Another trip around the sun means another dip into the Steam Summer Sale, one of the best ways to fill out your Steam library with more games than you'll ever play. But that's okay. Think of your ballooning library like a big pillow that, whenever you suddenly snap into complete and total awareness of humanity's fleeting existence, will catch you with its big, warm, time-erasing arms and hold you ever so close.
We've decided to make this safety net even more accessible by digging through the thousands of deals to find the best discounts on our favorite PC games, some niche classics, and some of our flawed favorites. Wallets open? Good luck.
Big discounts on great games
Patience is a virtue. Pat yourself on the back. You did it.
Metro Exodus - Gold Edition | $25.99, 60% off
The latest Metro game is, almost literally, Stalker on rails. Humans have have returned to the surface in the aftermath of a nuclear war and take off on a long, risky journey by train. A graphical stunner that runs you through a couple big open environments, and this package comes with both DLC expansions, at least one of which resident Metro fan Andy Chalk says is great.
Assassin's Creed: Origins | $11.99, 80% off
Origins has the strongest narrative and most likable main characters since AC2, and the setting is drop dead gorgeous. Egypt is massive and every inch feels like it's been touched by artists and designers.The Gold Edition, which includes all the DLC (that's a lot of game) is available for $10 more too.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun | $5.99, 85% off
One of our favorite strategy games on PC, and at a ludicrous price.
Treachery in Beatdown City | $12.99, 35% off
A stylish throwback to arcade beat 'em ups that mixes in RPG combat and wrestling tactics set in an urban dystopia. Treachery is an excellent modernization of older genres that takes big digs at racism and gentrification in America today. Killer music, too.
Pathologic 2 | $14.69, 58% off (new highest discount)
A game that doesn't want to be fun. One for fellow fans of misery like myself, not to be so easily dismissed for how 'hard' it is. This is a fascinating survival game and immersive sim that uses pain and tedium to further the story. Worth it for the music and dreary, surreal village setting alone.
Doom Eternal | $29.99, 50% off (new highest discount)
The most lavish, gory, breathless arena shooter ever made. Stupidly over the top and paced like a racehorse behind the wheel of an indycar. Released a few months ago, this is the cheapest Doom Eternal has ever been.
Dusk | $11.99, 40% off (new highest discount)
One of the finest shooters in the new wave of neo-retro FPS games. An homage to occult and grindhouse horror with some of the most surprising, profane level design in recent years.
Amid Evil | $11.99, 40% off
A fast, throwback '90s shooter in the vein of Hexen. One of your weapons shrinks planets down to the size of your fist and lobs them as grenades.
Titanfall 2 | $9.89, 67% off
An FPS campaign that hasn't been matched since it came out in 2016, and the multiplayer is newly revitalized with its recent Steam release.
Homeworld Remastered Collection | $3.49, 90% off (new highest discount)
Some of the finest space RTS games ever made. Disorienting, somber, and so, so gorgeous.
Hunt: Showdown | $21.99, 45% off
Tension: The Game. Hunt is weird one, a smaller battle royale with persistent character progression and permadeath set in swamps and farmsteads overrun with horrible monsters. It's also one of the best looking games in recent history. A slow burn shooter for slow burners with a steady playerbase and regular updates.
Yakuza 0 | $4.99, 75% off
A goofy, heartfelt open world brawler with an obscene amount of minigames to master.
Katamari Damacy Reroll | $9.89, 67% off (new highest discount)
Your dad's the king of the cosmos and his love runs parallel to the size of the balls of detritus and clutter you can roll up for him. Start small rolling up scraps. End rolling up continents. A classic in fine form on PC.
Deep cuts
Give these great games you might've missed a try.
Killer7 | $9.99, 50% off
Total Suda51 weirdness. If David Lynch directed an on-rails arcade shooter you'd get something like Killer7, a truly strange, stylish adventure about seven assassins, most of which live in the mind of another assassin? I'm not too sure, honestly, and that's part of the allure.
Yoku's Island Express | $3.99, 80% off
A gorgeous, relaxing Metroidvania-pinball hybrid. Explore a world as a little beetle that rolls up into a ball and use paddles to pinball your way around one of the biggest, most elaborate tables ever made. A supremely cute and relaxing adventure.
Else Heart.Break() | $6.24, 75% off
A truly unique and moving adventure game that uses programming languages for puzzle solving.
Wizard of Legend | $6.39, 60% off
A straightforward action roguelike, but wow does that action feel good. Dozens of elemental abilities take on new behaviors when you combine them, making for wildly different builds.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom | 13.49, 55% off
A beautiful, hand-drawn platformer where you gain new abilities by transforming into a pig, a frog, and other animal forms. A splash of that Metroid-style level design means an intricate world to explore.
Unavowed | $8.99, 40% off (new highest discount)
A point-and-click adventure game with Bioware-style companions and branching narrative paths. One of the best modern adventure games, easily.
Lost in Vivo | $6.59, 45% off
A short first-person horror game with clear ties to Silent Hill. The scariest part? Your corgi goes missing in the sewers.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments | $7.49, 75% off
Andy Kelly says you should buy this. The ideal rainy day mystery.
Blasphemous | $13.74, 45% off (new highest discount)
I'm not sure there's another game with better pixel art than Blasphemous. A catholic horror adventure made in the image of Castlevania, Blasphemous is a challenging 2D platformer that throws some truly disgusting, sad enemies your way.
Sea Salt | $7.49, 80% off
It's Pikmin, but instead of little flower people you collect and propagate Lovecraftian monstrosities.
Calculated risks
These are games you'll likely love or hate, now with far less financial risk.
Beautiful Desolation | $15.99, 20% off
Not major savings, but $16 was cheap enough for me to give this gorgeous-looking isometric adventure game a shot. Fallout without the combat and more puzzles sounds like the perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday.
The Surge 2 | $15.99, 60% off (new highest discount)
If you're into Soulslikes, The Surge series is one you'll either love or feel nothing for. I didn't particularly like either game, but I've heard fellow Souls fans speak passionately about both. The Surge 2 at it's cheapest price yet is palatable for anyone on the edge, especially while we all wait for any scrap of news about Elden Ring.
Hylics | $1.49, 50% off
The most bizarre, absurd, and gorgeous RPG ever made, before Hylics 2 at least. You'll know if it's for you after two seconds of trailer footage.
Mudrunner | $6.24, 75% off (new highest discount)
If you're curious about but don't feel like dropping $40 for Snowrunner, give its much warmer and cheaper predecessor a try.
TheHunter: Call of the Wild | $4.79, 76% off (new highest discount)
A good-looking hunting simulation you can play with friends. Spend hours tracking animals, line up the perfect shot, and bag a nice buck. Or miss a vital organ and spend more time tracking down your injured, suffering quarry. At once a goofy virtual hangout where you can tumble down hills on ATVs with your friends and a thrilling cooperative simulation that depends on near perfect communication and execution.
Fallout 76 | $19.99, 50% off (new highest discount)
With the Wastelanders update, Fallout 76 finally feels as complete as the other first-person Fallout games. Ignore the online elements if you like and go on your happy way building a home and making all those tough choices we missed the first time around.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - GOTY Edition Deluxe | $5.99, 70% off (new highest discount)
If it was 2008, Oblivion with all the DLC would be an easy recommendation, but time hasn't been kind to it, which is pretty unfair, I think. I prefer Oblivion to Skyrim by a Morrowind-mile, and even though it relishes in that bloom effect and looks pretty goofy by today's graphical standards, there are plenty of memorable characters and quests to sift through over dozens of hours. Six bucks is an easy ask.
