UPDATE

I'm officially retiring this thread, as I don't spend nearly as much time on Steamgifts as I used to. Thank you to all who contributed! If anyone else is willing to take charge and start up a new version of this thread, feel free!


I'm assuming many of us have a good amount of unplayed games in our Steam library. Asking people to commit to completing them is a tall order, but just trying them out?

Welcome to...

The Game Tasting

How it works: Play an unplayed game from your backlog for 10 minutes -- just 10! A quick taste. Then, come back here and answer three simple questions about your tasting:

  • What game did you play?
  • What did you think about it?
  • Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

What I'll do: Because I want to hear about various games and get people to play things, I'll incentivize this thread by adding a new giveaway for every five tastings that get completed. All giveaways will be level 2. I've already given one to get the ball rolling, and it's perfectly fine for one person to submit multiple tastings.

What you need to do:

  • Submit your tasting as a TOP-LEVEL COMMENT and not as a sub-comment on someone else's. (I'll only be counting tastings that show up in my notifications. Feel free to comment on others' tastings though!)
  • Please bold the title of your game so that others can scan the thread easily.

Current Giveaways

None! Event Complete!

Completed Giveaways

Tastings Game GA Code Ending
0 Tastings RAGE WGPfg Friday, August 28
5 Tastings Ceville oRzhx Saturday, August 29
10 Tastings Pongo kg1vL Saturday, August 29
15 Tastings White Noise 2 q68VQ Saturday, August 29
20 Tastings State of Mind 8ktWm Sunday, August 30
25 Tastings Homebrew - Patent Unknown EnQqe Sunday, August 30
30 Tastings Luxor 3 08tj9 Wednesday, September 2
35 Tastings Stasis tpnP1 Wednesday, September 2
40 Tastings Shooting Stars! 8gxbE Thursday, September 3
45 Tastings God's Trigger NTr56 Saturday, September 5
50 Tastings Next Hero XxRTj Sunday, September 6
55 Tastings Out of Reach 1BRRZ Sunday, September 12
60 Tastings Haimrik Vvhkq Sunday, September 12
Special Cakeday GA! Forager svfT0 Sunday, September 12
65 Tastings Medieval Kingdom Wars H38Lz Wednesday, September 16
70 Tastings Stronghold HD aoAsu Saturday, October 10
75 Tastings Beat Cop bP1Oj Saturday, October 10
80 Tastings Decay: The Mare gdjTg Thursday, October 15
85 Tastings Phantom Trigger dxyMD Friday, October 30
90 Tastings RiME vIABX Tuesday, November 3
95 Tastings Still Life p3ALF Sunday, November 15
100 Tastings Darkwood ZBvl0 Sunday, November 22
105 Tastings Airport Madness: Time Machine XSM2l Tuesday, December 8
110 Tastings BioShock Infinite NyLYA Tuesday, December 8
115 Tastings Distrust: Polar Survival Xxuhl Tuesday, December 8
120 Tastings Gunmetal Arcadia Zero MfYPw Sunday, December 13
4 years ago*

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4 years ago
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What game did you play?
State of mind

What did you think about it?
As cyberpunk games were always my love, I definitely am lured by the mysterious and dystopia opening, the controls were a little sloppy, and moving kind of makes me feel dizzy which isn't a good sign, but I hope the plot itself makes up for it.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
Yes, I just hope the dizziness doesn't continue or I'll need to have lots of breaks before I finish it...

4 years ago
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I get motion sick in games pretty easily, so there are a lot of games that I want to play but unfortunately can't because they make me ill. I hope you're able to play without the dizziness!

4 years ago
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After the tasting, I've actually finished the game which I'm pretty surprised, aside from the clumsy controls, the plot was on point, at first the event was a mysterious but you get to control different characters later, and the schemes unwind themselves. The final dilemma was hard to decide, but life can't be perfect I guess. Thank you for the awesome event, it really helped with my backlog.

4 years ago
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bump

4 years ago
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What game did you play?
RiME

What did you think about it?
I was anticipating playing this one for a long while, but can't help but feeling disappointed from what I played so far. There is no apparent story giving a reason for being where you are or doing what you do. I was thrown on a beach and left to explore. I was finding things and pressing buttons, eventually other things happened and so I kept on doing them, but why I did all that I have non idea. This leaves me with a sense of killing boredom instead of having a purpose or being intrigued by curiosity.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
I already played for about an hour, and it was kinda cute. Not sure tho if I'm gonna continue playing, since I really have no idea why. Maybe if I'm really bored and wanna run around a bit without any kind of thought ;P

4 years ago
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I beated a game, so I went for another one :D.

