While the leaves definitely haven’t started falling yet and it’s still a comfortable 20 degrees Celsius here in north-western Europe, Steam’s annual Autumn Sale is already in full swing. This means thousands upon thousands of games are currently fighting for a spot in your increasingly unmanageable backlog.
We thought it would be useful to narrow things down a little for retro-inspired video game enthusiasts.
For this list, we’re looking specifically for platformers, beat ’em ups, arcade racers, run ‘n guns, remakes, remasters and modern games that we’d happily call ‘Retrolike-proof’.
All discounts listed were available during the Steam Autumn Sale 2026, which ends October 8.
#25 – Night Slashers: Remake
Metascore: 60 | Discount: 90%
Night Slashers: Remake brings Data East’s 1993 horror-themed arcade beat ’em up back from the dead, with updated visuals, expanded combat and support for four-player co-op.
The remake received a fairly lukewarm critical reception, but at 90% off this becomes a different proposition. If Final Fight with zombies, mutants and other creatures of the night sounds appealing, it doesn’t cost much to find out.
#24 – Hotshot Racing
Metascore: 71 | Discount: 80%
Hotshot Racing makes no attempt to hide where its inspiration comes from. Its flat-shaded low-poly graphics recall the arcade racers of the early 1990s, while the racing itself is fast, uncomplicated and built around drifting.
Think Virtua Racing, Daytona USA and their contemporaries rather than modern simulation racing. At 80% off, it’s also one of the cheapest games on this list.
#23 – Sonic Origins
Metascore: 72 | Discount: 70%
Sonic Origins bundles Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, presenting SEGA’s 16-bit platforming classics with modern conveniences and additional modes.
The package itself hasn’t been universally praised, which is reflected somewhat in its Metascore, but the games at its core remain some of the most important platformers of their era.
#22 – PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC
Metascore: 73 | Discount: 80%
Originally released on the PlayStation in 1999, PAC-MAN WORLD took Namco’s yellow mascot into 3D platforming territory.
Re-PAC rebuilds that adventure with new visuals, revised controls and several gameplay adjustments. It isn’t the most ambitious remake on this list, but at 80% off it’s an inexpensive return to Pac-Man’s late-’90s platforming career.
#21 – Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
Metascore: 74 | Discount: 80%
Few names are more closely associated with the scrolling beat ’em up than Double Dragon.
Rise of the Dragons takes Billy and Jimmy Lee back to the streets, mixing traditional brawling with roguelite elements, tag-team mechanics and a considerably larger playable roster. It isn’t a straight recreation of the arcade originals, but the Lee brothers’ DNA is unmistakable.
#20 – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Metascore: 76 | Discount: 60%
The N. Sane Trilogy contains Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped, with completely overhauled visuals while remaining remarkably close to the structure and level design of Naughty Dog’s PlayStation originals.
For anyone whose definition of retro has reached the original PlayStation generation, three rebuilt Crash games at 60% off make an obvious candidate.
#19 – Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
Metascore: 78 | Discount: 75%
Bandai Namco’s Klonoa never quite became one of gaming’s platforming giants, but the series built a loyal following after its 1997 PlayStation debut.
Phantasy Reverie Series brings together remastered versions of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil, two charming 2.5D platformers from an era when practically every publisher was searching for its own platforming mascot.
#18 – Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle
Metascore: 78 | Discount: 50%
The Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle contains seven arcade brawlers, including Final Fight, Captain Commando, The King of Dragons, Knights of the Round, Warriors of Fate, Armored Warriors and Battle Circuit.
For anyone interested in the genre, this is less a retro-inspired collection and more a playable history lesson.
#17 – Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap
Metascore: 79 | Discount: 80%
One of the best examples of how to remake an old game without replacing what made it work in the first place, if you ask us. Lizardcube took the 1989 Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and wrapped its original game design in beautifully hand-drawn graphics and a completely rearranged soundtrack.
You can even switch between the modern and original presentation. At 80% off, this is an easy recommendation.
#16 – Blazing Chrome
Metascore: 79 | Discount: 75%
If Konami had released another Contra during the 16-bit era, there’s a fair chance it would have looked something like Blazing Chrome.
