If you’ve waited to play some of the year’s best games, Steam has rewarded your patience.
Right now, many of 2015’s greatest releases are on sale on Valve’s digital store. However, the sale ends tomorrow morning (December 1) at 10 a.m. Pacific. So, two of our writers, Jeff Grubb and Mike Minotti, have each picked three 2015 games that you should consider grabbing while they’re nice and cheap.
Jeff’s picks
Dying Light
Original price: $60
Sale price: $20 (66.66 percent off)
Above: Dying Light was a surprise breakout hit for WB.
Techland’s first-person zombie-survival game Dying Light was one of the first big surprises of the year. It came out in January, but it’s one of those releases I’ve gone back to repeatedly in recent months because its gameplay is so immediately entertaining. People knocked it for liberally borrowing elements from Ubisoft and other games, but those aren’t real complaints. It takes the best parts of those ideas, like a map overflowing with objectives, and wraps them up in a solid, tense survival game. Go play it.
Game of Thrones: A Telltale Game Series
Original price: $30
Sale price: $15 (50 percent off)
Above: Hey, look, it’s the robot from Destiny!
I didn’t think I would care about any Telltale games after loving The Walking Dead. The formula was interesting, but I didn’t think it could sustain itself over multiple games. I was wrong, and for one good reason: the writing. Telltale has a monopoly on a new industry of what are essentially interactive comic books, and Game of Thrones is one of the best examples of how it is using that technology. It tells a side story in the same universe as the HBO show, but it is arguably better and more engaging than the product it is inspired by. If you’re into the Game of Thrones series, you should probably hop on this deal as a way of holding you over until the new season comes out.
Rocket League
Original price: $20
Sale price: $14 (30 percent off)
Above: Rocket League is this summer’s surprise gaming hit.
Rocket League is one of the reasons I believe 2015 is one of the best years ever for games. After getting this game for free as part of my PlayStation Plus subscription, I bought it on PC so I could play it on my laptop on the go. It’s a brilliant take on soccer or hockey played with cars, and while that might sound frivolous, it’s so well made, so finely tuned, and so exhilarating that it could beat out Fallout 4, The Witcher III, or Metal Gear Solid V as my game of the year.
Mike’s picks
Ori and the Blind Forest
Original price: $20
Sale price: $12 (40 percent off)
Above: Ori is gorgeous.
If you like Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, you need to check out this beauty. Like those games, Ori is a nonlinear 2D platformer that focuses on exploration. It also looks absolutely gorgeous. Playing Ori really is like controlling an animated masterpiece by classic Disney or Miyazaki. It’s one of my favorite games of the year, and it’s pretty much a no-brainer at $12.
Grandia II Anniversary Edition
Original price: $20
Sale price: $10 (50 percent off)
Above: Awww, JRPG characters used to look so cute.
Grandia II was one of the first great role-playing games to come out for the Dreamcast, and this PC version celebrates the 15th anniversary of the classic with a faithful port. Grandia II has a lot of tropes you’d expect from a Japanese role-playing game but it stands out thanks to a fun battle system and some great music, including the most rocking battle theme of all time. It also features great voice acting, something of a rarity for the genre back then, thanks to a great cast that includes voice acting vets like Cam Clarke and, believe it or not, Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel from The Little Mermaid).
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
Original price: $60
Sale price: $30 (50 percent off)
Above: This griffin is not easy to take down.
The Witcher III is a massive, open-world role-playing that will take hundreds of hours to experience. It’s one of year’s best games, and you can already buy it for $30. If you enjoyed anything like Skyrim, Fallout, or Dragon Age, you should try this. And don’t worry if you haven’t played the previous Witcher games. I never did, but I still loved Wild Hunt and never felt like I was missing out by skipping its predecessors.