Steam Puzzle Fest will offer discounts and demos on puzzle games in April

Steam offered discounts on builders last month, and is due to offer cheap mysteries from February 20th-27th. They’ve already announced the next genre-specific sale, though: Steam Puzzle Fest is coming in the last week of April.

April 24th until May 1st, according to the announcement. “Join us as we break the code, find the missing piece, and align the elements during Steam Puzzle Fest. Featuring discounts and demos on current and upcoming games, this event is for games focused on the spirit of solving puzzles.”

As always, the announcement is more for developers than us eager shoppers. If you’re the maker of a puzzle game, you can check the eligibility criteria and submit your game for inclusion. Inclusion, in this case, means getting highlighted on the Puzzle Fest page and streams, and eligibility applies to released and unreleased games, and demos, as long as they have “solving puzzles as the primary game mechanic.”

I debated whether to illustrate this post with Hexcells Infinite or Opus Magnum, so I’ve gone with both. Hexcells is the sort of puzzle game that puts me into a flow state – or perhaps a fugue state – and I have played it for dozens of hours without being at all conscious of the passing of time. Is that a recommendation? I’m not sure. Opus Magnum, meanwhile, makes me feel as if I’ve attained some higher level of consciousness, one on which I can understand and play a game by Zachtronics. That is definitely a recommendation.

Will either of these games be discounted during the sale? No idea, but one can hope.