This Week’s Topics:
- Rundown Preamble Ramble: Natalie Has Over 500 Steam Keys to Give Away
- Pokémon Presents The Synapse Present (Pokémon Champions Announced)
- Pokémon Presents A Big Present (Pokémon Legends Z-A is Real!)
- Just Sell Your Damn Games Division, Warner Bros! (Warner Bros Closes Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego)
- I Finally Got Steam Deck Sales Numbers! (Don’t Believe The Hype!)
Rundown Preamble Ramble:
Natalie Has Over 500 Steam Keys to Give Away
Right after getting last week’s Rundown ret-2-go, I spent several hours extracting various unredeemed Steam keys I acquired over the years, mostly from Humble Bundle, and accumulated a spreadsheet, so I could give them away to others. This is something I used to do about a decade ago, but then I put it off and, before I knew it, I had accumulated an enormous wad of keys that I am doing nothing with. Combined with the that Humble was potentially going to stop honoring key requests after a certain date, I decided that I should just give them all away.
However, before giving them away to a bunch of random people via ResetEra’s Giftbot or the SteamGifts website, I’m hosting a giveaway here on Natalie.TF!
Here is a list of games that I have Steam keys for.
Edit (2025-03-06): THE GIVEAWAY HAS CONCLUDED!
As of the night of March 6, 2025 I gave away my last Steam key.
Thanks to everybody for participating, and I hope that you enjoy the games you got.
If you find anything on this list that you fancy, leave a comment below asking for the following games, using their full titles. No, you don’t need to use the ™ or ® or anything like that. I’m not that persnickety.
Commenters are allowed to request up to 5 games, and their keys will be distributed to them via email. So make sure you are using a valid email when leaving a comment. I know some of you don’t do that.
This giveaway will only last one week. After March 9, 2025 7:59 Central Standard Time (UTC -6:00). If you comment requesting keys after that, you’re outta luck.
And I have full discretion to deny people keys for any reason, but probably I won’t unless comments are getting bombarded with spam or the like.
I could have just given the games away earlier, but I like my readers— they put up with me and all my shit— and this is a way for me to give them presents that have no value to me, but might have value to y’all. Hopefully I get some people who actually end up playing these games, as games are truly best when they’re played… Says the woman who barely has time to play games nowadays, because she chose to pursue the path of a writer.
This giveaway is going to be a one-time sort of thing, so if you want keys, skip down to the comments section below, leave a comment politely asking for the games you want, and I’ll try to get back to you with the keys ASAP.
…And now onto the real part of the Rundown!
Pokémon Presents The Synapse Present
(Pokémon Champions Announced)
2024 was simultaneously the most remarkable and unremarkable year for Pokémon. In terms of new games, we got the announcement for Pokémon Legends Z-A, but nothing beyond that one trailer that I have seen at least 40 times in the past year. A Pokémon TCG game that I played for four months, wrote a review, and then put behind me like a wet fart. Oh, and also the biggest leak since the legendary Nintendo Giga Leak, with the Pokémon Tera Leak. Which offered a deluge of new art, development insights, prototypes, demos, rejected designs, and so much information that I still think I missed something. However, this leak almost certainly caused a tizzy at Game Freak, possibly changed plans for future titles, and lit a fire under their ass. Because the leaker seems to have access to source code for Scarred and Violated Scarlet and Violet and for some unreleased build of Pokémon Legends Z-A.
This, combined with my continued addiction to PokéRogue, combined with my terrible love of PokéTubers (just look through my subscriptions) has turned Pokémon into the series that I engage with more than any other. Which just annoys me, as I wanted to get off the crack after Violet left me feeling violated. But now Pokémon has become my safe space to get away from fascism and the fall of my country. Because it is something I have loved since I was a three-year-old at my grandma’s house, munching on cups of baby carrots and inhaling cigarette smoke as I did math and watched cartoons. …Though I did not play the games until I was 6, and that was just Pokémon Stadium. And Puzzle League, which I always liked more, as I understood color matching. With Stadium, I would just play matches against myself so I could see the animations play out. Because I barely knew how to play games, and didn’t have anybody to teach me. Or any instruction manuals, not that I would be able to understand them.
Anyway, onto the annual Pokémon Presents showpiece. I’m ignoring the mobile stuff that front-loaded the first half of the showcase, which I lacked the time to watch— because my boss is a jackass who thinks tax season starts January 1st and thinks it’s okay to force me to work 50+ hours a week— there were two main takeaways here, the first being Pokémon Champions.
Since Sword and Shield came out in 2019, Pokémon has had the problem that many Pokémon, gimmicks, or so for were left stranded in old games. And not just odd ephemera like Spiky-eared Pichu. The only place they could be stored was on the 3DS— which people hated back in 2019, since it wasn’t retro-cool— or the Pokémon Box successor Pokémon Bank. Most chose to take them to Pokémon Bank, where they just sat there for years, unable to be used, and only represented via fairly basic 3D model on mobile, or PNGs on the Switch.
This was an understandable, yet nevertheless bad move that birthed much of the animosity that Pokémon has carried over the past hardware generation, but it also shaped the landscape of competitive Pokémon. With fewer moves, fewer Pokémon, and fewer options in general, players of the competitive game generally did not view SWSH’s changes like flies to honey. And this has also led the official VGC to only house a limited number of Pokémon, which in turn limits variety.
This decision made battle simulators like Pokémon Showdown a drastically superior alternative to the mainline games in terms of Pokémon battling. And while there is a quiet agreement between both Nintendo and Pokémon Showdown, there has been a need for a dedicated competitive Pokémon game for a long time. This is where Pokémon Champions comes into play, as it is a Switch and mobile Pokémon battling game where players can use Pokémon from Pokémon Home to battle with friends and enemies. With the teaser trailer showing both Mega evolution and terastalization, so presumably all gimmicks are going to be in the game.
Little footage was shown, but it is being presented as a straightforward battle experience. An extension of Pokémon Home with casual, private, and ranked competitive modes. However, just based on the fragmentary information provided, I have a few problems.
One, it is following a Bring-Your-Own-Pokémon philosophy to the game. Meaning you need to raise the Pokémon in the main games, and… boy do I not like the way Game Freak forces players to grind, manipulate, and waste time on their games just to get Pokémon with the correct stats. As I have said in many past rants, a Pokémon with sub-31 IVs is objectively inferior to one with 31 IVs, and a Pokémon who has been EV trained is objectively superior to one that has not. I know that one could manipulate this by just getting into battles with the right held items and getting money for buy bottle caps, but I think that’s a bad solution. What do I propose? Remove the global EV limit for a Pokémon. Multiply the EVs given to a Pokémon by 10. After reaching the 255 EV cap, have ever 10 EVs earned increase IVs until they reach the cap of 31, and make vitamins items give Pokémon 100 EVs a pop. Does that mean every fully trained Pokémon will be homogenous? Yes. And that’s the point!
Akumako: “Uh, what about people who use Trick Room strategies and want a Pokémon with 0 speed IVs?”
Oh, that’s easy. Remove that move from the game. It’s garbage!
Akumako: “Rain’s probably going to disagree with that…”
She played Pokémon Showdown for years. Her opinion is invalid!
That is problem one, and problem two is that Pokémon Champions will not launch with all Pokémon available, which… what? You have one job. Create a full Pokémon battle simulator, yet it is too damn hard to make it work with all Pokémon at once? Yeah, that would be tricky to get working, but people would rather have a 100 pixel JPG of a Pokémon than not have them in the game. Would people have been as hyped for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) if they launched with only the Smash 4 roster and new characters, announcing that all the other returning characters would return as DLC? (Meaning that the Everyone Is Here marketing campaign wouldn’t work.) No, they would think that was freaking stupid! Release your damn game when it is done, ya jerkwads!
