If you’ve checked your local weather forecasts lately, or even looked out the nearest window, you might have noticed that the days are growing increasingly longer and hotter. If you’re like me, you might also have developed cravings for lemonade and ice cream. That can only mean one thing: summer is here (in the U.S., at least), and its arrival has once again been faithfully heralded by Steam’s biggest sale of the year.

That, in my opinion, is a perfect reason to stay indoors within the comfortable proximity of an air conditioner and play video games until October. Steam, as always, has plenty of deals on offer from now until July 9th to help you out with that if you think your game library could use a bit more bolstering.

It is my honor to present to you this list of games and bundles (as well as a few honorable mentions) that I think are most worth your money in this year’s Summer Sale. For transparency’s sake, these games are arranged in no particular order, and there isn’t a single game on this list that I haven’t played. With that in mind, let’s begin.

1. Hitman 2 – Discount: 60% – Sale Price: $23.99 (for the “standard edition;” $39.99 for the “gold edition”)

Honestly, I think the legendary Hitman developer IO Interactive got just about everything right when it comes to the newest installment of the adventures undertaken by the world’s baldest contract assassin. Hitman 2 has managed to dethrone IO’s 2006 release Hitman: Blood Money as my favorite game in the entire franchise. That’s a pretty big deal as far as I’m concerned.

If you want to dive into the newest Hitman title to see what all the buzz is about, I’d say now is the best opportunity you’ll get. Luckily, if you’ve never played it and want to experience what it has to offer without dropping any cash; the free “Starter Pack” allows you to play the game’s first mission as much as you desire. That mission alone has quite a lot of content to offer, and there’s plenty more where that came from should you choose to purchase the full game.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you own the 2016 reboot of the series, simply entitled Hitman, you can play every mission from that game within Hitman 2. If you try out the “Starter Pack” and like what you see enough to purchase the game, you might also consider picking up the “Gold Edition” if you can spare the extra cash.

The “Gold Edition” includes a few new pieces of DLC. If you’re curious about what that DLC might contain, one of my colleagues discussed the game’s most recent “roadmap” not too long ago. Additionally, if you want to see the game in action from the perspective of a huge Hitman fan such as myself, I suggest keeping an eye on the Phenixx Gaming YouTube channel; I plan to feature Hitman 2 in at least one video of some description relatively soon.

2. Darkest Dungeon – Discount: 70% – Sale Price: $7.49

You might be aware that I recently reviewed Red Hook Studios’ delightfully bleak title Darkest Dungeon so that I could justifiably detail my adoration for the game at length. For the sake of conserving your time, dear reader, I’ll assume in this article that you haven’t read my review, and you find yourself tempted by the game’s current sale price. In light of that, I’ll provide you with a sort of “elevator pitch” that might help you make a more informed decision.

Basically, the gameplay consists of you recruiting and controlling a party of four mercenaries, each of them possessing various combat abilities. Your main objective is to strengthen enough squads of these mercenaries to the point that they won’t immediately go insane and/or die as you instruct them to defeat the antediluvian evils which infest your ancestral home.

You absolutely should not go into Darkest Dungeon expecting every mercenary you recruit to complete this massive undertaking with both their lives and their sanity intact. You see, one of the game’s central unique mechanics requires you to keep each mercenary’s stress level in check. Because of that mechanic, mercenaries are just as susceptible to death from internal factors as they are from external forces.

Mercenaries can accumulate stress remarkably easily due to such circumstances as simply being in a dimly-lit room for too long. If it’s that easy to stress them out, just you wait until they see the horrors they must vanquish in order to cleanse your ancestral home and allow you to claim your birthright.

3. Both Games in the South Park Franchise – Discount: 88% – Bundle Price: $10.78

Games based on the long-running television show South Park have developed something of a bad reputation over the years since the series officially premiered in 1997. I’m referring mainly to the critically-panned titles such as the racing game South Park Rally, pop-culture trivia quiz show South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack, and the first-person “shooter” simply called South Park.

