamers the chance to see the history of where RTS games originated, and older games like me a great nostalgic value.
SPELLCASTER UNIVERSITY
Spellcaster University is a Sorcerer Simulator that mixes deck building and management mechanics.
You must build and run a magic academy tasked with preventing The Dark Lord and his minions from overrunning the land.
Spellcaster University is an absolutely charming game that allows you to live out your dream of opening your own Hogwarts.
First choose a location for your academy. Every location has its own pros, cons, and visuals. Then name your university.
Shortly after you will start drawing cards. Each card allows you to expand on your university by building more rooms, getting more students, or even adding pets.
Spellcaster is a unique simulation game that combines multiple mechanics to diversify itself from the crowd.
SURVIVING THE AFTERMATH
In Survive the Aftermath you build and manage a colony in a post-apocalyptic future. Created by Paradox you would expect Survive the Aftermath to set itself apart from other games in the same genre. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. There are many similar games, such as Frostpunk, that are very similar but better.
That being said, Survive the Aftermath is still a good game. Like other city style sims you must keep your citizens happy, fed, and safe.
You also have specialists in each of your character categories that can help with things such as fighting and scouting. The characters are unique and it is interesting to read about their back stories. For instance, one character wanted to help others with their emotional wounds to create a better future.
While not overly unique, Survive the Aftermath is fun with interesting characters. It is a decent addition to Mays Humble Choice package.
IF FOUND...
If Found is essentially a visual novel. It uses minimalistic graphics to convey its message and highly focuses on the story to be told.
Steam’s short description describes it as, “If Found… is a game about going home, coming out and erasing everything.”
The story alternates between fantasy and reality with two different threads to follow.
The only mechanic involved in If Found is that your cursor is an eraser. If you erase enough on the page, the next page will come up and to continue the story. The eraser gets smaller as you progress through the game making it harder to progress forward.
I don’t want to discuss the story as that is the heart of the game. What I can say is that If Found… manages to pack a very complicated, meaningful, and satisfying narrative into the minimalistic pages.
A very good addition to the May Humble Choice, those who highly enjoy Narrative games will most likely love If Found…
GENESIS NOIR
Genesis Noir is a Noir style adventure that spans throughout time and space. While it’s all time Steam Reviews are Very Positive, its recent review are mixed.
I personally have found Genesis Noir to be an extremely interesting game. It is not what I would consider fun, but would classify as entertaining.
Genesis Noir takes the big bang, the size of our planet in relation to space, and the vastness of the universe and spins it all into a noir mystery and a love triangle. The game manages to tell its story with very little dialog.
I classify Genesis Noir as an experience more than a game. With that said, it is an amazing experience. The gameplay is a little on the experimental side, and as such, there are some that won’t enjoy it.
EMBR
The best way I can describe Embr is underrated. Embr is a multiplayer game where you fight fires for profit.
You start out with some basic tools which you can upgrade with the cash you get from fighting fires and saving clients. While single player mode is fun, multiplayer mode is where Embr really shines.
To save clients you can carry them out or sometimes put out a safety trampoline and throw them off a building.
Ember is a nice addition to the Humble Choice. It exciting to know that more people are about to experience this little gem.
Summary of May 2022 Humble Choice
The May Humble Choice, while containing some decent games, dramatically trails Humble Choice packages from prior months. Most Humble Choice Bundles have either a couple of triple AAA games or a bunch of Indie Games that contain very high ratings. The May Humble Choice contains neither.
The May Humble Choice receives a score of 7/10 which is the lowest score received by a Humble Choice Bundle in the 8 months we have been rating them. While it is still a good value for the money, the May Humble Choice does not contain the same caliber of games I am used to seeing from Humble Bundle.
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