BY TOBIAS ANDERSSON: The Steam Summer Sale has long since ended, which means that the next sale will most likely be towards the end of October and carry a Halloween-theme. Each Steam sale gives the opportunity to add incredible games to your library at a significantly discounted price.
Whether you’re a seasoned or new PC gamer, here are some games that you should consider picking up in the next Steam sale.
NOTE: These are not in a particular order from best to worst or vice versa, they’re just great games that are worth your time.
5. The Walking Dead: A Telltale Series
Telltale’s The Walking Dead series is a must-buy for fans of story-driven games. Set during a zombie apocalypse, the series features a rich story with a winding narrative that is structured to feel like it can be influenced by the player.
The games in the Telltale Games Walking Dead series are as follows:
- The Walking Dead: Season One
- The Walking Dead: Season Two
- The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Season Three)
- The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Season Four)
- The Walking Dead: 400 Days (featuring shorter side stories with new characters and locations – requires the base game to play)
- The Walking Dead: Michonne – A Telltale Mini-Series (another side story)
The four main seasons are essential purchases, while 400 Days and Michonne are well worth your time, despite having shorter stories.
The Walking Dead games are great choice for anyone who wants to cry, smile and go through an emotional rollercoaster. The first season is one of my favorite games of all time.
4. The Assassin’s Creed Odyssey/Origins
Assassin’s Creed: Origins is the first game in the series to carry out the new RPG style combat, skill system and loot, which was further developed in Odyssey. Both are great games to play before the new Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla comes out – which is conveniently just after the next Steam Sale is due to fall.
Origins and Odyssey will introduce you to a new form of Assassin’s Creed, an evolution over previous games in the franchise. By the time the credits roll, you’ll know whether Valhalla is really for you.
The main difference between Origins and Odyssey is the setting. Origins takes place in ancient Egypt whereas Odyssey takes place in ancient Greece. The skill systems are also a bit different with Odyssey being more open and free so that you can focus on the build that you want. Also worth noting is that in Origins you play as Bayek which is a great protagonist but if you’d like a bit more diversity in you character you can choose to play as either Alexios or Kassandra in Odyssey. A lack of character customisation options means you’re essentially stuck with the characters Ubisoft have given to you.
Both games feature incredibly detailed worlds that will help to bring ancient history to life before your eyes. Assasinating targets is also a lot of fun. Either Odyssey or Origins or both would be worthwhile additions to your Steam library.
3. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun wass developed by Mimimi Games and was released on 6th December 2016. If you like being strategic and tactical about your decisions then this is the game for you.
Shadow Tactics is a game set in Japan during the Edo period. You play as five different characters with their own unique skill set. This means that you can approach the threat in a way that you think is fun – there are no limitations. There are dozens of ways to complete each mission and defeat each enemy. Do you want to set out traps and lure your opponents? Or maybe you’re a big fan of poison? Maybe you choose to completely avoid the enemy and sneak past their base? Each option is completely viable and is your choice to make.
Blades of the Shogun has a demo on Steam which you can try if you’re not sure about picking it up, but it is often on sale for less than the price of a coffee.
2. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth + Afterbirth DLC
Binding of Isaac is one of my all-time favorite dungeon crawlers and roguelike games. With its release on 4th November 2014, it took the genre by storm. It has great replayability with over 70 bosses, 18 mini-bosses and 400 items (including the DLC), which all help to make this a near never-ending journey.
Even after defeating all the bosses and completing X amount of runs, there are always new synergies and combos with the many items to be discovered. Every run feels different. There is also a new DLC coming called Repentance which has no release date yet, but I am really looking forward to it. It will be the last DLC of the game.
Yes, there are some great dungeon crawlers out there that are more recent, like the excellent Enter the Gungeon and Hades. But The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and the Afterbirth DLC are an exceptional example of the genre and well worth picking up for a few dollars in the next Steam sale.
1. Any Souls-Like Game
Full disclosure: I am not a huge fan of souls-like games. Despite saying that, I feel it would be wrong not to include a Souls-like game on this list.
Souls-like games are designed for a very specific type of gamer and generally speaking, it is a genre that you’ll either love or hate – there is no in-between.
I’ve personally tried Dark Souls III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and I wasn’t really a huge fan of them, likely because I just couldn’t git gud. But I’m glad that I played them, as they gave me the opportunity to test my skills, reflexes and patience in ways that few other games have.
Despite having not had any previous success with Souls-like games in the past, I’m going to pick up Remnant: From the Ashes in the next Steam sale, purely because it differs from other Souls-like games because it’s based on a third-person shooter. This new approach could make it a very enjoyable experience, especially so if you have another player to team up with you and test your collective skills against the game.
Some Souls-like games that you should consider in the next Steam sale are listed below, in no particular order:
- Dark Souls I (Remastered), II and III
- Code Vein
- Remnant: From the Ashes
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
As we all know, a lot of games are on sale during the infamous Steam sales, which makes it impossible to cover all of them. I have tried to vary the genres covered in this article in the hope that there will be at least one title that could pique your interest.
Thank you for reading!
