Six of the best Black Friday deals

It’s Black Friday, the day after America eats lots of turkey and green bean casserole, and traditionally what one does on this day is one spends lots of money, even though one’s payday is probably a little ways off.

One tends to get more for one’s money on Black Friday, however, thanks to retailers the world over slashing prices in celebration of… I don’t know, the Pilgrims or something. Anyway, the reasons don’t really matter; all you really need to know is that there are cheap games out there for the taking, so now’s a great time to expand your library!

To that end, we’ve picked out six of our favourite deals from around the Internet for you to throw your credit card at. This, of course, is barely scratching the surface of what’s available at knock-down prices today, so be sure to shop around. Consider these our personal recommendations.

Gal*Gun mania

Gal*Gun is a delightful series of colourful games that blend elements of rail shooters with dating sims. Eschewing violence in favour of love and peace, these are games about finding your one true love amid the most bizarre circumstances. Developed by the renowned Inti Creates, these games are just as solid in the gameplay stakes as they are in the cheeky ecchi department, and are a consistent delight to play.

If you’re yet to catch up on the wonder that is Gal*Gun, now is a great time to do so. Our pals at Funstock have knocked twenty quid off both the Ultimate Horny Trinity Edition (which includes all three games for Switch, plus a bunch of extras) and the Double Peace Horny Trinity Edition (which includes just Double Peace for Switch and the same extras). Not only that, but on the Switch eShop, Gal*Gun Returns is 55% off, Gal*Gun Double Peace is 30% off and Gal*Gun 2 is a whopping 85% off. (If you’re in North America, the discounts are slightly different, but all three games are still discounted.)

PC players aren’t being left out, either, as all three Gal*Gun games are part of the Steam Autumn Sale. Gal*Gun Returns is 50% off, Gal*Gun Double Peace is 60% off and Gal*Gun 2 is 75% off.

GOG’s Kinky Bundle

Boldly placing adult content front and centre as part of its Black Friday celebrations, digital storefront GOG.com is offering a good-value “Kinky Bundle” for those who want to add some great adult games to their collection for an eminently reasonable price. £13.09 (or local equivalent) will net you a copy of the original HuniePop, Alternate DiMansion Diary and Succumate. HuniePop will probably be the highlight for many people here, as its cheeky, lewd puzzle action is an established classic at this point.

Don’t sleep on the other two, however, as there’s some interesting and erotic fun to be had along the way. Alternate DiMansion Diary is an adventure game in which you control a university student who has rather unwisely gone out in a Japanese high school PE kit and found herself trapped in a strange old mansion in the mountains. And Succumate is an adventure game with time and money management elements in which you must take care of a succubus — some lovely pixel art in this one.

The base versions of the latter two games in the bundle come in edited “all-ages” forms, but GOG provides “Unrated” DLC for free which unlocks the adult content. HuniePop does not feature a patch, but turning it into the full 18+ version is a pretty simple process that the developer describes on the Steam forums here.

LaunchBox

If you’re a retro gaming enthusiast who does a lot of emulating on your PC, there are few apps more valuable than LaunchBox, a fantastic piece of software that helps you to catalogue and organise your library, as well as automatically download additional information including artwork, music, videos, manuals and other such material.

The base version of LaunchBox is free, but the paid Premium version offers additional features such as an excellent “Big Box mode” that essentially allows you to “consoleise” your PC and turn it into a dedicated retro gaming powerhouse, plus custom theming and gamepad support. You can even put in your own custom loading, shutdown and pause screens for your favourite games, allowing you to really create your own “retro console” experience as you see fit. And, in the most recent versions, you can also import titles from digital storefronts, allowing LaunchBox to act as an “all-in-one” launcher.

LaunchBox only goes on sale once a year, on Black Friday, and the discounts are substantial. A standard Premium license is half price at $15, netting you a license for the full version of the software in perpetuity, and full support and updates for a year. The “Forever” license, meanwhile, which will keep you up to date with all of LaunchBox’s new features for as long as development continues, is down from $75 to $45. And upgrades from the standard to the Forever license are down from $45 to $30.

Visual novels aplenty at MangaGamer

If you’re in the market for a new visual novel or two, MangaGamer has you covered with an enormous sale that puts a significant portion of their catalogue — including many of their lovely physical releases — on sale for 25% off.

There are too many titles to highlight individually, but we’re going to pick out a few anyway. Be sure to browse the full list and see if there’s anything that tickles your fancy — MangaGamer is a great adult gaming storefront in that it offers everything from gameplay-centric titles to story-heavy eroge, sex-heavy nukige and niche-interest hardcore titles.

Of particular note from our perspective are the physical releases of otome titles Fxxx Me Royally!! and OZMAFIA!! — otome games on PC so rarely get physical releases that these are worth supporting, particularly as otome game discounts are almost as rare as physical releases! We also recommend catching up on the Rance series, including Rance 01 & 02, Rance 5D and VI, Sengoku Rance and Rance Quest Magnum. And for the brave, the notorious Euphoria is also on sale in both digital and physical formats.

Physical indies at Red Art Games

There are a billion and one limited-press houses right now, each offering their own little twist on the formula. The France-based Red Art Games focus particularly on providing physical releases of high-quality indie titles, offering a great opportunity to celebrate these excellent games by proudly displaying them on your shelf rather than burying them in a digital library.

We recommend browsing the full catalogue of PS5, PS4 and Nintendo Switch titles they have on offer this Black Friday, but our personal highlights include the excellent Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, the double pack of point-and-click adventure Demetrios and platformer roguelite Xenon Valkyrie+ and board game-inspired tactical RPG Children of Zodiarcs.

Evercade

If you’re yet to dive into the world of officially licensed retro gaming, our pals at Funstock have several Evercade bundles available for Black Friday. Each comes with a set of pin badges, plus the console and games.

The bundles available include the Premium Edition bundle for the original Evercade handheld, which includes the Atari Collection 2, Namco Museum Collection 1 and Interplay Collection 1 cartridges; the Evercade VS Starter Pack, which includes the TV-connected Evercade VS console, one controller and the Technos Arcade 1 cartridge; and the Evercade VS Premium Pack, which includes two controllers plus the Technos Arcade 1 and Data East Arcade 1 cartridges.

Be aware that the original Evercade handheld will be discontinued following the release of the new EXP handheld model in December, but it will remain compatible with all current and upcoming cartridges set for release on the platform. The VS, meanwhile, isn’t going anywhere!

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