[MEGATHREAD] What did you buy in the Steam Summer Sale?

Here's my decent haul. Some of them aren't really in the "Sale" as they just launched but have launch discounts.

Control Ultimate Edition: Already own it on Epic, but was cheap enough to re-buy for easier Steam Deck play.
Crab Champions: The meme song that become a really competent roguelike shooter!
Dave the Diver: What if Lucasarts made a mini-game filled roguelike?
DROP - System Breach: Sleeper hit for me. Intense puzzle/pattern recognition game with a great, simplistic hacking theme/style.
The Entropy Centre: Big Portal vibes, but using time!
Humanity: What if Lemmings, but you're an omniscient Shiba Inu. Plays great in VR too.
Prey: Loved Deathloop but never had a chance to play Prey.
Shogun Showdown: Crypt of the Necrodancer meets Slay the Spire - SIGN ME UP!

Good reviews and suggestions. Added a few to my wishlist for better sale prices later! Shogun looks like one to keep an eye on.
oh, Prey is amazing as an immersiv sim!
Great list, and I appreciate the short summary for each game. I'm definitely sold on Shogun Showdown now, but I better wait a bit to get it since it's not discounted and I bought enough games this sale already lol.

Bought dave the diver, just fought first boss and game feels fun for now.

I see this one mentioned everywhere, and it does look really interesting, especially the resteraunt management aspect of it -- are you still enjoying your time with it?
- yeah, theres bit story and kinda interesting too. quirky character. restaurant management seems simple for now but enjoyable enough. Mostly just enjoying diving and catching fish.
- I've been obsessed with it in the last two weeks, I've played it every day since 1.0 released.. Just checked and I have 27.8 hours played on steam. I absolutely love it! Just reached final boss, but feel like I have few more hours of content to do

The Steamdeck sale is tempting. I have been trying to decide if I need one (I don't need one, but that's not important).

If you consider, consider also to buy the one with the lowest storage. It is not that hard to upgrade it yourself. You end up with even more storage than the most expensive model (if you're planning to buy that one). You only miss the anti-glare etched glass and a custom profile background. But you can buy a anti-glare screenprotector if needed.
- I'm thinking I would get the 256gb version and 512gb SD card ti start with, so I don't have to upgrade right away. It's great that upgrading is even an option though.
Building off what the other guy said, you'll want to upgrade the hard drive when you can, I got the 64gb one and got two 500+ gb sd cards, but the shaders needed for the games can only be stored on the internal memory from what I've seen, and even having a few larger games installed has filled up the majority of my internal storage, to a point where I couldn't download updates for flatpacs or run some games due to so LITTLE storage. I'm going to look into upgrading my drive because it became such a problem for me
- Check out CryoUtilities. Can easily store shader caches with each game and eliminate your issue entirely. Yay open Linux ecosystem!
  https://github.com/CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities
- I actually started thinking about it because I will be traveling for work this summer for the first time since 2019. I don't expect to do much more traveling though, so mostly I would just use it in a more comfortable chair where I use a laptop today or while waiting for my kids at various events.
I didn’t need one but I wanted one and it was a good idea.
Dooooo it

Return of Obra Dinn. Actually bought it from GoG sale. Heard tons of hype about it.

A quick note to set you up to possibly enjoy it best: Most of the gameplay is intended to go on in your head, as you mentally assemble clues and go and re-check things. Don't be discouraged if it takes you a long time to progress part some scene.
One of my favourite games. Great choice if you like puzzles!

