Valve unleashed the Steam Summer Sale 2017 upon us, undeserving PC crowd. While the decent mini-games and flash sales might be a fun memory of the past, the deals are still plentiful, to the point where choice paralysis sets in. Hey, I get it. Personally, I had 64 items on my wish list alone on sale, except the one game I wanted, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, of course. So, if anyone’s feeling generous, dot dot dot.

Instead of just doing a poor attempt at e-begging, though, I thought we’d use this here website about video games to guide y’all to some deals you might be missing, between the ones everyone is beating you over the head with already. So, I tried to find the 10 best, or at least most interesting, deals in the Steam Summer Sale. As a kicker, all the games are under €5, to maximize that bang for your buck.

So, there will be no super cheap Shadow of Mordor or Portal or Transistor. I mean, those games are still out there though; feel totally free to get those as well. The point here is: Let’s look at some of the game sales underneath the surface. I’m hipster trash!

 

 

Dungeon of the Endless - €3

Probably one of the more recognizable games on the list, Dungeon of the Endless was, at one point, shortlisted by NoobFeed for Game of the Year. It’s also possibly the lesser known item from developer Amplitude Studios, of Endless Space and Endless Legend fame. It is, however, a clear mark of quality. Dungeon crawling with sim management and tower defense mechanisms; awesomely complex, interlocked systems; this game does it all. It’s one of those challenging games that can be played a million times over and is as good now as it was when it first released.

 

Bunker Punks - €5

Bunker Punks is one of the picks I put up, because I like highlighting projects that didn’t get their due. Though it rode the coattails of retro-craze shooters, it seems the Early Access game came in at the wrong time. As such, it has sold only a handful of copies, while it still does the whole Wolfenstein-era of pixel first-person shooters justice. It has attitude and it has style in spades and at this low price, it feels like the perfect time to hop in. Remember: This game is still in development, so it might also get better with time.

 

Monster Monpiece - €4

Look, I don’t want to straight-up tell you why exactly this game is in this list, but those of you who recognize the name already know by now. If you’re into anime and you want to indulge that particular part of your brain, then Monster Monpiece is definitely a cheap way to do so, along with some discounted Neptunia games I may have bought. What can I say? I like trash. I figured I might as well point you to something that has a fully formulated game behind it, rather than being overwhelmed by mountains of barely cohesive anime visual novels and such.

 

Hero Siege - €0.9

At ten thousand reviews, Hero Siege is the most popular game in this bunch, but I will die to rep this Diablo-esque, pixel dungeon crawler. From when it first released into obscurity, to now many iterations later, this slashing loot fest is still a ton of fun, alone or with friends. And it’s incredibly cheap. And it’s still getting updates, three years later. Hero Siege for life, ride or die!

 

F1 Race Stars - €3.74

Another game I always look back on with some sadness is F1 Race Stars. Yes, it’s a party racer with the F1 license and that’s probably as weird as you think it is. Still, the ideas developer Codemasters had for this spinoff were as sound as if they were making one of their prime racing titles. Sadly, no one in the F1 audience wanted to have fun and no one outside of it will look further than Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the undisputed best kart racer ever made, which is also €5 on Steam right now. You probably own the latter though, so F1 Race Stars is a good second choice.

 

Heroes of a Broken Land -€3.74

Remember when I was the dedicated strategy editor? Turns out, I still love the genre and roleplaying games (RPG) and classic titles as well. Heroes of a Broken Land is all of those, blending old Civilization releases with old-school, party-based dungeon crawling. It makes so much sense and is so instantly addictive to fans of those genres that I’ve always been surprised that the game never really picked up. It’s one of those concepts that sound so simple, yet surprising that no one else thought of it. Looking at the recent success of something like Dead Cells, I’d say that usually translates well.

 

Cosmochoria - €2.5

Roguelikes can feel grim and depressing. Cosmochoria solves that problem by being the cutest thing ever. Take your little space baby from planet to planet and plant seeds to renew life and set up defenses at the same time. Fight epic dragons in some pretty clever twin-stick shooting systems, where rotating around planets serves as covers. Then die and do it again, better each time, upgrading things with resources acquired from previous runs. Explore an entire universe in the meantime. Just don’t jetpack into the sun. It’s harder than it sounds, but it’s definitely cute.

 

Super Win the Game - €2

This is one of the picks that most show my hipster side. Super Win the Game is the choice for all those people who’ve seen developers kind of “use” Zelda II, but not really go the distance with their tribute. Super Win the Game is, pretty much, just Zelda II, as obscure and bewildering as several decades ago. What really sells the game, however, is the amount of dedication developer Minor Key Games put into recreating the CRT screen experience. The “retro” effects are unparalleled and fully customizable. Minor Key Games makes some really interesting stuff.

 

Skyward Collapse - €1.4

Scratch the above; this is the hipster pick. I love Arcen Games and how incredibly impenetrable their take on any genre is. My favorite game from the studio is also its least popular one. In this god game, you don’t actually control the people. The board directs itself and your only goal is to ensure balance. It’s so goddamn ingenious that I don’t even care that I barely ever succeed. Other favorites from the studio that are also really cheap right now include Bionic Dues and Starward Rogue, but if you want to play something completely different, then Skyward Collapse is the most singular, interesting game you owe yourself to reach out to.

 

Near Death - €5

Everyone can agree that there are way too many survival games on Steam. Leave it to an indie team to try and reshape that model a little. Near Death takes place on the Antarctic and the only goal there is to not succumb to this extreme climate. As such, don’t expect too many jump scares or starvation mechanisms. There’s also a narrative thread going through the singleplayer game. Coming from Orthogonal Games, creator of The Novelist, it’s another short yet superbly contained adventure, but that’s why hopping on now for €5 is the right choice.

 

 

Hopefully, this list will be able to supplement all your Witcher and Nier purchases, for just a few florins more. There’s nothing wrong in indulging in some big purchases, because that’s what sales are for. If you want to also really save up and find some underground stuff you hadn’t thought of before, though, then I got your back. I’m poor too, so I know the feeling well.

Feel free to rep for your local favorites in the comment section. We’re always down for seeing the love for weird, cheap games spill all over the place. Go out there and consume.

 

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed (@Daavpuke)