It’s that time of year again: Black Friday looms just around the corner, and with it the sudden burning sensation of our wallets, threatening a hole in our pockets lest we spend it all. In solidarity, Steam has also launched the Autumn Sale, featuring big discounts with a voracious appetite for your savings.
Reader, we get it: those big lists of discounts can be intimidating to look at. Like a Necronomicon of Deals, minds are not prepared to see that many deals in one spot. With that in mind, here’s a list of games you should consider adding to your Steam Library.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
As it is, the Like A Dragon series is one of the hottest rising SEGA IPs. Having shed its beat-em-up skin along with its Yakuza name in the West, next year’s Infinite Wealth looks like it could easily be a Game of the Year contender.
Naturally, if you’ve ever wanted to get into what is ostensibly Persona-but-with-middle-aged-men-fighting-shirtless, you’d be wise to start with Yakuza: Like A Dragon. The game’s currently 80% off on Steam, and features a pretty meaty JRPG adventure as Ichiban wades through the criminal underworld of Yokohama in a quest to avenge his clan.
Considering it’s only RM45.80, it’s definitely a good game to pick up even if you’re just looking for another JRPG to fill your catalogue. I mean, it’s got a White Mage renamed to Homeless Guy. It’s unique in its presentation and aesthetic in a field full of medieval and sci-fi concepts, and at this price is absolutely worth your attention.
Persona 5 Royal
Here’s a novel suggestion: What if you played Yakuza: Like A Dragon but instead of crusty middle-aged dudes it was cool, rebellious teenagers? Persona 5 Royal is the definitive edition of the Persona 5 series, and features a meaty campaign all about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and their quest to rid the world of shady adults.
The game’s currently 40% off, and can basically be an RPG you whittle away at for over a month. Wanna date every girl you meet and then get hilarious consequences? It’s there in the game. Wanna spend all afternoon cooking up Persona fusions to get a Trumpeter who’s immune to borderline everything but only has one spell? You can do that too. Heck, you can even spend time just gushing over the game’s gorgeous menus.
At RM151, Persona 5 Royal is an absolute steal for what you’ll get out of it. The original Persona 5 was one of my personal favorite titles for that year, and considering Royal includes a whole new semester and story arc, it’s definitely one you’ll wanna add to your list. Better yet, it’ll give you all the context you need for its swathe of spin-offs- including the recently released Persona 5 Tactica.
Street Fighter 6
Arguably the largest fighting game release this year, Street Fighter 6 has it all- a compelling single player mode allowing for wacky custom characters, intense and rich competitive mode and just all around great quality of life. With a base roster of 18 fighters and a Season Pass featuring characters like Rashid and Akuma, you can easily lose hours in your climb to Platinum Rank
It should be noted that this is the game’s first-ever time going on sale: it’s currently 34% off, and even features crossplay so you can match up against players on PlayStation or Xbox. If you’d possibly been won over by the amount of streamers trying this out or even the impressive competition of the Singapore Offline Premiere at gamescom asia, now’s the time to take the plunge and get into the world of fighting games.
At RM161, it’s a good idea to check it out- Street Fighter’s one of the best names in the fighting game business, and Street Fighter 6 is largely hailed as its most accessible entry.
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition
We’re very lucky that we don’t live in a world where we have to fight for survival against robot dinosaurs. Yet somehow, the fantasy still calls out, and for that we have video games. Previously PlayStation-exclusive, Horizon Zero Dawn is on Steam via the Complete Edition. Here, you play as Aloy dealing with the wilds of a post-apocalyptic America- overrun by lush greenery and biomass-eating mechanical horrors that you’ll tackle with every tool at your disposal.
With Horizon Forbidden West set to come to PC next year, now’s a great time to capitalize on the first game’s 75% discount. I mean, at RM52 there’s a lot of content to explore- and if you’re running a fancy PC rig it’s all going to look lush and amazing.
Dead Space (2023)
Reader, know this: if there’s one genre that’s absolutely amazing when it hits, it’s survival horror. Obsessive resource management, claustrophobic level design, cool aesthetics, they all come together in the 2023 remake of the original Dead Space. It’s an atmospheric delight, as you deal with the abandoned wreckage of the USG Ishimura and have to strategically dismember Necromorphs if you’d like to keep your own limbs thoroughly attached.
Seriously, while the game may not be a 100-hour romp in the vein of open world or JRPGs, at 50% off the game is an absolute steal- you’re looking at some of the most heavily condensed high-intensity gameplay for the entirety of its runtime. For RM99, you’re looking at one of the best Survival Horror games this year, in a uniquely grungey Sci-Fi backdrop, at that.
This is far from an exhaustive list of great games on sale for this year’s Autumn Steam Sale- God knows other great titles like the Monster Hunter series, Resident Evil and more are all waiting for your time and attention, too.
That being said, these games are definitely worth your time and attention- be it as build-up for next year’s huge releases or even just as all-around great ways to let an afternoon float on by.