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The 2023 Spring Steam Sale has begun, giving us a full week (ending Thursday, March 23) to agonize over how much of our wishlist we want to impulse buy knowing damn well we won't get to those games for months. Or maybe you're more responsible with your time than I am. In my defense, I have gotten better about buying games without immediate plans to play them, but $2 deals like these can make it hard to resist.
I've trawled the Spring Steam sale depths seeking the best super-cheap games around, and after sifting through about a thousand increasingly absurd sex games – seriously, why do they infest this price bracket so heavily – I've come up for air and to share my findings. You can get all of these games for $2 or less apiece, and they're all standouts of their genre.
- Florence - A romance adventure and mobile triumph that plays even better and hits just as hard on PC.
- Divinity 2: Developer's Cut - This is notably not Divinity: Original Sin 2, but it's a slice of Larian's history that's worth seeing if you've a taste for the slightly retro.
- SteamWorld Dig - A sublime 2D Metroidvania platformer about digging holes under a steampunk Western town, and possibly my strongest recommendation on this list.
- The Orange Box - It's Portal and all of Half-Life 2 in one little bundle. What more need be said?
- Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 - Just to complete your Valve collection after The Orange Box.
- Limbo and Inside - I'm putting these two atmospheric side-scrollers together because Playdead's catalog really deserves to be experienced together.
- Grow Home - Guide a cute little robot through a procedurally generated climbing adventure that'll soothe your soul and occasionally bring out your acrophobia.
- AER: Memories of Old - a supremely chill flying adventure about transforming into a bird and exploring ancient ruins. Vibes: the game.
- A Building Full of Cats - It's a building full of cats. Better find 'em.
- Super Meat Boy - The uncontested GOAT of oddly satisfying rage platformers.
- Hotline Miami - An arcade violence simulator that doubles as a workout for the light receptors in your eyes.
- Kingdom: New Lands - A minimalist side-scrolling colony sim about tactically throwing money at peasants.
- Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk - I will recommend this snacky horror visual novel during every Steam sale, and also outside of every Steam sale, until everyone has played it. I don't care that it's normally $1 so the sale doesn't really matter; it counts.
You know what, screw it, I'm breaking my rule for three bonus games: Dungeons of Dredmor, FTL: Faster Than Light, and Risk of Rain are all $2.49 and they're some of the best roguelikes you can play. Don't say I never did nothin' for ya.
Head here for a full rundown on new games: 2023 edition.
