1y ago

Steam Summer Sale 2023 Recommendations Thread

Dishonored (2012) $2.49 at -75%
Left 4 Dead 2 (2009) $0.99 at -90%
Portal 1&2 (2007) $1.48 at -93%
Batman Arkham Collection (2010) $8.99 at -85%
Skyrim (2011) $9.99 at -75%
Bioshock Collection (2007) $11.99 at -80%
Stardew Valley (2016) $9.89 at -34%
Disco Elysium (2019) $9.99 at -75%
FTL: Faster Than Light (2012) $2.49 at -75%
Into The Breach (2018) $7.49 at -50%
Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (1999) $4.99 at -75%
Borderlands 2 (2012) $7.99 at -80%
Tomb Raider (2013) $2.99 at -80%
GTA V (2013) $14.99 at -63%
Sleeping Dogs (2014) $2.99 at -85%
Wolfenstein: The Two Pack (2014) $7.49 at -75%
Wolfenstein Alt-History Collection (2014) $15.80 at -84%
Shadow Warrior (2013) $2.99 at -90%
Max Payne 3 (2012) $5.99 at -70%
Hitman Absolution (2012) $3.99 at -80%
Resident Evil 2 (2019) $9.99 at -75%
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (2016) $4.79 at -84%
Zombie Army Trilogy (2015) $6.74 at -85%
Darksiders 2 (2012) $7.49 at -75%
Super Meat Boy (2010) $1.49 at -90%
X-COM 2 Collection (2016) $7.74 at -94%
Alien Isolation (2014) $7.99 at -80%
The Walking Dead Complete (2012) $19.79 at -72%
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (2007) $14.99 at -75%
State of Decay: YOSE (2013) $4.99 at -75%
State of Decay 2 (2018) $11.99 at -60%
Metro Saga (2010) $9.76 at -89%
The Talos Principle (2014) $4.49 at -85%
The Evil Within Bundle (2014) $6.24 at -75%
Outlast Trinity Bundle (2014) $7.05 at -88%
Transistor (2014) $3.99 at -80%
Hades (2020) $12.49 at -50%
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013) $3.74 at -75%
Gears 5 (2019) $9.99 at -75%
Ori and the Blind Forest (2015) $4.99 at -75%
Sunset Overdrive (2014) $6.59 at -67%
Dead Cells (2018) $12.49 at -50%
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (2012) $9.89 at -67%
Fallout 4: GOTY (2015) $9.99 at -75%
Prey (2017) $7.49 at -75%

110 comments

Anyone else feeling like they’ve already picked up most of these over the years of summer sales and there’s really not anything worth picking up this year?
- The most recently released game on the list is Hades, which came out three years ago. Most are much older. Chances are if you play PC games you've gotten most of these in past sales.
- Just by taking a glance at this list I can see I already have at least 80% of the games, if not 90%. I've been looking through the Steam shop and there just aren't many good deals this year, that haven't already been on a steep discount.
- Not at all, I got almost 500 games on my wishlist so I have something new pretty much every sale.
- I already played the majority of them. But Zombie Army is looking tempting, so still got something new to try.
- I've definitely picked up most things in the OP, but there are always new games getting added to my wishlist.
  I just slowly work my way through my wishlist and pick up a few games each sale.

I really recommend the Ori series, beautiful and the story is great.
- First one was a 10/10 for me. Second one was a 9.5/10. Both were excellent games. Both made my cry like a baby. Highly recommended.

Rude to list transistor and hades but not Pyre
Pyre is basically Fantasy NBA Jam with a visual novel story that adapts to if you win or lose. Very good story. Very good art. Very good music. Very good game.
- Don't forget about Supergiant's first game, Bastion. It's currently an absolute steal at 80% off.
  
  Love the narrator in Bastion. One of my all time favorite soundtracks too!
- I am just adding my humble opinion but Pyre is the only SuperGiant game that I don't like.
  
  I 'finished' it, in that I sent one of my homies back through the whatever, but I ran out of steam on the game shortly after. It's a lot of fun, still.
  
  It definitely isn't for everyone, but it is a very solid game. Especially for the $4 they're charging on sale.

Fuckin hell you guys are here too, thank god

The original Deus Ex is 86% off at 0,97€. Definitely worth it if you have yet to play this masterpiece! Just finished it myself on Steam Deck and worked like a charm.
- The mod Deus Ex: Revision is available on Steam as well for free, which makes it extremely easy to install and use on Steam Deck. GMDX is another good mod, but it's not on Steam so you'd have to install it the old fashioned way.
  Vanilla is great if it's anyone's first play-through, though

This is a beautiful breakdown. Nice to see this type of content on the community. Real quality.

Dark Souls Remastered and Sekiro are on sale. These are relatively rarely discounted, so here's an opportunity if you were looking to pick them up.
- Dark Souls: should I pick up I or III?
  For context, I never got into DS until I played Elder Scrolls, which I've been obsessed with
  
  I personally think Dark Souls 1 is the better game.