Problem three, and this is more of a hypothetical based on the selective information provided, but it seems that you can only transfer Pokémon into Pokémon Champions. Which begs the question of why can’t people just rent Pokémon? You know, like in the Stadium games? Not every Pokémon needs to be available, but why not have, like, 50 to 100 options of viable Pokémon, maybe even some inspired by tournament winning teams? Why lock competitive Pokémon behind those with the time, patience, and money needed to build a ready and meta team? To drum up more game sales? …No! People buy Pokémon for the campaign and adventure, not for the multiplayer. They want their own special guys!
And problem four is hypothetical, but it needs to be asked for every mobile game. What’s the catch? What’s the monetization structure? It’s possible that the game will be free, but require people to use Pokémon Home to load Pokémon into the game, meaning it would ‘share’ revenue with Pokémon Home. However, I worry that they might have something more nefarious planned. Ideally, it will just be a $10 or $20 title, and once people have it, they have it forever. But would Nintendo support this radical monetization strategy? I dunno!
…Oh, and I should mention that the game is being guided by Game Freak but core development will be handled by ILCA’s The Pokémon Works. Which I think is fine. Say what you will about BDSP, but it successfully converted Pokémon‘s complex battle system to work in the Unity engine. So if this game is built off of that code, then I don’t see that as being an issue. I have seen the things that people can do with BDSP now that programmers have cracked it open, and it’s mighty impressive.
No release date was given for Pokémon Champions, but considering it is targeting the 2017 Switch as a main platform, it would be weird if it took longer than a year. Then again, this is for a game series that took a year to show anything for its next major entry and took over a decade of consecutive international releases to see a Latin American Spanish version.
Yes, despite dubbing the anime in that language for over twenty years, recognizing it as a key market, and putting games out there, Nintendo has never localized it in the language. Which is just wild to me, as Latin American Spanish is the real Spanish by majority and number of speakers. Sorry Spain, but there are (currently) more Spanish speakers in the United States than there are breathing edible human-type creatures inside you.
Pokémon Presents A Big Present
(Pokémon Legends Z-A is Real!)
I love Pokémon Legends: Arceus sooooooo much! I adored its naturalistic closed biome environment, encouraging the player to fully understand the layout and geography of their environment instead of jumping and zooming flying over everything. I loved its session-based gameplay loop, allowing the player to veer off into different directions, return to base, and feel like they accomplished oodles. I loved its resource distribution system, routinely priming the player to pick up floor trinkets to accumulate all the resources they need to continue a hunt. I love how it blended basic stealth and visual observation to make the act of catching Pokémon more involved, faster, and more fulfilling than ever before. I loved the fact that it was a silly isekai story with remixed versions of familiar characters where you were the servant for God themself! I even loved the changes it made to the battle system, with drowsy, frostbite, strong/agile attacks, and the turn order system.
It was a goldarn dream game for me, easily my favorite game in the series— yes, even more than PokéRogue, that fecking time vampire. And after Violet let me feeling violated, I was concerned over how this game could turn out. Which is why I’m glad to say that… Legends Z-A looks like it has potential. Or at least that’s what I wrote before re-watching the trailer properly, as something odd is going on with the footage here. The reveal is divided into multiple sections, and the first one looks drastically worse.
Everything I am talking about for the next few paragraphs is specifically referencing this trailer, as it looks materially worse than the released a few minutes later.
The resolution is low. The image quality is just bad. The level of detail leaves much to be desired. And it reprises the visual faults of Scarlet and Violet, which I consider to be the weakest Pokémon game in terms of… aesthetics. The low resolution dithering, the very flat look to a lot of environments, the color balancing, the attempt to give Pokémon more realistic textures rather than going the cel-shaded route. I don’t think it looked very good, just on a visual design level. I’m also just talking about the base game here, I know the DLC looked better, but I said I wasn’t gonna buy it, and I stayed true to that. However, I could forgive a lot about SV because it was an open world four player co-op online game. A fact that people tend to skirt over, as I think that only 10% of players used that feature.
Meanwhile, PLZA is a game set in a single city, and one that we have seen before on 3DS— it was basic, but it had a cutesy design and vision. Something classy in its core design of buildings, but with some more modern flourishes. As such, I think it would be fair to compare it to how games from nearly 20 years ago looked. Which is why I’m baffled that the buildings are just blocks with textures on them. …Scarlet and Violet had Mesagoza, a spacious and proper city with NPCs wandering around, and its doorways and windows were properly modeled. They took that technology, decided to set an entire game in a city, and shaved off the polygons required to render window porches and shutters, replacing them with unimpressive textures. The lighting on them is baked in, the resolution looks pretty low for a modern game, and the designs look pretty boring.
World traversal also looks weirdly anemic. Rather than feature ladders, something the Game Freak has done several times before, you now get up buildings by using bright yellow teleporters. Rooftop traversal is done with a mixture of climbing and what has to be the worst glide jumping animation I have ever seen. The character starts falling, shoots up a foot, falls again, holds up their hands, summons a ball of light that glides them forward as they descend, before jumping off of the ball of light. It looks like a glitch, like the game is not loading in a zip line or something, and this was part of the first minute of footage of this game that the world has ever seen.
Again, still talking about the first trailer, the city design also looks pretty poor. It’s as if the game is designed to facilitate these unattractive wide shots where the game tries to draw distances hundreds of meters away. And the sight of this is just… bad. Buildings are repeated, assets are plainly copied and paced, and it looks like it would be hell to tell one district of the city from another. This was a problem with the original Lumiose City, to the point where I routinely needed a map to find where things are, and represented an area for the dev team to improve upon the original. To make a city that looks like it was designed to be navigable on a human level. Not a place to be driven through. But, based on this 100 second snippet, they did the opposite of that!
I am specifically referring to the gameplay footage shown in the second portion of this trailer.
…But then we get into the second part of the trailer, which is actual gameplay, and looks like it’s from a build that had another 6 months of development time. The environments are shown in a far better light. The resolution is better, image quality is better, lighting is far more natural and less ‘dollhouse studio lighting’, there are actual ladders now, and the game looks like a slightly polished version of SV. Meaning it does not look great, and there are still these uncanny NPCs standing around all over the place, but it’s better. There are still a bunch of flat square buildings like this is bloody [Prototype] (2009) or San Andreas, but the textures appear to be higher resolution too. It’s the type of glow up I hope to see when a game comes back into the spotlight after a few months… except this came out as part of the first proper trailer.
Okay, okay, I think I’ve beaten the visuals enough, onto the starter selection! Contrary to every prediction, the starters consist of Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile. …Why are two of them from Johto? I know the cannot use Cyndaquil before they were used in PLA, but this just does not seem balanced. It’s overrepresenting one generation in a way that makes Tepig seem like an outlier.
The game is clearly trying to be more like a ‘traditional’ Pokémon game than PLA, featuring an opposite-gendered rival to the protagonist— because they did that in two generations, so I guess it’s a tradition. AZ from Pokémon X and Y is now a mentor figure, living as a dapper dandy of a man who runs a hotel the player stays at. Which… just seems like a cruel thing to do to a 10-foot-tall man. Work a job where you need to do a lot of cleaning and bending. And, much like PLA, the redevelopment/expedition plan is being led by a pair of people working for a kinda shady looking organization. This time called Quasartico and led by an older woman named Jett and her secretary/bodyguard Vinnie. …And right out of the gate, I’m thinking back to Chairman Rose from SWSH.
As for how wild Pokémon are handled in this entirely city-based game, the answer is that there are sections of the city partitioned away by green holograms, where the player can enter in order to catch and battle Pokémon to their heart’s content. …That does not seem right. In the biomes or PLA, the world of Paldea, or the Wild Areas of SWSH, the act of catching wild Pokémon felt like you were just stepping into the wilderness where Pokémon were constantly appearing and disappearing. But here, these are just Pokémon gallivanting around a city in isolated zoo-like environments. If one of these Wild Zones is a circle, with a radius of maybe 100 meters, contained in a city, then where do new Pokémon come from?
