As you can tell from the name this sale has a racing theme. Where you can join a team and compete against others. The top teams at the end of each day will have random members rewarded game titles in their wishlists and has a bunch of rules and other restrcitions. Along with being able to claim emoticons and profile backgrounds from a shop

There are a number of ways someone can earn points for the team they join. Naturally, the first way is spending for every $1 you can score 100 booster points. They are also giving out other boosters for playing different games that have Steam achievements enabled. For instance, in Stardew Valley I can harvest a corp, catch a fish and a bunch of other activities in the game.

Steam typical has events like this during their big sales events with each one being unique from another. While I was hoping this be a much deeper thing for people to engage in it is interesting to see how they went about it this time around. While I personally don’t spend to get things out of any rewards a little extra something is always nice.

My Top Ten List For Grand Prix Summer Sale of 2019 On Steam

1. Grim Dawn

Price: $7.49 (70% off) *

For those looking for something more than Diablo III but not as deep as Path of Exile, you have Grim Dawn. This arpg is in apocalyptic settings and has many different playstyles and acts for the player to fight thought. Once you have beaten the game on normal you can progress up to Elite and Ultimate difficulty.

In arpg fashion, the game is very focused on you finding and upgrading gear as you hack and slash you’re way around. It has a very interesting class system where you get to pick two different classes and make a third that fits your playstyle. There is also an in-game loot filter which is a must have and I don’t know why more games don’t come with them. There is much more to Grim Dawn then that check out the full review below.

• Review| Grim Dawn

2. Frostpunk

Price: 14.99 (50% off) *

When you first start off this game can be quite brutal I know it kicked my butt a few times before I learned the ropes. You are in charge of a city of people who have relocated after an apocalyptic event had occurred where most of the planet is now a frozen wasteland

As your people fight for survival you need to manage scarce resources, explore sounding areas, invest into research and maintain order within the colony. Meanwhile, it keeps getting colder and colder and disaster strikes as your own people start to turn against each other. It poses a rather interesting ethical question of do you govern by laws or religion as you try and keep the colony alive and working.

• Review | Frostpunk

3. Ark Survival Evolved

Price: $17.49 (65% off) *

I have over 1k hours played in Ark Survival Evolved and seeing as how they just release a new DLC map for free to play I might be adding to that count. While this game does have a number of DLCs there is also a very active modding community so just having the base game allows you to go on one heck of an adventure that can be extended for some time.

In the early days, you will be hunted and killed by almost every dinosaur you find. It can be comical how hard a start can be sometimes in this game. Once you have made a basic building to live out of, crafting some armor and weapons you start to find your footing quite well. Then the real fun starts as you tame dinosaurs to use, building epic structures and exploring different maps and all the beauty they hold.

• Review | Ark Survival Evolved

4. Stardew Valley

Genre: farming, rpg

Price: $11.99 (20% off) *

I have always found to be a very relaxing game to play. You can focus on just farming crops all day if you choose. The game itself is much deeper than just another farming game as you have options of fishing, going mining in two different caves and build relations with the town folk.

This game has some interesting lessons for a player in self-discovery. From time management of your day to day life in this game. Along with ethical dilemmas of you choosing to embrace greed and go for maximum profits or harder way and remain true to the reason your character started a farm in the first place.

• Review | Stardew Valley

5. Subnautica

Price: $17.49 (30% off) *

For a survival game, there are just so many amazing places to explore in this underwater adventure. If you are like me and are not a fan of giant things lurking in the murky waters below. You might find yourself on the edge of your seat a few times as you go deeper and deeper. As the player, I found the payoff quite reward as I overcame my own fears and worked towards the end goal of leaving the plant I crash landed on.

Throughout the journey, you can build many different things. From bases that have a wide range of use such as scanning the local area and setting up crafting areas or storage. Along with a building different vehicles to help explore the giant ocean world you have found yourself on. There was quite a lot to do here and sometimes it was just exploring for the fun of it.

• Review | Subnautica

6. Thimbleweed Park

Genre: click and point adventure, puzzle

Price: $9.99 (50% off) *

This game has a very retro vibe to it and is focused around being a click and point adventure game. Where you as the player try and solve a string of mysteries stemming from a death. There are some very interesting game mechanics at player resulting in the player a number of times having to switch which character in the story they are playing to uncover the next clue and progress forward.

There are different modes to the game so if solving puzzles and hunting for pixels is not your thing you can go on an easy mode or enjoy the full experience by playing on harder. There is also a lot of humor and fourth wall breaks within this game that add an extra layer to the storyline.

• Review | Thimbleweed Park

7. Darkest Dungeon

Genre: dungeon crawler

Price: $7.49 (70% off) *

While I don’t play them as often as I like I am a huge fan of dungeon crawler style of games and Darkest Dungeon brought some amazing and unique things to the table. It made me want to risk my party at hand to try and finish Darkest Dungeon and make me feel the regret as I witness my entire party get killed off losing my best heroes.