Having played all three of these games, I must confess that I entirely agree with the critics who condemned them to the darkest depths of Metacritic. However, I honestly think that the most recent two games using the South Park IP are enjoyable enough that they may very well have atoned for the failures of previous South Park games. South Park: The Stick of Truth and its sequel, South Park: The Fractured But Whole are both outstanding games in my eyes.

Fortuitously for those of you who might want to try these games just to see how far the South Park IP has come; Steam is currently offering both titles in a bundle that you can pick up for a little over a dollar less than you’d pay if you bought both games separately at their current prices. I know that probably doesn’t sound like much of a deal, but small discounts like that can add up.

Considering the context of South Park and the many, many controversies the show has directly and indirectly fueled, I feel that it’s necessary to add a bit of a disclaimer before I move on with the list. If you’ve been a fan of the show for any length of time and you like its sense of humor, there’s a very good chance you’ll enjoy both The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole; both games include quite a bit of self-referential humor, so I think longtime fans of the show will feel right at home.

However, if you dislike anything about South Park, I would honestly recommend that you steer clear of these games. Much of their content can easily be considered overly-explicit, and I acknowledge that some portion of our audience might not be okay with that. Therefore, I suggest you research both games further before purchasing the bundle if you’re unsure about what they may contain. I should also mention that you’ll need an active Uplay account to access these two games once you’ve bought them.

4. Game Dev Tycoon – Discount: 50% – Sale Price: $4.99

As you may have guessed considering my love for games such as Civilization, which allow players to essentially bend history to their will in certain respects, I quite enjoy Game Dev Tycoon. It isn’t strictly an alternate-history game because its main structure mimics the precise timeline of events beginning with the aftermath of the video game crash of the 1980’s through to the present. However, Game Dev Tycoon does allow players to create nearly any game they wish existed by researching and combining several gameplay aspects.

For example, early on in the game, suppose I’ve researched two specific gameplay aspects that I wish to combine into a full game. I could, develop a game specifically designed for Game Dev Tycoon’s version of the Commodore 64 that centers around sports and zombies.

Granted, a game like that probably wouldn’t sell very well or endear itself to critics for various reasons, but that doesn’t really concern me. I mostly enjoy the mere idea of being able to combine ridiculous gameplay systems and make virtually any game I can think of regardless of how many copies it sells or what critics think of it.

5. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gold Edition – Discount: 77% – Sale Price: $29.54

Speaking of my love for Civilization, I wholeheartedly feel that the “gold edition” of the franchise’s newest installment deserves a spot on this list. The “gold edition” contains the base game and all the DLC you would normally get from purchasing the digital deluxe edition of the game, plus its first expansion, Rise and Fall.

Sadly, there’s currently no such thing as an “ultimate edition” of Civilization VI that includes all of the above plus the Gathering Storm expansion; I’ll get into that a bit more later.

Basically, my final verdict on this matter is that although Gathering Storm isn’t included, I think this edition of Civ VI will ensure that you’ll definitely have enough great content to experience that’s likely to influence your decision as to whether or not you should purchase Gathering Storm.

6. Tropico 4 – Discount: 80% – Sale Price: $2.99

I’ve noticed that I have to be in a specific mood in order to play city-building games like, say, Cities: Skylines or something of that nature. I have to be in a completely different, yet much more frequent mood to play a more dictatorial city-building sim like Tropico.

For those of you who’ve never played a Tropico game, just know that I most assuredly meant that Tropico is a dictatorial city-building sim. You see, in every Tropico game I’ve played, you control a custom avatar who’s referred to as El Presidente.

In your position of power, you’re technically supposed to keep your people as happy as possible in order to prevent rebellions and ensure your re-election so that you can stay in power for as long as possible. However, you’ve usually got more pressing concerns, such as setting aside a little something for yourself in your Swiss bank account and making sure that the United States and/or the USSR can’t justifiably invade Tropico.

After all, if you don’t like your odds in an upcoming election, you can always game the system a bit to lessen your chances of being ousted, if you catch my drift. Your authority also grants you the ability to learn virtually everything about any resident of Tropico through what’s essentially advanced domestic espionage.

