April 29 marks the beginning of Golden Week in Japan, a week containing no fewer than four Japanese holidays: Shōwa Day on April 29, Constitution Memorial Day on May 3, Greenery Day on May 4, and Children's Day on May 5. It's a pretty big week all around, and Valve is marking this year's festivities with a Golden Week Sale on Steam, featuring deals on thousands of games from Japan.
It's the kind of sale we likely wouldn't have seen on Steam not all that terribly long ago. There was a time when PC gaming didn't have a meaningful presence in Japan, and so Japanese developers and publishers simply didn't bother with it. Slowly but surely over the past decade, that situation has changed, and PC is now recognized as an important and viable platform—and as a consequence, we've got a lot of Japanese games to choose from.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition - $10/£7/€8 (80 percent off)
- Final Fantasy 8 Remastered - $$10/£8/€10 (50 percent off)
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon - $47/£44/€47 (33 percent off)
- Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker - $7.49/£6/€7.49 (85 percent off)
- Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate - $16/£14/€16 (20 percent off)
- Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown - $15/£12.49/€15 (75 percent off)
- Katamari Damacy Reroll - $10/£5/€7 (67 percent off)
- SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays, which I know nothing about but the title is cool so I'm including it anyway - $30/£20/€25 (50 percent off)
See anything else particularly good? Let us know in the comments.
Naturally, a new sale means new Seasonal items in the Steam Points Shop "that embody the spirit of Spring in the northern hemisphere," including backgrounds, avatars, frames, and a seasonal profile.
The Golden Week Sale runs until 10 am PT/1 pm ET on May 6. For advance notice on more upcoming Steam sales (the ones that we know about, anyway), be sure to keep an eye on our list.