Ghost Song (2022) 30% off at $13.99
Dark Souls III (2016) 50% off at $29.99
Metro Exodus (2019) 80% off at $5.99
Signalis (2022) 20% off at $15.99
Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (2015) 90% off at $2.99
Horizon: Zero Dawn (2020) 67% off at $16.49
Song of Iron (2020) 50% off at $9.99
Tactics Ogre: Reborn (2022) 40% off at $29.99
Triangle Strategy (2022) 50% off at $29.99
Edit: Added Dark Souls III to list

I am tempted to buy transistor - is it pretty similar to Bastion? Pyre was amazing, but Im not sure if I need another straight forward RPG style game. Does it have some kind of unique hook?
Into the Breach, Talos Principal, and Ori also look interesting. Although they're all slightly different than things I usually play so not sure.
- Although I finished Bastion five times and Transistor twice, I'd still say Transistor is the better of the two while being comparable to their best game Hades.
  
  I ended up grabbing transistor and into the breach. I've had a beer too many to be any good at into the breach ATM, but loving transistor so far
- Transistor is one of my top games. I think you would like it.
- Ori is a nice game. It is quite casual at first, but it gets more complicated over time. The graphics are nice and the effects not over the top. The story is more...I would say somber?
  Overall, it was also a great game for my girlfriend. Visuals and story held her interest long enough to play through the whole game (even the more frustrating parts).
- I tried transistor right after Bastion and didn't really like it in comparison... Then I went back to it loved it!
  It plays a lot different because of the whole action economy thing, but it's definitely worth a try.
  I might pick up into the breach too, it looks like the sort of "puzzle" game I can get into
  
  Into the breach is amazing, it definitely plays like a puzzle game, the kind where you play the moves in your head to make sure the move you're making now won't come back and bite you in the ass 2 turns later :)
- The only bad thing I have to say about Into the Breach is that the final level is insanely hard on anything but the easiest difficulty - which is kinda on par with the creators of FTL. Either way, I highly recommend it!
- I would say it's easier than bastion but has some interesting combo mechanics.
  supergiant knocked the story/art/music out of the park, as they normally do

I highly recommend playing Disco Elysium, but I'd recommend pirating it like the creators requested.
Amazing game though.

Get Dead Cells. It’s made for the Steam Deck!
- Was hoping for a discount on the Castlevania DLC.

I would also recommend Elden Ring. Currently at 30% off.
- Elden Ring (2022) $41.99 at -30%

Shakedown: Hawaii - 80% off at 3,99€ - Think GTA for the 16-bit era.
2Dark - 90% off at 2,49€ - Think Alone in the Dark but top-down and in retro/voxel style, from the original creator of Alone in the Dark.
UnderRail - 60% off at 5,67€ - Hidden or not, this one can't be recommended enough to fans of the original Fallout (1 & 2, isometric) games.
Space Haven - 60% off at 8,79€ - In-depth colony/spaceship building & management sim with cozy graphics.
Crystal Caves HD - 60% off at 2,63€ - A true testament to how to faithfully bring an old platformer into HD, while also innovating on the original. Also contains a lot of hidden gems.
Supraland Complete Edition - 54% off at 15,71€ - First-Person-Metroidvania in a literal sandbox, lots of freedom, lots of puzzles and exploring. Contains the DLC. Get this to gear up for the eventual release of the sequel Supraworld. The standalone Supraland Six Inches Under is also worth getting, but is "only" at 45% off, which is still great.

The Yakuza games aren't individually on sale (which is weird), but the Bundle and Collection are 70% and 75% off. Yakuza Zero is definitely worth playing, so for 30 bucks (in Canuck dollars), you basically get two more games for free in the bundle.
RDR2 is 67% off and absolutely worth every penny.
AC Origins is 85% off and AC Odyssey is 80%. I know some people have mixed opinions about Odyssey, but I honestly loved both of these games even if the historical accuracy...dips...in Odyssey.
- Oh man picked up rdr2 recently and couldn't put it down awesome game. Got a copy of rdr and going to dust off the ps3 after not playing it for almost a decade
- odyssey is the best game in the franchise
- Is RDR2 worth getting on the pc if I already own it on xbox?
  
  Depends on your specs, I guess. I have a top end GPU for the first time in my life (3rd world is tough), it's glorious seeing it in full ultra, 1440p@60FPS. If you won't be able to bruteforce it, the One X version should be fine, I guess.

I never tried the resident evil series and haven’t heard about it much, is it worth it? Where do I start?
- Resident Evil 2 Remake is an all-time classic IMO. Phenomenal entry point. No knowledge required from Resident Evil 1.
- Yep I also started with Resident Evil 2 Remake. Great game!
- I also recommend Resident Evil 2 remake.