I went big, mostly indie games I’ve wanted to try for awhile, mainly for playing on Steam Deck

ELDEN RING, Escape Simulator, Vampire Survivors, Mini Motorways, Only Up!, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Celeste, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, Rogue Legacy 2, Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection, Spelunky 2, Super Meat Boy, Pogostuck, Persona 3 Portable & 4 Golden, Kindergarten 1 & 2

That's a damn fine collection. I have 1000+ hours in Super Meat Boy and Spelunky 2 alone. If you haven't got Spelunky 1 (aka. Spelunky HD, aka. the first Spelunky on Steam), you should try that too. IMO it's a much better (i.e. more fair) game than 2. 2 is a fine game, don't get me wrong, but the first one is phenomenal.
- I would recommend 2 for people who played 1 and are starting to get bored of it, as it almost feels like a remix of sorts. Like you said, 1 is definitely a much less flawed game and definitely better for new players. (especially because it’s somewhat easier haha)

A steam deck. I'll probably get some games after payday.

Congrats, homie. I love mine. :3

I have some bigger games I intend to get later, but I bought Halls of Torment early. It's a "[X] Survivors" game like Vampire Survivors, with a heavy Diablo theme/atmosphere to it. It has some fun little changes on the genre and I'm having fun with it. Always funny how these $3-$5 games can be so entertaining.

Pinned the post as long as the Summer Sale lasts. Handy overview for everyone to discuss it.

I got

High on Life

Ys IX Monstrum Nox

Stranger of Paradise FF Origin

Toukiden 2

Tales of Symphonia

DBZ Kakarot

Marvel's Midnight Suns Legenday Edition. I'm 30 hours in and LOVING it. I mean, I like XCOM, Marvel, Persona and deck-building games, so I feel like this was created for me.

It's a shame the game flopped though.

Quiet hit, perhaps? Won't really go out of date.

So far:

Metro Exodus
Super Blood Hockey
Zero Sievert
Grounded
Biped

Not on sale but also got BattleBit

So far only Blasphemous, but that'll probably change. My wishlist is huge, and nothing's ever stopped me from growing my backlog before, so why stop now?

I'm a huge fan of metroidvanias, I've played almost all of the heavy hitters in recent years: Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Ori 1 & 2, Dust, Guacamelee, the list goes on. Blasphemous seemed right up my alley despite some positive reviews with heavy caveats. I'm mostly enjoying it but I really really hate all the insta-death pits. Nice that you don't drop all your currency on death but now I've gotta walk all the way back there, avoiding all the enemies and traps, and oop I've fallen in the same pit again and turned the game off. Besides that, the difficulty is somewhere between easy and challenging but fair. Recommended while cautioning patience.

If you love metroidvanias you owe it to yourself to check out Environmental Station Alpha. It's so good mechanically and the fights are so well designed that it's probably my favourite of the genre along with Hollow Knight. The graphics aren't for everyone but trust me you get used to them quick.
Blasphemous is great. The difficulty gets better as you gain new abilities, the beginning is a bit rough. I just bought Ender Lilies and Lost Ruins.

Black Mesa. Been waiting to grab it before I play HL2

Like, play HL2 for the first time? Now that's what I call a patient gamer :)
- Yep, first time! I’ve seen and played bits of it but nothing substantial. Excited to jump in.

Nothing, because my PC’s hard drive died and I haven’t brought a new one yet.

Halo infinite, hollow knight, dead cells, and the orange box. Already played dead cells on switch a bunch so I know I'll love it (though a couple new dlc's have released since I last played, yay!). As a fan of the metroid series I'm also super excited for hollow knight.

I fucking loved Hollow Knight. One of my absolute favorite games of the past several years. I hope you enjoy it!

I got Subnautica for £8.24, original Alan Wake for £4.64 and Surviving Mars deluxe edition for £8.74. Not bad!

I picked up Surviving Mars and played through the tutorials. Fascinating game.

Post Void and A Short Hike. Also thinking about buying either Terraria or Don't Starve Together for me and my friend, but not sure which one

I wanted to pick up the Washington and Oregon DLCs for American Truck Simulator, a game I almost never play but it always there waiting for me to pop back in for one run then uninstall lol.

Also picked up Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness (whew, that's a name alright) because I was just turned on to the show (which is awesome!) and wanted to play it, but full price seems like a total ripoff for such a jank niche game.

