The Steam Tower Defense Fest is here, bringing sales on games where buildings do the battling

With the Summer Sale a few weeks behind in the rearview, we've re-entered the march of Steam's genre-specific festivals, offering shorter-term savings on specific flavors of game. And speaking of marching, that's precisely what you're supposed to prevent in the games headlining the latest fest sale. The Steam Tower Defense Fest kicked off today, offering sales celebrating the tactical placement of defensive fortifications until 10 AM Pacific on August 5, 2024.

Of the sales on offer, the game topping my list is Cataclismo, currently 20% off at $23.99. Technically, it's been on sale since its early access launch last week as an early-adopter discount, but that introductory price ends the same day that the genre fest does, and the Tower Defense RTS is promising enough that I'm willing to overlook the asterisk if it means having another chance to talk about it. As we wrote in our Cataclismo preview, its Lego-inspired fort building makes it a joy to hand-craft a bulwark against hordes of horrors.

There are deeper discounts on older tower defense favorites, too. Orcs Must Die! 3's at 80% off for six bucks, melding third-person combat with traps and tower placement to stem an oncoming tide of orcs, goblins, and other fantasy fodder. For more traditional medieval tower defense, Stronghold: Definitive Edition, the 2023 remaster of a classic castle sim, is currently 34% off at $9.89.

For some stripped down strategy, consider Bad North: Jotunn Edition, currently less than $4. It's a pared-down defensive tactics game where you carefully position a small number of units to defend randomly-generated islands from sea raiders. It's great for bite-sized battles when you've only got a couple minutes to spend.

Once the Tower Defense Fest ends on August 5, we'll move immediately into a Fighting Games Fest that'll run until August 12, and a Rhythm Fest will kick off a week after that. The fests will continue until the next seasonal sale arrives with the Steam Autumn Sale on November 27, less than a month before the Winter Sale returns on December 19. For the full rundown of upcoming sale dates, be sure to check out our Steam sale schedule.