Congratulations to all winners. :)

Okay posted part of my review. Not quite finished yet. Still got some game play to work through. Will finish off the review tomorrow hopefully.

In Brief

Released on Steam 2 days ago (20th Jan 2017), Midnight's Blessing 2 is a casual strategy adventure RPG made with RPG maker.

If you win a key for Midnight's Blessing 2 please give some feedback about your opinion of the game, for example, what you liked or disliked about it, or how it could be improved from your point of view . If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. What, improvements, if any, would change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality?

If you don't win a key, don't mind playing games via Steam or miss the offer totally you can get the game 24/7 via Steam HERE. It usually costs £5.59/$7.99, but is on sale until 27th January for £4.47/$5.49 (20% off).

Midnight Blessing 2 is the direct sequel to the 1st game, already available on Steam. Continue your adventures with Sidni and her friends as you venture in a realm of wonder and fantasy. A mysterious force targets Sidni, and she must flee to keep her home and friends safe! Sidni finds herself in a strange land that holds the keys to her past. On her adventure, she meets new friends and discovers a bizarre army, which is amassing to sweep the world, with herself as its primary target!

Reference accessed HERE


Installation:

Assuming you win a Steam key for Midnight's Blessing 2, once you've found it (should be sent to the email you used to enter the giveaway - it must be the email you first used to sign into the game giveaway site. If you’ve used a throwaway email there may be problems getting a key, because the key may be sent to that email. If you have any problems use the contact form. Hopefully the giveaway team will repost the information they posted several weeks qgo explaining the email situation. ) you have to activate the game via your Steam client. Once activated it will be permanently tied to your Steam profile and you'll be able to install the game at any time, anywhere on any computer, so long as you can validate who you are (usually via emails etc.). If you don't have a Steam account you will first have to download and install the Steam client HERE

Then create a Steam profile/account. Once that has been completed you can input the Steam code that you've received (after completing the form filling) via the game button along the top of the Steam client, (located between friends and Help - see image below). From the drop down menu select 'Activate a product on Steam'. This opens a product activation window. Just follow the prompts to complete activation. Once the Steam code has been accepted, the game will be permanently associated with your Steam account and can be installed any time you wish.

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Midnight's Blessing 2 to work, please visit the problems section over in the Game Discussion forums, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

If you've played any RPG made with RPG Maker you'll recognize the format, with a map based travel, lots of environments to explore and a simple fighting menu when you encounter enemies. There is a simple tutorial at the beginning of a new game that you can skip if you wish and you can play in full screen or windowed mode via the options menu. Music can be turned off if you wish, but each area has it's own music score, which I though helped accentuate the atmosphere in game.

To move around the in game map you can use the arrow keys or the mouse. To interact with characters use either enter, the space bar or the left mouse and to see the menu screen press X, Esc or the right mouse key.

Midnight's Blessing 2 is set four years after the first adventure. Sidni, the main character is on her way to Bhreigh when she meets a scholar who asks her to accompany him to the town. After a short conversation. Traveling to Bhreigh you meet (or may) some mice, which if you interact you can dispatch very quickly and earn some experience and money (Krona). Experience helps to raise your level, which in turn gives you better attributes, which means you can fight harder monsters. The money allows you to upgrade your weapons and armour and other items of use. You may also find items either in chests scattered around the massive map, by killing enemies or in secret locations. To get to Bhreigh you have to travel West through Llanwrteign forest (Pine Green Wood). If you wish to go to the Divide you must travel North and traveling East will take you to Sembra's Post.

When meeting enemies the fighting is very simple. There is a menu that includes an attack button, a defend button plus a talent and item button. The item button includes any items you may hold in your inventory and allows you to change weapons and armour if you have them (for example if you have mithril armour use that becasue it is the best). The talent button accesses any special abilities you may have learned during your adventure.

Other Reviews, Videos and a Slideshow of images:

There are no community reviews of Midnight's Blessing 2on Steam yet. You can see some videos of game play HERE and HERE. You can also see a video of the game on the Steam store page HERE.

Conclusion:

Enjoying the game so far. A typical RPG Maker game, well wort entering if you like this type of game. It has all the usual elements associated with this game, adventure, puzzles, enemies, boss fights, interesting places to explore, cute characters etc.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developer Warfare Studios for giving away 50 keys for this Strategy Adventure RPG and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case a Steam key.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

If Odysseus: Long Way Home didn't appeal, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or HERE.

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The free game over on Origin is still the excellent atmospheric Sci Fi RPG third person Shooter Mass Effect 2, but it will be ending very soon. If you've still not got a copy, this will be your last chance to get it free. It usually costs £19.99/$19.99 (though I paid the pre order price of over £30 prior to it's release back in January 2010) . You can get it HERE. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.

There are 851 games on sale over on Steam at the moment, with up to 91% off. Game prices range from as little as £0.12p and there are almost 300 games and dlc less than £1. You can find all of the deals HERE. If you spend more than $3 in the Indie Gala Store you'll also get a free copy of the atmospheric point and click horror adventure game 'Between Me and the Night' worth $14.99/£9.99. There's also a sale on over on the Humble Bundle site featuring Telltale games (The walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Back to the future, Jurassic ParkPuzzle /agent 1 and 2 etc), plus lads more games on sale. There's also lots of games on sale over on the Bundle Stars and Indie Game Stand (IGS) stores.