The 8 Best Games in Steam’s 2024 Autumn Sale

Disclaimer: Steam’s Autumn Sale has now ended, but we’ll keep this story as is until we get closer to the next major sale where we’ll break down the best deals you can get in the Winter Sale, due to kick off on 19 December, 2024.

If you’re a fan of Steam (like me), you’ll know that it’s one of the best ways to get games cheap. There are often fantastic discounts on even relatively new games, and you can often get older games for just a few bucks.

The premier hub for all things PC gaming, Steam launches massive sales throughout the year: but none are bigger than its Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer sales, where hundreds of titles are dropped to fantastic new lows.

Add to that just how many games are on the platform, and you’re almost guaranteed to find something you like for less. Here, we’re going to break down some of the best deals you can get from the Autumn Sale.

Related: The Best Video Game Released in December

Best RPGs

1. Baldur’s Gate III

• Price: AU$71.96, 20 per cent off AU$89.95

If you haven’t picked up Baldur’s Gate III yet, you’re in luck: what was considered one of the best games of 2023 (and 2024, actually) just got a bit more affordable. Not only are you getting hundreds of hours of deep roleplaying with this one, Larian Studios just outlined a big update coming next year that will add another 12 subclasses to the game, as well as cross play between platforms.

Though the design can feel a little dated if you haven’t played a CRPG in years, Baldur’s Gate III is an incredibly playable, modern take on the genre: and considering how popular Dungeons & Dragons has become, I’d say a lot of people would like it.

2. Sea of Stars

• Price: AU$34.13, 33 per cent off AU$50.95

An indie gem, Sea of Stars launched in 2023 to incredibly positive reviews. The game takes the traditional turn-based, top-down JRPG formula and brings it into the 21st century in a way that much larger studios have struggled to.

Compared to a lot of other JRPGs, Sea of Stars gives you a lot of freedom over how you explore the world, giving players access to jumping, swimming, and climbing. I know that doesn’t sound revolutionary, but if you’ve played a lot of grid-based RPGs like me, you’ll know how stifling the movement can feel sometimes. Plus, with a fantastic story and gorgeous pixel-art, Sea of Stars is well worth your time.

Best Action Games

3. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

• Price: AU$44.97, 50 per cent off $89.95

From the masters of the action RPG, From Software, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a bit of an anomaly. Not only is it not a dark fantasy RPG in the vein of Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls or Elden Ring, but it’s also somewhat of a historical fantasy game. It’s set in Feudal Japan, though it also includes dragons, mystical plagues, immortal centipedes, monkeys that can wield katana, and talking carp.

If that doesn’t sound up your alley I don’t know what to tell you, but the gameplay is actually where Sekiro shines. Compared to the stamina-based approach to From’s other games, Sekiro instead features a parry-based combat system, as well as some incredible world-building and traversal mechanics thanks to Sekiro’s prosthetic arm that can double up as a grappling hook.

Honestly, if you liked Elden Ring and haven’t tried Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, please do yourself a favour and pick it up.

4. Vampire Survivors

• Price: AU$5.61, 25 per cent off $AU7.49

I lost about 10 hours to this game over the weekend just because of how incredibly moreish it is. On the surface it’s an incredibly simple game: you control one of dozens of characters and move them around a battlefield, though they attack on their own. Your goal is to locate whatever secrets you can on the field, while defeating enemies and powering yourself up with upgrades and new weapons and abilities.

Once you dive a layer deeper, though, you realise there is the potential for hundreds of hours of gameplay here. Each weapon can be evolved into a more powerful version, and you’ll want multiple evolved weapons to successfully get to the end of a ‘run’. Each run takes about 30 minutes, so it’s easy to jump in and out, as well as to lose hours to. I can’t recommend it highly enough, and it’s around the same price as a cup of coffee.

Best Shooters

5. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

• Price: AU$71.96, 20 per cent off AU$89.95

Probably one of the best co-op games released in the past decade, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 puts you in the shoes of a super soldier fighting against the Tyranid horde. You’ll often find yourself overwhelmed by sheer numbers, with literally hundreds of aliens swarming you, but you don’t have to face them alone: you can bring in a second Space Marine via online co-op, and a loose class system also means you and a buddy can take up different roles on the battlefield.

If you’re a diehard Warhammer 40,000 fan, chances are high that you’ve already played this one, but if you’ve been on the fence and are looking for a new co-op game? This is it.

Related: The Best Online Games to Play With Friends

6. DUSK

• Price: AU$14.75, 50 per cent off AU$29.95

DUSK is one of the most fun games I’ve played in the past few years, and it’ll essentially run on any computer. You don’t need a high-end gaming rig to enjoy this one, I’ve played it at high FPS on a regular laptop, so you can too.

DUSK is a modern answer to classic DOOM: you wake up in a cult hideout, ready to be sacrificed, and decide that instead you’re going to shoot you way out of the cult’s territory. Things get weird quick, and you’ll find yourself fighting demons, eldritch beings, and alligators with a bunch of fun-to-wield guns. This one definitely plays better with a mouse and keyboard.

Best Horror Games

7. Silent Hill 2

• Price: AU$82, 20 per cent off $102.50

Surprising everyone, Bloober Team’s remake of the PS2 classic Silent Hill 2 is actually really good, bringing it up-to-date with modern design sensibilities without losing the charm that makes the series unique. And, despite the fact it only launched a few months ago, it’s already on sale.

