r/GameDealsMeta • u/UberDrive • Mar 13 '25
Steam Spring Sale 2025 Hidden Gems
I didn't see a thread so...
Mostly roguelikes:
Aotenjo: Infinite Hands: mahjong + Balatro
Cat God Ranch: Animals + Luck Be a Landlord
Diceomancer: Deckbuilder with some cool dice mechanics
Dungeon Clawler: Claw machine dungeon battler
Epic Auto Towers: Tower defense + deckbuilder
Thronefall: Stylish base defender
Kill Knight: Score attack, also stylish
Roots of Yggdrasil: Viking themed city/card builder
Feed the Deep: Underwater explorer from Fruit Ninja dev
Dawnmaker: Board game-like engine builder
Cataclismo: Base defense from Moonlighter dev, 1.0 next week
Galactic Glitch: Space shooter with physics
Rack and Slay: Pool meets dungeon crawling
Go!
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u/smismismi Mar 14 '25
A true hidden gem with far far to low reviews:
Alpha and Iota (50% off, 2,46 Euro)
https://steamcommunity.com/app/3010840
Awesome and fun puzzle platformer with moderate to challenging tasks, creative ideas, simple but nice and unique art style (Love this little guys looking what am i doing). And all of a sudden nearly 20 hours played (and not finished yet). Try the demo and you will get the game.
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u/rdtbansusersrandomly Mar 14 '25
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3147430/Journey_to_Incrementalia/
Its a decent "active idler". I would post more, but I'm still a good bit sick.
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u/austernotus Mar 14 '25
I've been quite enjoying and playing:
Geo : a game where you improve your digging tool and your facility. Then you keep on discovering new planets, comets, etc.
Wasn't expecting it to be this fun.
They also have a sequel (Galactic Mining Corp) but I haven't played that one yet.
Also, I am not sure if this qualifies as a Hidden Gem, but The Battle of Polytopia is super fun for scratching that 4X itch in under 30 mins.
Ozymandias as well, lacks the Exploration part but is a solid 1h~ 4X.
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u/CassadagaValley Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25
Halls of Torment - Action rogue lite, just got an update - $4.99
Excavation of Hob's Barrow - Point and click, horror story - $8.99
Yet Another Zombie Survivors - Action rogue lite, just got an update - $6.99
OneShot - Narrative adventure - $5.99
Get Even - Psychological horror, action - $4.49
Night Bus - Short, indie horror, thriller - $3.74
Tiny Rogues - Action rogue lite, big update coming soon - $7.99
Gnorp Apologue - Idler/clicker - $4.19
The Exit 8 - Short, indie psychological horror/thriller - $3.91
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u/rdtbansusersrandomly Mar 14 '25
Gnorp is great, HoT is probably not so unknown anymore and a decent "Budget Diablo, but played like Vampire Survivors". Idle colony is also discounted, though I have not played that yet. YAZS is a bit pricey for what it is compared to the original VS, but okayish / mid-tier-ish. For 3-5 bucks I would say sure.
There are tons of fairly nice VS-likes these days, they should probably get a better curated collection on steam.
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u/CassadagaValley Mar 14 '25
I went on a rogue lite streak last summer and bought like 15 games, YAZS was one of the better ones. For $7 I got like 20 or so hours of play time and I think the most recent update just launched with a new character.
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u/cheesecakegood Mar 15 '25 edited Mar 15 '25
Some strategy fan recommendations I don't see too often, but all I have found very fun over the last few years:
Expeditions: Rome ($14.84) I will never not recommend for turn-based strategy fans looking for an XCOM itch. (true hidden gem)
Symphony of War ($7.99) for those with a more Fire Emblem like itch (strategy side).
Triangle Strategy ($23.99) for those with the character and choices side of Fire Emblem itch (true hidden gem on PC)
Against the Storm ($14.99) for someone who has a city builder or RTS itch but doesn't want the full commitment of either (it's roguelike and somehow works)
Wildermyth ($16.24) for an alternate take on the party turn-based formula: your party members can retire, events are procedural, but there are still some story arcs, some kind of loose DnD event vibes without the complicated systems.
Edit: Othercide ($4.49) The truest hidden gem of the lot, I don't want to call this an unambiguously good game as it can be quite hard, but another XCOM-esque itch that has roguelike mechanics built in. The main draw is that this game absolutely drips style. Black and white and sometimes red aesthetic executed flawlessly, supernatural enemies that fit the theme, bosses, just a good time at a cheap price.
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u/NightsViper Mar 14 '25
Endgame: Road to Salvation ($7.79)
An awesome follow the road survival game that I think deserves more love. It's a little rough around the edges but you can put all sorts of weapons, armor, and modifications on every vehicle in the game. I got it for ~$8 a while back and have 31 hours in it so far. Updates are a little slow but it's a single dev who is active in the game's forum. Worth a try if you like this type of game!
