What do you mean it’s already late June? I could have sworn it was still early March last time I looked at my calendar. Well then, it seems this year is certainly flying by. In any case, if it’s the third week of June, that can only mean one thing: it’s Steam sale time once again. I hope you’ve adequately prepared your wallets, my friends, for I am here today to continue my time-honored tradition of offering you a list of games I personally think you should consider picking up before the sale ends on July 8th.

As always though, I have some caveats and disclaimers I’ll need to get out of the way before we get to the main event. First and foremost, this list will operate in exactly the same manner as all my Steam sale recommendation articles that have come before it. That is to say, there won’t be a single game on this list that I personally haven’t played.

Furthermore, I’ll refrain from recycling any games that have appeared on any of those previous lists unless I feel I have a solid justification for doing so. The only time I won’t abide by this rule is if a game has received a significant update or piece of DLC since its previous fifteen minutes of fame. Secondly, as has also always been the case since I started this tradition, the games included on this list are presented in no particular order.

Lastly, I should note that all prices listed here are in USD, so I would advise keeping a currency conversion calculator handy if necessary. With all that quasi-legal mumbo-jumbo out of the way, the time has come for you to crank up your air conditioner and get comfortable as I ramble about a selection of games that I feel are worthy enough to serve as my personal list of recommendations for the most prominent Steam sale of 2021. Let’s get to it!

Potion Party – Discount: 20%  – Sale Price: $7.99

The keen-eyed among our readers might have picked up on something of a pattern when it comes to my Steam sale recommendation lists like this. I always make an effort to include at least one recent indie game that I feel deserves some extra time in the spotlight, even after I’ve done everything I usually do to help that game garner some additional attention. This time around, that title is Potion Party, developed and published by RPGames.

If you’d like a more in-depth look at Potion Party, I would humbly suggest that you check out either my written review of the game and/or a video I made on it fairly recently. If you’re not interested in those additional resources or don’t have the time to have a look at them, I shall provide you with a sort of “elevator pitch” in an effort to expeditiously explain exactly why I think you should purchase Potion Party.

What we’ve got here is a game designed for up to four players in which you and any friends you bring along are tasked with running your very own alchemy shop and selling the potions you create. In order to go about producing those potions, you’ll have to juggle various aspects of the shop’s routine operation. For example, you’ll have to make sure that all three plants available to you are consistently watered so that you can concoct your colorful potions by grinding the fruit of those plants via the use of a mortar and pestle.

There’s quite a bit more that goes into the process of making a potion, however. Keeping your plants watered is just one aspect you’ll have to keep in the back of your mind as you play Potion Party. As I said in my aforementioned review of this title, things may seem hectic at first, but I think you’ll really enjoy the game once you find your “rhythm,” so to speak. That’s how things happened for me.

In short, if you want to know why I enjoy Potion Party enough to include it at the top of this year’s Summer Sale recommendation roundup, that’s primarily because I like its core gameplay loop quite a bit now that I’ve really gotten the hang of it. There isn’t nearly as much of a learning curve as I expected when I first dived in. Considering how quickly I became accustomed to how Potion Party works and began to thoroughly enjoy the game, I’m sure you’ll feel the same if you give it a chance.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass – Discount: 38% – Sale Price: $24.79

I just cannot shut up about Civilization VI, can I? Those among you with well-functioning long-term memories might recall that this isn’t even the first time I’ve included the game’s season pass (known as the New Frontier Pass) within one of my Steam sale recommendation roundups. That may lead you to think I’ve broken my own self-imposed rule about not re-listing any games that have already been featured in an article such as this, but there’s a bit of a loophole at play here.

You see, last time I included the New Frontier Pass in one of my Steam sale suggestion series, the content present within the pass had only just begun to reach Steam. That is to say, there was only one downloadable content pack available in the pass at the time the article was published. That’s why I designated the New Frontier Pass as an honorable mention the first time around. I couldn’t be sure that many of our readers would want to take a fairly expensive gamble by purchasing a pass full of yet-to-be-released DLC.

