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Steam Summer Sale: 13 discounted PC games to buy now

Many excellent games are discounted until July 9.

Daniel Van Boom Senior Writer
Daniel Van Boom is an award-winning Senior Writer based in Sydney, Australia. Daniel Van Boom covers cryptocurrency, NFTs, culture and global issues. When not writing, Daniel Van Boom practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, reads as much as he can, and speaks about himself in the third person.
Expertise Cryptocurrency, Culture, International News
Daniel Van Boom
3 min read

It's a fantastic time to be a PC gamer, because Steam's Summer Sale is officially live. There are hundreds of discounted titles and an unusually high percentage of them are worth your time. This includes some games from two or three years ago that you may have missed, like the excellent Outer Wilds, but also some AAA games from the last six months, such as Doom Eternal.

Sift through the sale and you'll surely find something you've been meaning to play. But if you haven't got time to do that just this second, here are our picks of notable games that are discounted now. The Summer Sale will last until July 9. 

Doom Eternal was released just a few months ago, in March, which makes this 50% discount even sweeter. Eternal is a sequel to 2016's Doom reboot, in which the series arguably became more gnarly than ever. There's some decent platforming in Eternal, but it's mostly about annihilating demons. You can get this stress relief for half price until July 9.

The discount to Rockstar's latest blockbuster isn't as big as other games on this list, but it's rare that games of Red Dead Redemption 2's caliber are discounted online at all. Take the 20% discount while you can.

Here's another fresh AAA game on the list. Half-Life: Alyx is a VR game that takes place in between the first and second Half-Life titles. Not only is it arguably the best reason to own VR hardware right now, it's also a fantastic game in its own right

Outer Wilds is an adventure/puzzle game that's all about discovery. You're on a faraway planet, with 22 minutes before the sun supernovas and destroys anything. Luckily, you're stuck in a timeloop. In Outer Wilds, you'll slowly figure out how to save the world -- 22 minutes at a time. It sounds strange, but it was one of 2019's most acclaimed games.

Seven years after its original release and GTA V is still a hot-ticket item. That's because the game still has a vibrant (and chaotic) online community. So even if you played the game on the Xbox 360 or PS3, it's still worth re-buying now -- at 50% off -- for the online action. After all, GTA VI ain't coming anytime soon.

Nioh isn't one of this generation's best-selling games, but it may be one of the best. A new franchise from Team Ninja, the gang that brought you Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, it's kind of like Dark Souls with samurais. The complete edition is $25 right now.

Another new one -- Need For Speed: Heat is 60% off until July 9 despite being far less than a year old. Launched last November, Heat once again makes Need for Speed about escaping the fuzz, which is often where the franchise is at its best. 

So, The Last of Us Part 2 is out and it's incredible. But what if you're after a horror experience and don't have a PlayStation 4? Fret not, Resident Evil 2, a terrific remake of the 1998 PlayStation 1 game, is 50% off until July 9.

If you feel like getting lost in a strategy game, few come with a higher pedigree than Sid Meier's Cililization franchise. It received predictably favorable reviews upon launch, and is a massive 75% off until July 9.

The King of Iron Fist, Tekken 7 is the most recent iteration in the long-running franchise. It's also one of the best fighting games of this generation and, until July 9, it's 75% off.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a rare type of game. It's based on a hugely popular franchise, yet it's also... really good. You really have to soak strong licensed games in when you can. One of late-2019's biggest blockbusters, it's $30 until July 9.

If you're after more indie fair, Celeste is famously difficult -- and stirring. It was released in 2018, so you've probably already heard a lot about it. If this 2D platformer has been on your To Play list, now's the time to strike it off. Celeste is 50% off until July 9.

Borderlands 3 is the fourth main game in the franchise (such a deceptive title) and one of 2019's most hyped releases. It's a colorful, stylish first-person shooter with a huuuuge array of weapons with which to blast intergalactic foes. It's also $30 off until July 9.

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