Steam Summer Sale 2025 has begun!

The GOG summer sale is ongoing as well
https://www.gog.com/promo/2025_summer_sale

Still unemployed so I'm not even looking. If capital doesn't want to hire me, they can't have any more of my money.
- Looking at how few places are hiring now compared to 2 years ago is honestly terrifying.
- Is there something on your wishlist that's on discount?
  
  Plenty of stuff, turns out. But I'm sticking to my guns. I have a big backlog anyway.

gmg and fanatical still cheaper for most titles.
that said I’ve been trying to load my steam wishlist for like an hour now.
- that said I’ve been trying to load my steam wishlist for like an hour now.
  Me too. It's the usual steam servers having issues as soon as a sale starts.

Kerbal space program at $4 is such an insane deal.
- KSP1 is the bees knees and the modding community is still going as strong as ever. Still worthwhile even at full price.
  
  Still mad that they fucked up KSP2. I realize it was a different studio, but I'm not happy about it.
- I get the gist of this game. Build some rockets with lifelike physics, right? Do you think it’d be fun on steam deck?
  
  I have no idea how vehicle construction would work with a joystick, but other than that should be basically the same. Flying/landing might even be better on controller. It also has a native Linux client that isn't just a shitty port.

Bit meah honestly
- Been mid for a few years now, in my experience. Most of the games I bought over the past two years I did outside of the Summer sale because most discounts are all the same anyway.
  I've been eyeing Okami and it was 50% last week and it's 50% again now.
  I pulled the trigger on The Wonderful 101 in March at 55% and I was worried I'll regret it in the Summer sale… it's 55% again.
  Been also eyeing Lost Judgment… 70% in March and 70% again now.

I shouldn‘t buy anything, cause God knows I have enough, but I‘ll probably get a couple DLCs (for Risk of Rain 2) and hopefully that‘s it (Narrator: „It wasn‘t“)
- do you need dlcs for risk of rain 2? I don't really like encouraging stuff like DLC's if avoidable
  
  Technically no (what game actually needs them?) but I like to do trophy hunting so practically yes.
  
  No you didn't need the dlcs for it. But I highly recommend the first dlc just for the new music. That soundtrack rocks with both together.

All these have been on my wishlist for ever. Finally made the purchases today.
Stardew Valley
Disco Elysium
Kerbal Space Program
Edit to add Disco Elysium has been refunded. Thanks everyone for the advice.
- Dear God no. Refund Disco Elysium if you can. Some shady asshole ended up stealing the game from the original creators so any purchases you make ends up lining the pockets of the thieves.
  https://medium.com/@artofrostov/to-fans-of-disco-elysium-concerning-the-situation-at-za-um-3e6bc46ea9c
  The original creators have actually encouraged people to pirate the game instead.
  !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
  Check the mega thread here to get started. The game is excellent, just don't give your money to the slimy suit that stole the game.
  
  Awesome, thank you. Refund requested
  
  Sounds like they lost their lawsuit then, if their post is three years old and the devs are publicly encouraging people to commit crimes.
- Disco isnso good. But even the devs said they would rather have it that people pirate the game bacause they got fucked over and don't make money of the game anymore.
  
  I actually looked up the source for this and couldn't find it.
  That being said I agree with the sentiment.
  
  How did that happen?
- Disco Elysium drama aside, this is an absurdly great trio of games. Literally thousands of potential hours. Psssst: KSP mods.

One of my favorite games of all time, The Talos Principle, is on sale for $5. There's a remastered version but honestly the original holds up really well. It's a first person puzzle platformer game similar to Portal but the main point is the story, which is a really thought provoking philosophical exploration of humanity, machine consciousness, and self determination. It is legitimately the most interesting game I've played in the past 5 years and it has really caused me to think about these topics in ways I hadn't before.
Myself I am buying Persona 5, Pizza tower, and the Phoenix Wright trilogy. I have been wanting to play Persona 5 basically since it came out, and I got to try Pizza Tower a few weeks ago at a friend's house and really loved it as a fan of the Wario Land games. Phoenix Wright is just nostalgic for me and there really aren't similar games out there.
- WARNING : Playing excellent, well told, thought provoking puzzle games about AI will make you so much madder about the silly folk the "turned AI sentient" folk.
  Great game, solid sequel too.
- Yes, second Talos Principal, it is excellent and the soundtrack too.
- Talos Principle is a great puzzle solving game, but I did get tired of the back story and just started skipping it. If I wanted to be depressed I won’t be playing puzzle games.