When in the Wild Zones, the act of catching wild Pokémon is similar to PLA. Just lock on, throw a ball, and watch the Pokémon bounce around in a way that… I don’t like. In PLA, they emitted steam as Pokémon were converted into berry data. In the standard games, they just wiggle like a worm a bit. But in PLZA, Poké Balls hop up throughout the air, rather than falling down on the ground, before vanishing in mid-air. It genuinely looks like a graphical glitch.
The font choices for the UI are… pretty bad, featuring a weird use of overly narrow fonts and overly thick bolded versions of the same fonts. I can see why the changes were made, to fit in more text and make certain information stand out more. but it just does not look like it would be readable to people with vision issues, or who are playing on a tiny screen.
As for the battling, it’s easily the most interesting part of the game. I think everybody who played Pokémon has imagined what a real-time battle system could look like, and that is what PLZA aims to deliver. As with the prior stretch of games, battles take place in any available environment, but now Pokémon have the ability to move throughout the world, walk around, avoid attacks, and reposition themselves as they attack. The face buttons all correspond to a Pokémon’s four moves, with each move having different ranges, speeds, recharge rates and areas of effect. As the player moves to dodge an attack, their Pokémon will try to follow, allowing the player to feel like they are a part of a battle.
However, the most surprising thing to me is how, when you deplete a wild Pokémon’s health bar, you can just catch them. They do not faint, go away, and appear in the back of the Pokémon Center via the Regional Pokémon Wildlife Council. (God that’s an obscure reference. If you know, you know.) You just throw the ball and bam, you got ’em. It is an idea so foreign that I barred it from the spectrum of acceptable thought, but I love it.
This also means that the auto-battle feature from SV is not going to be in this game, and I am glad about that. Because I did not enjoy just watching my Pokémon accumulate de minimis portions of EXP, cash, Wooper mucus while I did nothing. Instead, it looks like players could just toss out a Pokémon, press a button, defeat an opponent, and move onto the next one. Is that also basic? Yeah, but it’s better!
Mega evolution has also been turned into a super mode of sorts, with a gauge depleting as a Pokémon assumes their mega form, and I find that to be a fair compromise. …Albeit one that runs into the Mega Evolution problem where, unless you have a mega evolvable Pokémon on your team, you are ignoring a central mechanic. Maybe every Pokémon can have a generic super mode or something where every stat except HP gets buffed by 10?
Now, I am being very critical here, because this is extensively the sequel to one of my top twenty favorite games of all time, but I do ultimately think there is a lot of potential in PLZA. …If only because of its novel battle system and bold approach to circumventing the most tedious part of Pokémon. Throwing balls and praying to RNGesus Christ-ina Aguilera that they stay in the damn ball. Because I have caught enough Pokémon. I proved my skills at using thunder wave and false swipe! I think the battle system looks delightfully snappy and expedient, which is what I want. And I am glad that Game Freak is experimenting like this. Because while SV was a damn mess of an experiment in my book, PLA was, well, I spent the start of this segment gushing about it. (As a reminder, I played SV in the wrong way, as I tried to treat it like an open world game, when it is not.)
So, will I buy PLZA when it comes out on Switch in late 2025? …Yeah, probably. I know I swore off supporting Nintendo two years back, because they are trying to kill emulation, just in general, but I am too curious to not look into this and too confident that this will not run in RyujiNX, so I guess I’ll need to get my 2015 gaming tablet out of the closer.
…Also, this game will feature a return of the Hex Maniac— the sexual icon of a generation. Except instead of being a teenager, she’s an adult woman closer to the platonic ideal of a big tiddy goth GF. The pervert artists who I follow are rejoicing as I’m writing this. She even looks like she is possessed!
Just Sell Your Damn Games Division, Warner Bros!
(Warner Bros Closes Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego)
Considering the way the Trump administration is going to open the door to utterly insane mergers and how much Warner Bros has long-term screwed themselves over under Zaslav, I genuinely think they are going to be bought and turned into a subsidiary by someone. Maybe Comcast, maybe AT&T, maybe even Universal or Paramount Skydance. As for their games division though, it has been… bizarre and lopsided this past decade.
Mortal Kombat has continued to sell oodles despite it not being a ‘spiritually true’ fighting game. Rocksteady went from a premiere AAA studio who produced one of the most consistent and high-quality trilogies in recent memory to producing live service guff that was sunset less than a year after launch. Monolith Productions, a deeply interesting studio who produced a duology of great Neo Assassin’s Creed Tolkien games spent four years working on a new IP that was abruptly cancelled, leading to an exodus of staff, leaving the lopsided remains of the studio in charge of a Wonder Woman game. Gotham Knights (2022) took nearly a decade to make, because WB kept cancelling and course correcting projects at their Montreal studio, meaning it definitely did not make back the money they invested in the studio.
The developers of Cars 3: The Video Game went on to make Hogwash Lethargy (2023), which was the best-selling game of 2023. Because most people don’t care about trans people, and I’d rather we occupied 0.0000% of their mind. Y’all cis folks need to shut the fuck up and just let us live. That’s all we fuckin’ want, but you keep making this about you and the feelings you like to treat as facts. And if you think you’re the exception, go talk to cis people. They won’t listen to my folk, ‘cos we’re weird, but they might listen to you if you speak to them with your whole face. Oh, and they spent years building up MultiVersus (2022), bought the studio, only to shut it down after a year.
This is what I call the results of bad business mixing with good people, but in a hierarchical system like this, the peasants pay the price for the God Emperor’s mistake, while they are rewarded for simply existing. All publishers really need to do is assign skilled managers and keep the cash train going, and most dev teams should be able to turn up a good game. That is how you make games, and how companies like Nintendo manage to churn out so much quality. Yet, despite this pretty obvious notion, corporations like WB do not understand the industry they insist on being involved in, and when things don’t go their way, they just fire a bunch of people.
The story is that Warner Bros shut down three studios this past week. Monolith Productions (Shadow of Mordor, F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division) has been shut down right after celebrating their 30th anniversary. Player First Games was shut down just over five years after being established and less than a year after being bought by Warner Bros. Because I guess they wanted a short-term capital loss. And Warner Bros San Diego, a mobile developer, is also getting closed after being established in 2019.
This means that Monolith’s Wonder Woman game, which had to have millions invested into it, is no more, and we will possibly never see a major Wonder Woman game.
MultiVersus’s death really was a precursor to the studio’s closure like I predicted. Though, I was WAY off about when we would hear about their closure, thinking that WB would let them live until May or June. And… the broader core gaming world does not give a crap about mobile devs. Sorry, but it’s true.
Now, there all make sense. Wonder Woman was struggling for some time, supposedly going through a second or third reboot, and Monolith is located in a Seattle suburb, so salaries are high. MultiVersus is dead. And San Diego is an expensive city for mobile game dev, when you could get some enslaved Indonesians to do the work for a quarter of the price. Still, this is a ploy of disrespect and disdain from Warner Bros, who ultimately made all the major decisions behind these studios, yet will be unaffected by their own actions. The workers suffers, the executives give themselves bonuses for lowering expenses, and the world continues to decay. …This is why we need a general strike, and people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for a better future.
I Finally Got Steam Deck Sales Numbers!
(Don’t Believe The Hype!)
As I discussed in January, when I covered that wonderful Matthew Ball presentation, the games industry is in a rough spot at the moment, and people are looking for something to save gaming and help it maintain the momentum it was showing from 2010 to 2021. Or, at least not stagnate. Some see Grand Theft Auto VI as a potential savior, as it WILL sell at least 10 million copies in the first week, but it will also be the only game millions of people play, thus exasperating the super game problem. Some view the Switch 2 as a moment where things change, despite the Switch 2 just being a souped up Switch with mouse-like Joy-Cons and DLSS. And others view the rise in handheld PCs as something that will shift the industry by having PC gamers branch out into more handheld console type experiences.
