It's that time of year again: another Steam Sale rolls around and your wallet becomes a whole lot lighter. Thousands of games go on sale during a Steam Sale, making it almost impossible to sift through them all. So once again I've compiled a list of hidden gems, sorted by price. I've prioritised emerging classics and underrated modern gems.

This was quite the effort, and this list is almost twice the size of my last one in fact. Speaking of my last list, if you need even more suggestions definitely check out my guide to the 2025 Steam Spring Sale. Let's crack into it, shall we:

AU$30 and Over

Psycho Patrol R - AU$46.80

From the sick mind behind Cruelty Squad, Psycho Patrol R is a similarly deranged foray into eye-melting visual aesthetics. It shares many gameplay similarities with Cruelty Squad—immersive sim elements, tactical shooting, and esoteric progression—while also introducing mechs. Fuck yeah.

Project Silverfish - AU$36.91

Project Silverfish was born from an alternate game mode for the lone developer's previous project, the Half-Life-inspired shooter ADACA. In ADACA the mode was called "zone patrol" heavily inspired by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. Project Silverfish is a full game based on that mode. Uncover a huge map, competing factions, terrifying monsters and a ton of mysterious shit to discover.

Godsworn - AU$35.16

An excellent RTS heavily inspired by Warcraft III, Godsworn is exactly what fans of classic Blizzard games need. Boasting a gorgeous art style, it borrows ideas and mechanics from the classics, updating and improving them substantially. Since Blizzard has nothing but contempt for fans of Warcraft, Godworn is a godsend.

AU$20 – AU$30

Labyrinth Of The Demon King - AU$23.60

A serious game of the year contender for me—Silent Hill or King's Field fans will find plenty to love in this tightly designed descent into a dark fantasy survival-horror nightmare. Now's the perfect time to experience the tense combat, engaging exploration and delightfully decrepit setting in Labyrinth of the Demon King.

1000xRESIST - AU$22.12

Featuring as number four on my Top Ten of 2024, 1000xRESIST is a masterclass in modern storytelling. Heavy on dialogue and light on gameplay—but fans of contemplative narrative-driven games shouldn't miss it for anything.

Caravan SandWitch - AU$26.59

Caravan Sandwich is a relaxing open-world exploration game. Jump in the eponymous caravan and drive around a beautiful and hand-crafted world. There are ruins to explore, mountains to climb and ramps to jump.

Judero - AU$21.20

Bursting at the seams with personality and utterly unique, Judero is an epic tale that wears its cultural influences on its sleeve. It’s an inherently weird game—swaggering between tales of Scottish folklore and contemporary portraits of fascism, environmentalism, the role of law, and anything else its seemingly self-aware characters decide to spin a yarn about.

Promise Mascot Agency - AU$29.20

Promise Mascot Agency is a delightfully strange management sim crammed into a not overly huge open world. Drive your pickup around town collecting mascots to send on missions and revive the town's economy. If you like the weird shit in Yakuza games, this will be right up your alley.

Skin Deep - AU$23.60

Skin Deep is another serious game of the year contender for me. A tightly designed immersive sim with a focus on stealth. Each level is a handcrafted sandbox packed to the brim with tools to dispatch nefarious space pirates. The 1970s sci-fi aesthetic brings it all together with excellent music, snappy writing and a distinct visual style.

Wanderstop - AU$29.20

We all need a break sometimes—Wanderstop is the latest narrative adventure from Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden. It plays like a borderline auto-biography, detailing the emotional strain and pressure that can result when you push yourself to work as hard as possible all the time. It's a charming and emotional game about taking a step back and brewing tea.

Blade Chimera - AU$20.65

Blade Chimera is a stylish Metroidvania that prioritises player freedom. Giving you most of the tools you need to explore its world straight away, it's a refreshing take on a formula that usually fills game worlds with out-of-reach ledges and locked doors you need to find an item for first. It's drop-dead gorgeous too.

Elroy and the Aliens - AU$22.12

Elroy and the Aliens hit all the right notes for a traditional point-and-click adventure game. Overflowing with charm and wit, this heartfelt homage to the classics is a must-play for fans of the genre.

