David’s Steam Summer Sale 2024 Recommendations

Ah, summer: The birds are singing, the sun is shining at its brightest, and that means I’m ensuring my bedroom’s blackout curtains are closed because the immense amount of glare on my computer monitor is driving me mad. The reappearance of summer also means the biggest Steam sale of 2024 is now upon us, and I’m here once again to grant a spotlight to some personal gems from my library that I think you should consider picking up while there are notable discounts to be had. Let’s skip the usual introductory rambling on my part and dive right into the list, shall we?

Darkest Dungeon II – Discount: 40% – Sale Price: $23.99 (or $26.10 for the Oblivion Edition with all DLC and the Soundtrack)

Darkest Dungeon II adds several great twists to the foundations laid by Red Hook Studios’ original game. The first game puts more of an emphasis on restoring and upgrading the buildings in your “home base” as a means of supporting the mercenaries you’ve enlisted to lift a curse upon the world that your ancestors caused and encourages you to keep said mercenaries alive and sane because their deaths are permanent. Darkest Dungeon II turns these and many other aspects of the original’s gameplay on their heads while also expanding on several established mechanics, such as characters’ stress levels.

Darkest Dungeon II is more of a Rogue-lite compared to its predecessor. To name some examples of this, your group of four chosen soldiers now travels together in a stagecoach that carries a flame embodying the literal last hope for the world. The deaths of any of your mercenaries are no longer permanent, and you can choose to have any who fall rejoin the group at the start of each so-called “expedition” toward your ultimate goal. You’ll also need to carefully manage the relationships between your heroes to ensure they can at least tolerate each other, lest their attitudes potentially lead to disaster on many levels.

Potionomics – Discount: 20% – Sale Price: $19.99

If you’ve played pretty much any Animal Crossing game, you know the main motivation those titles give your character to get up in the morning is the fact that you owe Tom Nook quite a lot of money and he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy you want to cross. Within Potionomics, you have a similar ultimate goal: You must use your skills as a potion witch to win a potion-making competition in order to use the prize money to pay off a debt owed by your departed uncle, who recently left you his potion shop in his will.

I’d say Potionomics is a mix of a life sim and a deck builder. The “life sim” part comes in as you explore the town where your new potion shop is located, getting to know the local vendors who can help you acquire new potion ingredients and upgrades for your shop. You can also romance many local NPCs if you’re so inclined. The part of the core gameplay loop where you sell the potions you brew to customers and haggle with them constitutes the “deck builder” portion since you play cards from what I call your “deck of tricks” during each transaction.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Discount: 90% – Sale Price: $3.99 (or $12.49 for the Complete Edition with all DLC)

Let me set the scene for you, folks: The Witcher 3 was introduced to me by Keiran, who hates pretty much everything classified as high fantasy yet still really enjoys this particular game. I, on the other hand, enjoy a good amount of high fantasy, but I’d never so much as acknowledged The Witcher 3 before the end of 2023. What did Keiran say to convince me to finally try Wild Hunt that led to me falling in love with it, you might ask? Three simple words: “13th Century Batman.”

That phrase alone was enough to seal the deal, and it’s quite accurate. Wild Hunt’s protagonist, Geralt of Rivia is, at his core, just a man doing his job. That job, as a Witcher, is to travel around the game world using his “Witcher senses” (read: Detective Mode) to help him hunt down and kill a plethora of different kinds of monsters because someone has agreed to pay him to do so. Your main goal is to find and rescue Geralt’s adopted daughter, though these “Witcher contracts” and tons of other side activities serve as additional attractions in which you can lose yourself.

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition – Discount: 85% – Sale Price: $2.99

Sleeping Dogs is mainly on this list because I recently started playing it on my Steam Deck and I’ve been having a great time with it so far. You play as Wei Shen, a former San Francisco police officer who’s transferred to the Hong Kong Police Force as an undercover agent tasked with infiltrating and undermining a Triad organization known as the Sun On Yee. You’ll have to carefully balance keeping up appearances with both the Triads and the police. You don’t want to cause either faction to think you’re fully allied with their enemies, lest you meet with a terrible fate.

A core part of Sleeping Dogs’ gameplay focuses on Wei Shen’s martial arts skills, which you can improve upon as you progress through the story. If a fight isn’t going your way, you can get almost alarmingly creative in terms of how you can use your environment to your advantage. If you think Yakuza’s combat is zany, try neutralizing an enemy by kicking them into a pay phone and cracking a tired one-liner about making a collect call. Maybe that last bit is something that only I do because my sense of humor is rather strange, but oh well.

Cassette Beasts – Discount: 40% – Sale Price: $11.99 (or $28.25 for the Deluxe Edition with all DLC)

You’ve likely heard of Palworld, the “Pokémon-like” title that has recently taken the Internet by storm. Well, what if I told you there’s a gem of a game in a similar vein that I think flew under the radar even before Palworld commandeered the spotlight in that niche? For one thing, in Cassette Beasts, your character transforms into your chosen creature in battle rather than just barking orders at them from a safe distance. I see that as a nice change of pace that makes me feel more invested in striving toward victory and caring for the beasts I recruit.

On that same token, you know how “Hidden Moves” in Pokémon games can be taught to your pocket monsters and used in the overworld, usually for traversal purposes? Well, in Cassette Beasts, your character gains similar abilities rather than any of your beasts, which I think is a cool spin on the concept. You can add new monsters to your party by recording them onto regular, everyday cassette tapes (ask your parents) and change each beast’s move sets by applying stickers to the tape on which they’re housed. Oh, and Cassette Beasts’ soundtrack is phenomenal as well!

