10 Top Rated Games on Steam in September

Bringing you the news on what Steam users loved the most in September, we want to start with a warning. If you are searching for some new game to play on Steam, the high rating doesn’t necessarily mean that a game with 96% positive reviews will satisfy you twice as strong as one with 48%. It’s all probabilities, yet chances are that high-rated games will be of more interest to most of us.

Without games like PUBG, Steam charts may seem strange for those from the outside, but this is a microcosm with its own rules. Unlike, say, mobile ratings, on Steam this is binary: you either like the game or not. So we decided to stick to the Top 10, with the games rated 5 stars if there were stars.

Portal 2

The adventure series by Valve is on top now, despite being more than a decade old. The sequel of the original Portal came to the world quite prepared for it, with elements of the first installment gone memetic. The sequel was played and rated even better than the original.

If you have somehow missed it, it’s a puzzle going on in the Half-Life universe, based on the same engine. The story of Chell, the heroine of the first installment, and the vicious supercomputer goes on, with more dimensional leaps, more imagination for solving puzzles, more dark humor, and finally, a multiplayer. Gabe Newell, the President of Valve, considers this the best game ever created by the corporation; the players obviously agree.

Factorio

Here you are, alone on the alien planet. And you find it rich in various resources earthlings will appreciate and pay for. So you establish a factory, mining the resources, processing them, and delivering to trading posts. Along with that, you have to protect yourself from local predate animals, always ready to attack you. So weapons should always be loaded, aimed, and ready to shoot while you’re away and busy. The essence of the Factorio game is about setting up various mechanisms to automatize your work.

Those familiar with history will notice that it’s a space version of real Earth history, especially that of Portuguese feitorias of the XV-XVI centuries (and yes, they really considered local inhabitants sorts of animals). Others will just appreciate the elaborate economic and military strategy with just one active character.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

This game by CD Projekt RED, based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels, is a large open-world fantasy adventure. Geralt the Witcher, a monster killer with specific skills and cynical mindset, goes through a medieval country that’s on fire, searching both for the Emperor’s daughter and for money.

It’s an adult fantasy setting, with blood and obscenity, bitter irony and terrible monsters, including humans. It’s set in an open world, letting you either follow the core mission or just grind for upgrades and discover it all. The game is even more famous than the books it’s based on, and now Netflix is making its TV show, building its story upon Sapkowski’s book and visuals upon those of the game.

Portal

The first installment of Portal has all we love the series for. The heroine, Chell, is just at the beginning of her way, but GLaDOS is already there, and the lab has many levels, and the portals already work ad your primary tool for solving puzzles.

Probably the first game is surpassed by the second in almost every aspect, but the charm of the original is hard to beat. So both installments deserved their places among top-rated Steam games.

Terraria

It’s a beautiful 2D game that combines building and exploration, freedom with missions, creativity, and necessity. You are the master of your territory, and, while you’re making it the land of your dreams, you may need to protect it as well. And it’s worth this because there are treasures to find and houses to build, lands to explore and mines to dig, and, among all, there are wild unicorns in this Terraria game.

The Binding of Isaac: Return

This game combines elements of a shooter and a rogue-like RPG with procedural level generation and a horrible atmosphere. Have you ever imagined what Isaac felt, with Abraham’s knife above him? The Binding of Isaac game tries to replay this Biblical story nowadays, with mom hearing voices, and you’re the kid hiding in the basement, trying to get out through rooms full of surprises.

It’s a very cynical game, concerning the matters game developers try to avoid. Dying children, harming religion, cruelty as a routine, suicide and infanticide as a choice. But maybe this hardcore philosophy provided the game the Top 10 position.

Counter-Strike

It’s still the reference online shooter, despite all those PUBG’s and Fortnites. The special forces versus the terrorists: who wins? The simple story is “us versus them”, but it can host lots of modes. You may need to extinguish the enemy, liberate the hostages, conquer sites, and so on. It’s all done using tons of various weapons and armor, ammo and explosives, and it takes years to make it all out and master the game.

Counter-Strike is one of the longest popular games today: released in 2000, it’s still actual. Online mode fosters this: the updates are quick to come. Even in 2019 (and upcoming 2020, for sure), CS will still kick it.

RimWorld

It’s one of the best space strategies based on life simulation. It’s more than just gathering resources like you do in Factorio. Simulating an entire city means economy, psychology, building, logistics, and lots of other sides packed in a spectacular sci-fi setting. And yes, there are gunfight and melee episodes: space rim is a sort of Wild West, anyway.

RimWorld is the game to spend countless hours in, learning all of its elements and facilities, paying attention to the slightest aspects, getting the most for any cent invested.

Stardew Valley

Farming simulators generally have a bad reputation of casual Facebook-based games with microtransactions terribly annoying. But not this one. Stardew Valley starts the same way: you inherit a farm and arrive to get the place in order and working. But here it is quite a different experience. 1990s-styled visuals, smart dialogs, adventures everywhere, and online features make this farm really outstanding.

It impresses even more when you know it’s been developed by one man. The inexhaustible imagination and wit now seem a real miracle. And retro visuals are forgivable for those into modern style and just exciting for retro fans.

Left 4 Dead 2

Any movie, show or book set in the middle of zombie apocalypse tells that people should stick together. And Left 4 Dead series teaches how. The sequel to the original installment of 2008 is better in any aspect. You have lots of firearms and melee weapons to keep the dead away, and lots of enemies to kill. They can be both zombies or vicious living. And the most pleasing is that they can be both bots and real players, as the game features both co-op and versus modes.

Are Best Things in Life Free?

It’s funny to notice that none even of the top free games on Steam reached this top: all those above are paid. There can be two explanations: either players think twice, watch trailers and read reviews before buying paid games, so there is very little room for mistakes, or they just don’t want to admit they are dissatisfied with games they buy. The former seems more probable, as for us. Besides that, with great popularity comes great responsibility, and major developers have to do their job right. So we’re sorry, Janet Jackson, we are for real, but the best things in gaming life are not free.