Ah, Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Black Week/Black November. It’s a great time for people like me who hate paying full price for anything, especially in the arena of digital games. The theme of this black weekend is apparently Action RPGs. I knew I was in the mood for a good ARPG, but somehow I ended up buying almost nothing but ARPGs this weekend. Here’s are some of the things I picked up for cheap.

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
Wind Waker is one of the few entries in the Zelda series that I somehow missed, which seems to be the consensus among casual Zelda fans like myself. It’s one of those “it sold horribly the first time around, but everyone who actually played it loved it and begged for a remake” games. Personally, I blame the cheezy cell-shaded graphics, which I must admit is a lot of the reason why I didn’t buy the first time around, but I’m told you get used to it, or at least end up putting up with it given how good the gameplay is. If nothing else, it looks a lot prettier on the Wii U than it did on the Gamecube.
Side note: I see they’re now remaking one of my favorite Zelda games, Twilight Princess, for Wii U as well. What I’m a little disappointed by is that it really looks about the same as the Wii version. Maybe they cleaned up the textures a little, but other than that it just looks like someone just running the game at forced 1080p resolution in the Dolphin emulator. Wind Waker actually took the time to update the models and make it feel like an HD remake, but this feels like a cash grab (or at best just something to appease the whining fans).

Marvel Heroes: War Machine
Marvel Heroes had a great Black Friday deal, with 50% off heroes dressed in black (clever), plus a bonus random hero. I’ve had my eye on War Machine since he came out, and so far he’s been everything I had hoped for. I love the independently-firing machine gun; it’s like an always-on AoE, and it’s really nice to not have to chase down that one random guy that always seems to get away when you’re clearing a room. I haven’t decided yet if I want to play him ranged or melee, because he really excels at both. Gazillion did a great job making him feel very different from Iron Man with a few similar abilities. Exactly what War Machine should be.
My free random hero was Silver Surfer, who looks interesting, but I haven’t really messed with him. He wasn’t high on my list of to-play characters, but he was on the list, so I’m happy.

Transistor
I’ve been watching this one for a while now. It’s a new game by the creators of Bastion, and I heard nothing but rave reviews when it came out. It looks fun, and, if nothing else, it’s an absolutely gorgeous game, continuing with Bastion’s hand-painted art style.

Fight The Dragon
This somewhat obscure indie title is marketed as “Diablo meets Little Big Planet.” By that they mean that it’s an ARPG with community-created custom dungeons. I love it when games give users creative freedom, and it was only $3, so I figured I’d give it a shot. It’s really not that good of a game, but the fact that you can download and play other people’s levels makes up for its mediocrity.

Distance
Finally a an ARPG combo breaker. This is a weird little futuristic stunt driving game still in Early Access. Think Trackmania with wings. Apparently it’s a spiritual successor to a freeware game called Nitronic Rush, which I had never heard of before Distance popped up on Steam, but both games look fun to me. I’ve never been in to realistic racing games–I guess that comes from growing up on a steady diet of Mario Kart and Star Wars: Pod Racer–I’d much rather have something like this that bends reality a little. It has a fun EDM soundtrack and an overall Tron: Legacy feel to it. The story mode takes a turn for the creepy early on, which I was not expecting. Overall, well worth my money, even as someone who doesn’t play racing/driving games much.

So that’s the major highlights for my sale shopping. Not bad considering that the grand total for all of the PC games is about $25. Did you pick up any good deals this year?