When the leaves fall, the deals call. On top of this week's big Black Friday deals on gaming PCs and components, Steam's Autumn Sale has begun.
With most of the year gone, quite a few 2023 games are discounted during this week-long Steam sale, which ends on November 28. We've kicked off this list of recommendations with some of those new games—specifically the games we and others are looking at for end-of-year awards—followed by discounts on our favorite games from last year, and finally a selection of other favorites that you can get for less than the price of a sandwich (well, depending on the sandwich).
For more recommendations, we recently compiled a list of great games that always get Steam sale discounts. If the game you're after isn't discounted, the next big seasonal Steam sale is the Winter Sale, which starts in December and along with the Summer Sale is one of the biggest each year.
2023 award nominees on sale
The game that earned our highest review score of 2023—our highest in years, for that matter—is not on sale: Baldur's Gate 3 is still $60, I'm afraid. Many of this year's other best games can be had for less than their launch price, though. Here's a selection of 2023 games that have either come up in our own GOTY award discussions (which we'll publish in December) or have been nominated for awards by shows like The Game Awards or Golden Joysticks.
System Shock | $27.99/£24.49 (30% off)
Looking Glass's original System Shock was often overlooked in favor of its famous successor, and no matter how much you love the classics, it can be hard to go back to its chunky, pre-mouselook interface and grueling, sink-or-swim exploration. Enter Nightdive's excellent remake.
Pizza Tower | $14.99/£11.24 (25% off)
One of our favorite games of the year, seriously. It's a "non-stop, absurd, and wonderful slice of speedrunning action," we said in our 90% review.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | $41.99/£35.99 (40% off)
Respawn did it again with some good Star Warsin' at a time when there's not a lot of good Star Warsin' outside of Andor. Jedi: Survivor is "easily the best modern Star Wars game," as Morgan put it.
Our 2022 GOTYs on sale
Elden Ring | $59.99 (Not on sale 😔)
🏆 PC Gamer's 2022 Game of the Year
Our 2022 Game of the Year was 30% off for the Steam Summer sale, but sadly isn't discounted for the Autumn Sale. The Winter Sale is just a month away though, and it's possible they're saving the discount for then.
Marvel's Midnight Suns |$19.79/£16.49 (67% off)
🏆 2022 GOTY Runner-Up
XCOM-maker Firaxis created our favorite recent superhero game, a mix of XCOM's gridded turn-based tactics, deck building, and friendship sim. It was definitely underloved, and is worth picking up on sale—it's even cheaper now than it was in the Summer Sale.
Total War: Warhammer 3 | $29.99/£24.99 (50% off)
🏆 Best Strategy Game 2022
The biggest discount yet on 2022's best strategy game. You no longer need to own both the previous entries to play the Immortal Empires sandbox mega-campaign, which is good, although it's accumulated a lot of negative reviews recently as backlash for its DLC pricing.
Strange Horticulture | $7.49/£6.39 (50% off)
🏆 Best Puzzle Game 2022
Inheriting a plant shop where nothing is labeled sounds stressful, but it's actually a wonderful combination of cozy and spooky thanks to fascinatingly odd customers, and a cat you can pet. We named Strange Horticulture 2022's best puzzle game, and this is a sweet price for the year's best anything.
Vampire Survivors | $3.74/£2.99 (24% off)
🏆 Best Roguelike 2022
Earlier in 2022, we called Vampire Survivors "one of the best deals you can get on PC" at its full price: $4.99. Now it's on sale again for just $3.74. A bullet-heavenly bargain.
Teardown | $22.49/£19.49 (25% off)
🏆 Best Sandbox 2022
A physics-based, voxel-powered playground melded with a genius puzzle game: "If I blow up this entire mansion, will I have space to drive this sportscar into the ocean?"
