DLC binge: Braid and Bit Trip Beat

This year, the goal is to be more frugal with my wallet, and, being a gamer, saving money is not so easy. Thankfully, there are games like Braid and Bit Trip Beat that deliver quality gameplay at cheap, if not reasonable prices - something I've advocated in the past.

If you like a soothing soundtrack and gorgeous artwork, Braid is a game that you need to try out. With its tranquil atmosphere, the game almost doesn't feel like a game as you use time-altering techniques to pass the unique blend of puzzles. Add to that a lot of subtle references to popular game franchises, and you have a great package.

Bit Trip Beat's main focus, on the other hand, is to keep both graphics and music as simplistic as possible, driving purely on easy-to-grasp-but-hard-to-master gamplay. And as a reward for your persistance, you're treated to plenty of eye-candy in the form of updated graphics as your score improves. Do poorly during gameplay, and your interface gets downgraded graphically and musically to as low as a simple black-and-white pong-inspired setting. Think of it like a retro-bit version of Rez.

Both games together only cost me only $13.50 in the end, and both games are great to play and gorgeous to look at in their own right. So if you're a true gamer at heart, then you shouldn't mind paying only $6-$7 for something that you'd expect to pay full price on.