Steam is the top platform for a lot of PC gamers, and for good reason. It functions well, has tons of great sales, and a huge variety of titles from AAA games to indie bangers. There are also a bunch of games that are exclusive to Steam that you can't find anywhere, though they are very much in the minority.
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If Steam is your primary platform, make sure to grab these rare titles into your library during a sale. Many of them are Valve games, but we'll leave out Half-Life 1 for getting a PS2 port and Half-Life 2 specifically for being included in the special Orange Box and thus being available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, technically still very much playable on those consoles.
Find all 10 pairs
Find all 10 pairs
Garry's Mod
The Sandbox That Spawned Multiple Iconic Games
Valve's physics sandbox Garry's Mod is among the most influential games on Steam. It spawned a few game modes that have since become extremely iconic, like Trouble in Terrorist Town and Prop Hunt, to name a few. It's a fun little tool that lets you play around with various assets.
You could even spawn in NPCs if you wanted to and throw around objects to see what happens. The main draw remains all the user-made content, though, which works as an infinite source of entertainment. Who remembers the good old days of gaming YouTubers playing Prop Hunt on cooldown? I do!
Aperture Desk Job
A Special Portal Treat For Steam Deck Enjoyers
Let's talk about the Steam Deck for a bit. If you happen to own this brilliant piece of tech, you might already be familiar with Aperture Desk Job, which is a small game created by Valve specifically for the Deck. You're on your first day on a job, and if the world looks a little familiar, that's because it is.
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It's actually based on the world of the Portal franchise. You progress through your workday, joined by the iconic humor made famous by many other Valve titles. It feels more like a demo for Steam Deck, but considering it's completely free, it's definitely worth trying out at least once.
Cruelty Squad
A Punch Of Color And Cruelty Directly To Your Retina
Speaking of climbing corporate ladders, Cruelty Squad. You're a member of this group in this rather bright and retro-looking FPS game that puts you into action-packed and visually busy levels filled with enemies.
Your job is to make your corporation proud by descending into what the developers call a "garbage world," but it won't be easy. If you enjoy immersive sims, you'll definitely see the appeal here, with a few callbacks to games like Deus Ex and even tactical shooters like Rainbow Six. It's a bloody and gory experience that isn't for the faint of heart, but also works as a lovely callback to a lot of old-school first-person shooters.
DOTA 2
A Continuation Of The Iconic MOBA That Started It All
The original Defence of the Ancients mod for Warcraft 3 blew people away, and eventually led to the masterpiece of a MOBA that DOTA 2 is today. Whether or not you're more of a League of Legends person, you can't deny the cultural impact DOTA 2 has had over the years, even inspiring its own song from Basshunter.
The esports scene is massive, and considering it's free-to-play, with every single hero available to you from the get-go, it's easy to see why some people might choose it over the limitations League of Legends introduces, even if some argue that its learning curve is more punishing, and its matches are slower in pace.
Team Fortress 2
A Hero Shooter That Remains A Banger Years After
Another incredibly free-to-play treat from Valve, Team Fortress 2 is a must-try for anyone who has spent any time enjoying hero shooters in the last ten years or so. Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, and Valorant all stand on a solid foundation arguably laid by Team Fortress 2 and its predecessor first.
It features a far smaller roster, but each class actually feels very distinct, and the matches are a nice callback to those chaotic days of early Overwatch when no one knew exactly how to play the game. If you miss that, give this one a play. It's still a masterpiece.
Counter-Strike 2
The Freshest Take On The Iconic Tactical Shooter
The Counter-Strike series is a pillar of the video game industry, particularly on the competitive, multiplayer side. The tactical shooter gameplay has developed into an art form throughout the years after being released first as a Half-Life mod, with a robust esports side and its free-to-play model that anyone could jump into regardless of skill, solidifying its spot as a masterpiece of good game design.
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Counter-Strike 2 followed in those footsteps, without complicating things. It delivers exactly what CS:GO did, but brings everything up to date, from graphics to sound design. While cheaters are still a regular problem, it says a lot about the quality of the series and the game itself that it consistently ranks at the top of Steam's player charts.
Half-Life: Alyx
An Incredible Showcase Of VR Mechanics And Details
Half-Life fans had been hoping for something substantial for years when Half-Life: Alyx dropped. And while a VR game wasn't exactly what people had been hoping for, for a VR game, it absolutely surpasses any and all expectations. It's a truly immersive experience that takes you into the world of Half-Life as though you were really there, and the controls for VR were clearly well thought through.
Its highlight, though? The absolutely staggering visuals, sound design, and atmosphere. This is essentially the gold standard of all things VR, combining both quality storytelling and snappy gameplay into one package, and it's something that we need more of on the VR side of gaming in general.
Project Zomboid
A Highly Detailed Retro Zombie Survival Game
Outside of Valve games, one of the mainstays of Steam is Project Zomboid. This banger of a zombie survival game has been in development for over ten years, but has managed to capture the hearts and minds of a lot of survival gaming enthusiasts.
It's a massive open-world environment with detailed survival gameplay features from thirst to boredom, and it truly presents a challenge unlike any other game—well, save for maybe Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, but if you prefer your zombie games with a bit more graphics dimension, try Project Zomboid, and see what the hype is all about.
Black Mesa
Fans Poured Their Love Into This Half-Life Remake
Well, here we are. It wouldn't be a list of the best Steam exclusives without mentioning Half-Life, one of the finest horror FPS games out there that tells the tale of Gordon Freeman and a science experiment gone terribly sideways. It was a phenomenon that defined an entire generation and spawned the myth of Half-Life 3 (which might not actually be much of a myth anymore).
Since it received a PS2 console port, it technically isn't a Steam exclusive, however, which is why we need to discuss Black Mesa, the fan project that brought the first game up to date by brushing up its visuals. Whichever experience you jump into, you're in for a truly unforgettable time, and a real throwback to a time when games needed to be good right out of the box.
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