The benefits of humble bundle
Games are costly, there's no denying it. Even with the problem of distribution solved for PC gamers in the form of Steam, buying AAA titles, or even continuous purchases of indie/smaller titles, your money spent adds up.
That's where Humble Bundle comes in. Originating as a distributor for bundled indie PC games and for charity, the service was quick to expand to major AAA titles, books, music and mobile titles. Every month, subscribers are offered a bundle (often themed, like a collection of a certain publisher, or titles in a specific genre) for which they can pay anything they want and obtain a number of games for a FAR lower cost than they might be originally.
While it's stated as pay whatever you want, the service still locks you out from certain games (usually the more known or bigger titles) if you don't pay a bit more. But even then, it only forces you to pay a maximum of 12$ (1/5th of what an AAA title might cost) for a bundle to unlock all the games. Obtaining a great game like Stellaris (one of the current bundles' main offers at the time of writing) alongside several smaller (but often as fun or even more fun in rare cases) titles at a fraction of individual cost feels like a massive steal.
Of course, the real main draw is the Monthly Bundle. At a price of 12$ a month, subscribers get several games along with a major title (together about some 100$+ worth of games in retail) for extremely cheap. The Monthly Bundle is often more random, but offers better games than the normal bundles, and unlike the normal bundles, you're only aware of the main title in the Monthly Bundle offer so you can decide whether to subscribe or not to it.
As if the bundles weren't enough, Humble Bundle has its own alternative store to counter the likes of GOG, Steam and Origin. This means of course, another option for seasonal sales (or a direct market in general, if you're looking to purchase games without giving money to the other distributors). It helps that most of the games sold are Steam keys along with occasional Origin and GOG, so you can always play them on their platforms as well and thus not lose out for multiplayer if the games offer them.
Another good draw towards using Humble Bundle is how many free games they offer on a regular basis. Every now and then they'll offer a game for free to anyone who claims a key, and while often they aren't the best of games, they tend to drop a gem every now and then, especially during sales (mostly recently they offered Amnesia: The Dark Descent for free).
And as if your purchases being only a fraction of retail cost wasn't good enough, you'd also be contributing to charity (that you can pick out yourself if you want to). Humble Bundle pays a part of your purchases' money towards many different charities, and has raised a significant amount thanks to many buyers and subscribers.
All in all, Humble Bundle is worth the money, saving you hundreds of dollars and often giving you great games to enjoy. It's definitely worth whipping out the wallet for, you'll always get something of value or the other.
Nuhan B. Abid is someone who actually thinks puns and sarcasm are top class forms of humour. Tell him that 'sar-chasm' is TOTALLY the best thing ever at nuhanbabid@hotmail.com
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