Akumako: “That sounds like an oxymoron…”
Yeah, yeah, I hate how consoles and handheld consoles are two former pillars of the industry, and we don’t just call them handheld systems and treat the Switch like the tablet it always was. The PSP was able to dock into a TV, just with more wires and less console-quality experiences… like PS1 games. But nobody called it a hybrid gaming entertainment multimedia computer!
Akumako: “FOCUS! The Verge said something about the Steam Deck, didn’t they?”
Yeah! The Verge did some digging and managed to get the first proper numbers I’ve seen on the Steam Deck and the new genre of handheld PC video game systems! In short, the PC handheld ecosystem, which launched in 2022 with the Steam Deck, has grown to approximately 6 million devices, including the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion, MSI Claw, and more. With 1.62 million in 2022, 2.867 million in 2023, and 1.485 million in 2024. So not quite six million, but pretty close. Of these, 3.7 million, or about 60%, have been Steam Decks. And the PC handheld market is estimated to see just under 2 million sales in 2025. Though, those figures could change wildly depending on the current political situation in America…
Now, there is a lot about this that I find interesting.
One, the jump in sales in 2023 likely led many analysts, who lacked 2024 data, to predict that PC handheld sales would rise precipitously in 2024, maybe even reaching 3 million. If the market was producing annual sales like that, I could understand why some would latch onto the PC handheld market as a major sector to target.
Two, I am genuinely surprised at how few units the Steam Deck sold. Back in January, I said that I thought it sold somewhere between 5 and 10 million units, based strictly on vibes and how many people, and developers, I’ve seen discuss it over the past three years. Not only was my estimate way off, I also am surprised that the Steam Deck has a market share below 75%. Because, to me, everything else is just a Steam Deck derivative. Sure, some may have different form factors, or better specs, but every game on Steam tells you if it is Steam Deck Compatible. The same is not true for the Lenovo Legion Go.
Three, while a new market amassing 6 million in sales within three years from its inception, these are relatively small numbers. As such, I think it is too early to say if the market will take off, or if it will remain a niche for enthusiasts, kind of like VR.
This begs the question of how can the market grow, and I think the biggest hurdle the Steam Deck faces as a piece of hardware is the fact that Valve is not a major PC manufacturer. Valve lacks the resources needed to sell the product worldwide and the margins needed to stock store shelves with it. You can buy a Nintendo Switch at any game shop or most supercenter retailers.
This helps expand the presence of the system, makes it easier for people to pick it up, and gives them an opportunity to see it in real life, to touch it with their hands. But you cannot buy a Steam Deck at any affiliated physical retailer, because they are only sold on Steam or by third-parties who I doubt received Valve’s blessing. Meanwhile, the ROG Ally and Legon Go S can both be bought in-person at Best Buy, the de facto electronic store across most of America. Sure, they might not always be in stock, but that is a huge boon.
Now, I do not think Valve wants to be involved with any big box retailers with anything more complicated than gift cards. Hell, they haven’t even shipped a physical game since 2011. I think that the Steam Deck will always have this going against it. If you want these things to do numbers comparable to consoles, they should be sold similarly to consoles. If they are not, if they remain niche and sold mostly online to enthusiasts, then they will remain just that. …Also, if Valve can strike a deal with the developers of Fortnite, GTA, Roblox, and other super games to get them running on Steam OS— not through Steam— that would probably net a few million extra sales.
Actually, wait! I think I figured out the problem with the Steam OS PC handhelds! Some of the biggest games in the world cannot be played on it! Put the super games I mentioned above on it, throw in Call of Duty and the major sports games and bam, you hand the one game system you need, and you can play it while in your car, doing Xanax! Valve, get on this shit! I know it kind of breaks your MO to try to get games on your OS and not on your platform, but this will pay off for you in the long-term, trust me!
Akumako: “Why should they trust you? You weren’t even close with the lifetime sales of the Steam Deck, ya dumb-dumb.”
That doesn’t mean I’m not right! I have seen the truth! And… OH SHIT! This is why Sony and Microsoft want to branch out into handhelds. Because then people can play their Fortnite, GTA, NBA, Roblox, and Call of Duty on their devices! The children want to play games in their beds, under the covers, and to have every game they like at their disposal! Compete, Valve! Compete before they snatch your crown!
Akumako: “…The Switch would have sold an extra 10 to 20 million units if it had bloody Roblox and GTA V on it.”
You are correct, my demon friend. You are as correct as the day is cold…
Progress Report 2025-03-02
I have nothing for you folks as an end slate thing this week. I am overworked, upset, and filled with a desire to destroy things as I feel my world is crumbling down around me. Right now, I am just really wishing that more places throughout the world spoke English as an official language, because I don’t trust Europe or Canada to remain fascist-free, and beyond those, my options are pretty slim.
2025-02-23: I definitely have a problem with writing too many food scenes with VD2.0. And I think I know why. I am so profoundly bad about going out and doing things that my activities could be boiled down to doing stuff on the computer, eating, doing dishes and household chores, doing a little cooking, exercising, and showering. As such, when asking myself what characters could be doing to facilitate a conversation, I have them eat a meal. When they go out somewhere, they go out for dinner, and so forth and so on. Just… damn does this happen a lot in the early parts of this arc, and for no clearly defined reason. 1,000 words for one Gaiden, 1,600 words for another, then about 700 words for other stuff, when Rain hijacked my last night writing session so we could chat about Pokémon. I don’t like it when that happens, but I love talking about one of my favorite things with people I like!
2025-02-24: Was working from 9:45 to 23:00 with only a dishes break, because my “God Emperor” thinks that is okay so long as it is Tax Season. I didn’t get do do jack, nor shit, today.
2025-02-25: Wrote 2,200 words for this week’s Rundown. The WB Games and the Steam Deck bit I had to rewrite after losing the plot in retailer discussion. In VD2.0, I wrote 450 words to wrap up one section. Spun around 300 words with another before realizing that I needed to come up with a better relationship dynamic for a bit character. And wrote 1,100 words for a Gaiden chapter that may or may not work, as it is a bit too thick in its continuity.
2025-02-26: Jack shit, because this was a 14 hour day.
2025-02-27: Made some header images. Wrote 3,000 words for the Pokémon Presents thing before bed. Still way too busy with work for my own good.
2025-02-28: Edited the Rundown. (Re)Wrote 2,500 more words for the VD2.0 outline. Now I just need to come up with two more gaiden chapters. And then… shit, this outline is gonna be 50k words long by the time I’m done with it, and I won’t make a July deadline, so why should I even try right now? Maybe I should take that ‘Suicide to Success’ TSF Series concept and make it more overtly political than it already was. Would make for a good vent piece. Call it an ‘April Fools’ piece. And then I could just try to get PS 2000 out for Christmas, assuming that Christmas even happens this year, because I have been sitting on that idea for 7 damn years.
2025-03-01: Wrote 1,200 words for the next Rundown’s intro, set up a new email that I will be using for future contact, and FINALLY finished the goldarn outline. It is 50k words long. But I was also very distracted today. I did taxes for my mother and grandma, I had my chores, and I fell into a spiral late at night after hearing about social security, as an institution, possibly collapsing. Which should result in a national riot and a massive market decline. Quite frankly, bring it the fuck on. Keep breaking shit until people are sufficiently radicalized! But I really should look into getting an offshore bank account, except I don’t know where.
Hi, can I have A Good Snowman is Hard to Build?
The key has been distributed. Thanks for participating! Also, for other commenters, I actually have a second key available for A Good Snowman is Hard to Build.
Hello Natalie can i ask for these if they are available
Brothers tale of two sons
Dragon’s dogma dark arisen
Pheonix wright
Lego batman 3
Frog detective 2
Apparently someone asked for batman 3 before me can i ask for this instead Ryse sons of rome also thank you so much for your kindness
Gotcha. Sent you five keys.
Hi! Can I please have:
Pony Island
Overcooked! 2
Street Fighter V – Champion Edition
Sonic Generations Collection
DmC: Devil May Cry.