Hitman: World of Assassination – Discount: 60% – Sale Price: $27.99 (or $44.99 for the Deluxe Edition with all DLC)

I know Hitman: World of Assassination is typically $70, but A) that’s why I’m recommending it during the time of year when it’s most likely to be considerably discounted, and B) I’d argue it’s worth the reduced price because it’s three sizable games in one. If you didn’t know, World of Assassination contains the entire trilogy of episodic Hitman reboot titles that began in 2016, continued in 2018, and concluded in 2021. This allows you to play through the entire World of Assassination story chronologically without having to buy and install three large, separate games.

World of Assassination sees you take Agent 47 through numerous locales around the world to do what he does best. I like the diversity of levels and strategies at your disposal in this trilogy and the emphasis on replaying missions to try new tactics. World of Assassination also has what I think is an edge over Blood Money because you can play through all three games while dressed as a clown and bludgeon your targets to death with a fish if you want. Yes, that’s probably an ill-advised strategy, but the fact that you can do it counts for something.

En Garde! – Discount: 50% – Sale Price: $9.99

I discovered En Garde! basically by chance during a Steam Next Fest a good while back. I tried its demo, was immediately enamored with everything it showed me, and gladly bought the full game soon after it was released. You play as Adalia de Volador, who’s described as a “legendary swashbuckler, dashing adventurer, [and] hero of the people.” Armed with a sharp sword and an even sharper wit, you’ll help Adalia free a region of the world from the control of a tyrant known as the Count-Duke – and much of the time, you’ll be able to go about doing that with style.

One of the things I like most about En Garde! is its brilliant, lighthearted sense of humor. For example, even though Adalia mainly defeats her enemies with her sword, you don’t need to worry about causing her foes any long-term injuries, or worse. Anyone who stands in your way and falls before you will instead lie on the ground cracking self-deprecating jokes about their own failure. You can also put objects in your environment to use in combat by, say, stunning enemies by kicking crates into them or eliminating them from a fight by kicking them into a body of water. Go forth and have at those fiends!

Travellers Rest (Early Access) – Discount: 25% – Sale Price: $13.49

Travellers Rest is a delightful life-sim title in which you focus mainly on running a successful medieval tavern and developing the skills you’ll need to do so effectively. As you gain experience and spend the skill points you’ll accumulate as you progress, you’ll be able to create more refined (and thus more profitable) varieties of alcoholic beverages and rib-sticking foods you can serve to your patrons while they rest up before continuing on their journey toward… well, wherever they might be headed.

You’re just a tavern keeper; as long as no one causes trouble in your establishment and everyone pays for whatever they order from you, you don’t need to concern yourself with anything except keeping the tavern running smoothly. There will be times when customers lose their tempers, though, at which point you’ll shoo them out by hitting them with a broom. That hasn’t become any less funny for me yet. I know some among our audience might write off Travellers Rest as just “Stardew Valley with a different coat of paint,” but I encourage you to look beyond that dismissal and try it out for yourself.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns – Discount: 75% – Sale Price: $14.99

When I first heard about Marvel’s Midnight Suns, I was somewhat confused and fairly intrigued by what I learned about its premise. A turn-based, tactical, card-battler set in the Marvel Comics mythos and developed by Firaxis Games, the studio best known for such things as the Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise and XCOM: Enemy Unknown? That’s not exactly the kind of new game I hear about very often, but regardless, I bought Midnight Suns because the combination of factors I just listed piqued my curiosity past the point of no return. I’m quite comfortable recommending Midnight Suns here due to its discounted price, especially if you want any of its DLC.

The synopsis of Midnight Suns’ plot is that an ancient, hugely-powerful villain has been resurrected and your character is the also-resurrected offspring of that central big baddie. You’re the only one with the power to defeat the evildoer once and for all. I know that might sound silly, but I’m more than willing to let that slide since I can’t think of many comic book storylines that aren’t at least a little bit farcical. Plus, you get to hang out with famous Marvel heroes in your off-hours and develop close friendships with them. That appeals to me in particular.

Gotham Knights – Discount: 80% – Sale Price: $11.99

I’d say the premise for the story of Gotham Knights is pretty simple: Batman presumably dies in a battle with Ra’s al-Ghul, Batman intentionally destroys the Batcave in the process, and now it’s up to you to step into the boots of one of Batman’s four proteges and pick up where the Dark Knight left off. Gotham City isn’t going to protect itself, especially not with corruption running rampant through the Gotham City Police Department following the death of its former Commissioner, Jim Gordon. Further complicating things is the fact that the GCPD is now openly hostile toward Batman’s allies.

Once you’ve played through the first bit of the story, you can freely switch between playing as Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood. Gotham Knights also features two-player co-op, so you can team up with a friend and fight crime together. Gotham Knights has gotten some flak for its gear crafting system, but I personally quite like that aspect of it since I think it gives me a sense that I’m progressing and growing in power. I also like that you can customize the looks of all four heroes’ outfits, though I know that’s a minor detail.

There you have it, folks! I hope my recommendations on this list might be of some use to you during this year’s Steam Summer Sale, or any decent sale in the future for that matter. I’m also curious to know what you think about the new format I used for this list. I’ve implemented some suggestions from Keiran by sticking to a strict list of ten games and keeping my “sales pitches” of each included game at a maximum of two paragraphs in length. In any case, if you’ve got any recommendations I might have missed, feel free to discuss them in the comments below this article!