Now both are on my Deck for less then I spent at lunch yesterday, and I can get back to slowly poking at my backlog!

I resisted the temptation, as I don't have the time and space to play the 5 games I already own.

This! This is 100% relatable 🤝☕😅

For now just Tunic :)

How is Tunic? It looks great but there are always other games I want when I'm buying things
- Well, I've slowly fallen in love with the game! It starts like a classic Zelda but it never stops growing. The notebook mechanic it's deeper than it seems, very unique! Totally recommended!
- Tunic is the best new game I have played in a long time. It's very very clever. It's definitely not just a Zelda clone, or an isometric Soulslike. I 100% recommend it but DO NOT LOOK ANYTHING UP BEFOREHAND. The feeling of discovery it gives you is the best part.
Oh no, Death's Door and Pixel Cup Soccer too :O

X4: Foundations - though I probably won't get around to playing it til later in the year...

Dave the Diver

I can’t decide if I want to get it on PC or wait for the switch version later this year. It may be easier to control with a mouse if there’s a lot of management in menus.

Satisfactory- project zomboid - valhiem - oxygen not included

I haven't played PZ but the rest are great choices! Easily 30+ hours in each. ONI, over 100 hours.

I bought Anno 1800 and am really enjoying it, it's great that they modelled it closer to Anno 1404 but still innovated

Raft. I'm getting reeeeeal sick of Bruce.

I got Sekiro because I'm a sadist.

I've bought more this sale than the last 3 years combined.

Nier Replicant 1.123905814908(or whatever), Nier Automata, Dave the Diver, Raptor: Call of the Shadow and Crisis Core: Reunion.

I have Automata for the PS4 but wanted to play it on the SteamDeck.

I wasn't really interested in anything new until I saw that Dave the Diver trailer and it just clicked for me. I haven't played it yet.

Just dropped a crisp fiver on Oblivion, figured 17 years of people telling me to play it was reason enough to give it a shot

While I love Skyrim, I think most of the guild quest lines are much better in Oblivion, especially the thieves guild (as mentioned). I generally prefer to play with a leveling system mod that replaces the weird system they built, but it's a great game either way.
Enjoy! Obviously keep in mind it's that old, but it's still the best in the series.
- Interesting the differences of opinion on that. I would say that Oblivion, while still good, sits in an uncomfortable middle ground between the great Morrowind and the polished (for Bethesda) and successful Skyrim, and comes out as the weakest.
At the risk of being a living meme... You should check out Morrowind as well. So good and weird.

I bought slay the spire, i have only been able to go on 1 run which was very fun, now waiting for some peoper time off to play again.

Great game, I am very impatient though so I die a lot of times.
- I reached till the end but lost to the spire. It reminds me a lot of FTL in that regard.

Lost Ruins, Ender Lilies, Halls of Torment

So far I've picked up Cassette Beasts and Nier Replicant. The former is a monster tamer game which I really enjoyed. Mechanics were fun, and the world exploration was superb. You unlock abilities for movement kind of like BOTW/Hollow Knight.

Nier Replicant has hot androids

I finally pulled the trigger on Celeste after hearing so much about it for years.

I bought CrossCode because I heard great things about it and I'm enjoying it so far. The movement and combat is sooo fun and the main character's expressions are pure gold

I grabbed Terraria and Tiny Tina's Wonderland. Looking forward to them both! Gonna boot up Terraria now, Tiny Tina's Wonderland will have to wait until some friends are free.

Got myself Fallout 4 for on my deck

Let me know how it runs, for some reason I can never get Fallout 4 to run smoothly on any system.

Red Dead Redemption 2. I couldn't pass it up any longer!

Avoid spoilers if it hasn't already been spoiled for you. Story mode is a masterpiece!
Oh man I just finished rdr2 and did 100% completion and now I'm looking to get other western themed games this summer sale. Have fun!
- It definitely gave me a whole new appreciation for the Western genre!