Through this system, if you learn that a citizen has become problematic by, say, attempting to start a rebellion or going on a crime spree, you can deal with them directly by either forcibly re-educating them or arranging for an unfortunate “accident” to befall them.

Basically, I consider the more recent Tropico games to be akin to The Sims in several ways, aside from the fact that I personally believe you can be more evil in Tropico than in a recent Sims game. That’s precisely why I look forward to those specific moods that encourage me to play Tropico. If you like the sound of what I’ve just described, I definitely recommend getting Tropico 4 considering it’s currently dirt cheap.

7. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection – Discount: 97% – Bundle Price: $5.90

If you have a similar opinion to mine regarding the Borderlands franchise, you may think the series is at least somewhat more fun when you’re playing it with friends rather than flying solo. Perhaps your friends have a copy of at least one game in the series and just haven’t gotten around to playing it yet.

Alternatively, maybe your friends have cited the cost of each game and the usual mountain of DLC as a reason they’re hesitant about buying anything the series has to offer.

If either of these scenarios applies to you, this year’s Steam Summer Sale might be your best chance to convince your friends to try the series. That’s thanks in large part to Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, a bundle which contains Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and every single piece of DLC for both games. You get all that for what I would call a shockingly low asking price, to boot.

Sadly, though, The Handsome Collection doesn’t include the first Borderlands game or any of its DLC. The first game can still be purchased separately, of course, but the only version still available on Steam is the “Enhanced Game of the Year Edition.” That’ll currently set you back just over twenty bucks, which I think is unfortunate considering The Handsome Collection’s sale price.

One last thing to keep in mind if you’ve got your eye on The Handsome Collection is that it’s one of those bundles that Steam modifies specifically for a given user’s account. That is, the bundle changes in price based on how many pieces of it you already own, thus making the bundle unique to you. Because of that, you won’t be able to send a copy of it to your friends through Steam’s gifting system; they’ll have to buy the bundle on their own.

8. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Discount: 50% – Sale Price: $29.99

I’ve always said I have something of an “on-again, off-again” relationship with the Assassin’s Creed franchise. That’s mainly because the series, to me, seems to have something of a pattern in terms of each game’s quality. I found the first game to be rather samey and underwhelming, whereas I absolutely adored Assassin’s Creed II.

This pattern continued for Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and so on. Because of that, I elected to initially skip Assassin’s Creed: Origins (though I did recently acquire it through a Humble Monthly bundle). I made sure to pick up the newest game in the franchise, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, as soon as the game was discounted enough for me to fit it into my monthly budget.

I’m going to be brutally honest with you here, folks. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is by far the most enjoyable game I’ve encountered in the entire franchise since the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed II. I would love to explain in detail the multitude of reasons why I make that statement with the utmost certainty, but this article would likely triple in length if I were to do that.

For now, just know that the game’s plot and combat are two significant aspects that won me over quickly. I’m rather disappointed by the fact that the game doesn’t run very well on my (admittedly middle-of-the-road) computer. I’m not sure if that’s an issue on my end or a question of the game’s optimization. Regardless, my computer can run the game well enough for me to enjoy virtually every moment of it despite any frame rate hiccups.

On a final note, Odyssey’s current sale price might still be a bit steep for some readers considering that the base version of the game obviously doesn’t include any DLC to sweeten the deal. I completely understand that, but I really do believe you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you give the game a try. Just bear in mind that although you can buy and launch the game through Steam, you’ll need a Uplay account to actually play it.

9. Dishonored – Discount: 67% – Sale Price: $3.29

While I was delving through the depths of the Steam store looking for deals to report upon in this article, I stumbled upon one heck of a discount for what I consider an excellent stealth game, Dishonored. I’ve only just now realized the presence of an amusing coincidence on this list, as I’ve included both Hitman 2 and another outstanding stealth game.

