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Check out our Steam Autumn Sale game recommendations20 games, big and small, blockbusters and indies
20 games, big and small, blockbusters and indies
Where does one even start with Steam Autumn Sale? With discounts on thousands of games, to find gems takes either a lot of trust in The Algorithm or- oh hey, or recommendations from your friendly neighbourhood PC gaming website. We’ve had a good rummage and turned up 20 Steam sale game recommendations for you, big and small, cheap and dead cheap, across a spread of genres. Read on for our picks.
Cyberpunk 2077
What is it?CD Projekt Red’s woefully janky dystopian RPG follow-up to The Witcher.Price:£24.99/€29.99/$29.99 (50% off)- same ason GOG
See ourCyberpunk 2077 reviewfor more. And be aware of Alice Bee’s warning thatCyberpunk 2077 patches can’t fix its biggest problems. But if you do get it, check out thebest Cyberpunk 2077 mods.
Deathloop
What is it?An immersive sim trapped in a time loop, from the makers ofDishonoredand Prey.Price:£24.99/€29.99/$29.99 (50% off)
For an opinion from someone who has played it, see ourDeathloop review. Brendy will also encourage you toplay with multiplayer invasions turned on, while Jeremy Peel is moreenthusiastic about doing the invading.
Can Deathloop Kick It? Yes, It Can | My Fav Thing In… (Deathloop Review)Watch on YouTube
Can Deathloop Kick It? Yes, It Can | My Fav Thing In… (Deathloop Review)
Death Stranding
Our Death Stranding review came in video form, which you can watch below. RPS Supporters can also follow Katharine’s full adventures inthe BB Boys road trip diaries.
Death Stranding PC Review | Kojima’s Stunning Open World Is Best On PCWatch on YouTube
Death Stranding PC Review | Kojima’s Stunning Open World Is Best On PC
Deep Rock Galactic
What is it?Subterranean, four-dwarf co-op FPS in which you help yourself to a planet’s natural resources while under constant assault from giant bugs.Price:£12.49/€14.99/$14.99 (50% off)
James:This is probably one you’d need to convince multiple friends to buy at the same time. Still, once you emerge with them from DRG’s alien mines – splattered with insect bits, leaden with freshly mined jewels and still utterly plastered from the stat-boosting stouts you drank earlier – you’ll have forged a bond worth far more than your collective investments. Randomly generated cave networks and a deep unlock system help keep excursions feeling fresh, and with each dwarf class possessing a unique traversal skill, it’s not as purely combat-obsessed as a lot of co-op shooters.
See ourDeep Rock Galactic reviewfor more.
Desperados III
What is it?A Commandos-style squad tactics game from the makers of Shadow Tactics.Price:£17.99/€19.99/$19.99 (60% off)
Katharine:At first glance, cowboys and tactical stealth don’t seem like the most natural bedfellows, but the sneak wizards at Mimimi Productions manage to make it work in spectacular fashion. Building on the lessons learned from their previous stealth masterpiece, Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun, Desperados III is another tactical tour de force, where shooting your way to victory is just as valid as having the fastest quick-load finger in the west. Each of its miniature sandbox levels is a real pleasure to crawl around in, with memorable hooks and themes that stick long in the memory. Most importantly, Desperados III’s showdown mode gives you the time and space to plan your moves properly, pausing the action to let you pull off some truly hair-raising feats of perfectly timed silent sabotage. I much prefer it to the version we saw in Shadow Tactics, which simply slowed time down rather than stop it altogether. In Desperados, however, Mimimi gives you full rein to experiment as you see fit, and it’s a gamble that pays off in spades.
See ourDesperados 3 reviewfor more. We’ve also called it one of the beststrategy games, which is a genre classification I disagree with but hey, the game is good.
8 Reasons Desperados 3 Is One Of The Best Stealth Games In Years | Desperados 3 ReviewWatch on YouTube
8 Reasons Desperados 3 Is One Of The Best Stealth Games In Years | Desperados 3 Review
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut
What is it?The prequel to Ion Storm’s seminal cyberpunk immersive sim, starring a man who’s not best pleased that his ulnae have been replaced with knives.Price:£1.94/€2.99/$2.99 (85% off)
The greatest aspect of it though is the freedom. Every quest, level, and even enemy encounter has multiple solutions to uncover. It rewards exploration like nothing else I’ve ever played. I’ve beaten it six times and I’m still finding new things!
