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The 2025 Steam Summer Sale is going on in full force, and those insane discounts and prices won't last forever. With 10 AM PT on July 10 as the deadline, there is still time for you to add some fantastic indie games to your collection that may have been in your wishlist already, but not in your cart.
And hey, if they weren't already in your wishlist, then you're welcome. Steam sales are some of the best times of the year to buy games from indie devs who always need the support. However, it isn't always that easy to justify buying loads of indie games you may or may not like for full price. That's why the Steam Summer Sale is a boon for our wishlists and our wallets, even if not so much for our collective backlogs.
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10 Sea of Stars is a wonderful RPG adventure ($23)
A 16-bit co-op RPG adventure in a gorgeous world
Winner of the Best Independent Game award at The Game Awards, Sea of Stars is a gorgeous 16-bit indie RPG game that excels at everything it sets out to do. Its inspirations from 16-bit RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG are rather apparent, but that doesn't take away from the game's originality when it comes to sheer charm and personality.
The 30-hour campaign takes you across a vast fantasy world with a plethora of locations, and the turn-based combat is quick and urgent — tedium is simply not on the table when Sea of Stars is involved. Do yourself a favor and play Sea of Stars today, because it also offers the entire campaign in shared/split screen co-op, and even supports Steam's Remote Play.
Sea of Stars
Released August 29, 2023
ESRB E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language
Developer(s) Sabotage
Publisher(s) Sabotage
Engine Unity
Multiplayer Local Co-Op
9 The Precinct is a love letter to '80s cop drama ($24)
Everything ripped apart in a New York minute?
A love letter to '80s cop dramas, The Precinct is a top-down indie game that puts you in the shoes of a police officer in a New York-inspired fictional city. A law enforcement simulator, The Precinct includes both traffic policing and parking enforcement. The game will have you chasing down suspects on foot, getting into shootouts, and the occasional but thoroughly enjoyable cop car chase.
You run your daily shift, earn XP by doing things by the book, and soon enough, as the player, you find yourself sacrificing sleep to go on one more patrol. There's an assortment of characters around the protagonist, who are all cookie-cutter versions of cop tropes done to death, such as the grizzled detective, or the soon-to-retire partner. However, what works in favor of The Precinct is that it doesn't shy away from its cheese and campiness, making for an experience with an insanely rewarding and addictive gameplay loop, paired with endearing characters.
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8 Animal Well is a fantastic solo dev game ($19)
A metroidvania unlike anything you've seen
One of the most impressive Metroidvanias in recent history, Animal Well is a remarkable feat achieved by a solo developer. Published by YouTuber videogamedunkey's publishing house Bigmode, Animal Well has no story or plot. Instead, it relies on the player to uncover the depths and secrets of its world.
The platforming is crisp, the sound design and the game engine's physics are nothing short of stellar, and the overall experience of playing Animal Well is one of the player constantly being rewarded for being curious and wanting to explore more nooks and crannies of the game's world.
Animal Well
Released May 9, 2024
ESRB E For Everyone Due To Mild Fantasy Violence
Developer(s) Shared Memory
Publisher(s) Bigmode
Engine Proprietary Engine
7 Solar Ash is one of the best 3D platformers ($16)
An indie cosmic adventure you won't soon forget
An unforgettable cosmic setting, humongous bosses, and an unparalleled sense of scale — that's what you're in for when you start playing Solar Ash. As Ray, your planet is marked for destruction, unless you prevent it by journeying into the center of a black hole.
Solar Ash is a game that's all about movement — hyper-fluid is the only way to describe the traversal in this game, as you run and jump through wildly untraditional platforming sequences, with both the camera and the world itself having a personality of their own. If you hated using fast travel in the Sony Spider-Man games and loved the act of going from one point to another in the game itself, Solar Ash is definitely the game for you.
Solar Ash
Released December 2, 2021
ESRB T For Teen due to Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
Developer(s) Heart Machine
Publisher(s) Annapurna Interactive
Engine Unreal Engine 4
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6 Coffee Talk is about coziness, conversations, and coffee ($6)
Make coffee while the Summer Sale shines
Not only is Coffee Talk one of the coziest indie games you could ever play, but it's my favorite coffee-making game — believe me, I've played a lot of them. Set in a fantasy world where elves, orcs, and all manner of creatures co-exist with humankind, Coffee Talk takes place over the course of a fortnight.
As a barista in a Seattle-based coffee shop, you serve various drinks to multiple patrons, all of whom build connections with you and each other while sitting at the counter in your shop. The gameplay loop is about making the right concoction of coffee, tea, or other drinks, experimenting with other items to help your patrons, all while listening to their life's problems and offering advice you deem best. Inarguably one of the coziest and heartwarming games you'll play, Coffee Talk is the perfect game to have in your library the next time it rains outside.
Coffee Talk
Released January 31, 2020
ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Sexual Themes, Strong Language
Developer(s) Toge Productions
Publisher(s) Toge Productions
Engine Unity
5 Dredge is a wonderful fishing game hiding a dark secret ($12)
There's more than meets the eye here
Ever since I played Call of Cthulhu back in 2018, I've been a sucker for anything Lovecraftian. The pandemic era, for me, was all about reading Lovecraft on my Kindle and playing The Sinking City between bouts of multiplayer shooter games. Dredge may start out as a simple fishing game where the basic gameplay loop is all about starting off small, and catching and selling enough fish to upgrade your vessel.