What game did you play?
Far Cry 3

What did you think about it?
It is pretty good. They took the good stuff from Far cry 1 and 2, and made them even better (fixing all the annoying stuff that the previous ones had).. The only bad thing (and it is a really bad thing)... The mouse sensitivity sucks... I have it on the lowest in-game possible, and it keeps being too high... I need to find a way to fix that before continuing.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
Yeah, if I can fix the sensitivity issue.

4 years ago
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Thank you for this thread. Got me to play one of the games that not only was in my library, but i had installed in hopes to play it only to leave it there the whole time.

What game did you play?

What did you think about it?

  • It was alright. I really liked the atmosphere and i thought i was going to hate the mechanic where you slowly freeze up, but it actually was pretty well done and made me play more vigilantly as standing around in the cold would cause the character's temperature to drop. But I was still able to explore since exploring rewards you with resources, including items with the ability to regain heat. I would say the combat was weak though, the enemies are really basic and attacking them doesn't feel great. Overall i did have fun and like how it used a small area to its fullest by creating puzzles and finding clues to slowly open up locked ares like in the old resident evil games.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

  • I actually finished it, and it wasn't too long. i thought i was going to just try it, but because of the games limited save system I kept going.
4 years ago
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What game did you play?

The Last Door - Collector's Edition

What did you think about it?

It's a pixel art point-and-click graphic adventure made in Spain. By pixel art, I mean really blocky, low-res 100x80 pixels or close. But there is art in there, with such a low res, the graphics were very good (within those limits) and the animations were fluid. Most music was piano, either melancholic or eerie. Writing was good, puzzles were very nice, and story was engaging. The setting was horror, and while not really scary (except a few jumpscares), the atmosphere, pace and ambience were totally spot on to tell a good horrot tale. Totally recommendable if you like point-and-click and/or pixel art.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

Actually I ended playing it wholly (twice each chapter), but there's still stuff to do to complete 100% achievements so I'm going to continue playing for a while.

4 years ago
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Happy 🍰 day! 🥳 🍷

4 years ago
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Sorry I'm late to the party! Thank you!

4 years ago
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That's okay, it's just your cake that has gone stale 😇

4 years ago
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Happy new year on SG ruteqube !

4 years ago
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Thank you very much!

4 years ago
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happy cakeday! 🍰

View attached image.
4 years ago
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Looks DELICIOUS! Thank you for the well-wishes!

4 years ago
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What game did you play?
Descent - Silence of Mind

What did you think about it?
Didn't like it... No idea where the game was going.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
The game was actually really short. Finished it in 43 minutes, so... can't continue.

4 years ago
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What game did you play?

Killing Floor

What did you think about it?

KF is a pretty well known FPS with survival touches and zombie theme, and both supports and encourages coop play. It's easily seen in the available game modes for multiplayer, while only two modes/stories for solo playing. However what I played I liked. I already tried KF2 (free on Epic some time ago), so I knew what to expect. I found the original to be fast and slick, and graphics n such matters stand well the pass of time.

I also added a mod (free on Steam if you have KF) called Toy Master which adds a third game mode for solo playing, where you have to protect some chests from possessed evil dolls, cutely handling scissors, knives and other toys. A nice change of pace from the zombie theme, but also wave-based. I liked it, indeed, although it seems (and is) just a small mod.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/326960/Killing_Floor__Toy_Master/

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

Yes, but in solo mode. There's enough game there to make me satisfied. However it will not be among my high priority list on FPS genre, I have quite enough to play for months before KF finds a free space from my backlog.

4 years ago
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I love KF1. One of my all-time favorite games! It's honestly even playable in the regular mode solo once you've got a hold on the basics of the game. The health of the enemies scales to the number of players, so on solo the bigger enemies have a lot less health than they would in MP but are still a challenge.

4 years ago
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Glad to know my impression on solo mode was right! And I also enjoy writing all these small reviews on first impressions.

I rarely drink wine tho (and never alone).

4 years ago
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What game did you play?

Defunct
https://store.steampowered.com/app/359350/Defunct/

What did you think about it?

Sadly I'm disappointed so far.
The controls don't feel responsive enough to me and there isn't a real tutorial.
I hope it will get better and there will be some kind of flow to the movement.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

I played 49 minutes, so I already made it past that. Because Defunct is my entry in this month's 'play a game you won on sg', I will complete it. But I won't try to get the achievements, which I usuall do... aside from omline / multi-player ones.

4 years ago*
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Oh, i actually liked that game, kind of felt like a sonic game to me. It's not too long, so don't worry too much. It even has some spreedruns.

4 years ago
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That's what I hoped for and had heard other says. Maybe I'll manage to become friends with the controls, that seems to be the biggest stumbling block for me and my possible enjoyment so far.

