Introducing Games I Bought in the Steam Spring Sale 2026
Major Steam sales happen twice a year, in spring and winter. Although there were no big highlights in this spring sale, I bought many games and will introduce three of them here.
To begin with, the first games for an "around sixty" (Ara-six) person like me were Space Invaders or Block Kuzushi (brick breakers), which were already established as entertainment since childhood. Game consoles like Famicom, Super Famicom, the PlayStation series, Nintendo DS, 3DS, and Switch are now representative cultures and industries of Japan. However, even when wanting to play old games, the consoles are gone or the software won't load, so recently there are fewer opportunities to play on dedicated game consoles. On the other hand, with Steam, once you buy a game, you can continue playing even if you change PCs or use a portable device like the Steam Deck without repurchasing it, so I now buy games almost exclusively on Steam.
As for the details of the games, walkthroughs are available online, so I won't talk about gameplay here, but rather explain the background and motivation for these purchases.
Now, the first game I'll introduce is Etrian Odyssey (Sekaiju no Meikyu). It is a hidden masterpiece. Originally released on the Nintendo DS, its core gameplay system began in the 1980s with Wizardry. It is a masterpiece that laid the foundation for dungeon RPGs, where players form a party of multiple characters to explore, level up, and solve mysteries inside grid-based dungeons. Back then, I used to draw dungeon maps on paper by myself, and that element was actually very fun. But it was tedious and time-consuming! In the Etrian Odyssey series, they focused on using the Nintendo DS stylus to operate the screen, and the game received high praise for allowing players to experience that same joy without drawing maps on physical paper.
In Wizardry, making a mistake on the map and warping into a wall would wipe out the party with the message "He's in stone," and rooms with strange signs had incredibly powerful enemies—unforgiving systems not found in modern JRPGs. Thus, map-making determined the survival of characters. But for an Ara-six player to do that now is difficult... or rather, impossible. Under such circumstances, with my DS already gone to waste recycling, buying the HD Remaster of Etrian Odyssey was inevitable. Since it was sold as a pack of 1, 2, and 3, it had that bargain feel characteristic of a sale.
Dungeon RPGs are now less popular, and field-type RPGs originating from Ultima, such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, have become the mainstream. Although dungeon RPGs seem rather plain, several are still released each year, and their fun remains unchanged. If you are interested in dungeon RPGs, I highly recommend buying it. Oh, and on Steam, you can draw maps using a controller instead of the DS stylus.
The next game, perhaps in contrast to the first dungeon RPG, is the most famous field-type RPG in Japan: Dragon Quest. The 10th title of the series was online, but perhaps because sales weren't stellar, the 11th title returned to offline and has been improved and expanded repeatedly to achieve high completeness. If you want to try Dragon Quest for the first time, this is the most recommended title.
I first played this on PlayStation 4 and completed it back then. However, since it was about 9 years ago, I completely forgot the story and could play with a fresh feeling. Similar to modern smartphone game systems, it is adjusted to eliminate play stress and keep things moving smoothly. I feel that even an Ara-six player can fully enjoy it, occasionally recalling nostalgic feelings, and play to the end.
If you are around sixty, have some free time, and are thinking of playing a game, Dragon Quest XI S is a very good choice. I often hear that people lose patience as they age, but games that can be played with zero stress are surprisingly rare, so I think both Dragon Quest beginners and gaming novices can enjoy it.
By the way, on Steam, you can set up Family Sharing so that registered family members can play games purchased by parents or siblings. Of course, you can do this on PS or Nintendo by lending discs or software, but with Steam Family Sharing, you can play at the same time, so there are no fights over lending. lol.
The last game I'll introduce is a foreign survival game, different from the casual JRPG lineage. Survival games have high demand, with various types such as single-player survival, environment-as-enemy, zombie-focused, or city-builder survival. This game, The Long Dark, is what you'd call an environment-as-enemy game.
Let me tell you upfront. Honestly, I feel this game might not be suited for Ara-six players. Or is it? lol. I feel that one's personality rather than age determines whether this game is good or bad. When you start, there isn't even a tutorial. Playing with a controller is a saving grace, but the controls are a mystery. The icons are highly user-unfriendly, ranging from those whose meaning you can guess to those you cannot. With no clear objective (though pure survival is about staying alive lol), and surprisingly low freedom that prevents applying creative solutions, it can be frustrating. I doubt if it is a masterpiece, but unlike games that call themselves survival but are actually combat or town-building games, it definitely has a survival feel.
Items you can find are finite, and since items are randomly placed at the start, key items are hard to find even if you look them up online. It reminds me of the game Rogue, which I played on Unix long ago. Feeling constant stress to survive while gradually expanding what you can do is indeed survival, but the lack of flexibility is... onz (I said it twice because it's important lol).
However, whether you can play for long hours depends on the user's personality, so buying it at a bargain in this Spring Sale is definitely a viable option. I encourage you to experience this masochistic survival game.
I will continue to introduce games from an Ara-six perspective from time to time.