Over time, you'll travel into murkier waters for better rewards, only to uncover far more than you bargained for. The core gameplay loop really is perfect as it is — the mini-games are enjoyable, there are more fish types than you can count, and the time you spend fishing is nothing if not cozy. Of course, you must do all of that while ensuring you don't go mad while dredging in the game, and running into all sorts of Lovecraftian creatures that are definitely not fish.
Dredge
Released March 31, 2023
ESRB E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco
Developer(s) Black Salt Games
Publisher(s) Team17
Engine Unity
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4 Dorfromantik is a sweet world builder ($8)
A pastoral wonderland built block-by-block
Dorfromantik is a game that's rather close to my heart — having built a gaming PC for my partner not too long ago, it's one of the first games I bought for her Steam account. A cozy game that is part city-builder and part puzzle game, Dorfromantik ultimately is a soul-soothing, relaxing title to put on at the end of long, tiring days. You're given hexagonal tiles which have forests, rivers, railways, or villages on them. All you have to do is lay them down to expand an ever-growing postoral world.
The game is simple, slow, and it doesn't demand anything but your own imagination. The core gameplay loop is about laying down the right kind of tiles together, cozily building your farms and forests, and the act of getting a new high score is nothing but an added bonus. Even without the scoring, Dorfromantik is one of the most rewarding and soothing indie game experiences out there.
Dorfromantik
Released March 25, 2021
ESRB e
Engine Unity
3 Saturnalia takes you on an eerie horror adventure ($4)
This indie horror game is as beautiful as it is terrifying
Saturnalia is a fever dream of a survival horror game that somehow manages to be as beautiful as it is terrifying. It's set in a remote Italian village that is drowning in folklore, dread, creepy vibes, and a nightmarish purple hue. This third-person indie horror game is eerie, and its unique visual language is reminiscent of hand-drawn, stop-motion animations.
As the player, you control four characters, each of whom has their own backstory, and all of them want to, of course, survive in this horrific town. The game is disorienting, terrifying, and, in places, even liminal — making you feel like you're constantly being watched even when there's no one in sight. Saturnalia isn't a regular horror game, though. It's far more stylish and suffocating than your average indie horror game, and if you play it the way I did — lights off, headphones on — you're going to have trouble sleeping for a while.
Saturnalia
Released October 27, 2022
ESRB M For Mature Due To Blood, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Violence
Developer(s) Santa Ragione
Publisher(s) Santa Ragione
Engine Unity
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2 Twelve Minutes remains an all-time great indie game ($10)
Stuck in a time loop with the Green Goblin next door
One of my favorite indie games of all time, Twelve Minutes marries incredible writing with a genre of media I can never get enough of — time loops. As the player, you return home to your wife in a small apartment, and are soon attacked by a mysterious assassin. You then realize you're stuck in a time loop, and slowly begin discovering things around the house that you can use and prep for the next time the armed man breaks down your door and comes through.
Why is it happening? What's going on, and what does the man want? Those are answers that the game very methodically and steadily provides you, and the plot, with the jaw-dropping plot twist at the end, is one I'll never forget. Making things even sweeter are some fantastic voice acting performances by A-list actors James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and the one and only Willem Dafoe. I played Twelve Minutes on stream with my partner, and can confidently state that it's better enjoyed with someone watching and providing suggestions for the next loop. There's no loss here — just the next idea for the next loop.
Twelve Minutes
Systems
Released December 7, 2021
ESRB m
Developer(s) Luis Antonio
Publisher(s) Annapurna Interactive
Engine Unity
1 1000xRESIST is the narratively complex cyberpunk game you're looking for ($15)
A sci-fi future that is equal parts Orwell and Evangelion
1000xRESIST is what happens when an indie game decides to focus on narrative, lets go of any leashes, and goes as hard as it can. Set in a distant, sci-fi future where an all-powerful leader, the ALLMOTHER, rules everything, you play as a clone tasked with uncovering the truth behind your very existence. Sure, there are a few tropes in the game that feel cliché, but the overarching narrative, the twists and turns of the story, and the conclusion, all make for a story you might not agree with, but won't ever forget.
1000xRESIST impresses you from the get-go with stylized visuals, sharply-written dialogue, and a bold sense of theatricality — all of which come together to create something genre-bending. The gameplay loop will have you exploring, solving mysteries, and engaging in the occasional action-heavy combat sequence, but the meat and potatoes of the game are certainly its narrative weight and tone. It's part Orwell, part Evangelion, and definitely unlike anything you have in your library.
There's not a lot of time left before the Summer Sale is over
Sales and slashed prices help great indie games reach more libraries.
When it comes to major releases — your Borderlands, Call of Duties, and other AAA titles, you know you're going to purchase them no matter what. It's almost always the indie games that go under the radar. However, when a major sale like the Steam Summer Sale rears its head, that's when these games get a real chance to shine.
That isn't to say that they aren't worth buying at full price, no. But sales and slashed prices help these games reach more libraries, and that is never a bad deal.
English (US) ·