If you don’t already know, Silent Hill 2 follows James Sunderland as he searches the titular town for his wife Mary Shepherd-Sunderland. Whether he finds her or not is up to you, but you’ll undoubtedly run into all sorts of horrific body-horror-coded creatures that want nothing more than to punish you. Though the remake follows the same basic outline as the source material, there’s some interesting new stuff in there, so even fans of the original that were on the fence should give the game a go.

Plus, I want a modern reimagining of Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 3, so please buy it so they make more.

8. Signalis

• Price: AU$20.96, 30 per cent off $29.95

Made by a team of two, Signalis is the best horror game I’ve played in the past few years, and I’ve played quite a few. It’s got a gorgeous PS1-inspired art style, with moody and atmospheric music, and a terrifying setting that often leaves you wondering what is real and what isn’t.

You play as Elster, a Replika searching an abandoned moon base for her missing human companion. The deeper you go, the less the world around you makes sense, and as you begin to understand the tragedy that befell the station around you, and the people left behind.

It’s classic survival horror in modern packaging, and writing about it has made me want to play it again.

Related: The Best Horror Video Games to Scare you Silly

17 More Games Discounted during Steam’s Autumn Sale

Those are some of our favourites, but there are literally hundreds of games on sale for the next few days. Here’s a few more fantastic titles that are well worth your time:

1. Cult of the Lamb: AU$17.97, 50 per cent off $35.95
2. Dead Cells: AU$17.97, 50 per cent off AU$35.95
3. Far Cry 6: AU$22.48, 75 per cent off AU$89.95
4. Final Fantasy XVI: AU$56.21, 25 per cent off AU$74.95
5. Forza Horizon 4: AU$19.99, 80 per cent off $99.95
6. Hollow Knight: AU$10.97, 50 per cent off AU$21.95
7. Hunt Showdown 1896: AU$29.24, 35 per cent AU$44.99
8. Inscryption: AU$11.58, 60 per cent off $28.95
9. Kingdom Come Deliverance: $4.49, 90 per cent off AU$44.95
10. Lies of P: AU$53.97, 40 per cent off AU$89.95
11. Nine Souls: AU$30.76, 30 per cent off $43.95
12. Outer Wilds: AU$22.17, 40 per cent off AU$36.95
13. Palworld: AU$32.96, 25 per cent off AU$43.95
14. Red Dead Redemption II: AU$29.68, 67 per cent off $89.95
15. Slay the Spire: AU$12.57, 66 per cent off AU$36.99
16. Stray: AU$26.97, 40 per cent off AU$44.95
17. Valheim: AU$14.47, 50 per cent off AU$28.95

When Do the Major Steam Sales Happen?

It may feel like there is always a Steam Sale going on, and to be fair there are a lot of them, but there are four major sales periods on the platform. They’re broken down by seasons: Steam’s Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring Sales. A note to my fellow Aussies, Steam follows the northern hemisphere’s timeline on seasons, so big Winter sale is their end of year sale, while Summer is in the middle of the year.

The Summer and Winter sales are typically the big ones, and will last for a few weeks. This is usually when you’ll see big drops on the big games from the past year, but newly released games are still likely to only hit 10 per cent off.

The Autumn and Spring sales, on the other hand, are shorter (usually only a few days to a week), and focus more on indies and older games. These games are usually already cheaper than new releases, and with big discounts (sometimes up to 90 per cent), you can pick up some awesome games for just a few bucks.

There’s also Steam’s Next Fest celebrations, where the platform showcases games with demos you can try for free ahead of release and/or bigger sale events. It’s a good way to try before you buy.

Here’s a rundown of the major Steam Sale events happening for the next year:

• Steam Winter Sale 2024: 19 Dec, 2024 to 2 Jan, 2025
• Steam Next Fest (Feb): 24 Feb, 2025 to 3 Mar, 2025
• Steam Spring Sale 2025: 13 Mar, 2025 to 20 Mar, 2025
• Steam Next Fest (June): 9 Jun, 2025 to 16 Jun, 2025
• Steam Summer Sale: 26 Jun, 2025 to 10 July, 2025

How To Get the Most out of a Steam Sale

Now that you know when the major sales events will be happening, how do you get the most out of each event? There are a few ways to squeeze even more out of your hard earned money on Steam, and we’ve collected a few recommendations here:

• Wishlist Games You’re Interested In: This one is self explanatory, but if a game catches your eye throughout the year, but you’re not ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, just wishlist it. Steam is very good at telling you when something on your wishlist is on sale, and if you know the games you want to buy, on sale day you can simply open your wishlist and see what’s dropped in price. You can even filter your wishlist by discount, so the higher the discount, the higher they are on your list.
• Bundles Pull Games Together for Cheap: A practice that is becoming pretty common on Steam is for publishers and developers to bundle their games together for a cheaper price, usually around 10 per cent off the total price. But, during Steam Sales, all of those discounts start stacking up and you can get a bunch of games from one series for less than the price of a single game. You can’t wishlist bundles, unfortunately, but before you just buy a game through your wishlist make sure you click into the page and check if its part of a bigger bundle.
• Indie games, older games give the best bang for your buck: This one feels pretty obvious, but new release AAA games are rarely going to see a massive drop in price in the first six months on the market. However, if you’re into smaller indie games, or games from an older generation, you’ll be able to pick them up for literal dollars during these sales. Not only do they tend to be cheaper, and see bigger discounts, they’re also often as good as any new release AAA game.