Thanks!
Cool! Your steam keys have been distributed. I still have an extra copy of dmc: Devil May Cry and Street Fighter V for those interested.
still havent gotten an email. am I using an invalid email? thank you for the keys though!
Could you please double-check your spam folder? I’m using a new email with a custom domain for this distribution, and that may be causing things to be erroneously flagged as spam.
double and triple-checked every folder that I have, sadly nothing :(
There was an error in sending your initial email. Please check again and redeem your codes ASAP.
Don’t know if my email has been sent but sadly all of the codes have already been used. Thank you though!
Hi can I have these games?
– Little Kitty, Big City
– Satisfactory
– The Escapists 2
– Starbound
– Conan exiles
Thank you so much <3
The keys should have been distributed to you. Thanks for participating.
Hi can I get these keys please? Thank you!
Bee Simulator
Crime Boss: Rockay City – First Month Edition
DIRT 5
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
Actually I will replace the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection with Call of Duty®: WWII. Thank you!
Gotcha. The codes have been sent. Enjoy!
Can i request for below? thanks:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Hollow Knight
LISA: Complete Edition
Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Enhanced Plus Edition
Back 4 Blood
The keys should have been sent to your email.
Unfortunately, the 3 below are region locked for me, so you may give it to someone else
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Enhanced Plus Edition
Back 4 Blood
Can i ask for these 3 instead for replacement?
Resident Evil 0 HD REMASTER
DmC: Devil May Cry
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
I don’t have a DmC key left, but I sent you the other two you requested.
Removing trick room would mostly hurt doubles players. In singles it’s mostly just an option to sweep with, while in doubles it’s an entirely diffetent playstyle. I play Smogon singles way more than VGC doubles, but from what I know, the VGC players would be very very upset if they got trick room taken away from them.
Also:
Hollow Knight is what caught my eye
…And that is the second, and final, Hollow Knight key!
I know removing Trick Room would upset VGC players, but considering the breadth of its use, I doubt Gamefreak ever intended it to be this prominent.
Hello. Thank you very much for the gifts! I would like the following
1 REMNANT II
2 The Forest
3 Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1
4 Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3
5 Megadimension Neptunia VII
Not sure if I can request but I would like to request for these
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood
Rocket League
Sniper Elite 3
SUPERHOT
Superliminal
Thank you in advance
Sorry about the brief delay. The comments interface I’m using is a bit janky. They keys should have been sent to your inbox.
Thanks a lot miss
hi can i get Capcom Fighting Collection, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2, Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed, My Time at Portia and Planet Zoo? Thanks
The keys have been distributed! Enjoy!
Hello!!!! Can I have:
Poker Night 2
Rocket League®
These are two games that I have wanted to have for a long time.
Thank you for offering these 500 keys, you are very generous.
I already requested Rocket League and hoping to get it as I requested it first.
I only have one key for Rocket League and the key has already been distributed to Gamer Rock here. But I sent Lucas the Poker Night 2 key.
Thanks for the wonderful chance! May I have the below games please?
Remnant II (If 2nd copy available then can remove WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS and give me remnant II)
1. Shenmue I & II
2. DiRT Rally
3. Street Fighter V – Champion Edition
4. Treasure Hunter Simulator
5. WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS
They keys should have been distributed!
Hey Natalie, if available I would like these:
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Generations Collection
Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Oh my gosh, it’s THE Darknost of ELPS fame! Keys were just sent to you!
Could I please request Poker Night at the Inventory 1, Street Fighter 30th Collection, Capcom Beat em up Bundle, Later Alligator and Jackbox Party Pack 2? Thank you!
Sorry!
*Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
I just sent you your keys.
Hi!
Can I please have a snuggle and a cuddle?
Thanks!
*Snuggles the Cassie*
*Cuddles the Cassie*
Hello. Can I get Overcooked 2, Amnesia Memories, Kill It with fire, PGA Tour 2K21, RAD.
Just sent you your keys via email!
Hi, I would like to request the following:
– SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated
– Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse
– Skullgirls 2nd Encore
– Dark Deity
– Capcom Fighting Collection
And thanks for being so generous with giving away so many games.
Two of those were already claimed, but I sent the three available keys to you.
Ah, no problem. If they are still available, for the other 2 games, could I get Axiom Verge and Amnesia: Rebirth.
Thanks again for the keys!
Sent! Enjoy!
Hello. Can I get
Sakura Agent
Sakura Beach 2
Sakura Magical Girls
Sakura Space
Sakura Fantasy
I just sent you your keys. Have some Sakura funsies!
9 Years of Shadows
Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps And Beans 2
Mighty No. 9
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
Thank you!!
Just sent you your keys. Enjoy!
Cats and the Other Lives
Deadlight Directors Cut
Lumino City
Metal: Hellsinger
Resident Evil Revelations
These for me please
Just sent you your keys!
Hi I would like to request:
– Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch. 5 Meakashi
– Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.1 Onikakushi
– Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.2 Watanagashi
– Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi
– Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.4 Himatsubushi
Thanks for the chance
Enjoy the Higurashi adventure! It’s a series with up and downs, but I still love it!
I would love
Ring of pain
Saints Row: IV Game of the Century
Saints Row 2
Say No! More
A Story About My Uncle
Thanks <3
Just sent you your keys!
Hi. Thanks for being so generous. 500 is a lot. Here are my 5 choices
LISA: Complete Edition
DUCATI – 90th Anniversary
eden*
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Just sent you an email!
Hi Natalie. I’d like:
– Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition
– Nexomon: Extinction
– River City Girls
– Monster Sanctuary
– The Long Dark
Thank you and hope you have a nice week!
The keys have been distributed!
Hi are they available. Hope.. Thanks!!!!
Satisfactory
ELEX
Pathologic Classic HD
Pony Island
The Inner World
Two of those were already given away, but the other three were sent to you via email.
Hi Natalie, I would like
Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition
Earth Defense Force 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair
Earth Defense Force 4.1 WINGDIVER THE SHOOTER
If My Heart Had Wings
Little Misfortune
thanks for your generosity
Keys have been distributed! Enjoy!
Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle
Capcom Fighting Collection
Dangerous Golf
Goat Simulator: GOATY
Resident Evil 4
Thanks for the chance. ❤️
Both of the Capcom bundles were claimed. But the other three keys were distributed.
Can I please have Sakura Swim Club, Sakura Santa, Sakura Nova, Sakura Spirit and Sakura Shrine Girls?
Another Sakura fan! Your keys were just emailed to you.
Hi, can I have-
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People: Season 1
Sam & Max: Devil’s Playhouse
Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Thank you. Wanted to go for the Telltale sweep and also claim Poker Night 2 but that already got claimed, so just those two and a couple of games I’ve had on the wishlist for awhile.
Check your email for some keys!
Hello Natalie!!! Jesus CHRIST, this post has a lotta comments! Not that I’m in any place to judge… and of course it’s on “lazy-skillet-sleeps-in-Sunday”. Nonetheless, thank you for your immense generosity in giving out so many keys! May I please ask for…
1. Monster Prom 3
2. STAR WARS Jedi Knight – Jedi Academy
3. Slay the Spire
4. Kerbal Space Program
5. Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
It’s everybody’s favorite! Skillet! Sleeping in until noon is generally bad practice… says the lady who sleeps in until 8:30 each day and stays up past 2:00. Check your email for your keys!
Thank you so much for this amazing giveaway :D
Can i have this games?
Muv-Luv photonmelodies
Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER – Episode 00 REMASTERED
Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER – Episode 01 REMASTERED
Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER – Episode 02 REMASTERED
Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER – Episode 03 REMASTERED
Just sent you an email. Enjoy the next stage of the Muv-Luv saga!
Thank you ;)
Hi, Natalie can i get this games?
Quantum Break
Street Fighter V
Gotham Knights
Axiom Verge 2
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Thanks!!!!!!