More 2022 award winners on sale:
- Neon White | $14.99 (40% off) | 🏆 Best Platformer 2022
- The Case of the Golden Idol | $12.59 (30% off) | 🏆 Best Story 2022
- Trombone Champ | $7.49 (50% off) | 🏆 Best Comedy Game 2022
- Card Shark | $11.99 (40% off) | 🏆 Best Design 2022
- Persona 5 Royal | $35.99 (40% off) | 🏆 Best RPG 2022
- Monster Hunter Rise | $15.99 (60% off) | 🏆 Best Co-op 2022
Steam Summer Sale: Under $20
Assassin's Creed Odyssey | $11.99/£9.99 (80% off)
A whole lot of game for $12, especially if you've enjoyed Ubisoft's other action RPGs in the AC universe. Odyssey strays even further from AC's stealthy roots in favor of an action-heavy combat system centered around dramatic, often magical abilities. Set aside 80-100 hours for this one.
Risk of Rain 2 | $12.49/£9.99 (50% off)
An excellent roguelike about fighting hordes of monsters while collecting and combining items to generate increasingly absurd effects. A PC Gamer favorite.
Pentiment | $13.39/£10.04 (33% off)
Obsidian went in a surprising direction for this 2022 gem. Instead of the usual sci-fi or fantasy RPG, it's a narrative-focused game set in the 16th century, and it's great.
Hunt: Showdown | $13.99/£12.59 (65% off)
Here's Hunt at its lowest price (matching the winter sale). It's still the most interesting FPS in gaming right now. Other extraction shooters (and other shooters in general) should take note.
Steam Summer Sale: Under $10
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | $9.99 / £6.24 (75% off)
The big ray tracing update to The Witcher 3 had a bit of a rocky rollout earlier this year, but things got better, and this is an even bigger discount than the 70% off we saw during the Steam Summer Sale.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection| $9.99/£8.49 (75% off)
The big box of Halo is back at its lowest price for this sale. The Master Chief Collection includes every Halo up to Halo 4, including Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 2: Anniversary.
Pillars of Eternity | $7.49/£5.74 (75% off)
One of our all-time favorite RPGs is available for next to nothing. Obsidian brought all of its skills at making inventive, detailed worlds and funneled them into a new fantasy game with loads to love.
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire | $9.99/£7.49 (75% off)
Pillars of Eternity 2 is another great choice if you want to dig into a massive, fantasy world and see what kind of stuff you can get up to. (Also, the upcoming Avowed takes place in this world.)
Steam Summer Sale: Under $5
The Talos Principle | $2.99/£2.49 (90% off)
A smart, thoughtful puzzle game that tells an intriguing and surprising story. It might give off a "Portal with big ideas" vibe at first glance, but it's so much more than a derivative knockoff—and at this price, if you dig puzzle games it's a no-brainer. (The sequel just came out, too.)
Loop Hero | $4.94/£4.22 (67% off)
The Vampire Survivors of 2021, in the sense that it's an inexpensive game that it's easy to devote way more time to than you ever thought you would.
Metro 2033 Redux | $1.99/£1.77 (90% off)
One of the all-time best singleplayer shooters by a lot of measures. The original released in 2010, while the Redux version bumped it up to 4A's latest engine tech in 2014. A damn good FPS for just $2.
Ikaruga | $4.99/£3.49 (50% off)
We don't talk about bullet hell games too often, so when we noticed that one of the best to ever release on PC was on sale for $5, we felt compelled to mention it again. It's hard, but compared to some other shmups out there Ikaruga is actually kinda chill.
Steam Summer Sale: 10 years of Game of the Year winners
It's a shame there's no Elden Ring discount in this sale, and Metal Gear Solid 5 is also at its usual $20 price. Still, you can get 10 years' worth of the best in PC gaming (according to us) for under $170 right now—not too shabby! Read about why these games are so special in our Game of the Year awards archive.
- 2022: Elden Ring | $59.99/£49.99 (not on sale)
- 2021: Valheim | $11.99/£9.29 (40% off)
- 2020: Death Stranding: Director's Cut | $19.99/£17.49 (50% off)
- 2019: Disco Elysium | $9.99/£8.74 (75% off)
- 2018: Into the Breach | $7.49/£5.69 (50% off)
- 2017: Divinity: Original Sin 2 | $17.99/£11.99 (60% off)
- 2016: Dishonored 2 | $2.99/£2.49 (90% off)
- 2015: Metal Gear Solid 5 | $19.99/£24.99 (not on sale)
- 2014: Alien Isolation | $9.99/£8.74 (75% off)
- 2013: Spelunky | $3.74/£2.74 (75% off)
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