Valve has officially declared it beach season, which means two things: Everybody's free to wear sunscreen, and the Steam Summer Sale for 2024 has been unleashed. There are deals on approximately one bajillion games (we counted), so we've picked out some of our favorites from 2024, 2023, and the Steam back catalog to make your sale shopping easier. For newer games especially, we've focused on games selling at their lowest prices ever, including recent hits like Manor Lords and last year's GOTY Baldur's Gate 3.
The further you scroll down, the cheaper the games get, with a selection of sub-$5 picks to close things out. The 2024 Steam Summer Sale runs until July 11, and this will be the only big sale for quite awhile. As indicated in our Steam Sale dates listings, we don't expect for the autumn sale to arrive until late November.
Manor Lords | $29.99 / £26.24 (25% off)
You're not just lord of the manor: you're master of your domain in our favorite city building sim of the year so far. We noted that Manor Lords does a particularly good job of representing the lives of medieval peasants, and the game's been a big hit, selling more than two million copies already.
Pacific Drive | $17.99 / £14.99 (40% off)
Your car's the star in this unique, creative survival game that we scored an 86%. You take your station wagon out into a version of the Pacific Northwest that's wracked with otherworldly storms, collecting resources to bring back to your garage and upgrade your ride with all sorts of cool tech to make future runs easier. Look out, though: at some point, your car's probably gonna get haunted.
Palworld | $22.49 / £18.74 (25% off)
The surprise smash hit of early 2024 is at its lowest price so far. It's a good time to jump in if you've been patiently waiting to obliterate the spirits of some cute pals with endless production jobs (that's right, it's Pokémon with guns and capitalism!). Its latest update just dropped, too, with a new island to explore and lots more.
Horizon Forbidden West | $47.99 / £39.99 (20% off)
One of the PS5's heavy hitters made it over to PC just a hair over two years after its PlayStation release, and it's a quality port. Forbidden West runs and looks great even on modest hardware, though we scored it 70%, calling it an adventure sequel that "struggles to move the series forward." If you want 144Hz ultrawide robot dinos, though, this is the version to get.
Tekken 8 | $39.89 / £31.34 (43% off)
Perhaps the best Tekken's ever been—we scored Tekken 8 an 89%, praising the new combat mechanics, stunning graphics and performance, and even the surprisingly effective story mode. Between 2D fighting with Street Fighter 6 and 3D fighting with Tekken 8, this is the strongest
Dread Delusion | $14.99 / £11.61 (25% off)
Dread Delusion is a real treat: a lo-fi, mini Elder Scrolls-style RPG in a world so foreign and strange, it makes Morrowind look safe and familiar. Come for the stunning vistas and freeform exploration, stay for the ancient conflict between an atheistic inquisition and dead gods who still dream.
Elden Ring | $41.99 / £34.99
While technically a 2022 release, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has brought all of PC Gamer's masocore sickos back to Elden Ring's yard for more punishment this year. You can join us in our pain, thanks to this 30% discount on the base game.
Hogwarts Legacy | $24.99 / £19.99 (60% off)
A true titanic seller last year: Hogwarts Legacy hit some 22 million copies sold, and we found it to be a strong and sprawling adventure unfortunately sullied by its association with author JK Rowling. Hogwarts Legacy is "a big-budget RPG attempting to bottle up all of the prestige, splendor, and expectations of a massive media property into a seamless sandbox," we wrote. "For the most part, it nails it. This is Harry Potter's Arkham Asylum moment."
Tchia | $14.99 / £12.49 (50% off)
A deeply charming open world adventure game that wisely puts the emphasis on making traversal a joy. In Tchia, you can possess animals and inanimate objects, flying across the world as a bird or roll across it as a coconut. We scored Tchia a 90 in our review, calling it "a playground for acrobatic travel." Also, you can play a ukulele. Irresistible, right?
System Shock Remake | $17.99 / £15.74 (55% off) ????Best Remake 2023
In a year stacked with remakes, System Shock was the best of the lot, proving that the original game's opaque design and labyrinthine maps didn't have to go anywhere in the name of modernization—a gorgeous new coat of paint and some of the most crisp, satisfying shooting around was all you needed to turn a '90s classic into a '20s classic.