If it’s no longer available can be this games?DC’s Justice League: Cosmic ChaosIndivisibleJumanji: Wild AdventuresStrange BrigadeThe Mummy DemasteredNO! Bad Sergio! I know I took a little bit to reply, but no asking for more than five keys! Your comment’s gonna be edited for breaking the rules!
Yep, just sent the keys, enjoy!
Thank you Nataliee :)
Hi! thanks for this! ♥
Is still Remnant II ?
If it’s no longer available, could it be any of these?
VVVVVV
MORDHAU
My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery
All were available and sent!
Do you still have any of these?
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
GNOG
Haiku, the Robot
All keys were sent!
Hello, can you give me these games? Thanks
Remnants of Naezith
Splasher
Steredenn
Yep! Just sent them via email.
Hello. I would love
– Railway Empire
– Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure
– Psychonauts
– BASEBALL STARS 2
– Chasm
Thank you very much :)
Hey Natalie these still available?.
Battletoads, Dead Island Riptide Complete Edition, Dead Island: Game of the Year Edition, Homefront: The Revolution and Pizza Possum.
Hello! thank you very much for the opportunity! you have this ones?:
Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils
Genesis Noir
Pizza Possum
thx so much!
Sent out the email.
Battletoads, Blasphemous or Umbrella Corps maybe? Thank you very much! ❤️
Hello. Can I have
Undertale
Tooth and Tail
To the Moon
Super Hexagon
Pac-Man 256
Just sent your keys!
I’m interested in these games
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch. 5 Meakashi
Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.1 Onikakushi
Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.2 Watanagashi
Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi
Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.4 Himatsubushi
KARAKARA
Unfortunately, somebody already claimed Higurashi and Street Fighter 30th.
Hi! Can I please have:
Broken Age
Zeno Clash 2
A Bird Story
Blasphemous
Broken Age
Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package
GET EVEN
You listed seven, included one dupe, and one of them was already claimed. But I still sent you five keys via email.
Are this still available?
PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2
Fault milestone one
A Kiss For the Petals – Remembering How We Met
Go! Go! Nippon! 2015 DX Edition
Firegirl
Yep, I just sent them all to you!
Hi! Can I get these games?:
Europa Universalis IV
Magicka 2
The Survivalists
Ziggurat
Age of Wonders: Planetfall – Deluxe Edition
Yep, I just sent all five to you.
Thank you so much!
Have a very nice week and a wonderful year!
Cheers!
Some that I had chosen were already taken. Could be Puzzle Agent 2, River City Girls, SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising? Thanks Natalie! 🫂
I have two of those left, sent via email.
Hey, it’s so awesome to see. Can I have
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Wingspan
Pikuniku
Killer is Dead – Nightmare Edition
Brutal Legend
Email has been sent. Enjoy!
Spellcaster University or Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb are still available or already taken? Thanks Natalie!
Sent you Indiana Jones!
Thank you! :D
– Last Day of June
– Lost Planet 3 Complete Pack
– Metrico+
– N++ (NPLUSPLUS)
– Pac-Man 256
Sent! But there is no Pac-Man 256 key left.
I don’t think these are taken yet, so let’s see if there’s any luck and thanks for everything Natalie.
-Agents of Mayhem
-RONIN
-The Curse of Monkey Island
-Starship Troopers: Terran Command
-Gods Will Be Watching
All five were sent to you.
Wow I hope im not too late. Is it possible with these…
Starship Troopers: Terran Command
To the Moon
Tilt Brush
Voidigo
X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC
Sent the last three games. First two were already taken.
Do you have these games available?
-Greak: Memories of Azur
-Shadow Complex Remastered
-Neverout
-Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip
-Secret Files: Tunguska
Monster Prom 3 was already claimed. Sent the other four to you just now.
Could I take:
G-senjou no Maou
LoveKami -Useless Goddess-
Sunrider Academy
Root Double
Princess Evangile All Ages Version
Just sent!
Will be great to have:
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Mount & Blade: Warband
Neon Drive
Path of Giants
Super Time Force Ultra
Sent you all five!
Oh, you are great! Can I have please these:
NEKOPARA Vol. 2
RPG Maker VX
Sunrider: Liberation Day – Captain’s Edition
Fault milestone two side:above
Sacred Franchise Pack
Sacred Franchise Pack was already distributed. Sent you the other four.
Thank you amazing people. I would like to request the following
1. Refunct
2. Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition
3. Soul Searching
4. Steredenn
5. stikir
Sent you all except for Steredenn, which was already claimed.
Any of these for the taking?
-Epic Battle Fantasy 4
-Magenta Horizon
-Sakura Angels
-Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander
-KARAKARA
Sent! Enjoy!
Can you give me these games? Ageless, Carto, ELDERBORN, Drake Hollow and Metal Unit
Sent you your keys. Enjoy!
May i ask for these keys?
Blue Fire
Killing Floor 2
Mega Man Legacy Collection
Tales from the Borderlands
The Journey Down 1 + 2 Bundle
Unfortunately, the Mega Man Legacy Collection has already been taken. Sent you the other four keys.
Thanks, are these still available?
Aviary Attorney
11-11 Memories Retold
Darksiders Warmastered Edition
ENSLAVED™: Odyssey to the West™ Premium Edition
Vikings – Wolves of Midgard
All are available and all were sent to your email.
Choice Chamber
HuniePop
Finding Paradise
Lethal League
Technobabylon
still available?
No Technobablyon left, sorry. Sent the other four.
Hi, can i have:
Ankora: Lost Days
BAD END THEATER
Basingstoke
Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
TOEM: A Photo Adventure
TOEM: A Photo Adventure was already given away. The other four have been emailed to you.
Any of these games?
EarthX
Project Chemistry
RaidersSphere4th
Partisans 1941
Muv-Luv Alternative
Later Alligator
Later Alligator was already given away. Sent the other four.
Still available?
Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition
Sacred Franchise Pack
GET EVEN
Don’t Escape: 4 Days to Survive
Highway Blossoms
GET EVEN and Sacred Franchise Pack were already given away. Sent the other three.
Hi Natalie, can i have these games?
Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition
Maneater
Cepheus Protocol
Darkwood
Sacred 3 Gold
Cepheus Protocol was already claimed. Sent you the other four.
Not sure how much is still left but id like
Darkwood
Inkulnati
System shock enhanced
System Shock 2
Lethal league
Finding paradise
Thx
Someone else claimed Darkwood and Finding Paradise. Sent you the other three.
Hi, I am interested in the following, if they are still available:
Ghostrunner
Grim Fandango Remastered
Monkey Island 2: Special Edition
Into the Breach
The Witness
Thank you so much!
Into the Breach was already claimed. I sent you the other four.
Hey, i wonder if these are still up for grabs
Book of Demons
As Far As The Eye
Indivisible
Jumanji: Wild Adventures
Jusant
oops, guess im a bit late, but maybe these ones are still available
Earthlock
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Surviving the Aftermath
Saints Row the Third – The Full Package
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Hi Natalie, first I want to thank you for your generosity and I’m just going to ask for one game “The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition” (if it’s still available) so other people have the chance to get a game. Thanks!
Sorry about the delay. Sent you your Steam key.
Omg I am so late and good games are gone as I can see. Can I get the below games then? Will be great. Thanks!
Cris Tales
Darksburg
The Invincible
Home
Rover Mechanic Simulator
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
I want these games, please
-King Of The Castle
– Lost Horizon
-DEADBOLT
-Odallus: The Dark Call
-Sudden Strike 4
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Hey. Are these available?
A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build
TOHU
As Far As The Eye
Surviving the Aftermath
Worms Rumble
Thanks..
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Hello, are the following games still available?
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Nex Machina
STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜®
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Thanks!