I really love the risks this game developer took to make the game stand out. You live out of a town that you get to upgrade from the loot you recover while in the darkest dungeons. As the weeks go by the teams you build up require treatments from all the stress and negative quarks they have picked up from the untold horrors they fought. There is also an interesting reward vs risk game mechanic involving light levels.

• Review | Darkest Dungeon

8. Wurm Unlimited

Price: $7.49 (75% off) *

As an old school Wurm Online player myself I was thrilled to see this mud of a game have a single player or go play with some friends on your own server option called Wurm Unlimited. The game itself is a very deep and embedded player economy around crafting. You could have a server of players all specialize in their own craft and work together to build up towns and cities all around the map. You could also as I do crank up the experience gains and other numbers and play solo being your own master of all.

This is one of those games where I sometimes fire up during the weekend and spend all my time mining. Yep, I’d be a dwarf that never leaves my own mines If I could. I just love the slow progressing of mining out rock walls to dig deeper in search of ore veins. Some of which can hold weeks’ worth of resources or just a couple hours’ worth of mining. There is a lot more to this game than just mining but that my favorite part I talk about a bunch of other stuff in the review below.

• Review | Wurm Unlimited

9. 7 Days To Die

Price: $8.49 (66% off) *

While 7 Days To Die is one of those games you swear refuses to leave Alpha and therefore it is still in early access. It’s quite a playable game where you get to enjoy free content updates over the long run as they keep working on the game. You will have to deal with sometimes save files no longer working with the current version so that is something to keep in mind.

With that out of the way it for me ticks the box of being a zombie survival apocalyptic game with that feeling of endless struggle for survival. As you explore the map looking for resources to pillage of what is left of the world you encounter hordes of zombies along the way. The last time I played I built a gyrocopter and might have crashed it into a building –oops. I also took out a lot of zombies which is where the fun is at with a few different methods from guns, crossbow and even a barbed wire club.

• Review | 7 Days To Die

10. Don’t Starve

Genre: survival

Price $2.49 (75% off) *

While this game seems simple on the outside of just don’t starve to death once you are able to overcome basic needs that there is a whole lot of adventure to be had. Part of the fun can be exploring the map and getting yourself in trouble. Whether that be poking a spider den with a spear, trying to steal some dung from buffalo or chopping a tree down late at night for firewood. You know exactly could do you in. Sometimes even the basics get you as well when you get too far ahead of yourself.

The game also uses the weather to the max from very hot summers to the freezing winters. You will watch the landscape around you transform as you battle dealing with the different elements of the seasons. Along with rain and snow depending on what DLC you have or not. There a whole lot more than just starting a campfire before night falls and eating berries.

• Review | Don’t Starve

Pricing

Pricing displayed is based off the US store and may be different in your region. Links to the store pages may have issues due to high traffic as Steam never seems ready for it. RIP website.

No Money To Spend This Summer Sale?

Don’t worry I still got you covered with 2 f2p games. One of them I have a review and a lot of content around. The other it’s on my backlist to get around to writing up the review. Both I can highly recommend enjoying this summer and the coming seasons.

You can also add some games to your wishlist and score some points for your racing team. Who knows you might just luck out.

Path Of Exile

Amount spent on microtransaction: $20

Many would say Path of Exile is how Diablo III should have been and with over 2k hours played I would agree. It is an ARPG that focused around lands called Wraeclast. The game has 10 acts you need to beat to be able to get into Atlas mapping where I personally spend most of my in-game time running. The second half of the acts you get to see the effect playing through the first half of the game as you revisit some older zones and see they are in a much darker time.

Every couple of months the game comes out with new Leagues where players start fresh. This is where the major of content updates come from as they each bring in their own league mechanics that might get added to the core game later on.

Here are a few of my overviews of current and previous leagues so you can understand the full depth they can sometimes be.

• Legion
• Synthesis
• Betrayal
• Delve
• Temple of Atzoatl

WarFrame

Amount spent on microtransaction: $0

Looks like I won’t be getting a review out in time for this one. I personally have over 150 hours of in-game time on this one. It is a third-person sci-fi shooter where you get to use many different Warframe suits to change the class and playstyle. You can group up with other players to carry out a wide range of missions from capture, defense, hack, and kill.

Around once a year or more they put out free content for everyone to enjoy. With the next one being Warframe: Empyrean. Best comparable to this game would be something like Destiny 2 without so much money grubbing.

Full List Of Reviews

Final Thoughts

I hope you find something fun and exciting to pick up at a discount during the 2019 summer sale. I myself have my eyes on Monster Hunter World, one of the DLCs for Grim Dawn and some other stuff. Many of the games I’m super excited about are still not out yet. So I’m going be doing a lot of looking around for some sweet deals while I wait in the meantime. May your wallet forgive you and the site not crash while trying to find deals!

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar. Game screenshots are from the individual games they are listed under. Everything else including the cover is from the Steam Summer sale pages.