Haste - AU$20.99

Why do I like Haste? Well, it's simple really; it lets you run really, really fast and do sick jumps. Movement in this game feels incredible–every micro-adjustment feels satisfying to make. Soaring through the skies and making perfect landings is a flawless gameplay loop.

Old Skies - AU$25.07

Coming from the storied team behind Unavowed and the Blackwell series, Old Skies puts an inventive spin on the well-trodden time travel genre. With a novel interpretation of the butterfly effect, the world around our main character, Fia, is constantly shifting and changing. It adds another layer to its puzzles and creates some thoughtful scenarios.

Out of Sight - AU$23.99

What Out of Sight achieves in its brief runtime is impressive. Playing as a blind girl who can see through the button-eyes of a teddy bear allows for a dual first and third-person perspective leading to some mind-bending puzzle rooms. It's not a terribly scary experience, but it's an interesting game with a fresh perspective.

AU$10 – AU$20

Crow Country - AU$17.70

My number one game of 2024—Crow Country is one of the best modern survival horror games ever made. It draws inspiration from the classics while effortlessly innovating with modern design improvements. The art and music are incredible, inspiring a sense of nostalgia and terror. Do not miss out on this one!

REAL WEB LEGENDS: Carter's Quest - AU$14.26

Carter's Quest is still in early access—and it shows—but what is here is already exceptional. A devious mishmash of Nintendo 64-style graphics crossed with the gameplay of a modern spectacle fighter like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. It's fun, it's insane and it's filled with good-natured humour.

Geo Mythica - AU$19.87

A delightful homage to retro RPGs, Geo Mythica takes all the charm and whimsy of a classic SNES game, tears the guts out then replaces them with something fresh. Combat is real-time with pause which keeps the action flowing but still allows you to strategise when needed. The RPG mechanics are deep and progression is super satisfying. Overall, it is an excellent little action RPG.

Dread Delusion - AU$18.81

A condensed open-world experience that respects your time, rewards curiosity and doesn’t overstay its welcome. The combat is pretty weak, but the great thing about RPGs is you can ignore it. Worth playing for the worldbuilding alone, this is a bargain at under $20.

Dungeons of Hinterberg - AU$13.99

Speaking of excellent deals, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a great action RPG at its lowest price ever on Steam. It's got it all: beautiful painterly vistas, dungeons reminiscent of classic Zelda games and mind-bending puzzles. The combat can get a bit repetitive but it's not a big focus of the game. Heartily reccomend.

Path of Achra - AU$10.15

A lo-fi roguelike, dark fantasy roguelike, Path of Achra is a testament to the genre. Runs are short, build variety is ridiculous and every win or loss still feels like progress. An immensely satisfying experience, it’s my go-to roguelike for short bursts on my Steam Deck.

SKALD: Against the Black Priory - AU$13.17

A shockingly underrated CRPG—SKALD: Against the Black Priory is very much a modern take on the old Ultima games. With a distinctly old-school aesthetic, the developers were able to pour their resources into the freeform gameplay mechanics, branching narrative and exemplary world-building.

Frogmonster - AU$17.70

If you can't wait for Metroid Prime 4, Frogmonster might help tide you over. A first-person Metroidvania with some excellent boss encounters, great world design and to top it all off, you're a frog.

Studio System : Guardian Angel - AU$13.31

I'm obliged to recommend (almost) any survival horror game that comes my way, and I think this will resonate especially well with fans of Signalis (IYKYK). It's a captivating little game with a few modest twists on the genre—well worth the asking price and especially shouldn't be passed up at a discount.

Butcher's Creek - AU$12.32

Butcher's Creek is a tight, visceral and intense action horror that nails its brutal combat and depraved atmosphere. Perfect for people who have been craving a follow-up to something like Condemned. I dubbed it "Cabin in the Woods on meth" in my review, which you can read here.

Dawnfolk - AU$17.56

Dawnfolk bills itself as a "minimalist survival city builder," but it feels far more like a puzzle game. That's not a bad thing, in fact, it's great. Every level introduces new mechanics or obstacles that need to be overcome—a drip feed of ideas that culminate towards the latter levels of the main story mode.

