All hail our wretched corporate overlord Amazon, the supremely convenient and ultra-efficient company I have exactly zero complaints about as a consumer yet somehow loathe to my marrow. Ahem. It's probably just having kids, for whom I am now little more than a middleman to Mr. Bezos' shiny and reasonably priced wares.
Yes, I am one of those saps with an Amazon Prime subscription. There are apparently over 200 million of us, a scale that suddenly makes all that free shipping make sense, and one of the Prime benefits is its monthly games offerings. These titles are 'free' to paying subscribers, but you need to claim them within the period of availability, and while they're generally pretty decent this month's offering is without doubt the best that Amazon's ever had.
The October 2024 "Prime Gaming" lineup is themed around Halloween. Well, loosely: let's say horror, gore, and flamethrowers. What matters is that, a few obvious fillers aside, this list is one banger after another:
- Hive Jump 2: Survivors—The clue's in the name, this is a bullet heaven roguelike about blowing away endless waves of bugs. I haven't played it but the art style's colourful and the Steam reviews are very positive, so what's not to like.
- SCARF—No idea. An adventure platformer apparently, again the user reviews are good, but let's get to the blockbusters.
- Tomb Raider: Legend—This was kinda the reboot before the proper reboot, with Lara pitched off in search of Excalibur and Crystal Dynamics really hitting its stride with some fantastically elaborate tombs. This is old school with the rough edges to go with it, but a goodie.
- The Eternal Cylinder—I really can't do better than PC Gamer's generally positive review: "A vivid but slightly unfulfilling getaway story from the punchdrunk creators of Zeno Clash, The Eternal Cylinder mixes moments of frenzy with indefinite periods of contemplation".
- Spirit of the North—Haven't played it, very pretty, all about a fox going around Iceland in search of a lady fox and, presumably, the meaning of life as a fox in Iceland. Steam players seem to dig it, and hey it's free so why not.
- No Straight Roads—A rock vs EDM adventure with a little distortion. We didn't love everything about this, but there were certainly things to love: "Everything about it—outrageous character designs, grand boss battles, wacky humour, animated cutscenes, dynamic music—all crackles with eccentric energy." But now it's time to get to the red meat.
- BioShock Remastered—I mean, if you haven't played Bioshock by now, you should play Bioshock. The first half of this game is probably my favourite singleplayer shooter experience ever, and I'm not even saying the second half is bad. An all-timer.
- DOOM Eternal—Homina homina, Jeff baby you know how to push my buttons! Just a straight-up riot of a shooter, outstanding, if you like gibbing demons then there is absolutely nothing to dislike about this: A smooth, elbow-bucking and deliciously gory feast.
- DreadOut 2—Ever played Fatal Frame? This is the Indonesian Fatal Frame: Snap spooks, get jump scared.
- Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Ecto Edition—Someone at Sony saw Phasmophobia, and thought "we can do that with Ghostbusters". And that's basically what this is, a fun enough asymmetrical co-op romp, but one that lacks the magic of the movies (as to be fair everything post-Ghostbusters 2 has).
- Priest Simulator: Vampire Show—Going to hand this one over to Chris Livingston: "More highlights: A bus is picked up and thrown through the roof of a building, though I am not certain if the priest is responsible or just a witness. There's more punching, this time of either a demon or someone just wearing a demon mascot head. Metal music blasts throughout." The Gap—I haven't heard of this one but the very positive Steam reviews call it an undiscovered gem and the like, so it seems worth a punt. First-person psychological explore-y type thing.
- Killing Floor 2—An absolute classic in the shooter PvE genre, the magic of Killing Floor 2 is the utter intensity it reaches in later waves, and the sheer exhilaration of doing it with so many other players (standard play is six, but there's also a 12 player versus mode).
- Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol—The actual best games that LucasArts ever made, and I'm only slightly kidding. Brilliant top-down co-op blasting with outstanding aesthetics, a classic soundtrack, bags of laughs, and a surprisingly tough challenge underneath it all.
All of the above are available now, plus Mystery Box: Hidden Secrets, Vlad Circus: Descend Into Madness, and Through the Darkest of Times. Add them all to your account now, because on October 24 the offers roll over: There's Pumpkin Jack, Bone Totem, Gargoyles Remastered, The Gunk and Morbid: The Seven Acolytes. The pick of this second bunch has to be Monster Train, however, a Slay the Spire inspired deck builder that had myself and many members of the PCG team utterly enraptured for a month or two after release: It's a belter.
Wait, there's more. Come October 31 you can claim the rat-tastic A Plague Tale: Innocence, a beautiful and slightly creepy singleplayer adventure with some of the best swarming animations you'll ever see. Plus there's another clutch of horror-inflected games alongside it: Death's Door, Haunted Hotel: Personal Nightmare, Scorn is an atmospheric first-person horror adventure game set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and somber tapestry, and Coromon.
Let's not be blind about this. One day in the future we'll all be locked in our VR tubes, paying Amazon weekly fees to keep our nutrient feeds topped up and the (ad-supported) life experiences being beamed into our brains. But until we get to that point, Amazon Prime's gaming offer is just too good to ignore. By my reckoning there are four stone-cold classics up for free here (Bioshock, Killing Floor 2, Doom Eternal and Zombies Ate My Neighbors) and a lot of other games that are merely Extremely Good. If you're already subscribed to Prime, this really is a no-brainer: Add them now, and they're yours forever.