4 years ago
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I'm with you. I really wanted to like Defunct but I couldn't get used to its controls and level design. I think it has a higher skill floor than I wanted it to have, and I ended up not putting in the time necessary to make it work for me.

4 years ago
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Good Afternoon Lords & Ladies,
I played Homefront which I won here on SG.
For my point of view it seems to be a very basic shooter. The story is okay in the first missions (North Korea invaded the USA and you are some kind of guerilla fighter) and they really try to add some drama here and there, but I don't feel very affected by it. I'll continue playing cause of the fine and fluent gameplay. If you have little time this is a fast and nice shooter for you.

4 years ago
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I finally got around to Don't Feed the Monkeys, which i got in the summer sale.
Quite enjoyed it - similar to papers please but with a bit more deductive reasoning as opposed to bureaucracy. Only annoying thing is sometimes you know a connection of information exists but don't know what prompt will provide you with the right link (think like you're doing a google search). I beat it in 1-2 hours but don't think I'll replay it for the 100% completion - just due to how fickle the system could be (with it including some time deadlines as well)

4 years ago
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What game did you play?
Limbo

What did you think about it?
I really liked, even if I am not a fan of platformers (maybe the horror settings helped).

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
Yeah, I probably will finish it soon.

4 years ago
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What game did you play?

ArmA 2: Cold War Assault

What did you think about it?

It's one of these FPS on military setting with some simulation and tactical elements, such as Call of Duty and so. I've played/tried other in the ArmA series, and graphically it looks like a step back, but seems to be better in gameplay, and specially in solo content (as I'm not really into multiplayer now). Training was fluid and fun. Missions are challenging, the couple I tried. Overall a nice game in this genre.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

Yes, although who knows when. But it's a game worth to be played.

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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What game did you play?

BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

What did you think about it?

Runner2 is from the legendary BIT.TRIP series which I first played on the Wii. This one I just won two hours ago here in SG - thanks Berna1111 for it! It's a great runner with platforming (ofc) and rhythm (ofc ofc) elements. It has a lot of content, levels, challenges, secret levels, whatnot. It's fun, difficult, challenging. It has lost some of the freshness of the first games, but nonetheless it's still a 9/10 game.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

Yes, definitely. I'll probably beat it but I'll not be able to complete all achievements I think.

4 years ago
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I ended up loving Runner2 more than the first simply because it was a lot more forgiving. I also think the soundtrack is sublime.

Also, thanks for all your entries in this thread! Even if I don't respond to all of them, know that I'm enjoying reading them.

4 years ago
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Thanks to everyone who keeps participating in this thread! I'm loving reading everyone's little summaries. I realized I missed my cake day here on SG, so I added in a special GA for that as a belated celebration!

4 years ago
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  • What game did you play?
    Call of Cthulhu
    I won this game on SG some time ago. I also finished it, so this will be more than "tasting" ^^

  • What did you think about it?
    I am a big Lovecraft fan (read almost all of his stories), so I was pretty excited to play this. All I knew was that it was a narrative driven RPG. It started out pretty decent and promising, but I was let down by the game very early on. It is not scary, the story is boring and the gameplay, if you even want to call it that, is meaningless. I wrote a detailled review, if you want to read it, here: Call of Cthulhu review

  • Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
    The game has 4 different endings, but I will never play this game again. It was a miserable experience, unfortunately.

4 years ago*
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Bump for Forager (-$

4 years ago
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Bayonetta

I like the cheesy cutscenes and the crass humor, the gameplay is fluid and fun.

Played for 40 minutes instead of 10, I'll play more for sure :D

4 years ago
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What game did you play?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

What did you think about it?

Yes, I'm one of those who didn't play it. I won it today on SG (thankx xxxka!) and went on to try it. I already played Morrowind and Oblivion, but yes there's a qualitative jump on Skyrim. My 10 minutes of wine taste ended being 40 and I had to stop cuz I needed to do other things today. What can I say, it deserves all the fame, awards, prestige, hype and all. And I just barely played through the intro! Also, it's the barebones edition, no DLCs/expansions, but I know it still has enough content there for one hundred hours at least.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?

Yes, first because it's a commitment with the GA maker, and second because it's such an amazing game. Let's see how many hours can I put into it this month.

4 years ago
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You're in for a wonderful time. Skyrim is amazing!

4 years ago
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Almost forgot to mention it:
What game did you play?
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

What did you think about it?
Like I heard, the start is really slow and the first fights are pretty repetitive, but it gets better with time (there are still some pretty annoying side missions).
The other bad thing about it... It is too focused on controllers. It doesn't have a lot of support for keyboard+mouse.

Do you plan on continuing it past 10 minutes (either now or in the future)?
Yeah, of course. I hope I can beat it this year.

4 years ago
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Closed 3 years ago by ruteqube.