Finally picked up a legit version of Rain Word, yay!
All of the Batman Arkham games are bundled for $9 too. With season passes and dlcs.
Major let down Kingdom Come 2 is only 10% off. That's just taking tax off and nothing else.

Elden ring only 40% off? I feel betrayed
- Since Elden Rings success, fromsoft games don't get deep discounts, really. They raised prices for the Dark Souls games, as well.
  
  Bought it anyways now. Have played both star wars games often enough, so need a new soulslike now
- And no discount for the DLC or complete edition

Seems like the store is down or not loading, at least for me. My bank account is happy at least.
- The opening is always a bit naturally DDOS'd. It'll smooth out.

Summer Stale.
I miss the old sales, when games had deep discounts and the deals cycled like every 2/4/6/8 hours.
- consumerism is a disease. i can't believe I'm still seeing people asking for gamified fomo bullshit.
  
  The periodic sale is already driving up the consumerism enough for me, I really don't need to buy more games, but I want to
  
  "WAH, WAH, HOW DARE PEOPLE LAMENT THE FACT THAT THEY USED TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE ONLY ESCAPE FROM THE HELL THAT IS REALITY!"
- yup, but in exchange would you give up the refund process that we now have?
  
  I've only had 3 refunds.
  2 on the old system, 1 on the new system.
  All were accepted and refunded, because all were for technical issues that made them literally, factually unplayable.. and probably because in 10 years of steam I've only had 3 refunds.
  So Yes, because it wouldnt change anything for me.
  
  Yes because by the time I actually get passed the character creator or the introduction I've usually already used up my time
  
  Has the refund process changed? From what I remember it has always been very easy to refund?
  
  Personally, yes.
- People got wise to it lol. People were posting flowcharts about not buying games until they were on flash deals if you want them. Also some years I think they did something that led people to believe only having specific games on your wishlist was advantageous which led to people removing everything from their wishlist except for stuff that was more expensive. That disproportionately hurt indie devs.
  All in all I think I'm glad it's gone. Plus the games (like that racing thing) never made sense to me.
  
  i remember one year there was a game i wanted all year
  and it came up on flash sale finally for like 95% off, and steam shit the bed for two hours and I couldnt check out, presumably from the crush of purchase attempts.
  I emailed and asked if they'd honor the price given the issues on their side, and they said no, I missed the sale. Not gonna lie, that kinda heated me up quite a bit, cause I didnt miss the damn sale, I wasnt able to check out cause their end shit itself.
- Yeah idk if its nostalgia or wut.
  In my head, the sales were much deeper like you say, but I could be wrong.
  I also miss when the sale would start and there'd be a minigame or some type of event. They've really been streamlining a lot of stuff though I think to reduce network traffic maybe, or maybe they haven't had the time for events when they are redesigning their whole client and steamos and stuff.
  
  discounts were much deeper. because devs/publishers were more willing to give a 90% discount to their newer games if it was for 2/4 hours.

I bought
Nine Sols
Gris
Celeste
Outer Wilds
Unravel Two
- Gris is a fun afternoon jaunt. I just picked up Outer Wilds finally, too. Looking forward to it quite a bit after reading a lot of reviews.
  
  Ya'll should be sure to get the DLC for outer wilds as well! And I'm sure you know, but go in as blind as possible!!

I'm planning to buy:
As I mainly play on the Steam Deck.
Any other recommendations?
- I made the indie game INK INSIDE, which is based on a lost cartoon pilot I pitched to Nickelodeon in 2015.
  Instead, I turned it into a cartoon show action RPG staring Brian David Gilbert.
  It has a completely unique combat mechanic that's a combination of beat-em-ups and bust-a-move. It's big on narrative, loot, and world building and even has live action segments.
  We're on sale at 50% for only $10.
  Would love for you to check it out, as it seems like you might really enjoy it based on the other games in your cart!
  PS - Game works great on Steam Deck! (We just don't have the green check yet because it takes Valve forever to provide them)
- Pseudoregalia is insanely good
  
  It is very good. Nails the style.
- Cast to Chill is a pretty great fishing game for the steam deck. I've been enjoying it since the NextFest demo.
  
  I really enjoyed Azaran, Gravity Storm and Always With You in the NextFest.
- Looks like you enjoy retro-style 3D platformers. Get Corn Kidz 64!
  Like Pseudoregalia, it's another N64-style 3D platformer released in 2023 with a goat protagonist trapped in a dream. This is an oddly narrow coincidence.
  
