Steam Sales Guide: April 29th

Welcome to the second annual Steam Sales Guide. As I mentioned last time, I'll be including my Steam Sales rules for how to buy games that pop up on sale, and then put in my two cents for games that I think you should check out. The list is quite long this week, so let's get started.

Guidelines for purchasing on the new Steam Weekly Sales: These are some general guides to help you with the multitude of games on sale that are outside my recommendations. We may have different taste in games, and so a game I don't think is worth it may be to you. Following these guidelines though will help you to make good Steam mini-sales decisions.

1. Only buy at 50% off or greater: Many of the games going on sale are priced with 10-40% discounts. While this may be just enough savings for a game high on your wishlist, it certainly isn't for just a really cool looking game that WILL be cheaper on a regular sale.

2. Only buy at less than 5$: This applies exactly like the above rule. Many games are still in the 10-20 dollar range even on sale. This may be enough for a game on your wishlist, but never gamble more on a complete shot in the dark.

3. Only buy games on your wish list: This is if the first two rules don't apply. Say you really want a game that is on sale, but the discount is only 25% or it still costs 15$. If it's been on your wishlist for awhile and your itching for a new game, then buy it and enjoy it. It probably won't be on sale again until Steams next big sale.

Steam Put up quite a lot of really good games on sale this week. I cut the list down some, but I still have 7 separate recommendations!

Top Pick: Star Wolves Series (1,2, and 3)


These games are like a combination of Eve and Homeworld. You manage a carrier and it's fighter craft as you undertake missions as a group of mercenaries called the Star Wolves. You can build and customize all of the fighters, the carrier, and you can recruit and train pilots to fly all of these vessels. The stories are all very good, deep, long campaigns that will keep you busy for 20+ hours apiece, with the exception of the third one which has 6 endings depending on which faction you choose to work for (so longer than 20 hours). They are Russian games which have been translated to English, but if you can get past the sometimes bad translations these are solid Stratagy/RPG games. Star Wolves 1- 65% off at $2.44 SW2- 65% off at $3.49 SW3- 75% off at $4.24


Runner Up: Flatout Complete Pack


Flat out is one of my favorite car racing/crashing games. It has always had a great physics engine, and never took itself to seriously. While I've never played any of them on PC, I have played them all quite a bit. You can buy each of them individually if you only want one, but the complete pack comes with all 4 titles at 75% off and $9.99

Cheapest Time Sink: Space Trader Merchant Marine

That may not sound like the best endorsement, but this indie title is really fun...for about 5 hours. The trading mechanic is excellent, and it is game that makes buying low and selling high really fun. It has a pretty broken FPS part to it as well to break up the gameplay a bit. While that part isn't great, it does do it's job and make you enjoy the trading portion a bit longer. If you need one nights entertainment, you couldn't go wrong with this little gem for 90% off and $0.49.

4x Space Strategy Champ: Sword of the Stars II Enhanced Edition


When this game launched it had more bugs than a roach motel, but given time and care by the developers it has turned into a gem. It builds on the First SOTS by doing everything better. Ship customization is more in depth, the tech tree is more robust, space travel makes more sense, and you get a lot more options when it comes to building and maintaining your empire. This is one of the best Space Sims on the market, and at 66% off or $6.79 its practically a steal.






Casual Fun Time: Spectra Ball

If you've ever played Marble Blast, this is exactly like that except with better graphics. If you haven't it's a quirky and fun platformer where you control a little ball to get from point A to point B. It's light casual fun that can be played for 5 minutes or 5 hours. 50% off or $2.49

Crafting Time: Fortress Craft Evolved

If you're anything like me, you eat these crafting games up. I have all of them that are any good, and so sadly I can't enjoy the sweet savings on Fortress Craft. This Voxel builder allows you to create weapons turrets and other base defenses to fend off the enemies in it's survival mode, and has some really nice crafting features like copy/paste and mega builder to allow you to quickly craft large structures rather than doing it one block at a time like Minecraft. 33% off or $4.01

Multiplayer Fun: Battlefield 2 Collection

While Battlefield has had several games release since the second one, it still has a large vibrant multiplayer community. Especially on the PC. I don't really know what else I can say about this awesome multiplayer experience that you wouldn't already know! At 75% off or 4.99 you get the base game and all the DLC.