Despite some speculation to the contrary, the Steam Halloween Sale is, in fact, happening. Right now, even. And we're here to help you wade through the sales to find the best deals and most surprising gems.
Of course, you're going to have your more popular, known commodities – your Limbo, your Amnesia, your Outlast – all of which I highly recommend and are on good sales, but let's go a little deeper, shall we?
I Am Alive
Sale Price: $3.74 (75% off)
This was sort of a primer for The Last of Us. Need a post-apocalyptic story about a grizzled man fighting to traverse large swaths of dangerous territory while protecting and sometimes carrying a young child, but it's 2012 and The Last of Us won't come out for another year? I Am Alive will certainly whet your appetite.
Even in the modern day, this game still has tremendous appeal, beyond its price point. It has a robust climbing system that actually uses stamina to counterbalance it – you can fall of if you run out of stamina. You have a gun, but you don't often have bullets, so encounters with enemies can result in intense standoffs where you pretend like you have ammo when you don't.
I Am Alive really is a unique experience that got lost in a wave of major titles.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
Sale Price: $7.99 (60% off)
While I'm sure now at least a good chuck of those in the gaming community have heard of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, I still don't feel like people appreciate it enough.
It's especially relevant too, in a world where we have three major first-person shooters releasing all that the same time, all with a protagonist loosely resembling Superman in comparison to his enemies. Shadow of Chernobyl is not that game. In might actually be the direct opposite, where you are the hopeless mook going up against a sea of Call of Duty protagonists, and you only have what is essentially a squirt gun to protect yourself.
It's also bloody terrifying, focusing on radioactive mutants who are sometimes freaking invisible. Good luck.
Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition
Sale Price: $29.99 (50% off)
Of course wasting no opportunity to shill for this game, I am here to tell you that Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition is, in my mind, a must-buy at this price point. Including both the base game, with a parkour system unlike any other, and its expansion, with a built from the ground-up dune buggy driving system, this purchase will easily give you 60 hours just through the story and side quests of the two main games.
And then you include the Bozak's Horde DLC, the online Be the Zombie multiplayer mode – which also has an enticing Halloween weekend challenge attached to it – and the appeal of nightmare mode and new game plus, and you could find yourself with well over 100 hours in this game all for only 30 bucks.
Dying Light: The Following was even better-received that the base game itself, but this includes that too. At this price, it's a steal.
Layers of Fear
Sale Price: $9.99 (50% off)
Layers of Fear exists very firmly in the post-P.T. world, with a ghoulish female antagonist stalking you throughout an increasingly creepy house waiting to kill you with an overstated jump scare. While this game left me wanting on a few occasions, it wasn't without genuine, creative scares, driven by well-crafted set pieces.
You play a painter trying to complete his masterpiece while your house is being haunted. Good luck with that.
There's even an even creepier DLC story expansion that is also on sale, or you can buy them both together at $13.78 (combined 40% off)
Through the Woods
Sale Price: $17.99 (10% off)
This one just released, but having played the demo build at PAX West, I can tell you that there is a lot of potential hidden in this Through the Woods.
It's based primarily on Norse folklore, telling the story of a mother whose son may or may not have been snatched up by woodland trolls. It's a frightening tale, and it's even more nerve-racking to play, as you inch through the trails hoping that the sound you hear isn't what you know it to be.
