Jason Fitzpatrick
Humble Bundle is known for bundling together great games for charity, but for their Conquer COVID-19 Bundle, they’ve outdone themselves. You want games to play in quarantine? For $30, you can get more than 150 of them.
You read that right. This bundle is the biggest Humble Bundle we’ve ever seen, and if you’re looking to kill some time while sheltering-in-place, you can’t go wrong buying it—but don’t dawdle because all Humble Bundles are a limited time offer.
If you’re unfamiliar with Humble Bundle, here’s how it works. They assemble a collection of games, and you donate money to unlock the games. Typically they have a tiered system where a bundle might have 15 or fewer games, and when you donate some amount, like $5, $10, or $15, you unlock the different tiers to get some or all of the games. Proceeds from the sale are donated to charity.
The Humble Bundle Conquer COVID-19 Bundle is different. It’s $30 to unlock everything (although you’re free to donate as much to the supported charities, Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health, as you wish). For that $30, you get a shocking amount of games as well as some software, ebooks, and audiobooks.
Let’s start with what you get directly from the bundle. You get 45 games, including some amazing titles like The Witness, Super Hot, Darksiders (I and II), and a whole slew of others that cover a variety of play styles ranging from racing games to party games to point-and-click stories. The bundle even includes the iconic cult classics Undertale and Hollow Knight as well as titles that are sure to be a hit with younger gamers in your house like Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
On top of those 45 games, you get 23 ebooks and comics (two of the ebooks include the audiobook versions), and a Music Maker EDM edition (a pretty neat music-making app).
Now, you might be thinking, “Hold on. You said I get 150+ games!”—but wait, there’s more! In an unusual move, the COVID-19 bundle includes not just games but one free month of Humble’s subscription model, Humble Choice.
Humble Choice is a subscription service where you get a selection of games every month (to keep forever, not just to play while you are subscribed). The premium tier, which is what you get a month of free, costs $19.99 a month, and you can pick 9 games out of the 12 offered.
Here are the options for March. These choices would be available immediately for you upon purchasing the COVID-19 bundle:
So now, thanks to the free month of Humble Choice Premium, we’re up to 54 games. But wait! We’re not done! This already stupid-good-deal is about to get even better.
In addition to all the games you get with the Conquer COVID-19 Bundle, plus the free month of Humble Choice Premium that unlocks nine more games, all Humble Choice members get access to the Humble Trove.
The Humble Trove is a literal trove of DRM-free games you can download (that means they have no Digital Rights Management restrictions and can be downloaded and used as you wish with no subscription or game service required).
The Trove currently contains 100 games that you’ll be able to download immediately (and keep forever, whether you keep the subscription or not). That boosts our game total up to 154 games.
Some of the games in the Humble Trove are, we’ll admit, retro throwbacks like 1999’s Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance or 1988’s Wasteland. The Trove is otherwise populated with current titles (and even award-winning ones at that). You can download and keep amazing games like A Short Hike, Trine, Dear Esther, and The Flame In The Flood, among others.
As a helpful aside, sharp-eyed readers may have noticed in the screenshots above that the puzzle game Etherborn appears in both the March 2020 Humble Bundle and as a new addition to the Humble Trove. This is unusual and not something we’ve seen happen before, so here’s a pro-tip for your Humble purchase: skip selecting Etherborn as one of your Humble Choice options this month and instead grab it from the Humble Trove.
Now, if you’ve read this far down and you’re still considering if this is a worthwhile value, think about this. We would happily recommend the excellent puzzle game The Witness to while away the hours in quarantine. The game is typically $40 and not currently on sale. So look at it like this: for a donation of $30, you get The Witness for $10 off, and you get 153 other games too.
As far as dollars-per-hours-of-entertainment value goes, you’re not likely to see a bundle this good again. And, if you need a final nudge, deals like this don’t last. Like all Humble Bundles, there is a time limit and this one expires on April 7th at 2PM EDT.