  I have it on my wishlist! But have to cut the spending somewhere haha. I'd also like to get Cyber Knights, A Hat In Time, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom, Skin Deep and Soulash 2 - but it's just too much money with so little time for gaming now (especially with keyboard + mouse for the latter two).
- I have Valkie 64, and I say save your money. Last I played it, it was VERY rough, unpolished, and felt unfinished. It didn't properly replicate N64 graphics, looking more like an emulator from 2005 with the internal resolution cracked way up and only basic bilinear texture filtering. The controls are clunky, and I don't mean like in an N64 game way, I mean they just feel bad.
  Even for $5 USD or whatever, I say its not worth it. I was disappointed because the trailer seemed to make it look like an attempt to recapture the magic of Ocarina of Time, but it doesn't do that at all. Like, not even close.
- Nice taste, similar to mine. I just picked up Sapo 3D. Played Pseudoregalia recently and loved it.
  I suggest you take a look at Cavern of Dreams and Frogun.
  
  Thanks, I hadn't heard of Frogun! So many frog games with Kero Quest 64 too!
- A Game About Digging a Hole looks to be a fun game to play while your legs fall asleep on the toilet. Only 20% off, but it's a sub $5 game.

I wish Expedition 33 was more than 10% off. I get why, but still.
My wishlist has some sub $5USD games so I'll probably drop 20 or so. I really don't need the extras though. According to SteamDB, I've only played about 41% of my 714 games - and that doesn't include all the GOG and free Epic/Amazon games I've snagged over the years.
- Expedition 33 is often high discounted on instant gaming.
  It's 40% off now https://www.instant-gaming.com/en/17015-buy-clair-obscur-expedition-33-pc-steam/

~~Bah. Bought Animal Well for $18 last night, but just saw now it was included in a bundle for $7.~~
Edit: praise steams refund policy
Edit2: Jesus christ I'm an idiot
- 7 bucks? Saw that and immediately opened steam.
  Am I missing something? That's the only bundle I found for animal well...
  
  I'm sorry:(( I'm dumb.
  I have Dredge already, and I had bought Animal Well for $18 last night. That left Inscryption as the final game in the bundle. Steam dynamically prices games in the bundle and since I already had two games, I saw the bundle as $7 and got confused.
  I literally just refunded animal well, waited for the refund confirmation, went to rebuy animal well in the bundle, and saw the bundle was now priced at $24 (because I still already have Dredge).
  Sorry I got your hopes up :(
  
  I just finished animal well. Fuck $80 games, its a $200 game.
  $18 is totally worth it. Try not to look anything up unless you have to.

Was hoping for a discount on Spilt Fiction. Nothing so far.
- Split Fiction is worth the MSRP. Ideally it’s great if you can get it on a discount, but this is one of the few games I’d pay full price for. My spouse and I loved it.
- I think it's still a bit too new for that.

And Factorio still doesn't changes price. Wth
- Aa per the FAQ on their website, Factorio will never go on sale.
  
  There's always the five finger discount
  
  Which is kinda stupid imo. If you want more people to try and buy your game, you should at least put it on sale once a year.
- Iirc the creators said they'll never put it on sale because that's unfair to people who paid the full price. The price is the price for Factorio.
  
  Gamers will use anything to justify the price for their favorite games.
  I'm not saying it's a bad game or anything, I've never actually played it as it doesn't really look like my type of game, but the "reasoning" that they'll never put it on sale because it's "unfair" to people who paid full price is stupid.
- I don't think it goes on sale, at least not for any significant amount. To be fair, it's easily worth the full price, which is not something I often say.
  
  Yeah, they took a shot at doing their pricing strategy backwards from everyone else. The game was cheapest when it was in early access and the cost has only gone up as they make the game bigger and better. I don't think it has ever gone on sale, but is easily worth the full price.
- It’s already the cheapest game per minute played
  
  You meant the cheapest drug, right? Factorio is addicting.
  
  I'm guessing minecraft beats it. Or if you look at an individual player with thousands of hours it's probably one of the mario speedrunners.
  
