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With Autumn soon giving way to Winter, it's the perfect time to cozy up with a hot beverage and your favorite video games. Fortunately Steam has you covered with a limited time Autumn Sale of everyones favorites. Ranging from the high budget highly acclaimed titles to Indie hits, this sale is sure to have something for everyone. Act fast though, it ends on Dec 4th. Let's take a look at some highlights!

Pokémon, easily one of the most popular franchises in all of gaming. Even the most casual gamers who have never touched Pokémon, know what Pikachu looks like. And with that popularity, comes a significant number of spin-offs and attempts to branch the franchise out. One of which is of course the Pokémon TCG. 

Released in 1996 not long after the games which it was based on, and just like those games, the Pokémon TCG quickly took off in popularity. So much so that they even made a Pokémon TCG game for the Game Boy. It was a golden era for GameFreak and their franchise. Even after Pokémon's popularity declined for a bit, the TCG scene remained active and to this day, it's considered one of the “Big 3” of TCGs alongside Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering. It’s received dedicated apps, at least two different digital versions and constantly updates alongside the video games. Then on October 30th, 2024 The Pokémon Company released Pokémon TCG Pocket, the newest app developed by DeNA(Who also worked on Pokémon Masters) and Creatures Inc which seeks to recapture that feeling of opening card packs and hoping for the rarest cards. So what is Pokémon TCG Pocket?

The SaGa series is an interesting case in the JRPG world. It follows its own rules and was never quite as popular as Square Enix’s flagship Final Fantasy or even the much newer Bravely Default. Recently though, it's seen a bit of a resurgence with Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song getting the remastered treatment and now Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. Even though it says 2, the SaGa series is quite a bit longer and like Final Fantasy, they don’t really relate to each other. So what is Romancing SaGa 2 about?

What do you do when you’re in need of inspiration for your writing? Why, you take a much needed break and visit the creepiest abbey in town. This is the premise of Mercury Abbey. Players step into the paws of Harrod, a character based on a gray wolf who’s a struggling writer. At the start of the story, Harrod is working on his latest novel and feeling pretty pessimistic about it. Sales have been lackluster since an influx of competition from similar works have flooded the market including a cyberpunk style adventure featuring a cat as a protagonist. Harrod isn’t given any peace to work or stew as he receives a call from his sister, who tells him that she's dropping off his nephew Willie with him. It’s at this point, the game finally starts. 

Elestrals is a new face in the TCG world. Designed and created by YouTuber aDrive and his amazing team, Elestrals sees players harness the powers of elemental spirits to call upon powerful enchanted creatures called Elestrals. It's a full blown card game complete with varied mechanics and even an in-universe origin story and lore. They’ve put a lot of love into it and it shows. Their website is filled with information about the various cards, how to play, the lore and much more. 

The TCG game was announced back in 2022 and reached massive success on Kickstarter with almost $1.5 million pledged from thousands of backers! It has continued to grow, garnering the interest and attention of card game fanatics and influencers alike. As of this writing, it's currently on its 4th set, Daybreak and the next set Moonrise is on the horizon.

Recently, they’ve returned to Kickstarter with the newly announced Elestrals Clash! A digital version of the game that’ll open it up to new players. Developed by the team who created the Pixelborn app(a digital version of Lorcana), it's already reached its main goal. A mobile and steam release is sure to be on the way but we may also see a Nintendo Switch release if it gets sufficient backing. At present, the Kickstarter is going all the way to the start of November so there’s plenty of time to get in there. Special bonuses like promo cards and exclusive cosmetics await the backers who embark on this journey to Elestria. It looks like a really fun game and I’m excited to check more of it out. They currently have an app on the Google Play store and a Discord server for players where they also host tournaments and you can learn the game. There’s also a YouTube channel where you can keep up with all the updates and learn about the game. If that sounds like your thing, check out the trailer for the Kickstarter below! 

Strategy focused RPGs are always some of my favorites. I’m not always good at them, but I enjoy them. So when I saw the announcement for Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven a few months ago, I was intrigued. A non-linear rpg with multiple characters and different formations? That doesn’t involve a standard exp system? This promises to be pretty interesting, especially since I’ve never heard of the SaGa franchise before this game. Fortunately, like Final Fantasy, the number is mostly a formality: knowledge of other entries in the series is not all required to play or enjoy this one. Which means we can jump straight in.

Castlevania is perhaps the most well known vampire video game series, famous for its gothic horror elements and of course, the constant threat of Dracula. Much like the vampire the series is based around, it rises and falls time and time again. Recently, it has been re-emerging from its coffin with the success of the animated Netflix series that’s still considered to be among the best on the platform and seeing re-releases of older games. For example, the Anniversary collection which features the original NES/SNES titles plus a few extras like Bloodlines and Kid Dracula and the Advance Collection which includes the GBA trilogy of games as well as Dracula X. With the recent announcement of Castlevania Nocturne getting its much needed season 2, now seems like a good time to talk about the most recent collection of re-releases, Castlevania Dominus Collection.

I mentioned in my preview for this game a while back that I’ve spent a lot of time playing card games, and those are always some of my favorites. I had a lot of fun playing that demo and I’m very excited to be coming back to it for this review. It's easily some of the most fun I’ve had with a card game in a long time and it has always managed to put a smile on my face thus far. If you enjoy card games like I do, you’re in for a treat.

WitchSpring R is one of the most unique RPGs I’ve ever played and it's a lot of fun. So what is WitchSpring R? It's a remaster of Witch Spring, a mobile game by Korean developer KIWIWALKS that released in 2018. It went on to have a few sequels before they started getting adapted to consoles starting with this games predecessor: Witch Spring 3 Re:Fine. WitchSpring R definitely doesn’t feel like a mobile game and it most certainly isn’t. It's a full blown remaster boasting improved graphics, gameplay elements etc. I’ve never played the mobile games and hadn’t heard of this series until I got the opportunity to play and review it. But I think even those familiar with the series would be able to enjoy this. 

Fellow Nintendo fans are gonna be in for some treats this holiday season. Nintendo recently had a massive showcase featuring indie games and select partner titles, which encompass a wide range of genres and playstyles. There’s a lot to get excited for!