Now, however, the cornucopia of content provided by the New Frontier Pass is fully available in all its glory. All six DLC packs which comprise Civilization VI’s season pass can be purchased individually, but I personally believe you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t buy the entire pass outright. The primary reason I say that is that purchasing the whole New Frontier Pass rather than its individual components will net you what is called “Persona Packs” for a pair of existing in-game leaders.

These “Persona Packs” provide you with different playable versions of French leader Catherine de Medici and American leader Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. The alternate versions of this duo of leaders possess different leader-specific agendas, unique bonuses, gameplay agendas, and character models. They can certainly shake up the ways in which these Civs would normally be played based on their differences from their non-Persona Pack counterparts.

That isn’t even beginning to factor in everything added to Civilization VI by virtue of those aforementioned six DLC packs present in the New Frontier Pass. Allow me to give you an idea of what I’m referring to. Owning the entirety of the New Frontier Pass will grant you access to eight new playable Civs, nine new leaders (eleven if you count the Persona Pack versions of de Medici and Roosevelt), new World Wonders to build, and a plethora of new optional game modes to help you keep your next several hundred games of Civ fresher than usual.

The new playable Civs added in the New Frontier Pass are as follows, ordered by the date their respective DLC pack was released: the Maya, Gran Colombia, Ethiopia, Byzantium, Gaul, Babylon, Vietnam, and Portugal. The pack that added Vietnam also included Kublai Khan, who can serve as the leader of both China and Mongolia (like Gathering Storm’s Eleanor of Aquitaine can do with England and France).

Speaking of Gathering Storm, that reminds me to warn you that many of the new optional game modes included within the New Frontier Pass require at least one of Civilization VI’s expansion packs. For example, Apocalypse Mode requires Gathering Storm because the mode relies on the expansion’s natural disaster and climate change mechanics to function properly. As a secondary example, Dramatic Ages Mode requires Rise & Fall because this game mode relies on the expansion’s mechanics which allow players to earn Dark Ages and Golden Ages.

I hesitate to bring this up because I know what I’m about to say might prove to be too bitter a pill for some of our readers (and their wallets) to swallow. However, I would suggest that if you’re going to pick up the New Frontier Pass during the Summer Sale, you should at least look into also purchasing Rise & Fall and/or Gathering Storm if you’re missing either or both of them.

I’m sure both expansions will be, at least decently, discounted by now considering how long they’ve been available. Owning both expansions will allow you to get the most value out of the New Frontier Pass, not to mention all the additional content you’ll get from the actual expansions themselves. If you’ve got the cash to spare, you could also look into getting the Platinum Edition of Civ VI. This version will net you both expansions and all the DLC you would get from purchasing the Digital Deluxe Edition.

Afterparty – Discount: 60% – Sale Price: $7.99 (with an optional additional $3.99 for the soundtrack)

Picture this if you would be so kind, folks. You and your best friend have just graduated from college. You’re both at a “farewell party” of sorts with a bunch of classmates you barely know. They don’t seem all that interested in your presence, aside from the few who pledge to keep in touch, even though you know they won’t. For the sake of politeness, you have a couple of subpar drinks that taste suspiciously like cheap vodka mixed with even cheaper lemonade.

After a while, you prepare to say your goodbyes and go home. Then, next thing you know, you’re in Hell. You hadn’t even left the shindig yet, and now you’re quite abruptly confined to the underworld. Now, I’m not talking about Hades or the “Lou’s Inferno” concert venue from Guitar Hero III, oh no. This is actual, honest-to-goodness, H-E-double-hockey-sticks Hell, and you have no clue how or why you’ve ended up there.

You soon encounter a demon who’s specifically assigned to tell you what you did to wind up in Hell and how you’ll be punished for your sins for all eternity. Of course, he’s no help because he adheres extremely strictly to his designated nine-to-six workday and you happened to show up right before quitting time. Just your luck. At least he’s nice enough to not keep you trapped in a cage until the start of his next shift, though.