  What about the price for your life?
- The price is the price, yo

I haven’t played a single game I bought from last summer sale ¯(ツ)_/¯
- You lost this

I think I'm going to get the Dead Space remake (90% off currently), Granny: Escape Together (I like horror), and Escape the Mad Empire to start.
Might pick up more later in the sale, but this will keep me busy.
Remember you can get things refunded if you don't end up liking a game.
- I enjoyed the remake well enough. It's nice that they added in some of the quality of life improvements from the later games and an updated zero gravity system (you can fly in 3 dimensions like you can in DS2).
- uh, I was just about to buy the dead space based on your message here but then I saw it has denuvo, so no buy :(
  
  Yeah denuvo is such a buzzkill. I used to dislike it on performance grounds alone.... But dude, when I went to play dead space on a plane for the first time, and that lil fucker told me it required internet to allow single player gameplay? 😤 fuuuuuck that. Never again.
  
  What a bummer. Might get it second hand then instead.

Animal Well for me and teardown for my kids. So far…

Why is Persona 3 Portable more expensive than Persona 4 Golden? Why is SEGA being so stingy with only a 20% discount. Another 5% (on the SALE price) if we use the Persona bundle. Why SEGA...? It's the oldest and ugliest one. Why...
- To encourage you to spend a bit more on the remake

I got gnome jigsaw puzzles and the frog DLC for against the storm

Didn't go too overboard since I have a lot of other unplayed games and money is tight. But I picked these up:
Sapo 3D (3D Platformer)
ATLYSS (Action RPG)
Lunacid (Dungeon Crawler)
Kaze and the Wild Masks (2D Platformer)
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (3D Platformer)
Anodyne (Action Adventure)

Lot of people saying it's Meh but ones that I've been tempted by are:
ATL 53% off for Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate edition
this passes the $60 AUD threshold which I've been holding out for
Crash Bandicoot Nsane trilogy for 90% off
Stanley parable ultimate edition at lowest price since 2023
deals for this game have been tepid since December 2023, but this matches the ATL
- honestly the only ones I picked up this year are the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy and Jurassic World Evolution 2. that's it.
  I don't think it's a matter of the sale is meh but most of the stuff with deep discounts is always on sale with previous sales and thus I already picked that stuff up. You'll constantly see the same games over and over with each sale and when you participate in each sale that number of games to get great deals on becomes less and less.
  
  Indeed. I think if you know about the other storefronts and isthereanydeal you don't get a wrapped about steam summer sale. There's usually some new ATLs that push newer/bigger game prices down a bit further than usual though.
  
  I'm in the same boat, but that does mean we both already have plenty of games to play. 😅
  Btw Jurassic World Evolution 2 is really great.

What should I get? I'm back on Morrowind from a bout of dwarf fortress. A modern Morrowind would be perfect. But not oblivion I need something fresh. I've been eyeing start citizen but the reviews are really lackluster especially about the thing I care about.
- Dread delusion claims to be like Morrowind, but it's just on my wishlist soni can't say how accurate it is.
- @Kaput @simple Maybe Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
- OpenMW and TES3MP is a great way to enjoy Morrowind in a modern engine and with friends.
  There’s plenty of mods available for OpenMW so you can make it look stunning and add loads of new functionality.

Just finished Tyranny and Pilliars of eternity so I'm picking up the sequel Deadfire. Checked out the price history last week and seems like it's regularly 75% off during seasonal sales so I'm pleased to see it at $10.
- Love Tyranny and PoE. Think Deadfire would have been an exceptional game if there was about half as much of it, but even as an epic RPG it does go on. Ten bucks for 'three big games' of content is a steal, though.
  It isn't that 'successful game has a better-funded sequel that loses the magic due to feature creep' is exactly unheard of - it's a tale as old as time. But Deadfire was a sales disappointment, which it probably wouldn't have been if they'd only spent half as much making it, and so we won't be getting a PoE3 :-(
  
  For whatever it’s worth, I never finished it, as an avid crpg fan. It’s not the hours it takes, it’s the constant feeling that you’ve got so much to do but no real idea where to start, or where to go, or what to do. If it was a world map with clickable places, like the original baldurs gates or even the somewhat intimidating but still much more digestible owlcat’s pathfinders style “railroad” experience, it’d been much nicer. But the free map to roam just makes both decisions harder, and also the seashell collector inside me awaken and suddenly I have to explore each pixel of the map in case I miss something, which is very exhausting on top of the already exhausting freedom.

Picked up: Supreme Commander Collection, Rider's Republic, Rakugaki, The Stone of Madness, Look Outside, and Sol Cesto.
Not a bad sale imo...
- Supreme Commander is good. It is the closest modern-ish game to Total Annihilation that I've seen.
  
  Have you looked at Zero-K? They have some TA history.
  
  The entire collection is super cheap right now.

