Activision’s latest Steam releases party like it’s 1995!

Among today’s Steam releases are a handful of unexpected blasts from the past: Phantasmagorias 1 and 2, a couple of Gabriel Knights, a bundle of Police Quests and another of Quests for Glory, and Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura. Remember when Arcanum was unique for having a steampunk aesthetic? And you can’t beat that subtitle.

Activision has been making some of their older games more readily available lately, which is probably wise because how far can you get on Call of Duty, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and Skylanders? Always have a fallback plan.

I’ve been playing the Playstation 4 re-release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 recently, because I recall those games being great. And they still are. There’s an endearing pre-Disney obliviousness about how much you can nickel-and-dime Marvel fans, so here’s everything in one great big overflowing bag. The Avengers weren’t even a gleam in any studio’s eye and Joss Whedon was just some guy doing a silly cheerleader show. So it’s really cute that Thor isn’t yet an Australian surfer dude, Maria Hill is just another SHIELD lackey, and no one’s ever even heard of Black Widow, so she sits off to the side somewhere, entirely un-Johanssoned. Heck, the Fantastic Four weren’t even a joke yet and you could have X-Men running alongside Avengers because they hadn’t been exiled to Fox yet. Those were the days. Marvel was a free-range property that hadn’t been hooked up to the milking machine yet.

Which reminds me, does anyone want to buy a whole mess of Disney Infinity Marvel characters?