Despite having not played Overture, I was aware of its existence and how well the original game was received. Still, I was totally blindsided by Black Plague's awesome presentation. The puzzles in the game are smart with spine chilling moments throughout. For a short game that's almost completely comprised of atmospheric elements, it certainly holds its own among many of today's more prominent titles. For a measly ten bucks, Penumbra: Black Plague gets my full recommendation.

To conclude, I hope you've enjoyed the first round in this soon-to-be series of articles. As the holiday season approaches, there'll be no shortage of the more big name titles on the market. I anticipate the second round of bargain bin games to happen sometime next year when things calm down a bit - perhaps giving us all a chance to pick up some of the less-hyped games that slipped through the cracks during the mad holiday rush. In the meantime, if there's a particular game you'd like me to consider for the next article, please let me know. I'm just an email away!

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.
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  • boboko - Monday, September 8, 2008 - link

    >"I've never been a fan of forcing pageviews on an article, my thinking is always that if an article is good enough it'll attract its own traffic, regardless of how it's structured.
    Thanks for the feedback"


    If you would like some more feedback, it is the ability to "print" an article on one web page, rather than being forced to click through it one paragraph at a time, that has made me a regular on your website, and a VERY seldom visitor to a certain site whose initials are T'sHW.
  • EglsFly - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - link

    I think you left out the best Bargain Bin game that is FREE...
    America's Army
    FPS Shooter developed by the Army based on the Unreal Engine.
    Has over 9 million registered users, and ranks in the Top 10 Online played games. AA is available at:
    http://www.americasarmy.com/">http://www.americasarmy.com/

    There are also FREE stat tracker sites where you can track your frag rate, map time, compare to other users in the "User-Top" lists etc..
    such as, http://aaotracker.com">http://aaotracker.com
  • Calin - Wednesday, September 3, 2008 - link

    Most everyone knows about America's Army, so it really wasn't qualifying for this kind of article. Also, I don't think you can find America's Army on shelves - but I might be wrong on this.
    As for now, a random sampling of 5 low cost games shows that they are mostly worthy of their cheap price.
  • JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - link

    I should mention that I have never in the ~4 years I've been with AnandTech heard him complain or discuss traffic for a type or class of article. I've also never heard him say, "that idea for an article suck...." At the end of the day, we write about what we find interesting or pertinent, and hopefully we're similar enough that our interests pass on to the readers. Passion for a subject tends to be the bigger concern than what the topic happens to be.

    I think if readers like an article, and more importantly tell us they like a type of article, it's something we will continue to do. If you absolutely hate certain types of articles, sound off on how they should be changed and we'll try to accommodate. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. We can't please everyone all the time, of course, but we try.

    (I'm just sad the first couple of people hated my little quotes for the pages. I mean dang, I spent like 30-60 minutes trying to find something appropriate on some of those games! *Sniffle*) ;-)

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