The Steam Summer Sale is finally here. It is a celebrated time when gamers from all around abuse their wallets to purchase games they will play for 15 minutes before forgetting them forever to collect virtual dust on the Steam library shelf.
It doesn’t have to be this way, however, and with some research and a little willpower you can restrict your summer Steam purchases to games that will keep pulling you back time and time again. Here are my picks for games to keep tabs on in this year’s Steam summer sale that could get you the most for your money. These are either games that allow extensive gameplay, gameplay variety, have strong modding communities, or a combination of the three, regardless of whether or not they have yet been discounted on the Steam summer sale.
10. Garry’s Mod
This is not a game for everyone but if you like a sandbox that allows you to create vehicles, flying machines, structures, and just about anything you can imagine, this is a game for you. Garry’s Mod uses Valve’s Source game engine to allow players to manipulate objects, meaning you can spend hours crafting and testing your builds.
Sharing items and downloading user-created props is made easy with the Steam Workshop. There are 342,165 entries in the Garry’s Mod Workshop at the time of writing this article. If you get bored with the limits of your own imagination, you can always check out the imagination of someone else.
Additional multiplayer game modes are also available, with PropHunt currently being the top rated entry in the Workshop. “Trouble in Terrorist Town” is also a popular multiplayer mode that pits innocents against traitors, requiring social engineering to determine who is the traitor (or to convince others that you are not the traitor).
9. Fallout: New Vegas
This title almost didn’t make the list, but after hearing so much about the endless playability from others, I felt it had to be included.
New Vegas seems to have a strong modding community despite releasing back in 2010. The game ends after the main quest is completed, so to get the most for your money, you will want to be sure to download a mod that allows you to continue playing even after you’ve beat the game.
There are also six inexpensive DLCs available right from the Steam page that can add even more gameplay.
8. Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition
What Borderlands 2 lacks in variety, it makes up for in length of gameplay. If you’re looking for a roleplaying first-person shooter that provides lots of gameplay, this may be the game.
While the original Borderlands 2 provided under 100 hours of gameplay for some players, the Game of the Year edition has the potential to offer over 200 hours. With enough of a discount from Steam, this could be a no-brainer buy.
7. Total War Series
Pick the time period that best suits your interest and you will find yourself playing this game for a long time. If you prefer, however, you can purchase the whole series and play even longer if Steam offers the right price.
Total War offers a single player campaign mode that can continue as long as you want it to. Hours will be spent managing cities, recruiting troops, entering diplomatic negotiations with other nations, and of course, testing your military tactics on the battlefield. If you conquer the world with one nation you can always devise new tactics and conquer with another.
If you need more of a challenge, you can hop into multiplayer and battle one or more opponents to really put your skills to the test.
Moreover, Total War has a healthy modding community, with the Steam Workshop also available for Rome II and Shogun II, allowing players to continually alter their play to experience the game in new ways.
6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
This game is long. Mind you, the main quest can be completed in a relatively short period of time, but with the variety in character creation, the adventuring, the side quests, and the time you will spend just staring in awe at some of Skyrim‘s sight-seeing spots, it seems like this game could never be explored to its full extent.
Many mods are also available that not only tweak various aspects of the game to fit individual preferences, but can also add news storylines and worlds to explore.
If you want to take a step back in the series, Oblivion is also an excellent choice with huge amounts of gameplay for your money.
5. Arma 3
Multiplayer is where you will likely find the most bang-for-your-buck in this game, though there are many player created missions that you can download if you want to increase your single player experience.
If you don’t like putting in a lot of effort (what can sometimes feel like actual work) then this is likely not the game for you. If you’re someone who doesn’t mind coordinating with other players and traveling to your mission objective for 20 minutes before encountering the enemy, then you will find Arma 3 can keep you entertained for hours at a time.
4. Don’t Starve
Don’t Starve is a unique experience that seems to offer players new and strange encounters every time they open the game.
As a survival game it is no surprise that Don’t Starve has the potential to offer lengthy gameplay. What really keeps this game interesting, however, is that you never quite know what you will find. You’re thrown into a world that you won’t quite understand and seems to continually provide news discoveries, keeping the game fresh for a long time.
A free multiplayer expansion will be released this summer, further increasing the games bang-for-your-buck quality. It would be wise to purchase Don’t Starve during this Steam summer sale, however, since the regular price of the game will increase once multiplayer is released.
3. X3 Series
This is not a title I have experience with but from what I have heard, it has tons of replay value. Despite being a single player game with a campaign story, it takes place in an active world where you can expand your space empire through military and trading. This is a game I will likely be checking out.
2. Dark Souls
Despite the second installment of this series being released only months ago, some players expressed the feeling that the original had more replay value, which is why this particular game makes the list. Even so, both games seemed to be praised for this aspect.
Steam offers the Prepare to Die Edition, which features an untold chapter in the story.
1. Mount & Blade: Warband
Warband released in 2010, yet it still seems to be as popular as ever. Much of this has to do with the game’s modding community constantly finding new ways to reinvent the game for both singleplayer and multiplayer modes.
The campaign has players take the role of an adventurer who starts with next to nothing and must build an army and income to slowly make a mark on the land, which by itself can go on without end. Singleplayer mode ends when you want it to. If you get bored with the original singeplayer, there are countless mods for you to download to enhance your experience
The game’s multiplayer also has a wealth of mods with an active multiplayer community. With so many mods, it won’t be surprising to find that many are no longer active, but you will find many that are. If you have a few friends, however, it can be fun to download a mod together and enter an abandoned mod to play by yourselves.
Additionally, a DLC is available titled Napoleonic Wars, which brings the muskets and cannonballs of the Napoleonic era to the multiplayer game. Spending a few extra bucks on this DLC will open you up to even more mods that can provide even more game experiences.
No doubt many games did not make this list, so feel free to share your bang-for-your-buck picks in the comments. Enjoy the summer, and spend wisely.
