The Best PC Gaming Deals in Steam’s Surprise Sale

2 years ago

A raven holding a sword, from the game Death's Door.

Steam kicked off the Going Rogue sale this week, which offers up big discounts on roguelikes, roguelites, soulslikes and metroidvania games. The biggest discount we’ve seen so far is 80 percent off Darksiders 3, but there are lots of games currently sitting at around 50 or 60 percent off, including a few newer and big release games. There’s lots of choice, too — there are cute games like Death’s Door and Haiku, the Robot, story-driven games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, action-platformers like Dead Cells and many more.

To help you get a bargain, we’ve rounded up the best deals in the Going Rogue sale below, which is live until May 9. First, though, we’ve explained the difference between the featured genres, because it get confusing trying to tell your roguelites from your soulslikes.

What Is a Roguelike Game?

Generally speaking, roguelikes feature procedurally-generated maps, and perma-death.

What Is a Roguelite Game?

Roguelites share many of the same features, but are a bit more relaxed about them. Hades is a good example: you battle your way through a series of levels with random enemies and rewards, and you’re sent back to the start if you die, where you can unlock new abilities and weapons for your next run.

What Is a Soulslike Game?

The Demon Souls games borrowed elements of roguelikes and roguelites, but were so popular that they spawned a whole new genre. Elden Ring is a soulslike.

What Is a Metroidvania Game?

Inspired by the Metroid and Castlevania games, metroidvanias often contain non-linear gameplay, gated progression and, importantly, no perma-death.