Harvestella. My wife has like a thousand hours in Stardew. She gets a present and a job offer today. It's a good day for her.

Mortal Kombat 11, Dave the driver, unpacking and PC builder simulator.

I plan to grab Valheim and potentially Dave the Diver.

Nothing really. I have 1000+ games owned that I have never played. Though it is always tempting. I might buy the outer wilds.

No games (so far) because I have enough of a backlog to play but went for a Steam Deck (512 GB version because I like anti-glare and don't want to upgrade it right away) and dock. I rarely feel like playing at my desk lately but enjoy playing on my Switch on the couch, so the deck should help me work thorugh my backlog.

The Deck is wonderful. I have been playing lot more after I bought mine.

Thanks. I am an eager beaver to get mine.

I'm thinking about buying a few games to play on Steam Deck, probably 2 or 3 of that list:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Dark Souls 1
SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays
DJMax Respect V
Digimon Survive
Rivals of Aether

Bought Deathloop. I never was super excited about it, but it looks like it's worth 15EUR. Still thinking about Jedi Survivor, but I'm usually not spending that amount of money on games.

I got deathloop in the monthly humble bundle thing, and I loved it. Didn't encounter any bug or technical issue, I really liked the story and atmosphere, and as a big fan of the Dishonored series I found the gameplay really good. I guess it can become a bit repetitive towards the end (which is kinda the point), but if you focus on the objectives and moving the story forward there are always new things to do.

Finally picked up Tiny Tina's Wonderlands!

Lumencraft

Yes, Your Grace

The Final Station

Now to actually play them!

I picked up a few games on Steam, as well some stuff on Fanatical.

Steam:

Half-Life Complete
Octopath Traveler 2

Fanatical (also Steam keys, just a different site and sale):

Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Doom Eternal
Crumble
Dark Devotion
Fallout
Fallout 2
Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut

Assassins Creed Odyssey and Hot Wheels Unleashed, the major factor for me was steam deck/ proton compatability. Looking forward to trying out Assassins Creed as this will be the first one I play from this series besides a few hours of black flag.

Played a few hours of hot wheels and it brought back a lot of nostalgia I had for past hot wheels games, and overall a fairly satisfying high speed, good looking racing game.

I love Odyssey. I put more hours into that game than any other Assassin's Creed game.

Got Nova Lands. It’s like Forager with a factory

Uh oh... this looks like exactly my shit.
- Yeah, Forager is one of the very few games I went out of my way to 100% and I just stumbled into Nova Lands. I’m sorry man.

My backlog was getting low (which is rare), so I've stocked up to last a while, or at least until the winter sale.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Slay the Spire
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Yakuza 3/4/5/6 (bought the collection but I already owned 0/1/2)

Slay the spire is amazing and I cant recommend it enough.
- Yes, I love it so much I bought it on steam after playing it on Switch.
Once you get tired of normal StS, try the Downfall mod. It really refreshed the game for me.
Oh man, have fun with Hellblade. What an experience that one was. Play it with headphones!
- Well, thanks, just bought it based on your glowing review.

Battlebit even though it's not on sale
Rollercoaster Tycoon 2

Thinking about a steam deck just for Diablo 4. I'd pick up fallout 4 and borderlands 3 / Tina and possibly elden ring / sekiro too. Any thoughts?

D4 runs fantastically on the Deck, can't recommend it enough...as long as wherever you're taking the Deck has a good wifi connection of course.

I've been getting into Warhammer lately so picked up boltgun and battlefleet gothic armada 2. Both very fun actually and definitely recommend

Megaquarium, Big Pharma, Bus Simulator 21.

All of them are solid.

Nothing. It's the same sale for the past 5 years. I've already got anything I wanted.

I got Cloudbuilt, the Deus Ex series (minus the first title,) Disco Elysium, Furi, Halls of Torment, Killer7, Lego Indiana Jones, Serious Sam 3 and The Walking Dead Telltale game.

