Steam Simfest: Hobby Edition offers great deals on games that are like jobs

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Steam's latest big online event also includes developer livestreams, Let's Play sessions, new demos, and more.

Steam Simfest
(Image credit: Valve)

The Steam Simfest: Hobby Edition kicked off yesterday with some sweet deals on sims of all kinds. The week-long online event will also include a host of game demos, developer livestreams, gameplay sessions, and more.

The interesting thing about "sim" as a genre is that it covers a huge amount of ground—simulating other activities is an inherent element of videogames, after all. Valve defines sims, for the purpose of this particular event, as "games that attempt to simulate a hobby or job," which is a little narrower in scope, but not much, really. That's how you end up with a single genre containing games like:

Honestly, if you were to line all of those games up and ask me what they have in common (perhaps leaving out the two with "Simulator" in the title, so as not to give the game away), I'd be baffled. Arma 3, Hellish Quart, and Assetto Corsa Competizione are about as different from one another as you can get, and yet here they are, all sharing space in the boundless glory of the "sim" genre.

(Ironically, immersive sims are not included! Shame, that.)

Here are some highlights from the upcoming panels, discussions, and Let's Play sessions:

The Steam Simfest: Hobby Edition is live now and runs until April 4.

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Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.