After being mercilessly teased and rumored for a couple of months now, the big Steam Summer Sale has finally arrived! And then promptly went away as millions of people pile-drove the Steam servers back into the Stone Age.
Now that the storefront has recovered and the deals display more than empty percentages, its time to dig in and see what exactly is worth grabbing today. The following games have been chosen based on their quality (in my humble opinion anyway) and the depth of their discount, with the order being pretty much completely random:
Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed (-50%)
Behind this laughably bad title lies one of the best cart games I've played in recent years, and that includes the Mario Cart series. Its fast, its challenging, and despite playing it for who knows how many hours I still can't reliably beat the AI on the hardest difficulty, they are just that damn good! I also have to give a special shoutout to both the map design and the music in general, as they make the already enjoyable act of blowing other people up with silly weapons even more enjoyable. If you're a fan of cart games, especially co-op ones, then grab this one.
[Important Update:] You can grab this, as well as a whole bunch of other Sonic games, over at the Humble Bundle website for the exact same price.
Payday 2 has definitely seen more than its fair share of controversy, but its still one of the best co-op shooters around. With plenty of maps to completely mess up, weapons to toy around with, and friends to sacrifice in your attempt to escape the police, Payday 2 will last you a long, long time. Since its price is set at a rather low €5/$5, I can't help but recommend this to anyone that enjoys even a bit of organized shooty madness.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut (-75%)
The base version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of the best stealth focused RPGs I've ever played, though it suffered from obnoxious (and incredibly cheesy) boss fights you couldn't do in any other way than through brute force. Well, the Director's Cut not only fixes those issues, but a whole slew of others as well, making this best version of Deus Ex: HR. If you're up for plenty of sneaking, talking, and punching people in the throat in order to "silently" take them down, grab Deus Ex, its well worth your time.
South Park: The Stick of Truth (-75%)
Do you enjoy South Park? You are going to enjoy this! Do you hate South Park? You are going to absolutely, without a doubt, despite this game! To put it simply, The Stick of Truth plays like an entire episode of South Park, with you as the main character, and this is not something everyone is capable of enjoying. There's fart gags, alien probing, Mongolian hordes, and a whole lot of nonsense I've successfully managed to purge from my memory, but I can't say it hasn't been a jolly good time.
If you're looking for a game where you get to sit down with a friend, build up a ridiculously large maze filled with spike traps, explodey traps, bouncy traps, and all sorts of other traps, then Orcs Must Die! 2 is your game. In essence, its a Tower Defense where you get to personally take charge and slap around the more annoying enemies, while the traps take care of the rest. Its clever, its hard, and there's plenty of content to it, so if you enjoy this sort of thing, then by all means, dig in!
Do be warned, however, Orcs Must Die! 2 has been designed from the ground up with co-op in mind, so you might run into issues if you decide to play alone. Its perfectly beatable in singleplayer, there's no doubt about that, but be prepared to expend a herculean amount of effort on some of the later stages.
And there you have it, these are my recommendations for today. There's plenty of other hidden gems within the cavernous depths of Steam's Store, so make sure to rummage through it all and see if you can find anything else that might be of interest to you. If not, you can always stop by here tomorrow and see what the next day brings.