Total was under 60 bucks. That's about 11 titles for less than the price of a new game. Steam Sale memes really didn't sugarcoat it, this shit hits DIFFERENT.

Not much. I bought Sea of Thieves and the newest DLC of China: Mao's Legacy. I'm having a blast with the first one, while the latter is very frustrating but really fun anyways.

Nothing. There are better sales all year round.

A badge lol https://store.steampowered.com/points/shop/c/steambadge

Witcher 3 and all DLC's :) it is my second time playing it and I love it as much as I did the first time

I bought Battlebit Remastered, and refunded it after 70 mins playing.

What was up with it?
- Figured I can just play the Battlefield games for which I payed less and which is basically the same but with better graphics, sounds and effects.
  Also I can buy it later again when it is on discount below Eur 10,00.

RDR2 and the second expansion pack to Pathfinder WOTR

Not sure if you've played RDR2 yet but if not, you're in for a treat!
- I have but on the ps4, got it on sale so I could try out mods this time

Elden ring (finally!)

Bought Battlebit Remastered, Crab Champions, Code Vein. Already got my money's worth out of the first 2. Both shooters feel great to play and mess around in with friends. Haven't actually started Code Vein yet but having fun just making waifus in the character creation menu.

Thinking of buying Half Life Complete (better late than never), the Steins;Gate VN, and Nier Automata. Also looking for more singleplayer autobattlers like Astronarch but this genre is surprisingly small. Doesn't help that searching by the 'autobattler' tag also shows you bullet heavens (or Vampire Survivors-likes if you prefer) in the results.

Potion craft: alchemy simulator.

Fun little game so far

I thought it had the best "craft potion from various ingredients" minigames I've seen in an alchemy game in a long time. That's basically all it tries to be, it knows it, and it works. My biggest gripe is that the UI is borderline unplayable on console. My wife would LOVE this, but she's a console gamer from the couch 20 ft away, and it just wouldn't work.

Picked up Planet of Lana and Front Mission 1st Remake, hoping to get into those after the long holiday weekend.

Also got to drop a plug here for The Last Spell, a game that came out of Early Access in March of this year and has quickly become one of my favorite tactics games. It's got a really interesting combination of squad-based tactics, tower defense, and town building that is really unique. It's 25% off right now and if you're into turn-based tactics games I cannot recommend it enough.

So far:

Trombone Champ
Wasteland 3

Been having a blast with Trombone Champ. It's so incredibly dumb, silly and hilarious. And apparently Max Tundra has delivered a couple of remixes for it, which was a nice surprise.

Finally picked up Tiny Tina's Wonderlands!

I picked up:

The Forgotten City, Heaven’s Vault, The Eternal Cylinder, and Underhero

I might pick up Klonoa as well but I’m still deciding.

Dave the diver and Muse dash with the 300 song pack. Debating on picking up Spin Rythem XD as well.

I only got Supraland: Six Inches Under.

Tunic, Elden Ring, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and others are still on muy waitlist, mostly because of my lack of time. ¯(ツ)_/¯

Bought out of the park 24 and franchise hockey manager bundle

I wish this genre got more attention from developers.
- I honestly didn't event know this was a genre (aside maybe from football manager) until a few days ago. Getting super overwhelmed by the depth of these games, but watching through tutorials to try to get a handle on it.

Don't really see any must have deals (other than steam deck). Maybe Dark Souls III. 30 still seems kinda steep for such an old game, is it worth getting at that price?

It's a solid game (and I feel like it's the easiest one to get into for someone new out of the three), but for a few bucks more Elden Ring is stellar.
- Just bought it, thanks!

Foundation and Final Fantasy VII Remastered. I am loving foundation and really excited for FF7.

I got T.A.B , Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Doki Doki Literature Club

I just accidentally stumbled onto Dave the Diver and I really want it, though it's not on a particularly great sale. Concept sounds super fun.