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Any of these would be amazing. Thanks in advance
The Mummy Demastered
Death Squared
Farming Simulator 17
INK
Pesticide Not Required
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Thanks for this giveaway
-Just Deserts
-Out of Reach
-Shadowrun Chronicles – Boston Lockdown
-Pilgrims
-Regency Solitaire
If not already taken
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Hello, are this games still available? Thx <3
Back 4 Blood
DC's Justice League: Cosmic Chaos
NEKOPARA Vol. 1
PAW Patrol: Grand Prix
The Mummy Demastered
Sorry about the delay. Your keys have been sent.
Hi, would I be able to get a key for Into the Breach. Thanks!
Sent! Enjoy!
Thank you!
I would like these games
-Armello
-Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps And Beans,
-Deadly Days,
-Roarr! Jurassic Edition
-Muv-Luv photonflowers*
Sent! Except for Amrello, as that is not on the list.
Hi Natalie :)
Are these still available?
Endless Space 2
Jusant
Indivisible
Book of Demons
Jumanji: Wild Adventures
I am so late. Can I have these please. Thanks.
Verlet Swing
Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove
Speed Brawl
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball
Risen 2: Dark Waters Gold Edition
Sent! Enjoy~!
May i ask for
Crying Suns
Fury Unleashed
Homefront: The Revolution
Human Resource Machine
Stick Fight: The Game
Homefront: The Revolution was already given away. Sent you the other four.
Hi Natalie. Would you allow me these games?
ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Alien Spidy
Backbone
If Found…
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball
Instead of ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery) I am requesting for Overgrowth
No Robot Roller-Derby, but sent!
Oh, just read this today, would below keys still be available?
Inmost , LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, Remnant Records, Iron Danger, Slay the Spire
No Slay the Spire left. Sent.
Requesting for the 5 below please~
Moon Hunters
Last Oasis
Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt
Outlast
Victor Vran
Someone claimed Last Oasis and Outlast a while ago. Sent the other three.
Hi. Thank you so much for the generosity for random people around. I would like to request these
NEKOPARA Vol. 0
Into the Pit
Expeditions: Viking
Fury Unleashed
Genital Jousting
Sent. Fury Unleashed has already been claimed.
Thank youuu!! Can I get Victor Vran in that place then? If that’s gone too then Planetary Annihilation TITANS and if that is gone too then Cook, Serve, Delicious!
Sent you Cook, Serve, Delicious.
I would love to have these <3
Else Heart.Break()
Forged Battalion
Go Home Dinosaurs
Homefront
If Found…
Sent. I already gave away If Found…
Are these available?
*DUCATI – 90th Anniversary
*MirrorMoon EP
* Pesterquest
* Venba
* Muv-Luv
Sent. Someone already claimed Ducati.
Wow that’s a huge list of games. Damn. I am asking for these 5 games if possible. Thanks!
1- Spellcaster University
2- Little Orpheus
3- Hexcells Complete Pack
4- Expand – Soundtrack Edition
5- Bionic Commando
Sent. Enjoy!
Asking for these 5 please, thanks in advance!
Nowhere Prophet
Party Hard
Risen
Tropico 4
The Beast Inside
Sent!
Can I order this?
X-Radio Commander
X-Windward
X-Uncanny Valley
X-The Amazing American Circus
X-SHOCK TROOPERS 2nd Squad
It’s not a nice way to ask my guy, first of all she is showing her generosity, you gotta “request” with the word “please” or if not atleast ask in a nice way. It’s not her job that you are “ordering” her
Sent!
Hey Natalie. Thanks for the opportunity to have some free games! May I have these please.
Boreal Blade
Renegade Ops Collection
Sunrider: Liberation Day – Captain’s Edition
The USB Stick Found in the Grass
Vagante
Sent all five.
Thanks Natalie! these games still available?
PAYDAY 2
Strange Brigade
Strider
Legends of Eisenwald
Lust for Darkness
Sent all five.
Hi Natalie, if it’s posible i would love to have this games, thanks ^^
Highway Blossoms
LoveKami -Divinity Stage-
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Sunrider Academy
Void Bastards
Phoenix Wright has already been claimed by someone else. Sent the other four.
May i have these please?
Lust from Beyond – M Edition
Planetary Annihilation TITANS
Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville
Sakura Beach
West of Dead
Sent all five.
You are very kind Natalie. Thank you. Asking for:
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
HIVESWAP: ACT 1
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty
Wanderlust: Travel Stories
Super Rude Bear Resurrection
Sent all five!
Thanks. I will take:
Agent in Depth
Cyber Hook
Book of Demons
Hammerting
Harmony’s Odyssey
Book of Demons was already claimed. Sent you the other four.
Hello, thanks Natalie for all the games u are giving to us !!!
If im not late can i ask for this games please?
Citizens of earth
Shiftlings
ED-0: Zombie Uprising
Ghost Song
World End Economica episode.01
Sent all five to you!
Hi Natalie, can i have this games? Thanks!
Kingdom two crowns
Inmost
The last blade
Hyper Gunsport
If found…
Inmost was already claimed. Sent the other four.
Good day. Thanks for the chance. My 5 key wishes are:
Strange Brigade (I’m not sure if it is available but if not available, I added a 6th game that will be replaced with it, otherwise if available then top 5 games are my wish)
Hack ‘n’ Slash
Massive Chalice
Post Void
Rustler
Shing!
Sent you five keys!
Hi miss. I hope im in time. Can I get these please?
– Turmoil
– We Need to Go Deeper
– Wizard of Legend
– Wasted
– THE LAST BLADE
Thanks :3
I think someone picked THE LAST BLADE. I will choose Valhalla Hills in that place if thats no more
The Last Blade was already taken. Sent you Valhalla Hills instead.
Hi Natalie, can i request for (if still available)
Content Warning
911 Operator
Embr
McPixel 3
Popup Dungeon
Sent out your keys!
Hi! Can I please have:
Lust from Beyond: M Edition
Partisans 1941
This is the Police
Worms Revolution
Kona
Thanks!
Sent out your keys!
Interested in these 5
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Hacknet
Pill Baby
Soulblight
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Thanks~
Sent out your keys!
Thank you! Asking for these 5 please:
8 Doors
Wildfire
Wizard of Legend
We Need To Go Deeper
TSIOQUE
We Need To Go Deeper was already claimed. Sent the others.
These 5 if they are still available, thank you very much.
Cosmic Express
Dahlia View
Nimbatus – The Space Drone Constructor
Station to Station
Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt
Nimbatus – The Space Drone Constructor and Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt were already claimed. Sent the other three.
Long time reader but IIRC, this is my first proper comment. Really appreciate reading your reviews and showcases throughout the years!
If these are still available, I’d be glad to take the keys for them!
Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Enhanced Plus Edition
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Saints Row 2
Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package
Sent! Enjoy~!
Hi, I would appreciate some games if they weren’t taken:
Stick Fight: The Game
Struggling
Supraland
Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones
Stacking
Thank you so much!
Sent!
Awesome, these still available?
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!
Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?!
The Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy®
Sword Legacy Omen
Still There
Sent all five!
I would like to redeem these if possible. Thanks
Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt
Corridor Z
Beyond The Wire
Evergarden
NecroWorm
Townsmen has already been claimed. Sent the other four.
These 5 for me please! Many Thanks
Magicka
STAR WARS™ Republic Commando™
STAR WARS™ Rebellion
STAR WARS™ Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
TWINKLE STAR SPRITES
Sent all five. Enjoy!
Thank you for all these games.. Do you have any unused / useless key from the Humble Choice of March? There’s Pacific Drive, Homeworld 3 and some more. If you have humble choice of March and also unused key, I would love to take that. Otherwise here are my 5 choices from your provided list :)
STAR WARS Empire at War – Gold Pack (It’s a must even if you have unused from humble choice)
Pawnbarian
Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
Youropa
Zombotron
Sent!
Good Day! these for me please!
ΔV: Rings of Saturn
Millennium: A New Hope
Pathway
Tanglewood
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
oh, sorry, can i change “Peaky Blinders: Mastermind” to “Noct” ?
the list would be
ΔV: Rings of Saturn
Millennium: A New Hope
Pathway
Tanglewood
Noct
Sent you these five keys.