You see, I reviewed Dishonored fairly recently. Within that review, I presented the question of what it would be like if Hitman’s Agent 47 had supernatural abilities that would aid him in his line of work. I think Dishonored does a pretty decent job of answering that question in certain respects.

Dishonored and the vast majority of games in the Hitman series are alike in quite a few ways, most of which add to Dishonored’s appeal in my opinion. For example, the gameplay of any given Hitman title and Dishonored is able to change somewhat based on how you want to go about tackling your objectives.

Of course, given the nature of stealth games, both titles reward players who opt for more clandestine courses of action as opposed to going in guns blazing and slaughtering everything that moves.

However, although these games tend to frown upon excessive violence on your part, there sure as heck isn’t a system in place that will stop you from doing things your way. That’s just one of the many things I like about Dishonored; the game holds player agency in high regard, though it has its own subtle ways of discouraging certain strategies.

In summary, if you’ve been curious about what role you might play in the bleak city of Dunwall, or if I managed to pique your interest with the idea of Agent 47 having unearthly abilities; I highly recommend spending an almost paltry amount of cash on a wonderfully-dark stealth title.

10. Any Game in the Batman: Arkham Franchise – Discount: 75% – Sale Price: $4.99 (for each individual game)

I’ve been a fan of all things Batman for as long as I can remember. I still have fond memories of pre-ordering my PlayStation 3 copy of Rocksteady Studios’ beloved 2009 release Batman: Arkham Asylum, and then proceeding to play it nonstop for at least a month. Every new game in the franchise has managed to greatly impress me, despite a few nitpicks I still harbor when it comes to specific games in the series.

It has become something of a tradition for the entire Arkham franchise to have each game’s price slashed in the event of any noteworthy Steam sale; this year’s Summer Sale is, thankfully, no exception. As such, because I can never decide which specific game to recommend, I decided to have all four games share a spot on this list.

I do have two issues with Steam’s presentation of the Arkham series during this sale, though. Firstly, if I’m not mistaken, the so-called Batman: Arkham Collection bundle appeared to be selling for its full sixty-dollar asking price for at least the first two days of the Summer Sale. It appears that this possible mistake has been corrected, as the bundle’s asking price has been lowered to $14.99 as of the last time I checked.

Secondly, I personally don’t think the aforementioned Batman: Arkham Collection has the right to call itself a true collection because it entirely excludes Batman: Arkham Origins and all its DLC. I know Arkham Origins was never really given the recognition from critics that I believe it deserved, but total exclusion from a bundle like this seems a tad ridiculous.

On that same token, I’m well aware that Origins has garnered a reputation for being the “outcast” of the Arkham franchise because it wasn’t as memorable as its three main brethren and is, thus, frequently forgotten about. I admit that Origins didn’t quite endear itself to me as much as the other Arkham games have, but I would argue that it’s still very much a solid Batman game in its own right.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I adore the entire Batman: Arkham series. Because of my probable biases in making that statement, I simply can’t recommend just one game in the franchise. What I can do, though, is warn you in advance that Arkham Knight suffers from serious optimization issues in my experience (wildly fluctuating frame rates, for example) which might be a deal breaker for some of our readers. Your mileage may vary, of course.

If you’ve got an extra $30 burning a hole in your pocket, that’ll get you the entire series including the Season Passes for both Arkham Knight and Arkham Origins. If you’d rather not spend that much, you can grab any game in the series for five bucks apiece.

11. Stardew Valley – Discount: 20% – Sale Price: $11.99 (Honorable Mention)

As you might remember from my review of Stardew Valley that was published a couple of months ago, there have been times when I’ve come very close to becoming “addicted” to the game in a more lighthearted sense of the word.

I hold Stardew Valley in such high regard, because it’s one of a select few games that help me cope with various aspects of my mental health, especially severe anxiety. It is mainly for that reason that every time I launch Stardew Valley, I find it increasingly difficult to stop playing. It’s remarkably easy for me to become immersed in the laid-back, relaxing gameplay that operating a virtual farm entails.