I'm pretty sure it just left early access so the small discount makes sense. It's a stellar game and honestly much longer than you'd think with a game that screams casual.
- Is performance still poor on the Deck though? I played it a few months ago but was going to wait to see if performance improved.
  Even 40fps was hard to maintain consistently.

I bought about 30 games. Only ones I remember offhand are Lego Hobbit and Lego LOTR. There were many more though.

I didn't even know it started, lots of games I've been interested in...

Can anyone recommend humankind? I've heard it's kinda like a civ knock off but I haven't heard much for or against it

Even though it wasn't on sale, I got Battlebit Remastered. It's like Battlefield but the graphics style is simpler kind of like roblox but that doesn't mean the shooting isn't as realistic. It's a cheap game and it's still early access but I feel it's going to be a pretty fun shooter as it gets worked on and improves.

I’ve been obsessed with Battlebit, it’s such a blast. Even solo, which is rare for me in a squad based shooter.

I got Final Fantasy XII the Zodiac Age. Not sure when I'll play it but it was one of the first video games I ever played so it will be nostalgic to pick it back up.

Duck game 4 pack for my friends. Definitely recommend. Lots of mods to spice up gameplay.

Colony Ship, it's a turn-based, isometric crpg with two play styles; Hero for a more powerful player character and party, and Underdog for what the developers specialise in, which is low player power games where combat is punishing. It's still early access, but in the tail end, and I'm loving it so far.

Ozymandias

Dome Keeper

DAVE THE DIVER

Poly Bridge 1&2

I needed something more casual. I've just stopped playing Dome Keeper, I like it.

I got Planet Zoo and I am in love and obsessed. I love the animal breeding and community trading features. I love that there is a genetics system.

And the building and customization and management are all very in depth and flexible. Amazing game, if you're into building a zoo and taking care of little virtual animals.

(Technically not summer sale because it went on sale June 20 but close enough)

Nothing

Same here. I already have many games I haven't played yet.

Mechwarrior 5! I've always liked the series, but this one fell off my radar with an Epic exclusive deal that also had some pretty big problems at launch. It looks like it's in a good place now, though, so I'm looking forward to exploring the coop with a friend.

I bought me and my buddy a copy of Core Keepers. He mentioned he was interested but he tends to not have the extra funds for games so I got him a gift.

How is that? I've had my eye on it for a while. Would it be fun for solo play?
- It ends up playing out kind of like Minecraft or Terraria so it can definitely be fun solo

I’m still on the fence for buying Hogwarts Legacy. 20% off is still more than €40..

If you've yet to buy it, go take a look at GG.Deals; it's a great price comparison tool that lets you look at prices across a bunch of online stores.
Have a look on greenman gaming. It's 32% off. £33.99 in the UK.
- Ah awesome tip! This saves €7 👌
I bought it full price when it came out and it's worth every cent imo, and I'm not even a Harry Potter fan. It's a good RPG in its own right.

I am planning to try out Sleeping Dogs, that one passed me by when it came out. Hope it still holds up!

I bought it years ago to replay it. It would just crash on launch. Hope they fixed it, I remember it being so fun.

20 Minutes Till Dawn
Dead Cells
The Artful Escape
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Mainframe Defenders
Halls of Torment
Rogue
ALba: a wildlife adventure
Chorus
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
The Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut
One More Line
Submerged

Might get more, but I'll wait for the wallet to cool down first.

20 minutes till dawn !! :D underrated game albeit pretty repetitive

FF7 has been the game that I've been wanting to play for a long time but sadly can't because of being low on funds. Maybe someday

I haven't been able to justify it, even though its been on discount several times now. $70 starting price for part of a story seems like a con to my brain. Should be right up my alley because ff7-ffx were my jam.

Getting Star Traders: Frontiers! Been itching for some exploration and trading as a space ship captain, since I started reading the expanse. Hope it's good!

Appropriate username