Spring break means video game sales, so here are a few games to try at a discount

It’s somehow already spring break, when it was just Christmas — where has the year gone? With spring break comes new sales — especially the Steam Spring Sale, which ends March 20 — and seeing as this week’s gaming releases slate is extremely slim, we’re going to talk about a few games that are on sale that you might have missed.

This week we’re talking about Obsidian’s Honey I Shrunk the Kids-like title (Grounded), a Souls-like title inspired by an Italian childrens’ book (Lies of P), an gorgeous action-adventure title (Kena: Bridge of Spirits) and perhaps the most ambitious survival crafting title I’ve seen to date (Abiotic Factor).

What is it the youths say while hanging ten on the waves? Cowabunga!

Dear, I downsized the Children: Grounded

Grounded takes the premise of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and turns it into a video game. Blizzard Watch favorite Obsidian Entertainment brings us this survival and crafting title where you take the role of a teenager who has been shrunk down in the backyard and you must build, craft and survive in order to get full sized again. Of course, this means building bases, fighting bugs (including spiders, with the game’s weirdest version of arachnophobia mode I’ve ever seen) and preparing for the inevitable counterattack that your meddling brings. Play alone or with up to three additional friends to conquer the backyard and maybe, maybe get to hear the extremely rad ending music.

Get Grounded for $20 on Steam (or play for free on GamePass).

Robots tell no lies: Lies of P

When Lies of P was announced, a lot of people scoffed at the premise: how would a studio known for making cheap mobile games possibly make a AAA-style Souls-like based on Pinocchio? Yet somehow, NEOWIZ managed to pull it off — and Watchers, let me tell you, it has been my favorite Souls-like game I’ve played in the last year. You take the role of Pinocchio (referred to only as Geppetto’s Puppet) during the fallout of a great plague, where the city of Krat’s automatons have gone rogue. Yet there is one truth that every citizen knows: automatons cannot lie. Somehow, Pinocchio can (and if you take the liars path through the entire game, you get rewarded with an amazing weapon in such a silly easter egg) and perhaps should, depending on the circumstance. Lies of P may be the closest thing we get to a Bloodborne PC release, but with DLC on the horizon, now is an amazing time to hop in and play this wonderful game before we’re given more of it to work with.

Get Lies of P for $36 on Steam.

Are we sure Pixar didn’t make this? Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena: Bridge of Spirits looks like what happens if Pixar were to design a video game, and that’s a compliment. This game follows the titular character Kena, a Spirit Guide who is searching for the sacred Mountain Shrine, while using her spirit companions — known as Rot — to clear corruption during her journey. The Rot, cute little black blob spirits, help cleanse the world of corruption (while sometimes wearing cute little hats), and it will take finding quite a few of them to get Kena through her journey. An amazing story wrapped in a beautiful coat of paint, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is one to definitely check out.

Get Kena: Bridge of Spirits for $14 on Steam.

Containment has been breached: Abiotic Factor

Before I begin, my usual warning on these titles: This is an Early Access title.

While not the first in this genre of titles, Abiotic Factor may be the most unique that I’ve seen so far. In Abiotic Factor, the company GATE has hired the world’s best and brightest to do secret research across every single field of study — and the study of the realms beyond ours as well — which we all know never ends well. You take the role of a GATE employee who is there to just do their job when containment is breached and your work-life balance is suddenly thrown off a cliff; your office has become a literal war zone between monsters, giant skeletons, an arcane military sect, and who knows what else. Grab your lab coat, pick your PhD, and start building your base because there’s some inter-dimensional butt to kick.

Get Abiotic Factor for $20 on Steam.