I’ve been known to especially enjoy games that don’t make me feel like I “have” to do anything, and instead give me the ability to do what I want; when I want. To elaborate, I don’t feel like I’m forced to do anything in Stardew Valley, and that’s just one of a multitude of things I like about the game.

As soon as my character awakens, I can choose to go outside to water and/or harvest my crops, and I can then voluntarily walk down to Pierre’s general store to sell my harvest and purchase new seeds. Alternatively, I can go explore the mines or gather building resources instead of farming.

Because crops don’t die if they’re not routinely tended to, I don’t feel pressured to keep a close eye on my harvest unless that’s what I want to focus on during any given in-game day. That’s one way in which the game is very forgiving, and I greatly appreciate that.

That may sound obvious to those of you who are familiar with Stardew Valley’s gameplay, but this specific cycle is exceptionally relaxing to me. Honestly, the only reason I’m designating Stardew Valley as an “honorable mention” on this list is because I don’t think its current discount is deep enough to recommend the game for some portion of our audience.

Of course, I would personally gladly pay the game’s normal full price because of the beneficial effects it has on my mental health, but some people might not be as enthralled as I am by the idea of operating a virtual farm in a somewhat repetitive cycle. I completely understand that point of view, but I still wholeheartedly recommend giving Stardew Valley a chance. The 20% discount may not be huge, but I think it’s decent enough.

12. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm – Discount: 25% – Sale Price: $29.99 (Honorable Mention)

I said earlier in this article that I would discuss my thoughts on Civilization VI’s newest expansion, and so I shall. I’ll try to keep things brief, as I’ve already covered my initial thoughts on the expansion. The reason I’m designating Gathering Storm as an honorable mention is the same reason I gave Stardew Valley such a designation. That is, I’m glad it’s at least somewhat discounted, yet I still find myself a bit disappointed by its current price.

I know Gathering Storm has only been available since this past February; but I was nonetheless hoping for a more substantial discount on it. That way, I could more easily recommend it to friends who are just starting to get into Civ VI and want to experience everything the game and its expansions have to offer.

A thirty-dollar asking price for an expansion may be a bitter pill to swallow for some of our readers, but a 25% discount is definitely better than paying the full MSRP. I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much in light of that.

If Civ VI keeps receiving substantial free updates as it has been, or if it gets a third expansion, I doubt the game will feel stagnant anytime soon. Personally, I’ve barely even scratched the surface of what Gathering Storm has to offer, especially when combined with the aforementioned free updates that add small, yet arguably significant, amounts of new content.

13. Crypt of the NecroDancer – Discount: 80% – Sale Price: $2.99 ($6.16 for the “Amplified Pack” with all DLC)

I readily admit that I’m terrible at rhythm games, with the possible exception of any Guitar Hero game set no higher than medium difficulty. I would very much like to improve at these types of games, and I’ve heard virtually nothing but praise regarding Crypt of the NecroDancer. I’ve consequently theorized that I might be able to improve my rhythm skills by playing a game like this, depending on how long I can stave off frustration while playing.

Considering the apparent popularity of the recently-released spin-off Nintendo Switch game Cadence of Hyrule, I thought I would revisit Crypt of the NecroDancer and give it a tentative honorable mention on this list.

I say “tentative” because I haven’t been able to progress very far within the game due to my own lack of skill. As such, I’m nowhere near qualified to assess the quality of a game like this; I’m essentially trusting the community on this one. All I can say with certainty is that I like what little I’ve played of this particular title.

Even so, the base game is dirt cheap, and the version with all its’ DLC included isn’t exactly costly, either. If you decide to pick this game up and find that you dislike it, at least you won’t have spent a ton of money on it. Alternatively, if you do like what Crypt of the NecroDancer has to offer, you’ll have found an indie gem for a very small financial investment.

There you have it, folks! Thirteen games I suggest keeping your eye on during this year’s Steam Summer Sale. I’m most assuredly planning to create lists like this for every major Steam sale from here on out. if you’re curious as to what I think is worth picking up next time a sale hits, keep an eye here on Phenixx Gaming.

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