See ourDeus Ex: Human Revolution reviewfor more, orthe RPS verdict. Or for the serious foundations of the series,Pip and Alice0 explained Deus Ex.
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
What is it?A fantasy action-RPG from Capcom that’s unexpectedly spiky in ways both frustrating and delightful.Price:£7.19/€8.99/$8.99
Sure, the game isn’t perfect. At times its quests can be unclear or the world a bit empty. But if you forgive these frustrations and embrace its quirks, then you’re in for a wonderful time.
See ourDragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen reviewfor more on those frustrations, orthisfor more on the joys. It’s one of those games.
Infra
What is it?A first-person explore-o-puzzle game about inspecting infrastructure in a European city.Price:£5.94/€6.99/$7.49 (75% off)
Phone fun in InfraWatch on YouTube
Phone fun in Infra
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes
What is it?A cooperative bomb-defusal game with some very odd bombs.Price:£3.62/€4.94/$4.94 (67% off)
Hayden:Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes brings a pile of quick, recognisable puzzles, sticks them all onto an ominous, bleeping bomb, and gives you a few minutes to figure it all out before you fail in a disastrous, fiery explosion.
The catch? One player sees a bomb, while the rest have the instructions. A lot of screaming, shouting, and laughing will follow as you relay information while attempting to defuse the bomb. Oh, and a whole lot of exploding. If you’re looking for some co-op fun for friends and family as we enter the holiday season, I couldn’t recommend this more.
See ourKeep Talking And Nobody Explodes reviewfor more from Pip, Graham, and Adam. We’ve also named it one of the bestco-op games.
Loop Hero
What is it?Somewhere between dungeon-crawler and city-builder, a roguelikelike where you build the route your hero will automatically move and fight along.Price:£7.49/€8.99/$8.99 (40% off)
Ollie:Loop Hero is a marvellous roguelite which takes place entirely within the confines of a loop. Around this loop your player character must endlessly trot, defeating increasingly powerful monsters. You don’t control the player directly: moving and fighting is automatic. You’re in charge of two things: equipping your hero with the right gear for the job, and playing cards to build extra bits of terrain around the loop.
Some bits of terrain give passive bonuses to your character, while others spawn more monsters for you to defeat and earn more goodies from. You therefore have some degree of control over the difficulty of the game: but make things too easy or too hard and things will spiral out of control. It’s an inspired piece of game design, and it’ll keep you playing for far longer than you’d expect.
Read ourLoop Hero reviewfor more, or ourchat with the devs about its origins.
Monster Prom
What is it?A multiplayer dating sim set in a high school for monsters.Price:£2.87/€3.71/$3.71 (69% off)
Rebecca:Monster Prom is a darkly comic multiplayer competitive dating sim, and my favourite game to come out of 2018. In it, you and your friends take on the roles of four young adult monsters, who want to convince their most popular classmates to go to prom with them. But prom is only three weeks away, those popular ghouls are hard to impress, and you’re all lovable-yet-dorky losers…
Since its debut Monster Prom has spawned a full-on franchise’s worth of sequels, but I particularly wanted to bring the original to your attention, because its sale discount is 69%. Hehehe.[nice -ed.]
See ourMonster Prom reviewfor more. Fraser Browntalked with the creative directortoo, while Giada Zavarise asked the big question:why do we love smooching monsters?
Road 96
What is it?A blast of interactive storytelling on procedurally generated road trips through a politically divided country.Price:£13.56/€15.96/$15.96 (20% off)
See ourRoad 96 reviewfor more.
Roboquest
What is it?A roguelikelike FPS with two-player co-op.Price:£10.06/€10.91/$12.99 (35% off)
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened - Remastered Edition
What is it?An adventure game pitting the detective against Lovercraftian forces.Price:£1.79/€1.99/$1.99 (80% off)
To see where the series has ended up, check out Alice Bee’sSherlock Holmes Chapter One review.