They're gonna be in my backlog for a while, but earlier I got Kerbal Space Program 1 ( with DLC ) all for less than $15USD before tax and the Steins;Gate visual novel for something like $3.99 before tax. Would have gotten S;G Zero as well, but I am low on funds as of now.
- Oooh I was thinking of grabbing Steins. I know I watched the anime several years ago and enjoyed it, but only have hazy recollections of the plot. Doing the VN seems just enough same, just enough different to be fun.

I bought: Drova - Forsaken Kin, Kamiko, Spiritfarer, & Beseige

I purchased a bunch of dlc for Train Sim World (tsw). I only buy dlc for tsw when its on sale, save a small fortune that way.
Bonus savings if you can get one of the bundles on sale for double discount. I got £150 of dlc for about £55. Yeah dlc is super expensive for tsw but it doesn't go out of date and nor is it needed for a multiplayer mode so why rush?
Been after the expansion pack for Germany and the Preston Route for ages.
Train Sim World® 5: West Coast Main Line: Preston - Carlisle Route Add-On Train Sim World® 5: Schnellfahrstrecke Kassel - Würzburg Route Add-On Train Sim World® 5: DB BR 101 Loco Add-On Train Sim World® 5: Maintalbahn: Aschaffenburg - Miltenberg Route Add-On Train Sim World® 5: Hauptstrecke Rhein-Ruhr: Duisburg - Bochum Route Add-On Train Sim World® 5: Ruhr-Sieg Nord: Hagen - Finnentrop Route Add-On Train Sim World® 5: DB BR 363 Loco Add-On
- but it doesn't go out of date
  That's not necessarily true. There has been DLC for Train Simulator (now classic) that got delisted and at some point no longer worked due to updates to the game and not to the DLC making it incompatible. Then at some point a new version got added as DLC which you had to buy again to get a working train. (8448 Big Boy and 6446 Challenger come to mind)
  
  Classic is a little different from modern tsw, it could have been retired when it became Classic but they kept it on. How long on total was that dlc available for? And I don't believe its been turned off just not available to buy or officially supported?

Anything good?
- Yup! Most of my wishlist is on sale.
- omikron nomad soul is two american dollars
  
  that's the one that david bowie did the soundtrack for right?

Lossless Scaling. Worth it

Alright already have it but for my VR bros, Into the Radius is half price at 15 right now. It's has its own story but it's heavily inspired by stalker. Probably the best shooter/scavenger game on VR period.

I just got:
JoJo's All-Star Battle R, Strobophagia, Arkham Origins: Blackgate
I'm not really into fighting games, but I got pretty into the JoJo anime and played the demo for All-Star Battle R before and I really liked it, so I got the deluxe edition or whatever for $20.
Strobophagia popped up on my homepage one time and caught my eye cause I like EDM, and mixing it into a game about a rave with a horror twist seemed pretty cool.
I've heard rough things about Blackgate as it's a 3.5D side scrolling brawler, but I'm hoping it'll play similar to those Assassin's Creed Chronicles games, cause I really liked those when they came out. Also I just want to experience more of the Arkham story/universe. At some point I'd like to play Arkham Shadow as I watched a bit of gameplay and heard a lot of positive things about it.

I could maybe use 20-40 euros, so I could get one of these
These
DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT 15,99€
God of War 19,99€
Or
Star Wars Outlaws 34,99€
Or
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition 38,62€
Don't know yet which I should get
- Outlaws isn't worth it tbh, I really enjoyed death stranding though great game

I keep whining about the lack of new, adventurous action games and dead PS2 franchises, so I figured I put my money where my mouth is and buy Gungrave G.O.R.E.
I love OG Gungrave (wish they port it to Steam)—Overdose not so much because I found it too obtuse in terms of level design and controls.
I'm also looking at Spirit X Strike. It's too reactive for my taste, so I haven't decided yet, but I want to support the developer.
Maybe I'll grab Zone of the Enders 2 as well? I don't remember how much I liked it, gotta revisit the PS2 game first.
- Zone of the enders is one of my favorite games of all time. The combat is unmatched imo. Still love how fast that combat was, dragonball z on mechs basically. So fun.
  
  I went back to play the PS2 game and it's pretty fun, but I read the Steam port has tons of issues. Have you tried it?

So... who's getting what?

Little nightmares II looks good at $2.99

Fear & Hunger 1 & 2 for me among others. Stellar Blade not on sale though... I get it but... It's so expensive...

Sadly nothing as I'm kinda broke. Got enough in my backlog to see me through though.