So, you and your best friend get to freely wander through the Devil’s domain for the night and see if you can piece everything together, not to mention attempt to find a way back to the mortal plane of existence. Thankfully, you meet a friendly character or two who agree to help you out and tell you the score. They, unfortunately, don’t have access to the necessary records that would tell you why you ended up in Hell, but they do inform you of the only possible way back to Earth.

There’s a reason I brought up Guitar Hero III despite how unrelated it may seem. You see, in that title, you have to defeat the Devil in a guitar duel to earn the freedom of your immortal soul. Within our current little thought experiment, however, your ticket out of eternal torture is a bit different: all you need to do is out-drink the Prince of Darkness himself.

As the astute among our readers may have already gathered, that mental journey upon which I just guided you was much more than just a hypothetical thought experiment. In actuality, the scenario I’ve just described is the premise of Afterparty, developed and published by Night School Studio. Now, I know there’s quite a lot to unpack in everything I’ve just explained, so let’s work through all of it together.

I say we should address what I see as the elephant in the room right off the bat. I think it’s pretty clear that Afterparty is not going to appeal to everyone who reads this article and considers the suggestions I’m presenting because of the game’s somewhat heavy reliance on certain, specific sets of religious beliefs as a backdrop for its plot. That’s okay. I feel like I took a bit of a risk in including Afterparty on this list due to that, but I stand by my recommendation based on the game’s story and gameplay mechanics I’ve experienced thus far.

Everyone knows which version of Hell we’re talking about here, and I doubt anyone reading this piece wants to end up there. I mean, I don’t want to go on a tangent that’s both outside the scope of this article and inappropriate for Phenixx Gaming in general, but I’m not necessarily religious and I’m still terrified of finding myself in Hell. It doesn’t really matter to me if Hell is actually a relatively “chill” place where the condemned and their literal demons can get together after hours and have a drink, as is the case within the context of this title. It’s still not exactly an ideal place to spend eternity.

Anyway, in light of everything I’ve just said, I suspect you probably have a very relevant question on your mind, dear reader. If certain aspects of Afterparty’s plot make me more than a wee bit uncomfortable in a philosophical sense, and I feel like I took a risk by including Afterparty on this list, why did I make it a point to give the game a place in this year’s Summer Sale recommendations?

Well, as I said, I base my recommendation in this case almost entirely on Afterparty’s gameplay, as well as the points of its plot that don’t make me afraid of winding up experiencing life’s potential “bad ending,” so to speak. To help explain what I mean by that, I should probably detail what kind of game Afterparty actually is. I would describe it as a Point-and-Click Adventure game that revolves somewhat heavily around exploration and interpersonal dialogue.

Let’s consider the latter of those two points first. Since the ultimate goal of the game is to drink the Devil himself under the table, you’re going to need some practice on that front before you make it inside his unholy party venue. You can have as many drinks as you want at a nearby bar which you’re introduced to fairly early on in the game.

You’ll soon find that as you become increasingly inebriated, you’ll have access to new dialogue options in many conversations. These dialogue choices would otherwise be completely hidden from you if you were totally sober. The game seems to very strongly suggest that the alcohol is bringing out a different, perhaps bolder side of your characters through this gameplay mechanic. Selecting any of these alcohol-addled speech options may lead you down different paths you wouldn’t have known existed if not for your altered state of consciousness.

Speaking of being led down different paths, that brings us to the idea of exploration within Afterparty. One of the friendly non-player characters I mentioned near the beginning of this entry is a demon named Sam. Sam is a modern-day ferryman who, in her souped-up taxicab, takes you across the River Styx to different parts of Hell. It is with her assistance that you’re able to explore the game world once you reach certain points from which you can summon her and request a ride to a different location.

I feel like I’m inadvertently starting to fully review Afterparty, so let me sum up my final thoughts before I accidentally complete that process. All of that is to say that I wholeheartedly believe Afterparty has quite a bit to offer prospective players, provided they’re not put off by the reliance on certain religious beliefs and encouragement of alcohol consumption for storytelling purposes. That’s the true reason I’ve elected to include the game on this list.

