The Steam sales can be a great place to pick up a bargain or two, but even at full price, games will rarely set a player back more than about $60 a pop. Of course, DLC and special editions can drive the price up quite a bit, but when it comes to standalone titles, it's rare that anybody pays much more than that to add a new title to their Steam library. That's not to say that more expensive games don't exist on the platform though.
RELATED: The Best Games on Steam That Cost Less Than A Dollar
There are a small but growing number of indie games on Steam that will cost curious gamers a pretty penny to check out. Many are priced at well over $100, with one or two even getting close to the $1,000 mark. There aren't too many people rushing out to buy these games, although some may well be keen to find out whether they come close to justifying their high price tags.
10 1000 Stages : Adventure!!! ($149.99)
With over 1,000 floating platforms and three whole explanation marks, 1000 Stages : Adventure!!! is a 2D walking simulator that looks more like an Atari 2600 game than one of Steam's most expensive titles. It will set players back $149.99, although the developer has expressed a willingness to provide free keys for those whose monthly income is below $800.
Interestingly, the game hasn't always been priced so high, with one reviewer revealing that they paid ten English pounds for it back in mid-2018. Even at that price they thought it was a waste of money, although the developer did respond to their review almost three years later to wish them a happy new year, which no doubt softened the blow a little. There are actually two positive reviews, although neither of the people who left them played the game for more than 30 minutes.
9 Safety Education ($199.99)
Japanese developer Colyu has released two games on Steam, both of which are priced at $199.99. The first is a VR disaster simulator called Safety Education which aims to teach players how to escape danger in the event of an earthquake or flood. It's pretty basic and can only be played in Japanese, although the complete lack of user reviews suggests that even Japanese players are put off by its high price.
The developer's second title, COVID-19 Epidemic Prevention, has no user reviews either and also lacks English language support. It does, however, feature a flying blue cat that serves as an interactive guide of sorts. Like Safety Education, the visuals are incredibly basic and while the information provided may be useful, it can probably all be found elsewhere online completely free of charge.
8 Lgnorant girl doll ($199.99)
Lgnorant girl doll is a turn-based RPG that follows the story of two magical "girl dolls" called Nana and Anna as they complete a number of missions across an open world. One is calm, the other is emotional and together they combine their powers to take on a variety of enemies. For those who may be wondering, the character designs are indeed exactly what one might expect from a game about "girl dolls."
RELATED: 7 Hilarious Dating Sim Games On Steam (& 7 That Are Just Weird)
Remarkably, the game has three user reviews, although only one of them is in English. The user who left it played for less than half an hour and warns that the translation is "pretty rough." A Chinese user left a review saying that it felt more like an experiment than a serious attempt at a game and complained about frequent errors and the plot being almost impossible to advance.
7 W.H.A.L.E. ($199.99)
W.H.A.L.E., which stands for Water and Hydrogeological Analysis Laboratories Enterprise, is an educational VR experience which aims to teach players about sustainable water development. It was created as part of a collaboration between an Italian university and the European Union and currently has a price tag of $199.99.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there are currently no user reviews on Steam, although there are plenty of screenshots to give players an idea of exactly what it is they're missing out on. Spoiler alert; it doesn't appear to be much. Perhaps there are a few people out there interested in analyzing water and mixing together different liquids in a VR world, but even then, it's a tough sell at nearly $200.
6 VRemedies Procedure Experience ($199.99)
VRemedies Procedure Experience is a series of four VR simulators geared around different medical procedures. Each one is priced at $199.99 and focuses on a specific procedure, which include CT and MRI scans, surgery and radiotherapy. The developer describes them as being photo realistic, but if the screenshots are anything to go by, this is a bit of an embellishment on StaplesVR's part.
Only the MRI simulator has been reviewed, with one user complaining about the inability to skip through to the actual MRI scan itself. They didn't recommend it and have less than half an hour of playtime on record. To their credit, the developer did respond to say that the ability to skip ahead would come in a future update, although that was almost two years ago now and there's still no sign of a new version.
5 Happy Chick ($199.99)
Happy Chick, or 快乐小鸡, as it's currently listed on Steam, is a mini game designed for "kids aged 2-3 who loves Pig Peppa." Players control the titular happy chick and can make it lay an egg by pressing any of the buttons on the keyboard. There's also a counter at the top to show how many eggs there are, but looking at the screenshots, this seems to be off by one. Of course, it is possible that one of the eggs is simply hidden behind the chick, but it's impossible to tell as the developer didn't bother to make the background of its sprite transparent.
RELATED: The Best Xbox Game Pass Games For Kids
Surprisingly, somebody actually paid the $199.99 asking price, although it seems like they only did so to leave a sarcastic review. Apparently, everything functions as advertised, although the user did point out that the maximum number of eggs that can appear on screen at any given time is 600, which can apparently lead to a rather short "gameplay" experience.
4 Derelict ($199.99)
People should not buy Derelict. At least not according to the game's developer, JEPR, anyway. It says so several times right on the game's Steam Store page, with a news post explaining that development of the early access title was put on hold indefinitely in early 2020 due to the developer running into legal troubles and losing their job.
Rather than take the game down, however, JEPR simply increased its price to discourage people from buying it, although, remarkably, more than one person has shelled out the $199.99 required to purchase it. The developer did recently post to say that they'd resumed work on the game, however, so it's likely that the price will drop back down to a sensible amount in the not too distant future.
3 Super Fight ($199.99)
Super Fight is a side-scrolling beat 'em up similar to the classic Streets of Rage and Double Dragon games of yesteryear. There are a few key differences, however, the most notable being that there's only one stage and just a single enemy type. There are two unique playable characters though, as well as a number of different single use weapons that will make Breath of the Wild fans feel right at home.
For whatever reason, at least 18 people have splashed out the $199.99 needed to add Super Fight to their Steam libraries, with many going on to leave negative reviews after actually trying it out. Thanks to a plethora of joke reviews though, almost two thirds of the game's reviews are positive, but that's not quite enough to move it from the "Mixed" to "Mostly Positive" category.
2 CrisisActionVR ($199.99)
Unlike a lot of the other overly expensive titles on Steam, CrisisActionVR actually looks like a real game. It's hardly bleeding edge or anything, but its visuals are at least on par with some of the double A titles that released for the PS4 and Xbox One over the last decade or so. For $199.99 though, players will likely be expecting a bit more than pretty graphics.
The game is a co-op first person shooter that utilizes VR and features a fully fleshed out story as well as multiple maps. It all sounds good on paper, but user reviews are mixed, with some bemoaning the game's poor controls, shoddy animation and poor value for money. There are three positive reviews, although two of those were left by people who received the game for free.
1 Ascent Free-Roaming VR Experience ($999.00)
Given its exorbitant price tag, it should come as little surprise that only four people have reviewed Ascent Free-Roaming VR Experience. Three of the reviews simply read "Not bad.", while the fourth is in Russian and loosely translates to "Liked." Reviews elsewhere suggest that the game isn't all its cracked up to be though, with The VR Shop giving it a rating of just 5 out of 100.
To be fair, the game doesn't actually look too bad and even supports five player multiplayer through a LAN connection, although it's unlikely to see much action outside of VR arcades due to its high cost. Unfortunately, those hoping to exhibit the game commercially will need to purchase a separate licence, but as the developer's web page and social media accounts are no longer active, that no longer seems to be possible.