Newbie is a bit confused about region locks

[novadestin]

Hello, all. I bought the Ukraine humble bundle and this is the first time I've had leftover keys I don't plan to use. But, like an idiot, I forgot to check oh humble what the region locks were before I revealed the keys.

Steamgifts has a helpful page[www.steamgifts.com] for the bundle, but I don't quite understand it. Back 4 Blood, for example, brings up this page[steamdb.info] for North America, so am I correct in assuming I can only trade with someone in those eight countries?

But then, for Metro Exodus, it has a "gift link notification" image and doesn't list anything specific for North America. In that case, I assume I would just go off what the gift link image says?

Any help would be appreciated :)

[🍒 Lilly (🌸◠‿◠)]

Humble Bundle gift link notifications are misleading. They shouldn't usually be interpreted as "your key does not work in these countries", but more like "these countries receive region locked packages". Exclusions apply of course (depending on what kind of message you get) but keep in mind that people who get ROW keys (WW = worldwide = can be activated anywhere, but we usually call them "ROW") also get the same message about region locks.

Indeed, pretty much the best info you can get about the actual region locks is the SteamGifts thread, where we try to compile them based on user reports, package availability on SteamDB and publisher history of previous bundled keys.

How to read this? it's simple. Just identify your region in the list for the game you want to know region locks for. If your country doesn't fit there, then it's probably "ROW". Then, to double check, just click the SteamDB link and in the info tab you'll see the exact list of countries that your key can be activated in.

Most of North America keys are ROW, but for Back 4 Blood, following the SteamDB-> Info page linked on SteamGifts you get:

"This package is only purchasable in specified countries:"
American Samoa, Antarctica, Canada, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, United States of America, U.S. Virgin Islands
which means that only people from those countries can activate your key.

Metro Exodus for North America falls into the "Everyone else" category, so it's a ROW key: https://steamdb.info/sub/330256/