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u/I_who_have_no_need Mar 15 '25
Picked up Over The Alps. It's a fairly stylish "choices matter" game from two writers, one published by Failbetter and the other from the game 80 Days. It's 1940s art deco type spy game between England, German, and Italy in WW2. I played the NextFest demo back in 2000, playing it this evening and a nice short breezy experience.
$3.24: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1227400/Over_the_Alps/
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u/hopefullyhelpfulplz Mar 17 '25
You can get a bunch of great roguelites from Caiysware for very cheap at the moment
I've played each of them and with the possible exception of Straimium Immortality they're all excellent. The bundle is complete-your-collection style, so you can just get one and not miss out on the deal later. They have a very consistent style to them (retro, there's a sort of surreal humour to the text, etc), I imagine if you like one you'll like them all and vice versa, so probably worth trying before diving in to the whole collection. All of the games have unlockable characters, tons of items, multiple game modes (usually including some sort of wacky card game, the cards for which you find in the main game).
Within this you have:
Void's Vigil - the newest game, just released from EA, pretty standard survivors-like gameplay with some creative twists which keep it interesting.
Boneraiser Minions - similar survivors-like but focussed on summoning undead minions with branching upgrade trees. My personal favourite.
Spirits Abyss - Spelunky-style cave diving with ninjas.
Skelly Selest - Might encompass the vibe better than any single other game. Twin stick arena battler.
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u/Snider83 Mar 14 '25
Cataclismo seems very promising. Beat lego like building system, complete with saving your own blueprints. Glad to hear its going 1.0 soon, been waiting to play the campaign until then. Too many games spend way too long in EA these days
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u/rodryguezzz Mar 14 '25
If you want Mafia 3 or 1 remake, or both, and already own Mafia 2, there is a misconfiguration in the trilogy pack automatic discount that sets the price to €5 (at least in Europe), while each game costs €7,49 separately.
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u/Over_Explanation1790 Mar 15 '25
Thank you all for the great suggestions and thank you OP for starting the thread.
This game is not on sale (it's old and niche), but if you like turn based games with action points, you will like it.
It's based on the original X Com game, with characters based on old school videogames archetypes.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/339570/Enemy/
$15.
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u/thatnerdguy Mar 17 '25 edited Mar 18 '25
Hey, folks! I'm looking to solicit a recommendation for something along the lines of an Ys game or Astlibra- Jrpg, action combat, ideally a little jank for flavor. The wait for Angeline Era is killing me and the interactive recommender is trying to convince me that Black Myth and Spider-man 2 are going to tide me over.
Slight update: does anyone have opinions either way on Secrets of Grindea? It's not exactly what I think I'm looking for but it's managed to catch my eye.
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u/JamesGecko Mar 17 '25
Check out CrossCode. Kinda sorta like Ys with a ranged character (and swapping to exploit enemy weaknesses), kinda sorta like Zelda with even larger dungeons, and jumping puzzles everywhere.
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u/Aram_Fingal1 Mar 18 '25
I would reccomend the vargrant:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/598700/The_Vagrant/
Its like Odin Sphere
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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25
I went through my wishlist and here's several picks, sorted by price. These are all historical lows too. And here's my recs from last summer
Hell Well ($0.59)
The Van Game ($0.69) [this looks like a budget version of Keep Driving]
The Territory of Egg ($0.74)
Out of Order ($0.83)
Bullet Bunny ($1.24) [title gives the genre]
The Rise ($1.39)
Orb Tower ($1.39) [roguelike puzzle bobble]
Future Breach 64 ($1.49) [anything with 64 in the name has to be good]
Simmiland ($1.49) [pixel god game]
PomPom ($1.49) [it's cheaper on greenmangaming at $1.20)
Unlinked Mask ($1.99) [precision platformer]
Robotherapy ($1.99)
Nova Strike ($1.99) [another bullet hell]
Go! Go! PogoGirl ($2.09) [cute lil platformer]
Gnomdom ($2.09) [cozy point n click]
TombStar ($2.24)
Boons and Burdens ($2.39)
Digseum ($2.39) [incremental clicker game]
Brume ($2.49) [lo-fi soulslike]
Super Planet Life ($2.49)
POOOOL ($2.49) [my suika fused with pool]
Calculate It ($2.79) [we have a roguelike for everything now]
Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story ($2.99) [rhythm runner]
Soccer Story ($2.99)
Project Bridge ($2.99) [reminds me of Unrailed]
UFO: Unidentified Falling Objects ($2.99)
Subterranauts ($2.99) [I'll try any lethal clone at least once!)
SUPER 56 ($3.14) [nice warioware-like]
We. The Refugees: Ticket to Europe ($3.44)
Boxville ($3.49) [heavy machinarium vibes]
Yars: Recharged ($3.49)
King of Ping Pong: MEGAMIX ($3.49)
Tuttle: Star Flower Harvest ($3.59)
Tempus Bound ($3.75)