Mordhau – Discount: 33% – Sale Price: $20.09

I wanted to begin this entry by saying something to the effect of, “Ah, how I love the sound of unadulterated medieval combat in the morning!”. However, I have since been advised by my legal counsel that doing so would probably land me on at least one intergovernmental watch list. So, I’ll instead introduce my next recommended game another way.

If you’re a fan of Torn Banner’s Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, but you wish that game was a bit newer and/or had more to it (at least until its Epic Games Store-exclusive sequel reaches Steam), then Triternion’s Mordhau just might be the game for you. Now, I know leaving this entry there would be one heck of a cop-out. That’s precisely the reason I intend to briefly explain exactly why I think you should take a stab (pun very much intended) at Mordhau if you’re in the market for something fresher to scratch that knightly combat itch.

What exactly enables Mordhau to give the original Chivalry a run for its money? Several things, actually. For starters, Mordhau offers quite a bit more variety right from the get-go when it comes to playable character classes and combat styles. The game boasts a total of nine different classes (ten if you count the more customizable “unnamed” character as its own class). Compare that to Chivalry‘s four available variations.

Furthermore, Mordhau features an exceptionally in-depth tutorial that will teach you quite a few of the different combat variations and techniques, as well as how to counter most of them. For example, if your current character is wielding a particular style of weapon such as a longsword, the game will teach you how and why you might want to switch to using the titular “Mordhau grip.” This grip style is better for dealing damage to heavily-armored enemies since you’re essentially hitting them with the hilt of your sword rather than the blade.

Then there’s the bane of my existence in Mordhau, also known as trying to engage in combat while riding a horse. I readily admit that it took me a good twenty or twenty-five minutes to get the hang of mounted combat with a lance in the game’s combat tutorial. Most of that time was consumed by me trying doggedly to figure out what the heck a “couched lance charge” is and what a properly executed one looks like.

I don’t remember whether or not Chivalry features mounted combat, but if not, that’s another point Mordhau has to offer you (even if it’s very difficult to master). I also don’t recall whether Chivalry allows you to pick up the weapons of slain enemies and use them yourself, doing so might violate the strict play styles of any of Chivalry’s four classes. However, as I found out during a few rounds of Mordhau’s Arena and Deathmatch modes against bots, this title certainly offers that functionality as well.

Most importantly though, voice commands are still present in spades within Mordhau. This means you can freely use my favorite tactic of spamming the “help!” command to either annoy your teammates or as a sort of “challenge” to an enemy as you run at them, or both. That really never gets old to me. On a final note for this entry, when it comes to games like this, always remember: Saturday knight’s alright for fighting!

Borderlands 3 – Discount: 67% – Sale Price: $19.79 (for the base game; $66.17 for the Ultimate Edition with all DLC)

Well, I’ve already included every other mainline Borderlands title within my past lists like this. I figured I might as well finish what I’ve started this time around by recommending the most recent game in the franchise. Upon reflection, it occurs to me that I didn’t quite do the original Borderlands justice when I discussed it during last year’s Steam Winter Sale recommendation rally. That’s another reason I’ve elected to incorporate Borderlands 3 into today’s list-related festivities now that the game has finally reached Steam.

I haven’t quite had as much time as I would prefer to sit down and really sink my teeth into Borderlands 3 just yet. Even so, from what I’ve played of it thus far, I think the game has managed to make some welcome changes to the tried and true Borderlands formula. I’d say those changes begin with the available selection of playable characters.

Yes, there’s still a playable member of the “Siren” character class. This ensures those of you who mainly played Lilith or Maya in the original Borderlands or its sequel won’t be left out in the cold. Beyond that, though, I think the other three characters are a form of innovation for the franchise.

Aside from Amara the Siren, there’s Moze the Gunner. For her primary action skill, Moze can summon a giant mech suit which can be outfitted with easily swapped weapon attachments (like a minigun or a grenade launcher) as part of her skill trees.

Then there’s FL4K the Beastmaster, who can control any one of up to three pets (four if you have the Director’s Cut DLC) at a time to aid them in battle. FL4K can also use their action skills to command their pets to use a unique special ability, such as throwing an irradiated barrel toward any nearby enemies. Finally, rounding out this lineup of the Borderlands Barbershop Quartet, we’ve got Zane the Operative.

