Buy these games before Summer ends

There’s still some time to take advantage of Gun Interactive's second annual Summer of Screams on Steam, running through Aug. 31 and putting a pretty large collection of horror games on sale. 

There are big names, smaller games you may have missed, upcoming releases to keep an eye on, and enough cheap horror to turn the innocent sentence "I'll just look" into a twenty-game backlog.

Some of these prices are hard to ignore. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is seventy-five percent off at $3.74, which is a very cheap way to find out whether you are better at escaping Leatherface or helping him ruin someone's afternoon. Killer Frequency is $4.99, DREDGE is $9.99, Trepang2 drops to $7.49, and the excellent Buckshot Roulette is only $1.49. 

There are plenty of recognizable horror names scattered throughout the sale as well. Alien: Isolation is currently $11.99, The Mortuary Assistant is $14.99, Outlast 2 is $4.99, and Phasmophobia is $19.99. You can even grab the original 2010 Aliens vs. Predator for $1.49, while Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered is sitting at $4.99. 

Games like Mouthwashing, Look Outside, No, I'm not a Human, ROUTINE, INDIKA, Sorry We're Closed, and Home Safety Hotline give the sale some personality. There are also upcoming games being featured, including Darkwood 2, Holstin, Remothered: Red Nun's Legacy, Silver Pines, My Cannibal Family, and Cold Abyss.

Here are a few recommendations:

One: Killer Frequency — $4.99. Probably the easiest recommendation of the bunch for someone who likes horror but does not necessarily want a game beating them over the head. You play a late-night radio host helping callers survive a killer, with puzzles, good humor, and enough tension to keep things moving. It is approachable, different, and 80% off.

Two: Buckshot Roulette — $1.49. Simple idea, easy to understand, wonderfully uncomfortable. You are essentially playing Russian roulette with a shotgun against something that looks like it should not be allowed within five hundred feet of a firearm. It is short, cheap, and gets under your skin without asking for forty hours of your life.

Three: Alien: Isolation — $11.99. This is the most expensive game of the group, but it is also one of the easiest horror recommendations. You do not need to be an Alien expert, and you definitely do not need to be an expert gamer. You mostly need patience, common sense, and the ability to accept that the Xenomorph does not care about either of those things.

Four: Outlast 2 — $4.99. If scare factor carries more weight for you, here you go. The controls are straightforward because your main combat strategy is essentially "absolutely not." You run, hide, use your camera, and repeatedly make poor decisions by entering places that any reasonable human being would leave immediately.

Five: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre — $3.74. This one comes with the multiplayer warning because your experience depends on who is playing, but 75% percent off makes it much easier to recommend. Horror fans get the license, atmosphere, familiar locations, and the chance to play as either the Family or their victims. 

There are cheaper games in the sale, and there are certainly harder ones, but that group gives you five very different flavors of horror without requiring much money to get started. Killer Frequency gives you the slasher, Buckshot Roulette brings the weirdness, Alien: Isolation handles survival horror, Outlast 2 brings pure panic, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre lets your friends become part of the problem.