It's the Steam Deck Builders Fest, and there are some extremely good deals, I'm afraid

Oh look, another Steam sale for a specific genre. Deck builders? A dime a dozen, I don't need anymore of ... the original Monster Train for $5? That's pretty good but ... GOTY winner Inscryption for $7.99. Oh OK I mean yeah that's ... Loop Hero for $3?! FINE.

This new Steam sale features a ton of great games, and we've collected some of our favorite sales here for you. You have until May 11 to grab these great deals.

And you better buy the criminally underrated Marvel's Midnight Suns for $9 while you can.

Slay the Spire 1 — $24.99, on sale for $6.24

Slay the Spire is the original deckbuilding roguelite, as far as I’m concerned. As we look down at the absolute masterpieces on this list, it feels like we owe a little nod and a thank you to Slay the Spire first. The first game started the “build your deck as you climb this tower map that every game going forward stole from us.” I wrote about how great the second one is a few weeks ago, but the idea boils down to this: it’s more Slay the Spire, but in 2026.

If you’ve been checking out the second, or curious about it, and somehow missed out on the first, this is an amazing time to dive in and check it out for cheap. If you like any of the other games on this list, you owe it to yourself. -RG

Cropdeck — $12.99, on sale for $11.04

Cropdeck is the newest game on this list, and one I intend to write a full breakdown of later this week. But I wanted to get it on here first because it’s unique. There is no combat in this game, as it’s not about fighting any kind of physical monster. Instead, you’re fighting the real monsters out there with truly evil magic: landlords and capitalism. You’re a farmer, and your job is to plow a field, plant crops, water, and then harvest them in time to meet your landlord’s deadlines. It’s a really simple premise, but there’s a shocking amount of depth there. Plus it’s got a really pleasant sound and vibe to it, so it feels relaxing right until your landlord demands money from you. -RG

Marvel’s Midnight Suns — $59.99, on sale for $8.99, Legendary Edition with all DLC is $99.99, on sale for $19.99

Midnight Suns is maybe one of the most unfairly treated games of the last decade. Between this and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s Avengers has a lot to answer for. The thing is, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is an astounding deckbuilder, but it’s also a superhero game, and an XCOM tactics game (built by some of the XCOM 2 team). The deckbuilding aspect of the game is probably the “weakest” part, but that’s like saying The Two Towers is the weakest entry in The Lord of the Rings trilogy – it’s still really damn good. The idea behind the game is that you go on missions and use each heroes’ individualized deck to make them do moves and battle baddies in the environment. But there’s so much more to the game than that, including an awesome Marvel story, great voice acting, exploration, and more. Do not sleep on this game, especially for that price.

The DLC also adds multiple new characters and story missions, so we’d recommend you splurge, if you can. -RG

Monster Train 1 — $24.99, on sale for $4.99 — and Monster Train 2 — $24.99, on sale for $18.74

The Monster Train games always felt like they were just shy of breaking containment from “pretty popular roguelite” to “explosively popular roguelite.” And that’s always surprised me a bit, because it’s such a winning formula that everyone should try it out. The idea behind the franchise is that you are escorting a train from hell to heaven, and each train has three floors. You need to place your monsters on each floor to defend it from the angels boarding you. Like all roguelites, you’re able to upgrade yourself along the way, and you’ll gain access to new toys as you progress through more and more successful runs. Both games are great, and each of their own factions of demons for you to play as and combine. -RG

9 Kings — No sale, but there’s a free demo. $19.99

I’m not sure how many copies of 9 Kings I’ve personally sold because of this website (multiple people have told me that it’s not zero), but I will not stop singing this game’s praises until everyone I know owns it. 9 Kings is an autobattler, and it’s an excellent one. You basically start out each “year” placing cards down on a kingdom field. These cards spawn in buildings, or troops, and can even upgrade them if you drop duplicates. Your kingdom will then go to war with another kingdom, and if you win you’ll be able to pick a card from their deck. It’s one of the best indie games I’ve played in years, and it’s impossible for me to oversell how good of a time I’ve had with it. 

It’s not actually on sale or anything. It’s just a really good deck builder and you should check it out while you’re looking around on Steam. -RG

Balatro — $14.99, on sale for $11.99

Balatro is one of the best deck builders because it strikes a great balance between goofy, low-stakes fun with colorful Jokers and silly card combos, and actually making you feel like a big brain math genius. Once I figured out how to combine the poker mechanics with Balatro’s silly roguelike scaling, I found myself hooked enough to download the thing onto my phone, my PC, and my Steam Deck. Even just writing this blurb makes me think, huh, perhaps I should go and give some of those later challenge decks a spin. Balatro is a banger, and 20% off is nothing to sneeze at. -CM

Book of Hours — $24.99, on sale for $13.74

I really wanted to enjoy Cultist Simulator, the card-based narrative game about the trials and tribulations of starting your own cult and inevitably dying, being driven mad, or being ripped from the fabric of reality. The writing is charming and the atmosphere is intriguing, but I just can’t figure out all the little icons, the timers associated with them, and the esoteric ways of advancing. Enter Book of Hours, a follow-up from developer Weather Factory with much more fleshed-out visuals, a clearer board, and a stronger sense of setting. Book of Hours is 45% off, which is all it took for me to bite the bullet and buy the game. This is a dense and intricately detailed world, and I can tell it’ll take dozens of hours for me to begin to get a real sense of the truth — but if you like games about mysterious libraries and hidden societies, that might be your idea of a good time. -CM

Inscryption — $19.99, on sale for $7.99

If they ever come out with that Eternal Sunshine brain technology, I’ll be one of the first in line to get my memories of Inscryption erased so I can play the game for the first time. If you’re one of the blessed population of people who haven’t given this extremely innovative game a try. It’s a deck builder, yes, but that’s just an avenue to bring you through a story of gaming, godhood, conspiracy, and control. This is not a game that requires you to be an extremely dialed in and high-skilled deckbuilder, but I do think Inscryption is quickly proving itself to be one of the most influential games of the 2020s, and getting to pick it up at 60% off is a big win in my book. -CM

Loop Hero — $14.99, on sale for $2.99

Loop Hero has a fun reversal at the heart of its gameplay — the titular hero indeed loops around, reliable and relentless. The deck building element comes in how you build the board around him, changing the context of each run. This is one of those games that you get a sense for immediately, and it doesn’t take long to be able to unlock new classes, discover complications, and push yourself to a higher level of difficulty. Getting Loop Hero at 80% off is an absolute steal, especially because this game is such a treat to play on the Steam Deck while on a long trip or in between obligations. -CM

Sanatorium — $11.69, on sale for $7.01

Sanatorium first caught my attention as an attempt to tell a period piece set in an insane asylum without relying on any of the cheap and lazy tropes of mental illness. Here, the deckbuilding is based on diagnostics, short term treatment of difficult symptoms, and figuring out recovery plans for each patient. The fact that the two-man dev team went out of their way to consult on the historical practices of the time makes this one of the few asylum-related games that doesn’t feel disingenuous, and the pacing of the game feels much closer to a Papers, Please-style workplace simulator than a rapid-fire test of deckbuilding mechanics. While reviews report a fair amount of bugs, the unique premise and 40% discount may make this worth a purchase, depending on your tastes. -CM