Ken coolly serves the hottest news stories and has played, we think, every game ever made.
Published:
October has begun, and with it the Steam Autumn Sale. Valve’s periodic fiesta of discounts is just as packed as ever, whether you’re looking to catch up on the impressive roster of new releases in 2026, or just hoping to grab some of the best PC games of all time at their lowest price yet. With savings galore across the store, it can be a little overwhelming to pick out what you’re going to spend your hard-earned cash on. In order to help rectify that, I’ve pulled together ten of the top picks across everything included in the latest Steam sale.
Because it’s Halloween season, I’ve placed a little extra weight on games that have some horror-adjacent vibes, although there are still some inclusions in here for the scare-averse. I can also confirm up-top that every single one of the games in today’s list is boasting its lowest ever price on Steam. There are no flash deals to worry about this time, but be sure to grab everything you want by Thursday October 8, when the sale ends. Let’s get started.
007 First Light: 30% off – $48.99 / £41.99
Starting out with a healthy discount on one of 2026’s big names, 007 First Light takes everything that IO Interactive learned making the Hitman series and adapts it into a more story-driven, traditional adventure packed with plenty of secret agent panache. The result is something that trades the open-ended nature of the studio’s past outings for a more linear tale, but one that Paul praised as “a curated experience that’s tight from top to bottom” in our review.
Sons of the Forest: 71% off – $8.69 / £7.24
After its first outing in The Forest, developer Endnight Games ramped up the scope and the stakes of its sinister survival game for the sequel. Sons of the Forest drops you onto a remote island filled with dangerous cannibals, mutated terrors, and a small selection of weirdly wonderful potential companion characters. The path you take is yours to choose, with you (and your friends, if you wish) able to build out an impressive base, stock up for the cold season, and battle your way through all manner of miscreants.
Esoteric Ebb: 25% off – $18.74 / £14.17
Esoteric Ebb is one of 2026’s coolest newcomers, and might have slid under your radar. Developer Christoffer Bodegård slams together a D&D tabletop adventure with the deep dialogue systems of Disco Elysium to craft a single-player RPG to remember. Waking up in a morgue, human cleric Ragn Hemlin is tasked with investigating an explosion in a tea shop that threatens to spiral local tensions between the various races of Norvik, just days before a looming election. Joined by goblin accomplice Snell, you’ll roll dice against the inner voices of your six stats to resolve conflicts and solve a mystery that society would rather you didn’t.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy: 40% off – $48.58 / £42.73
Making a Plague Tale game without the swarming rats that defined its identity was a bold decision by Asobo Studio, yet this prequel set before the events of the past entries manages to recapture the magic nonetheless. It snuck out during a particularly busy release schedule and with some notable performance problems, but now we’re just over a month down the line you can get it at a surprisingly deep discount. If you need more convincing, read Lauren’s review to learn why it’s “absolutely” worth playing.
Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus: 95% off – $1.49 / £1.24
Mechanicus 2 released earlier this year, and to slightly underwhelming fanfare. That’s not to say it’s without merit, but Bulwark Studios’ first incarnation of its strategy game series is so eye-poppingly cheap here that it’s an easy recommendation. If the lack of XCOM 3 or the recent release of Star Wars: Zero Company has you craving more grid-based tactics, Mechanicus is well worth trying. Step into the boots of the technologically savvy Adeptus Mechanicus as you attempt to hold back the awakening of the Necrons, making tough choices to a storming soundtrack. A great entry point to 40k, and a must for existing fans.
The Outlast Trials: 90% off – $3.99 / £3.35
Of all the co-op horror games my friend group has dipped into over the past several years, none have come close to the hour count racked up on The Outlast Trials. Red Barrels managed to transform its single-player setting into a much more expressly ‘gamified’ and action-heavy outing without tossing out the terror. It’s grim, grisly, and keeps you on the run, while still providing enough control and heft for your character to make things feel weighty. You will want a like-minded group, but if you’ve got one to hand you’ll have a blast, and at this price it shouldn’t be hard to convince everyone to jump in.
The Witness: 90% off – $3.99 / £2.99
Jonathan Blow is gearing up to release his first grand head-scratcher in a decade – Order of the Sinking Star is due on Thursday October 8, the day this sale concludes. If you’ve never experienced The Witness, it’s his true magnum opus, and might be the gold standard I hold all puzzle games to. It’s a mastercrafted example of taking one simple idea and building on it in dozens of ways, all wrapped in a beautiful open environment that lets you bounce around when you get stuck. Concepts are gently introduced, then escalated such as to leave every solution feeling like an achievement – even before you dig up the island’s deepest secrets.
Bramble: The Mountain King: 82% off – $5.39 / £4.49
Set in a grimdark land of Nordic fables, Dimfrost Studio’s 2023 action-adventure game Bramble: The Mountain King is one of those underappreciated indies I’ll always vouch for when it comes across my desk. As the young Olle, step out into a haunting fantasy land in search of your missing sister. Don’t expect the super-snappy gameplay of a Silksong, but when it comes to atmosphere, mood, and some unsettlingly memorable creatures born of Scandinavian folklore, this is up there with classics like Limbo and Inside. It doesn’t outstay its welcome, and has a climactic encounter that I just can’t get out of my head.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: 70% off – $14.99 / £11.99
One more round on the Final Fantasy 7 train as we look towards FF7 Revelation in April 2027. If you’ve been waiting on the full trilogy before setting out on Cloud Strife and co’s reimagined romp, you might want to start now if you’re going to catch up in time without burning yourself out on just how much Square Enix has packed into its first two chapters. Remake Intergrade is also at an all-time low of 75% off, and while you’re there I’ll toss in a sneaky recommendation for the masterful Final Fantasy Tactics remake at a 40% discount (likewise the cheapest it’s been on Steam).
GTFO: 73% off – $10.79 / £9.44
There’s a common conception that horror simply can’t be as scary when you have weapons to hand, because it gives you the chance to fight back. If any game pushes back against that with brutal ferocity, it’s GTFO. The debut outing for 10 Chambers, a studio founded by Payday creator Ulf Andersson and featuring several of his former Overkill colleagues, this hardcore co-op FPS is vicious and unforgiving. Smart use of stealth, careful planning, clean coordination, and rapid execution are required to survive – think Left 4 Dead with the lethality slider cranked up to 11.
That’s everything for now. As always, I wish I could squeeze in a dozen more of these, but what’s here is already a real cream of the crop among the games that have dropped their asking price lower than ever before. The Steam Autumn Sale 2026 ends on Thursday October 8 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT / 7pm CEST.
Keep scrolling for next article