Getting the most out of your money on Steam

You’re not made of money and neither are we. While Steam has some amazing sales, you obviously can’t buy everything. So we’ve compiled this list of some noteworthy games that can stretch your money.

Half-Life Series

Half-Life 1 always had some great mods like Natural Selection, and Half Life 2 is the same. You can find anything from the bizarre  (Half-Mind) to the intense (Minerva).

I have to recommend Nightmare House 2: it is an exquisitely-crafted single player experience, with a story that will keep you on edge.

Fallout 3 and Oblivion

Simply the sheer, massive volume of the mods for these games make them noteworthy. You can find hundreds of Fallout 3 mods here, and the same here for Oblivion. While many are lackluster, there are quite a few gems.My recommendation: Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge.   It has undergone a huge overhaul with a massive amount of NPC’s, items and world changes. It’s like you just got a new game for free.

New Vegas Bounties is an amazing effort, done mostly by one guy. It adds new items as well as an extensive quest line. While the voice acting is not mind-blowing, the amount of effort put in deserves congratulations. It also deserves a play from you, you won’t regret it.

Counter-Strike and Garry’s Mod

While they each have a ton of their own mods, of greatly varying quality, the two together make magic. Why? Four words: Trouble in Terrorist Town — it is where CS:S meets Clue.

You have Detectives who are trying to kill the Traitors, Traitors who are trying to kill everyone but each other and innocents who are attempting to survive while finding the traitor. Why is it great? Because of the mind games that take place.

Detectives have to never turn their back, and innocents can’t shoot the wrong person or be punished. It has its own internal karma system that stops random kills, which means tensions run high when no one is firing.  One random flash bang can trigger a Mexican Standoff or a total massacre.

Left 4 Dead

This series gets a special mention because its developers are putting in massive efforts to get noticed.  Some already have, like Cold Stream which got its own event.

While there aren’t a lot of fabulous mods, the community is noteworthy for both making and promoting maps. You can easily find excellent ones by simply vising Steam Addicts, L4DMods, or the L4D blog.

My recommendation?  What else could it be  other than Suicide Blitz 2?  An amazingly crafted and action-packed map that has already made its way onto official servers. This should be played through at least once, if for no other reason than the blood-pumping finale.

Free to Play (F2P) Games

Those new to Steam can enjoy the wonderful Team Fortress 2, a F2P game that people spend hundreds on. Those looking for an MMO-type feel can sink their teeth into Spiral Knights, Global Agenda, or Champions online.

Beyond that, there are smaller titles such as Smashball and America’s Army. Regardless of how much you can afford, Steam has more than one game for you.