Shopping Experience
Humble Bundle test / review & opinion
Published on: 03-06-2019 / Modified: 11-07-2024
I discovered Humble Bundle in 2013 when I was looking for a small independent game (Faster Than Light), Humble Bundle was one of the few site to offer it for sale. I came back in 2015 to buy my first bundle which contained several games for a much lower price than the other stores. 4 years later, my Steam library has grown much bigger thanks to Humble Bundle and I also have a monthly subscription since 2017. What is Humble Bundle really worth ? Is it for everyone? Let's find out.
Official website: Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle? What's that?
Humble Bundle is selling official game keys like Steam and many others but what differentiates Humble Bundle from others is the concept of bundles and part of the money you pay goes to charity.
Single bundles
Bundles are groups of games that you can buy for a limited time at a lower price than the usual price. Humble Bundle offers individual bundles every week and for each bundle, you can buy part or all of the bundle because the bundles are organized in contribution levels. You define the level yourself and you can also choose how your money will be distributed between the game publishers, HumbleBundle and the charities chosen for this bundle.
There are bundles of games, software, books, mangas,... Every week new bundles are published.
What kinds of games do you get in these bundles?
Bundles are often composed of a popular game accompanied by a series of smaller, less well-known games. The bundle price is generally lower than the price of the most popular game. So you have to come back every week so you don't miss the right opportunities. Among the individual bundles I bought I have for example a bundle containing a Civilization game, an X-Com as well as a series of smaller games for 15 USD, the normal price for the whole was more than 100€. So yes, they are never the latest games but that doesn't take anything away from the quality of the games offered.
Monthly bundle (Humble Monthly)
Humble Bundle also offers a monthly bundle in the form of a monthly subscription, the Humble Bundle Monthly. For a fixed price of 12 USD you get a bundle of games every month. This bundle usually contains a popular game and several other games. I have been a subscriber to the monthly bundle for 2 years and I received 217 games for 2x120 USD or 1.1 USD per game!
The May 19 bundle contained:
Assassin's Creed Origins
Wandersong
Finding Paradise
Monster Prom
The Journey Down: Chapter Three
Do Not Feed the Monkeys
I'm not a Monster
Once Upon A Crime In The West
2 ebooks +2 ebooks
+1 album in mp3
For 12 USD.
Trove
With the monthly bundle you can also access the Humble Trove which offers about sixty independent games or old games for free download without having to download them on Steam or another platform. There is a little bit of everything with titles like The End is Nigh, Limbo, Deadlight, Overlord, Bard's Tale, Indiana Jones, Trine, X-wings and many more.
Discounts
The monthly bundle also gives you discounts for the purchase of games in the store where you can find all the games of the moment.
Free games
About once a month, Humble Bundle offers a free game to its members. The last game I received through this channel was Age of Wonders 3. These are usually not new games but they are always good to take. You don't have to have bought anything from them to benefit from it, you just have to register.
New in 2019 - more bundles
In October 2019, Humble Bundle has announced new bundle.
You can now access a bundle for a much cheaper price if you want to start slow or if you don't want to spend too much money. It's a good way to start but if you look at the most expensive bundles, you still get games at a cheaper price. If you subscribe now to the monthly before those bundles are launched, you'll get automatically the Classic Bundle which is the most interesting bundle.
If I had to start from nothing, I would probably think a little bit before getting the biggest bundle because I don't have a lot of time to play but as I'm already subscribed and that I'm getting a better deal, there is no reason I should cancel.
Humblebundle, scam or not?
Humblebundle.com is definitely not a scam, it's a legitimate site, I've been using it for almost 6 years. You just have to be aware that the games offered are not the most recent but you can get games at much lower prices.
Problems?
The keys you buy on HumbleBundle.com must be exchanged on Steam or one of the other platforms. For Steam I have never had any problems because you just have to link your Steam account to the Humble Bundle account and the redeeming is done automatically. On the other hand, for the other platforms, I had some problems to get my keys back but after contacting Humble Bundle customer support, I always got a solution.
My opinion?
Humble Bundle is another way of buying games. If you're not buying all the latest games at the highest price, if you can wait a little bit, Humble Bundle will nicely fill your game library for a very low price (1.1 USD per game on average for my case). The biggest problem you'll have with Humble Bundle is perhaps the lack of time to try all the games you're going to get!
Updated February 2021:
I had never had a problem with Humble Bundle before, but it took only one intervention from them to ruin everything. I had a Wallet account with money in it and when I logged in one day I was surprised to find that my account was blocked. The reason? To use their vocabulary: "policy violation". I don't see how I could have broken any rules because I didn't do anything with my account. So I wrote to them to report the problem and they simply replied that their decision was irrevocable and that they would not act on my next requests. Of course I tried to contact them again, even with other email addresses, they deleted my tickets each time without answering me. This is simply unacceptable!
So my advice is that you should not use their wallet as they may decide one day to cancel it without any reason. Buying a bundle is not a problem, I have bought many things without any issue.
LAURENT WILLENHead of myself on this blog
I share my passions on my blog in my free time since 2006, I prefer that to watching nonsense on TV or on social networks. I work alone, I am undoubtedly one of the last survivors of the world of blogs and personal sites.
My speciality? Digital in all its forms. I have spent the last 25 years working for multinationals where I managed digital teams and generated revenues of over €500 million per year. I have expertise in telecoms, media, aviation, travel and tourism.
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