Armored Core 6 | $41.99 / £34.99 (30% off)????Best Action 2023
The lowest price yet for the mech game to play at this moment in time—apologies to BattleTech. While there are some mighty hard bosses in Armored Core 6, this is the FromSoftware game that makes you the top of the food chain, the pilot of a mech brimming with devastating weaponry. Change your style by swapping parts in and out; go from close-range shotguns to multi-missile launchers that track from maximum distance. Gotta explode 'em all.
Tunic | $14.99 / £12.49 (50% off)
Played as a Zelda-like where you're a cute fox, Tunic is worth recommending. We gave Tunic an 86% in our review. There's an additional layer to it though, because instead of just unlocking boomerangs or whatever there's an entire secret language to puzzle out.
Talos Principle 2 | $14.99 / £12.49
I had doubts that The Talos Principle 2 would be able to match, much less surpass, the quiet genius of the original game, and I'm very thankful I was wrong. The puzzles are as sharp as ever, but it's the addition of a smartly-written supporting cast and the real-world problems they face that really make it work. It's a deeper, richer game, and the focus on doing rather than wallowing in philosophical navel-gazing gives it an urgency the first game lacked. The Road to Elysium expansion has been great so far too.
Payday 3 - $19.99 / £17.49 (50% off)
If you believe Starbreeze will get its act together with the 'Mostly Negative' Payday 3 one of these days, this is a good chance to pick it up at its cheapest price since release.
Hunt: Showdown | $13.99 / £12.59 (65% off)
Even with the rise in popularity of extraction shooters there aren't quite any like Hunt: Showdown, one of our favorites since its debut in 2019. It has a big update coming this August, too, including an engine rework and its first new map in three years. We expect some harsh new weather conditions that totally change our experience with the game.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous | $11.99 / £10.31 (70% off)
When I had my fill of Baldur's Gate 3 for a while at the end of last year, all I wanted to do was play some tight 8-15 hour games of any other genre, a gaming juice cleanse after my RPG Thanksgiving feast. Wrath of the Righteous is for all you freaks out there who won't settle for anything less than the hair of the dog, one of the best bigass CRPGs in recent years.
Neon White | $14.99 / £11.99 (40% off)
Now, everyone else seemed to hate the 2000s-ass dialogue in this first person shooter/platformer, but I think it's a beautiful celebration of all things dub and not sub—forget your cringe curve, and embrace everything that ever led you to hang out at your high school's "Japanese Culture Club." It doesn't hurt that the shooter/platformer gameplay is phenomenal, with very little else like it out there.
Cultic | $7.99 / £6.80 (20% off)
I've always thought Cultic was a steal at its typical $10 price tag, so getting it for eight clams is a no-brainer. There are so many retro-style shooters vying for our attention these days, but this gorgeous cross between Resident Evil 4 and Blood is a standout.
Fallout 76 | $9.99 / £8.74 (75% off)
Along with its singleplayer brethren, Fallout 76 is having a major resurgence after the popularity of the Amazon show. A lot of the folks who dismissed the cursed multiplayer spinoff in 2018 are realizing it's grown into a decent MMO shooter over the years, complete with NPCs, world events, and genuinely good expansions. This is a great price to get your foot in the door.
Fallout 4 | $7.99 / £6.39 (60% loff) ($15.99 GOTY:E)
The last mainline Fallout game turns nine this year, and that's one fewer dollars than it now costs to own. Fallout 4 has been cheaper elsewhere before, but this is still a fair price for a massive game, and it recently got a next-gen update to coincide with the popular Amazon show. Unfortunately, that update hasn't done the PC version many favors.
Deep Rock Galactic | $9.89 / £8.24 (67% off)
We've gone on record calling Deep Rock Galactic's community the nicest in gaming, which likely stems from the spirit of cooperation in this space mining game and the years of free support from its developer. It's only become easier to recommend over time with more varied missions and tools across its many updates and seasons.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 | $5.99 / £4.75 (80% off)
I'm a Darktide main these days, but Vermintide 2 remains the co-op value deal, a blast of a first-person fantasy smack-em-up with years of free and paid updates bulking it out. A roguelike mission mode added late in Vermintide 2's life really gave it a second wind, while the satisfying weightiness of the combat keeps it compelling even a hundred hours in.
BattleTech | $9.99 / £8.74 (75% off)
A tactical mech game that gets even better with a bunch of mods installed (and hoo boy, are there a lot of great mods). If you want a tight strategy game with squads of mechs, this is your game; if you want an enormous, all-encompassing strategy game with more mechs on the fields, deep interplay between movement and accuracy, melee attacks and tons of weapons, you want modded BattleTech. Either way, this is the game to grab.