Just a normal murder.
Simulacra
What is it?A horror mystery unfolding within the apps of a phone you’ve found.Price:£1.35/€1.35/$1.69 (66% off)
Rebecca:Simulacra is an indie FMV mystery/horror found phone game and I absolutely love it. It’s intensely creepy but light on jumpscares, and has a solid story with a villain who will make you want to unplug from social media (and don’t we all need a reason to do that?). While the acting is a little cheesy, it’s better than in many FMVs, with a corny charm that really grows on you. And, surprisingly, it low-key has one of my favourite video game romances.
Also noteworthy: the devs recently made an official Doctor Who tie-in game in the same genre.
State Of Decay 2
What is it?An open-world community-building survival game in the zombie apocalypse.Price:£14.99/€17.99/$17.99 (40% off)
Hayden:In State Of Decay 2, you slowly grow a community of survivors that you can swap between as you please. The hard part: when a character dies, they’re gone for good. You’ll need to make tough decisions to keep them all alive.
See ourState Of Decay 2 reviewfor more, though do bear in mind it did receive a big overhaul after two years with the ‘Juggernaut’ update and more patches since then.
Subnautica
What is it?A survival game of exploration, base-building, and fleeing for your damn life in the alien sea of a distant planet.Price:£12.49/€14.99/$14.99 (50% off)
Ollie:Subnautica is one of my favourite games. It’s also far, far scarier than it has any right to be. Probably because many people - me included - don’t really consider underwater to be our domain of choice, and so there’s a lack of control and a trepidation that quickly turns into panic when you hear a deep thrumming roar reverberate through the water and a horned menace hurtling out of the blackness towards you. But it’s also this setting that makes the world of Subnautica so utterly enchanting to explore - far more so than any other survival game I’ve played. It’s an absolute delight from start to finish, and at half-price it’s a steal.
See ourSubnautica reviewandthe RPS verdictfor more. We’ve declared it the bestsurvival gametoo. If you dig it and want more, read ourSubnautica: Below Zero reviewfor thoughts on the follow-up, which has a 25% discount now.
Image credit:Unknown Worlds Entertainment
Tangle Tower
What is it?A colourful murder mystery.Price:£9.29/€10.07/$11.99 (40% off)
See ourTangle Tower reviewfor more.
The Darkside Detective series bundle
What is it?A 2D point and click adventure with spooky crimes to solve and an actually good sense of humourPrice:£10.78/€12.40/$14.02 (46% off)
Alice Bee:I have a real soft spot for Detective Francis McQueen and Officer Dooley, the Darkside Division of Twin Lakes City’s police department. The cases in this are all paranormal themed – ghosts, portals, creepy clowns – but the solves aren’t as convoluted as you might expect from point ‘n’ clickers. Plus, these games have actual jokes that are funny in an actually funny way, not in a groaning at a pun way. I’ve recommended getting the bundle of both games here, but you can get one individually if you really want (thefirst one is 60% off).
See Adam’sThe Darkside Detective reviewfor thoughts on the original series, and Matthew talked about the follow-upon the podcast.
Townscaper
What is it?A pretty town-building toy.Price:£3.20/€3.34/$4.01 (33% off)
You can add blocks, you can subtract blocks, and you can change the colour of blocks, and that’s it. Townscaper does the rest. Its cute art and magical algorithms translate your block patterns into a Ghibli-esque island town, spawning cottages and houses and towers balconies and rooftops and gardens and support beams and cubbies and cranes and stairways and tunnels and plants and trees and beehives and washing lines and docks and oh, it’s all so delightful. Developer Oskar Stålberg calls Townscaper “a toy” and it is a joy to play with. The best part is: no matter what you do, your town will look good. It can’t not.
Image credit:Raw Fury
The Steam Autumn Sale runs until 6pm (10am Pacific) on Wednesday the 1st of December. Black Friday week sales are also running onEpic,Origin, andGOG. What have you picked up so far, reader dear, and what else would you recommend to us all?
