Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale. Recettear is better than Skyrim. There, I’ve said it. And you can pick up Recettear for $5 on Steam today.

After having played it through (twice), I can safely say I’m a fan of Recettear. First off, it is an Indie game. Not some AAA hotshot title that everyone talks about incessantly. It is budget-friendly. While not a AAA title, it is still a lot of fun. It doesn’t have a ESRB rating, but if it did, it would probably be E10+ – due to some mild innuendo, cartoon violence, and a few drinking/alcohol references. It has a better Metacritic user rating than Skyrim. There is no cussing or other foul language. There is no gore/blood. The story – it has an actual story – is charming, entertaining, and will touch your heart. It is a different type of RPG: You play from the perspective of an item shop owner in a RPG where you open an item shop to pay off a debt your father left behind (probably deceased). And it offers an actual challenge to players. When was the last time a RPG actually forced you to put on your thinking cap? Plus, Recettear has educational value in critical-thinking skills in regards to finances – but that is secondary to the fun you’ll have learning those lessons.

Now that I’ve got all the Skyrim fanboys riled up, onto today’s Steam deals worth getting:

Recettear (seriously – go get this game right now)
Half-Life Complete (or Orange Box)
LEGO Batman (or just get the WB Complete Pack)
Chantelise (older game by the same authors as Recettear, actual RPG though)
Costume Quest (Wrong holiday…LOL – but it supposedly has magical unicorns with rainbows – nothing can possibly go wrong with that, right?)

If you were like me, you were expecting some amazing Thanksgiving-ish deals on Steam. Instead, what we got was a lousy round of pathetic deals on some rather mediocre games. It made me and my friends sad. Sure, we picked up a few things, but nothing worth blogging about other than Portal 2 being $10.19 at one point.

Enough griping. What is happening right now, though, is definitely worth getting excited about: Every day on Steam, there will be a new Daily Deal (not unusual) AND as long as you visit that deal’s page while logged in, you will be signed up for a drawing to get the top 10 games in your Wishlist for free. You don’t have to buy anything, just visit the deal page while logged in.

Today’s Deal: Terraria – looks/feels like a weird little Minecraft-ey game but in 2D and focused more on fighting enemies than building. Cost: $2.49.

The Steam Daily Deal tends to be Indie games. So, expect budget productions here for the most part. The real excitement is the chance to get your Wishlist items.

BRINK is also Free-To-Play until Sunday. Dunno if you want to buy it – a 70 Metacritic rating with actual gamers thinking it is a lot worse than that. But free-to-play is easy enough to deal with.

Another day, more deals! My favorite DRM solution, Steam, once again has more deals to be had. And tickets for the grand prize drawing. Here are today’s game recommendations:

Prince of Persia Franchise
Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum
Hitman Franchise
Supreme Commander 2

For those eager for Duke Nukem Forever, it is on sale for 50% off ($25). However, realize that this game was released under a month ago. Why is it only $25 so soon? Ask yourself that question before parting with your money.

And today’s freebie is to write a comment on a friend’s screenshot. That was easy!