Say there's a digital game you want to try but doesn't have a demo - what prereqs or rules do you set to justify a blind purchase?

I came to the conclusion that I pay five dollars or less for it, it isn't much of a loss but the new game "Fall of the Gods" on GG not only did not work but the serial authentication process sprung open endless copies of Google Chrome at a rapid pace. I had to hard shut down and when I reloaded all my Chrome settings and bookmarks had been deleted.

So I've gone from not busting a vein if five or under to now spending five for a game that reacts like a virus.

I never buy fully blind. I'll always check online reviews, ask for opinions or look for videos. If none are found, not even screenshots, I don't really bother. My paranoia of ruining something on my machine or ending up with a bad purchase is usually stronger than my curiosity.

Exactly; if there is no info I don't buy it. Screens never do justice to games so I need to watch a few gameplay videos to decide.

Developer Pedigree and that is pretty much it.

GameSpot reviews and scores. The triple-score system available for each game is particularly useful.

I usually never do blind purchases, but this year I made an exception and blindly pre-ordered 4 games in hopes they would hold up. Three of those let me down terribly. Now, I am back to my rule of no blind purchases, no matter what the price. I either need to watch quite a few gameplay videos or have recommendations from trusted friends before I do anything. "Professional" reviews and scores I ignore.

It really depends on the title of the game, though there are fewer today that I'd take the risk on, plus the digital distribution method means that the one time concern that a game would fall off the market is far less today than it was before (in the past when game sales were mostly in stores games could quickly fall off the shelf and then you'd be left waiting months if not years for the "sold out" software companies to pick them up).


Myself for a blind purchase my first step is to ask around forums; find out if anyone is running a similar system spec to myself and running the game itself. I also generally read around, forums, game site, review sites etc... - In other words I bother to do some basic market research into the title. Its inexcusable since the info really is just a few clicks away most times.

From there I can make a choice - either take gamble on a title and see if it will run; knowing from research that even if it fails that I'll likely really enjoy the game once my system can run it; or I wait. Put the game on a wishlist and wait for its price to drop to where its costs is, to me, a disposable amount of income that isn't much to worry about - by which point if its a dud I've not lost out much.


I do, however, really wish that demos were not falling off the popularity scale with developers; sadly they seem to not want to put time into releasing a demo which often warns me that the company has no faith in their own product if they don't give users a chance to trial it before they purchase; at the very lest tech demos would be nice for those of us not running the latest systems and who;s spec might be boarderline for a games specific requirements (and esp for those on laptops with iffy graphics cards that might or might not run anything).

Funny, the same question I ask myself at the moment. I'm highly interested in Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, but my research shows that it will not run on my old desktop and not very likely on my notebook (known problems with Intel HD Graphics). At the end of the month the game will be re-released as a HD-Version for the console and three months later for the pc, maybe this update will fix some problems for HD graphics cards. Should I wait if GOG will release it or maybe update the current version (it seems the Oddbox versions get a free update)? Should I give the actual version a try or should I wait for a sale after also the last missing game from the Oddbox is released here? We are talking about a 5$ and it's a good chance to clear my wishlist (used this week to clear it and keep only highly wanted games).

So many questions and hard decision. Unfortunately I know myself and at the end of sale I will buy for the godsake of wishlist clearance and as a challenge to get it runable on my system.

I took the gamble and got the Oddboxx for 3 or 4 euros on Steam when it was on sale recently, with the intention to buy the DRM-free version from GOG in case it worked and in case I liked it. That was a price I was willing to accept for a blind purchase, especially since it would also allow me to test the performance of Munch's Oddysse. I guess with 5 euros or more for one game I'd already be very disappointed if it didn't work. I'd rather watch a disappointing movie for that price. Then at least I can discuss what I payed for with other spectators. ;)

Anyway, regarding Stranger's Wrath, even if I run it at the lowest resolution (ugly 640x480) it doesn't really run smooth yet on my machine. It's playable but not much fun, so I'll skip it unti I get a new graphic card or computer somewhen in the future. My PC is from 2007 with an AMD Athlon64 dual-core processor 2,1 GHz, 4 GB RAM and an integrated GeForce 7300LE video card, if that's of any use to you.

Yes, that's very helpful, thanks. It's more than likely it will not run on my machine, wether the current nor the updated HD version. My mind screams loud skip it, but it will be very hard to resist the feeling that's only one single game is left on the wishlist after I removed so many to reach the clearance. Maybe I should ask GOG if they plan to update the current version to HD, so it will feel more like a purchase for the future. In the long run I will defintely buy this game.

I'll only do a blind purchase if the installers are backup-able (is there even such a word?) and activation-free and the product costs 5 bucks or less.

If there's a demo, I'll gladly pay the regular price if I enjoy the demo.

From what I've seen, I think it would be fun provided your PC can handle it. The only thing I didn't like about it was the handling of the camera.

This site had 200 people giving Witcher 2, 5 stars before it was even released.

I also bought Oddbox. Wrath is barely playable right now even after the patch. I am waiting for the HD upgrade. You wanna invest 5 bucks, go ahaed but pc will get the HD upgrade in 6 months or so I believe.