METAL GEAR SOLID 5: THE PHANTOM PAIN
Normal price – $30 | Sale price – $12
Now here’s a masterpiece, albeit an incomplete one. Kojima-san brought his epic Metal Gear legacy to a close with this tale of desert warfare. Featuring the best kind of nonsense that only Snake and his sci-fi/supernatural pals can, this is a fitting finale to a wack-a-doo series.
The refined gameplay stands out the most, ditching the usually stiff controls for some of the most fluid CQC action I’ve ever seen in a video game. Every movement feels precise, and the depth of available actions and sneaky stealth tactics live up to the genre moniker “tactical espionage action.” Rocket punches, talking inflatable decoys, dogs that wield knives in their mouths, cardboard cutouts of sexy ladies, water guns, and attack helicopters are just a few of the myriad ways to dispatch hapless goons
Kiefer Sutherland does a great job voicing Punished Snake, our protagonist this time around. His casting makes sense, if you think about it in hindsight. The story, however, suffers in this installment, probably featuring the driest conversations in the series. Also, due to missing the entire last act of the game, it ends on an anticlimactic note, leaving more than just a few loose ends in the process. Despite that, I’ve played this for, also, 100 hours. The sandbox is immense, Fultoning a team for Mother Base keeps any good manager busy, and there’s so many guns to research and try out. You cannot miss this game.
Fun fact: the hour-long demo/prelude, Ground Zeroes, is the same price. That’s very silly.
MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR
Normal price – $60 | Sale price – $24
Let me start off by saying yes, this title has some serious late game problems. I’d say there’s a good 30 hours of content in here, unless you do enjoy storming the same castles over and over again. However, storming said similar castles can be fun due to this game’s engaging combat system. There’s a big ol’ skill tree, full of lots of unique moves that allow players to change up their playstyle of a particular kind if hacking and slashing gets boring. The loot system in the game, complete with elemental bonuses or particular outfit synergies, add a layer of character development and player agency not seen in the first game.
I would never buy this one full price, but the 27 hours I’ve put into it, I don’t particularly regret. For $24, if you’re into Lord of the Rings and are, like me, disappointed in the lack of good vidja for the series, you can’t go terribly wrong with this. Just prepare for some grindin’, similar to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey from above.
THE EVIL WITHIN 2
Normal price – $60 | Sale price – $20
The first The Evil Within was…alright. It had lots of problems, almost all of which this follow-up fixed. Returning is protagonist Detective Sebastian Castellanos, a ridiculously-named man who has gone through immense tragedy and serious spooks. He begrudgingly returns to the world of horror in an effort to save more lives, and possibly uncover family secrets in the process. With improved combat, world building, storytelling, graphics, and scares, this is a true sequel. I had a blast playing through this on release, taking my time through the carefully crafted partially open world, finding secrets, clues, and upgrades along the way. I’d highly recommend it to action-horror fans, especially for $20!
And for some brief recs, I’d say maybe check out Hitman 2, on sale for $24. It’s a game I had a decent amount of fun with, but haven’t played in months now. Dead By Daylight is also only $10, but it expects you to buy its branded DLC, plus after 30 hours I’m really burnt out on that particular game of hide-and-seek. Watch Dogs 2 is only $12, and that might not be a bad one to check out in anticipation of Watch Dogs Legion next year, while Dishonored 2 is half off for $20, every Star Wars game Steam has is on sale (get the Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy games, at a minimum), and Streets of Rogue, a delightful little rogue-lite developed by just one guy that I’ve put 40 hours into, is on sale for $10.
So, there we have it. My take on what to get for cheap to maximize your Steam Summer Sale experience. Think I missed something? I’m sure I did! Tell me in the comments below, and maybe we can do a mid-sale update.
