We've now been living and breathing the Steam Summer Sale for a week, losing sleep for every flash sale, antsy with anticipation every time the new deals tick over. We're feverish from the savings, but it would be madness to stop saving now. Today's deals fuel our appetite for strategy, shooting, and launching valiant little green men into space on absurdly oversized rockets.
Don't forget to check out GOG's summer deals, too.
Reminder: if a game isn't a daily deal or a flash sale, it could pop up later in the sale for an even lower price. If you want to be safe, wait until June 30 to pick up a sale-long deal.
5 - The Banner Saga
50% off: $12.49 / £9.49 - Steam store page
One of the biggest artistic achievements in gaming this year. We love The Banner Saga's hand-drawn characters and how they animate on the battlefield, but we especially enjoy the way its detailed, Nordic landscapes parallax as your caravan of warriors and survivors march on. The Austin Wintory score is a cherry on the top.
4 - Kerbal Space Program
40% off: $16.19 / £11.99 - Steam store page
We've murdered a lot of aliens in games, but only in KSP have we stranded little green guys in planetary orbit due to our grossly incompetent management of a budding space program. The Early Access rocket physics simulator is one of the best games still under development, and already has a large community of engineers sharing stories of harrowing space missions, ship designs, and mods. KSP has even made its way into classrooms .
Read Ian's five-part Kerbal Space Program chronicle to see how he learned rocket-building basics and launched a mission to the Mün.
3 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
50% off: $7.49 / £5.99 - Steam store page
The best competitive FPS on PC owes a lot to its skill-based matchmaking format. At any skill level, five-on-five Counter-Strike narrows the range of tactical choices available to you and the time you have to make them, creating a wonderfully concentrated competitive mode. Otherwise, CS:GO is mainly a vehicle for microtransactions: beware the allure of $400 virtual knives.
2 - Tomb Raider
75% off: $4.99 / £3.74 - Steam store page Flash sale: Buy it before 8 p.m. EST
Lara Croft returns in a gorgeous action game heavily inspired by Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. This younger, rebooted Lara doesn't have her predecessor's confidence or predilection for interesting puzzles—the only tombs in this game are disappointingly short and simple—but the shooting is by far the best in the series. Exploring Tomb Raider's island and crafting survival gear is also fun, as Lara is a nimble climber and each area is packed with interesting treasures to hunt down. For a challenge, forgo the assault rifle and grenade launcher for Lara's incredibly satisfying (and silent!) bow.
1 - BioShock Triple Pack
83% off: $10.19 / £6.79 - Steam store page
If you haven't explored the ruins of Rapture, you're in for a treat. BioShock's world is a revelation, an under-the-sea society that's crumbled under its own weight, and exploring what remains of it—and shooting its crazy inhabitants in the face with fireballs—is a delight. BioShock 2 goes even further, changing your perspective and adding a surprising amount of depth with its own story. Irrational's swansong, BioShock Infinite, may still be polarizing, but Columbia is just as beautiful and terrifying as Rapture, and well worth exploring. All three are included here in a bundle that's too cheap to pass up.
Other great deals today
Remember that games not categorized as Daily Deals or Flash Sales may be reduced further later in the sale.
Bastion (40% off) $8.99 / £6.59
Killing Floor (50% off) $9.99 / £7.49
