Steam’s Winter sales — or Christmas sales, really — are finally coming to a close. One day. That’s all you have left to throw your money at Gabe Newell and the gargantuan corporation that is Valve.
Many people have decried the lack of flash sales (which can’t return thanks to Steam refunds) and the lack of decent discounts overall. But there have been some good pickups nevertheless, and there are still some decent offerings available now if you move fast.
As is the case, all prices below have been converted into Australian dollars but the precise currency conversion might differ at the time of purchase. Check PayPal, check your online banking, check Google if you need to.
Darkest Dungeon $13.83
Brainsssss
Darkest Dungeon leaves Early Access in a couple of weeks, but even when the roguelike dungeon crawler went into Early Access at the beginning of last year it still represented one of the better uses of the development model. It was excellent value when it was available for slightly more during Steam’s Exploration sales, and that remains the case now.
Project CARS $38.74
Ah, Monaco
I don’t have the experience or background to tell you how Project CARS stacks up next to iRacing as a sim racer, and that goes for drawing any comparisons with Assetto Corsa. But as a comparison for those who like their racers with a more serious tone — like the F1, DiRT or GRID franchises — there is plenty of fun to be had with Project CARS.
I put over 40 hours into Project CARS when it came out early last year and had an absolute blast. It’s also been responsible for a very nice memory of mine which will stay for me for quite a while, if not forever. Other friends of mine who are into sim racing also enjoyed pCARS quite a bit, and the patches and content Slightly Mad Studios have pushed out since release have only improved matters. On top of that, the game looks an utter treat in VR and it works pretty well with the Steam controller too.
Pillars of Eternity $24.91
Obsidian doing what they do best
It was expected that Pillars of Eternity would fall by the wayside when it came to Game of the Year/end of year discussions, and that’s more or less what happened amongst the industry. It’s a gargantuan game and, while fans tell me it’s not without it’s problems (I haven’t finished it), it still has a proud place on Obsidian’s resume.
Jason didn’t think the game met the standards of classics like the original Baldur’s Gate, but many cRPG fans still left satisfied. The 60% discount right now is especially tempting given the hour-to-dollar ratio, even if you don’t buy into the expansions.
Transistor $5.52
Supergiant’s sense of style is still superb
Transistor is just as good a follow-up to Bastion as it ever was, and if you haven’t played it now’s the perfect time. Yannick eventually came around on Transistor after some initial frustrations, and it has an excellent cyberpunk turn-based strategy touch that can serve as a nice appetite ahead of February’s meatier turn-based strategy meal in the form of XCOM 2.
South Park: The Stick of Truth $11.39
Still censored
Australians still won’t have access to some of the anal probe sequences thanks to our erstwhile Classification Board, but The Stick of Truth still remains an excellent romp that honours the South Park series without becoming overly stale. The combat can get a bit dry towards the end, and fortunately the game moves at a reasonable enough clip to prevent things from devolving into a grind.
You’re getting better than a dollar an hour here, and to Obsidian’s credit my experience was incredibly smooth. Mind you, a South Park game isn’t going to be as broad as, say, New Vegas or Alpha Protocol.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 $6.35
The ETS2 beast is a strange one, although it’s one I feel I’m starting to understand more thanks to the placid, peaceful experience I’m having with Elite: Dangerous. The game’s longevity has been expanded immensely thanks to the success of the multiplayer mod as well, which has resulted in thousands of truckers journeying across Europe.
It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but there are plenty of people who enjoy the gaming equivalent of white noise — something you can play absent-mindedly, while watching a TV show, focusing on a stream or catching up on something online. ETS2 fits the bill perfectly for that, and if you’re intrigued by the wave of support it’s generated over the last few years, $6.35 is a pretty low bar for entry.
That’s just a small selection of what’s on sale until tomorrow morning. What have you bought during the Steam sales — and what games caught your eye?
Comments
10 responses to “You Have One Last Night To Take Advantage Of The Steam Sales”
Thinking of finally getting Rome 2….
If you like Total War games then this is a solid choice. Biggest gripes were the bugs that came out with it but thats all fixed now. A lot of content for the price.
That’s what I’ve been hanging out for.
Played them all from Shogun but I think I’ve given Shogun 2 about 4hrs of play before bored.
But I love all things Rome…. Podcasts, shows, doco’s… Even Ryse (despite its historical flaws).
I started on Rome and played it years solidly. So much to it at the time.
I was the same as you for Shogun 2. It got rave reviews and everyone said it “brought back the total war formula” but i was incredibly dissapointed with it. Armies were virtually all the same with over simplified armies too (Spear beat horse, horse beat arch, arch beat sword, sword beat spear) nonsense. And the scaling of the walls annoyed the hell out of me. Like what is the point of walls?!?!. Seemed like an Ant simulator.
@transientmind Played almost all of them except the original medieval and shogun (plus the most recent atilla).
Rome 2s campaign was a step in the right direction. Far better than the forgettable Shogun 2 map but not as epic as the Empire map. Plenty of room to move and heaps of factions to face. Theres a province mechanic in this one which can irk you especially if an ally has 1 of the 3 areas but apart from that its ok. Decently sized imo.
When it comes to rating id have to say:
Rome (For its time it was epic)
Empire (The multiple continents and ship warfare made this a real challenge to play and help deal with the issue of being too big and powerful early on.
Napoleon (Seems like a clone of Empire with less map but it really did pefect a lot of the issues empire had and the naval combat was improved. I had untold hours of fun in multiplayer with friends on this thanks to the MP campaign introduction.)
Rome 2 (good mix of everything without taking too much of the cake)
Medieval 2 (loved cavalry stomping everything.
Shogun 2 ( didnt really enjoy this game all that much. Multiplayer campaign was a disappointment too)
It seems that Rome is in the middle but if i were to play any now it would be Rome 2 again purely because its the best mix
Downloading
EDIT: This better be as good as Biker Mice From Mars!
Did you ever get much into the Total War library?
I loved Shogun: Total War, and really enjoyed Medieval, but from Rome 1 onwards (Empires, Napoleon, Shogun 2 etc, etc) they really started losing me thanks to how they were handling the campaign map.
So for me, at least, it’s been trending downwards. Rome 2… how do you rate its campaign map against the rest of the franchise?
This is me…. Rome 1 played heaps.
I think I started to lose interest in Medieval 2 because the formations didn’t work. Could be wrong it was ages ago.
But bought Empires played little of, skipped Napoleon after Empires, came back for Shogun 2 but it just didn’t have the magic.
I heard the army size of Rome 2 was limited as well. Smaller battles etc.
i loved Rome 1, didnt think much of medieval 2, but i loved Empire despite all the bugs ( especially that shitty 125 turn crash) because the map was a good size and i just loved crushing the american revolution and wiping france and spain of the map.
Didnt play much of Shogun 2 due it not having guns until fall of the samurai, and with rome 2 i did not like how they changed the settlements ( everything gave squalor and you could only build 4-6 building per province. I greatly prefered Empires way of each province having a city that you could turn into a massive fortress while having other smaller towns pop up that would allow you build either different ports or economic or social buildings
Hmm, might grab South Park, not that I’m at a lack of games to play or anything…
*EDIT*
Aaaaaand I already own it… Goddamit Steam…
Decided to buy GTA 5 again since Steam realised I got it gifted to me through G2A. At least I didn’t pay full price this time I suppose.