Well guess I don't have an excuse not to try out ori and Stardew valley
- You've never played Stardew? Oh, you're in for a treat. One of my favourite games of all time.
  I didn't like Ori, though. Too difficult, for one thing. It has these especially frustrating escape sequences. It was a pretty game, but that wasn't enough to make me enjoy it.
- Can't recommend Stardew valley enough.
- I'm gonna go against the grain here and say: if you have lots of stuff to do, stay away from crackdew valley
- Stardew valley is great, no regrets! Also it has a good mod community. (both game extensions and qol stuff)
  
  I hit perfection on a vanilla(ish) playthrough... I would say never again, but I currently have a heavily modded SVE play through in summer of year 1.
  I'll say, getting all those mods to play nice on my old laptop was not fun.
- I am going to defend ori, at least the first one. Played and finished that.
  Ori is a visually beautiful game and although there were some annoying sections I admit, the game has a very forgiving checkpoint system and before you know it you'll be chain jumping and platform "surfing" in no time.
  I also like how they incorporated the game theme music throughout the game, but that is my personal thing
  Compared to something like Hollow Knight, which is a also a brilliant game, Ori felt easier or at least provided an easier means for me to fail until I succeed at least.
  Stardew Valley is one of those "you never knew you'd enjoy until the game gets its claws in you", and it pretty open to how you want to approach it be a farmer, a rancher, miner, explorer, fisherman, valley garden instrument, corporate sellout and I am sure I am missing more

Thanks for the write up fellow gamer

I'll put a nomination in for Dragon's Dogma @ $5. I first played it on the vita, so it's great for portable (Deck) playing. It's a fun enough RPG/fantasy and I quite liked the pawn system. There's a sequel on the way so if it's something you enjoy there'll be more :)
- Dragons Dogma is phenomenal. And the DLC is perfect too. Highly recommend it for any fans of Soulslikes, Monster Hunter or The Witcher series

Age of Empires DE currently does not work on linux and for some win 11 users too. It did but as of 2 days ago it hasn't. This is the issue on the subject, https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/3189. At least people got a minecraft crossover 🙄
- Thanks for the info. Hopefully there will be some solution soon, since the issue is so recent.
- Is this recent? I've played a bunch of games on Linux with my friends on Windows. Just had to do the required finagling found on ProtonDB

Bioshock remastered is a mess, keeps crashing
- Honestly that didn't happen at all to me

Thanks for this list. I can really recommend both state of decay games. I’ve been playing them for years and I really love them

I'm not sure that its the type of game many people here would enjoy, but if you're looking for a strategy game with a slightly retro (2000s-ish) vibe, I can highly recommend kairosofts games. Game Dev story in particular I love and is on sale for AU$5

Warhammer: Vermintide II is 80% off
- Ah yes I did enjoy Left for Dead in Warhammer Fantasy

Thanks for reminding me that *left 4 dead 1 & 2 *were in sale for 90% and other old valve games... I bought them as soon as i can!
- I didn't want to fill out the list with extra info, but L4D2 is both games in one engine.

This is my signal to buy Into the Breach and jump in.
I'm also giving into the Resident Evil series that's been on my wishlist for waaay too long... RE Remake, RE 0 Remake, RE 2, RE 3, RE 7.
Village and RE 4 will have to wait as the price hasn't dropped enough yet. :D
- Into the Breach might be the game I have the most hours played
  
  The nature of the game makes it amazing for a quick session before bed or during lunch.
- Wow that's a great haul!! You have some incredible adventures ahead :)
  
  You're telling me! Excited to get home, install them and see what all the great reviews are saying.

I grabbed the XCOM2 bundle and Gears Tactics.
I played both years back when I was on console but playing the new Aliens Dark Decent game has me ready to dive into the genre again.

Weird West if you enjoy immersive sims.
- Weird West: Definitive Edition (2022) $9.99 at -75%

So many awesome games on sale.
Into the Breach
It's rare I say this about a game, but this is even worth full price, so definitely pick this up if it even looks vaguely relevant to your interests. It's positional chess-like turn-based rogue-lite full-information gameplay. It's awesome. They dropped a massive completely free content expansion out of the blue after years of being released that just made it all even better.

That's a solid selection right there, mate!

Thanks for these, much appreciated!

Thank you! Finally picked up FTL after absolutely loving the Jumplight Odyssey demo during NextFest. I need more space survival sim in my life

Haven't played it yet, but I grabbed Super Chibi Knight for $1. The original was one of my favorite flash games back in the day so I'm going in blind to the sequel.

Risk of rain 2 if you're into FPV rouge likes (I love zombies and any wave shooter game really)
One of my favorite games of all time. The music is 10/10 epic. I'm trying to get 100% completion. Especially amazing with friends to just chill and slay. Mercenary is my go to character. Hard to learn, but rewarding.
- Risk of rain 2 (2020) $12.49 at -50%

I seriously gotta pick up some of these, thanks for the recommendation!

X-COM 2 (2016) $7.74 at -94%
I'm seeing it as 90% off at $5.99. Not sure where you get your data from, but a heads up.
- Because I linked the full edition with dlc, which I am recommending.
  Edit: I added collection to the title.

110 comments