Slay the Spire | $8.49 / £6.79 (66% off)
Do we even need to pitch you on Slay the Spire? It's the deckbuilder that made deckbuilders on PC A Thing. Don't play it when you have important things to do in your life, because you won't do them. You'll just play more Slay the Spire. Consider this a warning as much as a recommendation.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition | $5.99 / £4.99 (90% off)
This almost feels like a price mistake. Six bucks for all of Mass Effect? Including ME2, ME3 and all their DLC? I think I paid more than that just to recruit Kasumi into my squad back in the day. If you somehow haven't played these games yet, I'm assuming they're just not your jam—but if it's been a matter of price, it's not gonna get better than this.
The Pathless | $9.99 / £7.99 (75% off)
I not only chose The Pathless as my personal Game of the Year for 2021, I cheated to do it. The game was originally released on Epic in 2020 but didn't come to Steam until the following year, and I used that as an excuse to squeeze it into our 2021 picks because it's just that damn good: An achingly beautiful open world exploration game filled with mysteries, secrets, and magic. I simply cannot recommend it enough.
Battlefield 2042 | $5.99 / £4.99 (90% off)
Battlefield 2042 has come a long way since 2021. With a bunch of maps added post-launch, a complete rework to classes and gadgets, and loads of freely unlockable guns added over the years, we think it's really good now. This is a lot of Battlefield for $6.
Monster Hunter: World | $9.89 / £8.24 (67% off)
Monster Hunter's breakout 2018 hit recently blew up again after the announcement of its sequel, Monster Hunter: Wilds. If you're curious why Monster Hunter is so big in the west these days, Worlds is why, and you should play it. Hit a big dinosaur with a big sword until you see the light.
Batman: Arkham Knight | $1.99 / £1.59 (90% off)
Ah, remember pre-Suicide Squad Rocksteady? This closer to its Batman trilogy is still a visual stunner years later, only now it actually runs well thanks to more powerful PC hardware. Questionable Batmobile segments aside, this is a great rendition of Gotham with Rocksteady's punchy combo combat delivering all the cracks and thwacks you could ask for.
Sid Meier's Civilization 6 | $2.99 / £2.49 (95% off)
Civilization 7 is on the horizon, which means it's time for everyone to realize Civ 6 is actually their favorite game in the series, just in time for the next one to somehow disappoint! But what else can you buy for $2.99 these days? Thousands of years of human history for less than the price of an ice cream cone!
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut | $3.99 / £3.49 (90% off)
Champion of the PC Gamer Top 100, we keep finding ourselves coming back to one overriding point about this RPG: no other game comes close. Even our beloved Baldur's Gate 3 is an altogether different sort of game than Disco Elysium, which we love for its unabashedly political, philosophical slant and the way it ditched combat and traditional companions for a brain full of competing voices. Chef's kiss.
Frostpunk | $2.99 / £2.49 (90% off)
A citybuilder with an ending instead of an eternal build towards the point where you just hit the disaster button and summon Godzilla, only that ending is probably "everyone freezes to death because you're bad at decisions." Frostpunk is tense and bleak, but weirdly beautiful as well, like the frozen expanse surrounding you.
FTL: Faster Than Light | $2.49 / 1.74 (75% off)
Before Slay the Spire, FTL was probably our go-to obsessive time waster, a roguelike that demanded just one more run every time we found our ship venting air into the vacuum of space and our poor crew unable to repair things fast enough. A great simplistic spaceship management sim paired with random events that always tempt you down a dangerous path. A lively mod scene adds heaps of new ships to pilot, too, if you've managed to tire of the basics.
XCOM 2 | $2.99 / £1.74 (95% off)
A strategy game so definitive Firaxis had to pivot to superheroes instead of building a sequel, XCOM 2 is one of the defining PC games of the past decade. Your soldiers are distressingly vulnerable and easy to kill, but as you wage a seemingly hopeless war against the aliens and build out your base to research new weaponry and defenses, you'll slowly begin to turn the tide. At least if you aren't undercut by "90%" "hit rates" at every opportunity. I got a C+ in statistics, but I swear they're fudging those numbers…
Loop Hero | $4.94/£4.22 (67% off) | ???? Best Design 2021
The Vampire Survivors of 2021, in the sense that it's an inexpensive game that it's easy to devote way more time to than you ever thought you would thanks to incredibly sharp design.