Zane can, among other things, create what is apparently known as a “Digi-Clone” of himself which distracts and fires at enemies. Zane and his “Digi-Clone” can instantly switch places at the press of a button. Additionally, Zane can deploy a weaponized drone that flies through the current battlefield and uses its machine guns to attack any nearby foes. This leads me to the next method whereby Borderlands 3 shakes things up somewhat.

You’ll notice that I mentioned all four playable characters have multiple action skills, such as the two abilities I alluded to that Zane possesses. This is a stark departure from this title’s predecessors, whose characters all had a single action skill, which usually came with a fairly lengthy cooldown timer between uses. I think it’s also noteworthy that you’ll unlock at least one of your chosen character’s action skills upon reaching level 2 rather than having to wait until level 5, as has been the norm in the past.

Furthermore, each character has four available skill trees within which they may spend the skill points they earn upon leveling up. I’m sure many of our readers know that in previous Borderlands titles, each playable Vault Hunter had one fewer skill tree. These additional skill trees and the variety of unlockable and upgradeable skills in them provide extra flexibility and player autonomy, which I consider to be quite positive aspects of the Borderlands franchise as a whole.

Of course, considering that this is a Borderlands game, I’d say the experience it offers is significantly enhanced when you bring at least one friend into battle alongside you. Heck, I would argue that this entire franchise is more enjoyable and less stressful when you’re not flying solo because you’ll have at least one person who can revive you if you find yourself about to die, and vice versa.

My close friend and esteemed colleague, Mike, can tell you all about that given how many times he ended up having to revive me during our attempted playthrough of the original Borderlands. Thankfully, Borderlands 3 is no exception to the whole “better with friends” idea. Sadly, though, I can only speculate about that for the time being based on certain characters’ unlockable skills.

That’s primarily because none of my friends own the game on the same platform as I do. I won’t go off on a tangent about what I perceive to be the trouble with timed Epic Games Store exclusives in this article, despite how much I want to in light of what I’ve just said. That would be well outside the scope of this piece, and I want to avoid straying too far off-topic.

In short, although I haven’t yet spent as much time with the game as I would like, I feel that I’ve experienced enough of its content to recommend it to you without much hesitation. That’s true even as a solo experience. As I just established, it’ll be more fun if you’ve got a friend or three who own the game on the same storefront as you do. If not, I’d still suggest you consider picking up Borderlands 3 if you like what the franchise has had to offer in years past.

Hitman: Blood Money – Discount: 75% – Sale Price: $2.49

To help pass the time while I wait patiently for Hitman 3 to become available on Steam, I’ve recently returned to an old flame, the game that introduced me to the Hitman series in the first place. Some of our readers may be well aware of the extent to which I’ve been playing Hitman: Blood Money lately, as evidenced by the fact that I’ve reviewed the game in both written and video form within the past few months. Honestly, folks, I think this is a game that needs very little (if any) introduction.

I mean, it’s been out for just over fifteen years now. Beyond that, legions of people consider it to be the best game in the entire Hitman franchise. Its soundtrack features what I would argue is one of the most recognizable pieces of music in all of gaming, specifically because of this title. I’m referring, of course, to the game’s rendition of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” I would almost bet you’ve heard this piece of music, even if you’ve (somehow) never so much as been in the same postal code as a copy of Blood Money.

Now, I get that the Hitman franchise may not be many people’s cup of tea due to the fact that, as its title suggests, you control the world’s best genetically modified contract assassin. Therefore, the game contains copious amounts of violence from various sources. I understand that’s a definite turn-off for some people, and that’s perfectly okay. However, if you’re not opposed to that degree of blood and gore, and you’re a fan of the stealth genre as a whole, better additions to your Steam library than Blood Money are exceptionally few and far between.