Dead of Darkness - AU$16.79

Dead of Darkness is a top-down pixel-art survival horror with resource management, puzzles galore, horrific enemies and not just one, but several extravagant Resident Evil-style manors to explore. It also tracks your character's mental state but I never really noticed any effect on gameplay. If it was tracking my mental state then it is vastly overestimating me.

Guns of Fury - AU$17.56

One day, someone woke up and they were fucking sick and tired of waiting for someone else to make a new Metal Slug game. Guns of Fury is the fruit of their labour. A run-and-gun Metroidvania with slick shooting, a load of different weapons to choose from and dumb fun gameplay.

I Just Want to be Single!! Season One - AU$19.75

In this anti-dating sim, everything is overflowing with personality; it's a joy to look at. Every character is unique and vibrant while cutscenes take the form of beautifully drawn manga panels. I Just Want to be Single!! is still in early access, but worth a look if you're at all into visual novels.

of the Devil Episode 1 - AU$11.60

of the Devil throws a whole new coat of paint over the traditional courtroom game—introducing a gorgeous cyberpunk dystopia. Dialogue is snappy, and witty when it wants to be, but doesn't pull a punch when the chips are down. Episode 1 will set you back $11 but here's a tip, the entire prologue episode is free!

BURGGEIST - AU$16.20

BURGGEIST is an open-world tower defence game—in order to save your wife you're told to build a tower that 'reaches the heavens.' Explore and build your towers on the backs of hulking behemoths. Defend them with flashy combat and artillery. It's a crazy game and the best way to "get it" is to play it yourself.

Tower of Kalemonvo - AU$16.95

A modern hack-and-slash role-playing game that harkens back to the first Diablo–nailing the sombre dark-fantasy vibes. Tower of Kalemonvo has been described as a Diablo 1.5 and that's an accurate assessment.

AU$5 – AU$10

Arctic Eggs - AU$8.70

A charming little game about frying eggs for people in the Arctic—occasionally broken up by deeply introspective monologues from the dreary denizens of this cold and miserable place. A guy like me? Two eggs.

Decimate Drive - AU$5.30

Cars are terrifying—as someone who has been hit by a car, I can confirm this. Decimate Drive builds on this and is centred around sentient cars, trucks, vans and tractors all trying to run you down. It's short but sweet and for $5 fucking dollars you can't ask for much more than this.

Metal Garden - AU$7.91

You can see just how much I love Metal Garden in the standalone review I wrote for it here. It presents a dreamlike trek through a forgotten world. Great shooting and an immaculate atmosphere—it's a hauntingly beautiful single-player FPS.

Warsim: The Realm of Aslona - AU$5.59

It's 2025 and text-based games are still in goddamn it! Warsim is an incredibly deep kingdom simulator that could rival the likes of Crusader Kings or Dwarf Fortress, and the only caveat is that it's all in text. The sheer variety of encounters, events and world structures is overwhelming—not to mention the great humour in its writing. This a real steal at close to $5.

AU$5 and Under

Executive Assault - AU$4.62

When I was a kid I played a lot of RTS games. Command and Conquer, Warcraft, Supreme Commander, whatever we had on the home computer. I used to think about how cool it would be to see some of the action from the ground, instead of from the top down. Apparently someone else thought the same thing. Executive Assault is an engaging, deeply mechanical RTS on its own merit, but you can also take control of any unit on the field for a first person shooter gameplay shift.

Severed Steel - AU$3.59

Severed Steel is a fast-paced linear shooter with destructible levels and a fuckload of sliding. It's all about doing stunts—use bullet time to slide between the legs of a bad guy then flip around and shoot them in the back. It's sheer insanity and the developer has since added a map editor so there's endless content. At $3.59 that's a fucking steal.

Necrobarista - AU$4.99

Necrobarista is a game about running a coffee shop for the recently deceased set in Melbourne, Australia. It's a great visual novel with emotional writing and excellent presentation. It is still a visual novel which isn't for everyone, but it is one of the best.