A big welcome back to all Loot Happens subscribers. Loot Happens is a weekly newsletter that is emailed and posted on LootHappens.com.
It's important to note that for premium subscribers, game offerings and in-game content, every week is different. Sometimes it's in-game codes, Steam keys, and giveaways, but premium members will always get something special every mailing. We also occasionally get mind-blowing early access or premium games that pay for an entire year's subscription.
Each newsletter is generally structured as Premium Loot > Free Sub Giveaways > Game Feature > Game discounts.
Key Giveaway For Premium Subscribers - Choose Your Game!
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered is a cinematic supernatural thriller that blends murder mystery, psychological drama, and interactive storytelling. The game begins with an ordinary man inexplicably committing a brutal killing and follows both his desperate attempt to uncover the force controlling him and the detectives investigating the crime. Players switch between several characters, making timed decisions, completing action sequences, and shaping relationships that can influence how the story unfolds. While some mechanics and later plot developments feel dated, its tense atmosphere, ambitious branching narrative, and morally complicated choices helped establish many of the ideas that would later define modern story-driven games.
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Special Ops: Operation Assault
Special Ops: Operation Assault is a fast-paced first-person shooter that puts players in the role of an elite commando battling terrorist forces across more than 20 missions. Objectives include defusing bombs, rescuing hostages, eliminating enemy threats, and completing time-sensitive operations in locations such as cargo ships, smuggling tunnels, campsites, and storage facilities. With 11 upgradeable weapons, optional secret missions, and a mix of close-quarters combat, sniping, stealth, and heavy firepower, the game delivers straightforward military action focused on quick reflexes and achieving the highest possible mission rewards.
Unrailed 2: Back on Track: Key Giveaway For Free Subscribers
Unrailed 2: Back on Track is a chaotic cooperative railroad-building game in which up to four players must work together to keep a constantly moving train from derailing. Teams gather resources, clear obstacles, construct tracks, manage specialized wagons, and adapt their strategy while traveling through dangerous and unpredictable biomes. Expanded customization, unlockable upgrades, challenging bosses, competitive modes, and a level editor add greater variety to the original game’s frantic teamwork-focused formula. Colorful, fast-paced, and often hilariously stressful, it is an entertaining choice for groups that enjoy communication, coordination, and overcoming disasters together.
If you would like to be in the running for a key, hit reply and just put 'unrailed'. We will pick a winner and send over the key in 48 hours
The Mermaid Mask: Key Giveaway For Free Subscribers
The Mermaid Mask is a hand-crafted point-and-click mystery adventure that reunites Detective Grimoire and Sally for an unusual locked-room murder investigation aboard the Mortuga, a strange submarine hidden beneath dark waters. After its mysterious captain is discovered dead beside an ancient stone cauldron, players must question an eccentric cast of suspects, explore beautifully painted environments, examine detailed 3D clues, and solve clever puzzles to uncover whether the death was caused by a supernatural curse or something even more unexpected. Blending sharp humor, memorable characters, and an atmospheric mystery, the game offers a charming continuation of the Detective Grimoire series from the creators of Tangle Tower.
If you would like to be in the running for a key, hit reply and just put 'mermaid'. We will pick a winner and send over the key in 48 hours
Historically Low Prices
This section of Loot Happens currently tracks historical discounts on games and throughout the industry. Our tireless web crawlers scour the web daily, sniffing out the best deals across the gaming landscape.
These aren't just any games – they're titles we adore and highly respect. And right now, you can grab them at prices we've never seen before!
ExZeus: The Complete Collection [Nintendo Switch]
Ultra high-tech fighting robots$12.99 $5.20
Featured Game Review: Birds of War
Birds of War takes the familiar competitive multiplayer formula and sends it soaring in a wonderfully ridiculous direction. Rather than controlling soldiers or heavily armed heroes, players become combat-ready birds fighting across chaotic aerial arenas. Three teams of three must raid rival nests, steal their eggs and return them safely home while defending their own collection. It is an immediately understandable objective that creates a constant struggle between attacking, defending and chasing fleeing opponents across the map.
The flying mechanics give the game its distinctive personality. Battles can quickly move from open skies to rooftops, narrow passages and crowded nest areas, producing encounters that feel far less predictable than those in a traditional arena shooter. Combat is primarily melee-based and driven by exaggerated physics, with successful attacks sending birds tumbling through the air. The result is deliberately messy, energetic and often hilarious, although the physics can occasionally make fights feel more chaotic than precise.
Bird Classes
Each bird class offers a noticeably different role. The Crow specializes in stealth, the Hummingbird relies on speed, the Shoebill serves as a durable frontline fighter and the Pigeon supports teammates by revealing enemy positions. Additional birds introduce diving attacks, ambush tactics and disruptive abilities. These differences encourage teams to coordinate rather than simply rush toward the nearest opponent, giving the seemingly silly premise a surprising amount of strategic depth.
Proximity voice chat may be the game’s most memorable feature. Nearby opponents can hear players discussing strategies, panicking about stolen eggs or attempting to mislead the other teams. This creates spontaneous comedy and social interactions that would be difficult to reproduce with scripted dialogue. It also means the experience depends heavily on the people in each match, and players who dislike open voice chat may miss part of what makes the game special.
Quick Play
The biggest concern is whether Birds of War can provide enough variety to remain entertaining over the long term. Its central egg-stealing mode is strong, but competitive multiplayer games require a steady flow of maps, birds, balancing updates and active players. Steam Workshop support for custom maps could help extend its life, although the game will still need continued developer and community involvement to prevent the novelty from wearing thin.
Bottom Line
Despite those uncertainties, Birds of War is an imaginative and entertaining multiplayer game that understands how to turn a ridiculous concept into a genuinely compelling competition. Its combination of aerial movement, physics-driven combat, distinct bird classes and unpredictable voice-chat encounters gives it an identity of its own. It may not offer the polished precision of a major competitive shooter, but for groups looking for something funny, frantic and refreshingly different, this feathered battlefield is well worth entering.
Next Week
Every newsletter has a lot to look forward to, and we are in active communication with several developers and studios. More to come next week!
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