If I were physically capable of getting on my knees and pleading with you, folks, I would do so now for this reason. Blood Money is a masterclass of a stealth game, and it’s dirt cheap thanks to the Steam Summer Sale. If you haven’t played it at any point throughout the decade and a half during which it’s been available, I will argue until I’m blue in the face that you owe it to yourself to do so. Why not take advantage of its heavily reduced price and rectify this discrepancy before the sale ends?

Doom Eternal – Discount: 67% – Sale Price: $19.79 (for the base game; $29.69 for the Deluxe Edition with all DLC)

Do you, dear reader, remember the very first review I published here on Phenixx Gaming? That review was of Double Fine Productions’ 2009 Action-Adventure/Real-Time Strategy title known as Brütal Legend. Within that article’s introductory spiel, I mentioned that I had reviewed the game via Steam’s built-in review system a few years prior and facetiously awarded it a perfect ten-out-of-ten score because it contained “all of the [heavy] metal.”

Well, Brütal Legend might just have to roll over because it appears there’s a new sheriff in town, so to speak. Doom Eternal, brought to us by id Software and Bethesda, might not have Brütal Legend’s 107-track setlist of famous heavy metal songs. It may lack voiced guest appearances by legendary metal vocalists Ozzy Osbourne or Rob Halford. For these egregious offenses, I would ordinarily (facetiously) deduct points from the game.

However, Doom Eternal makes up for all that because it can legitimately claim to possess some of the most high-octane, demon-slaughtering action I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in quite some time. Not since its predecessor, Doom (2016), have I felt so unnaturally comfortable stepping into the (probably quite heavy) boots of the Doom Slayer. Even so, I’ve noticed some significant differences between Doom Eternal and that which came before it.

For one thing, I can’t quite recall whether Doom (2016)’s chainsaw had fuel that would slowly regenerate a portion of itself over time. Doom Eternal most certainly offers this gameplay mechanic, though. It serves to ensure that if you play your cards right, you’ll always have at least one-third of your maximum chainsaw fuel, in case you run low on ammo for any gun in your increasingly massive arsenal. Despite this, I would strongly advise keeping in mind that you’ll still frequently run into demons you can’t instantly cut down unless you have a fully-fueled chainsaw.

Secondly, I’ve noticed that Doom Eternal seems to be more difficult than its predecessor simply due to the volume and variety of demons it seems content to throw at you. Even on the game’s easiest difficulty setting, there was a point not even half an hour into the campaign that took me about eight attempts to complete. It’s entirely possible (perhaps even likely) that I’m just bad at video games, but this portion of gameplay still felt a bit odd to me.

Still, even after being repeatedly felled by the same demon in the same location, Doom Eternal was more than happy to let me try again and again until I finally got past that accursed section, only to reach another bit that gave me significant trouble a few minutes later.

In short, I greatly enjoy Doom Eternal despite its considerable difficulty spikes compared to the first game in the Doom reboot franchise. I think I’ve said my piece about this title for now. If anyone needs me, I’ll be attempting and, knowing my track record when it comes to these things probably failing, to “get good,” as the youth would say.

There you have it, my friends! I know this year’s Summer Sale roundup is considerably shorter in comparison to those I’ve written in past years. This list features a comparatively, somewhat paltry, seven games (six and a half if you don’t count Civilization VI’s New Frontier Pass as a full game). I feel compelled to apologize for that since I’ve included at least double that number of titles in previous lists similar to this one.

The primary reason for this article’s length (or, in a sense, lack thereof) is the rather paradoxical fact that I haven’t played all that many games so far this year despite working for a gaming journalism outlet. That is, I haven’t played very many games that are likely to be discounted much even during the most significant Steam sale of the year. So I don’t think I could justify listing most of the games I’ve actually played recently.

Perhaps I’ll be able to whip up a longer, more detailed list for you at the end of this year when the Steam Winter Sale rolls around. For now, though, I’m quite curious: do you plan to get any new titles you’ve had your eye on during 2021’s Summer Sale, regardless of whether or not it’s present in this article? Please do feel free to share what you plan to purchase in this article’s comments. You never know, your suggestions might tempt me and influence future recommendation roundups!

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