Yo. Are these taken?
*Bit Blaster XL*
*Crying Suns*
*Endzone – A World Apart*
*Hexologic*
*Shapez*
Sent you those five.
Good day! request for these~
Lone Fungus
Purrfect Date – Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
HunieCam Studio
A Mortician’s Tale
We are alright
Sent all five to you!
Hey. Thank you. These games really interest me
Lighthouse Keeper
SUMMERHOUSE
This is the Police
XEL
Zombie Driver HD
Sent all five to you!
Good Morning! May the ones still available?
Fling to the Finish
Monaco
Arcade Spirits
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Mini Metro
Sent all five games.
Hi, can have these 5?
Rym 9000
Ticket to Ride
Lost Castle
Orbital Racer
Rollers of the Realm
Sent you all five keys.
Kingdom Two Crowns
Re:Turn – One Way Trip
Jack Move
Mini Metro
X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
Thanks!
Sent you your keys!
Can I have please:
Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt
Sunlight
Planet TD
Doughlings Arcade
Doughlings Invasion
You’re like the fourth person to ask for the Townsmen key, but I only had one and gave it away a while ago. :P
Sent you your keys~!
Hi, I hope there are some keys left:
Fluffy Horde
Alchemist’s Castle
Shadowkin
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
Moonstone Island
Thank you very much <3
Sent your keys. Enjoy!
Hello, are this codes still available Natalie? Thanks :)
HunieCam Studio
Pikuniku
Puzzle Agente
Solstice
Creature Romance: kokonoe kokoro
Sent your keys! Have fun!
Hi may I have these please. Thanks
Detached: Non-VR Edition
Izmir: An Independence Simulator
Guns & Fishes
Pixross
Soulblight
Sent your games!
It maybe a success but failure for me because I am late and missed so many good games. But thanks would like to take these
Frick, Inc.
Meow Express
Soulflow
Symmetry
Telefrag VR
Yeah, sorry, this is a first come first served affair, but at least you got in before I ran out of games. :P
Can I ask for these 4 please
Pixplode
Quiplash
Void Destroyer
WARMACHINE Tactics
Sent you your four games!
I have not used my email that I used for a while now and its having error when I am trying to login. Can you resend the keys in my yahoo email arialmighty11@yahoo.com please
Forwarded the email to your other address.
262 comments!! Definitely caught my eye when I noticed that. That’s a lotta readers!
Anyway, guess I might as well participate. Let’s see, how about…
Broken Age
Hotshot Racing
Psychonauts
Props for somehow keeping up with this all!
In all fairness, my comments are about half of that number, as I wanted to reply to each one to confirm that the keys were sent. But even at 131, that’s a lot of participants. Way more than I ever imagined. And now I’m almost out of games! Yours were sent just a moment ago.
Hi Natalie! asking for these~
Killer is Dead – Nightmare Edition
Slinger VR
Choice Chamber
Dangerous Golf
Bionic Commando
Sent!
wow 35 keys left! here’s my 5 requests:
The Amazing American Circus
The Walking Dead: 400 Days
Non-Stop Raiders
Quadrata
Volatile Napalm
And five more requests have been fulfilled!
Are these ones still available?
Draw Slasher
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
WARSAW
Strider
BONUS: Reventure
Yep, and all were sent to you!
so much comments, i hope you have a good day.
Amanda the Adventurer, Killing Floor, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind, Space Crew: Legendary Edition, This War of Mine
Many comments, but it’s almost over. Check your email for the keys.
Titan Souls
TransOcean: The Shipping Company
Strider
HuniePop
911 Operator
Sent. Now we’re only down to ten keys!
Im really late i hope there is still some games, thanks for all the games u gift to us Natalie!!
Can i get this games?
Killing floor
Orbital racer
Mónaco
Strider
Beholder
Your keys have been distributed! Enjoy!
Would LOVE to claim that copy of Monaco if it’s still available. Thanks so much for doing this!!
Sorry, but someone snagged the Monaco key before you, and it’s a first come first serve giveaway.
THE STEAM KEY GIVEAWAY HAS CONCLUDED! I gave away every last Steam key I had accumulated. Sorry for those who didn’t get a chance to grab something, but them’s the breaks!
Amazing turnout for the keys!
Now c’mon folks – return and comment on the non-giveaway posts more often, those posts are valuable in and of themselves!
I’m never been much of a gamer myself. Slowly making my way through Stray, though I’ve had to turn off “show cat death”, change some of the controls, and watch YT videos for help. Only just got a controller for my computer in December, thinking maybe good to challenge the brain with new experiences. Last platform I owned that I made any semi-regular use of was an… NES, back in the 80s. Have played relatively few games through to the end on it or other systems: Metal Gear, Legend of Zelda, Wizardry, Super Mario Bros. (though not sure?), Myst, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, several Infocom games, maybe a small handful of others.
Will get back to Wikipedia article sometime (and maybe a dozen WIP for print articles, books). So unfocused. Impressed with your productivity. Have been trying some new therapy to no appreciable effect yet.
State of the world is crappy. Grateful for good investigative research being done by some, for pushback here and there, and for lawsuits filed, but want to see some successes making way!
Heck yeah! Gimme more comments! I love knowing that people actually read my stuff!
Stray has weirdly become one of the go-to ‘games for non-gamers’, which makes a lot of sense. It is a game designed around navigating a 3D world, with little in the way of combat or overt challenge. It is in a dismal yet evocative sci-fi world that people navigate on a smaller scale. And also, it has a cat. And people love cats! …Except for my friend group, who is more into foxes and dogs.
Huh, I assumed that you were a bit older than me, but it sounds like there is more than a decade between us. :P
Honestly a bit surprised that you found the site because of that, as I still consider Natalie.TF to primarily be a gaming site. Then a TSF site, then a place for me to host my own novels and novellas.
I’m not really impressed with my productivity on the Natalie.TF front, as my work schedule has just been brutal the past two months and tech issues/changes have been keeping me from working on things as much as I would like. The year is only two months and a week old, and I’m already past 400 hours of work…
Combined with all the awful things happening in America, it’s easy for me to feel demoralized and exhausted. Though, I have not really considered therapy, as my past experiences with it— I started therapy back when I was, like, 6, and last went to therapy when I was 20— the primary thing they offer you is techniques to practice and reassurance.
People are aggressively fighting, but just like how it is easier to destroy than to build, it is harder to defend through due process and courts. I would like to help, but I’m hundreds of miles away from where the action is, so I’m just throwing around some cash to folks who need it. I’d like to be on the offensive than the defensive, but there is, at most, spotty support from the supposedly progressive party. Orz…
I’m right in the middle of Gen X, so I’m probably ancient! Have very faint memory (apocryphal?) of playing Pong on something my late father borrowed from a friend. Also faint memory of visiting my father’s workplace where there were reel-to-reel computers, punchcards, and green bar computer paper. We’d borrowed an Atari 2600 occasionally, then got a ColecoVision, then NES. First computer was an IBM PCjr, dot matrix printer, and later got a 2600 baud modem and visited some BBSes back when hardly any classmates had computers, not that they’d admit anyway, because they were still seen as for nerds only. PCjr had some games that were on little cartridges, think we had Scuba Venture and Mouser at least. Wizardry was on five inch floppy. Later got a Mac LC. For a typing class in school we were still using IBM Selectrics. Got taught a little BASIC in math classes, a little word processing in English class.
The Zurks in Stray I found hopeless with just keyboard controls. With a proper controller, and help from YouTube, I found them almost too hard for me, but managed to be able to kill or evade them just well enough to keep proceeding. Maybe I’ll get better.
Definitely found the website when searching TSF stuff! :-)
Had been trying Deep TMS, almost finished with it. Can’t say I have noticed a difference. They say sometimes people see a difference afterwards, who knows.