JoyMasher’s run ‘n gun throws players into a war against machines with chunky pixel art, huge mechanical bosses and relentless enemy waves. Its influences are obvious, but Blazing Chrome understands them exceptionally well.
#15 – Truxton Extreme
Metascore: 80 | Discount: 20% | Retrolike.net: 9/10
Tatsujin’s Truxton Extreme takes one of Toaplan’s best-known shoot ’em ups and builds a completely new game around its foundations. This isn’t a remaster of Truxton, but a modern continuation that understands where it came from.
We were particularly impressed by how its mechanics reveal themselves over time, including the small hitbox, Harvest Shot and the importance of learning how its different weapons interact with enemy patterns.
Retrolike.net rated Truxton Extreme 9/10.
Read our full Truxton Extreme review →
#14 – Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
Metascore: 82 | Discount: 67%
Created with the involvement of series creator Ryuichi Nishizawa, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom takes the transformation mechanics and action-adventure structure associated with Wonder Boy III and Monster World and turns them into a much larger modern adventure.
It’s firmly rooted in Wonder Boy history without being constrained by it.
#13 – Phantom Spark
Metascore: 82 | Discount: 65%
Not everything on Retrolike needs pixels. Phantom Spark is a minimalist futuristic racer built around chasing faster times across short tracks, with obvious echoes of games such as F-Zero and Wipeout. Its subdued and abstract presentation hides a racing game with a surprisingly high skill ceiling.
#12 – Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Metascore: 82 | Discount: 65%
Spyro Reignited Trilogy rebuilds Spyro the Dragon, Ripto’s Rage! and Year of the Dragon with dramatically improved graphics while keeping the structure and character of Insomniac’s PlayStation originals intact.
Three substantial 3D platformers for 35% of the regular price isn’t a bad proposition.
#11 – The Messenger
Metascore: 83 | Discount: 80%
The Messenger initially presents itself as an 8-bit ninja platformer heavily indebted to Ninja Gaiden, but things soon start changing.
Sabotage Studio plays with both the visual language and structure of 8 and 16-bit games, eventually turning a seemingly straightforward action platformer into something considerably larger.
At 80% off, it’s a good time to find out how.
#10 – Broforce
Metascore: 83 | Discount: 80%
What if Contra starred practically every over-the-top action hero from the 1980s and 1990s? That’s more or less where Broforce starts.
It’s loud, ridiculous and frequently chaotic, but underneath the explosions is an excellent pixel-art run ‘n gun with destructible environments and a huge roster of legally-distinct action heroes.
At 80% off, there isn’t much reason not to own it.
#9 – Streets of Rage 4
Metascore: 84 | Discount: 75%
Reviving Streets of Rage after more than two decades could easily have gone wrong. Instead, Dotemu, Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games produced one of the strongest modern beat ’em ups around.
The hand-drawn visuals replace the Mega Drive pixel art, but the rhythm, crowd control and impact of the original games remain firmly intact.
#8 – Sonic Mania
Metascore: 84 | Discount: 75%
Built by developers who understood classic Sonic down to its physics, level construction and mechanical details, Sonic Mania combines reworked zones from the Mega Drive games with entirely new ones.
The result arguably did a better job of continuing classic Sonic than SEGA’s own attempts had managed for years. At 75% off, this one almost sells itself.
#7 – TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge
Metascore: 85 | Discount: 60%
Shredder’s Revenge taps straight into the collective memory of anyone who played Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games.
It looks, sounds and plays like something that could have existed in an impossibly powerful early-’90s arcade cabinet, while adding enough modern combat mechanics to avoid simply copying the past.
#6 – Huntdown
Metascore: 85 | Discount: 80%
Huntdown is a side-scrolling run ‘n gun drenched in 1980s action cinema and cyberpunk imagery. Its pixel art is superb, its bosses are memorable and the shooting is much more deliberate than simply holding fire and running to the right.
An 85 Metascore combined with an 80% discount makes it one of the strongest deals on this list.
#5 – Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Metascore: 85 | Discount: 70%
Prince of Persia dates all the way back to Jordan Mechner’s 1989 original. The Lost Crown doesn’t attempt to recreate it, instead bringing the series back to side-scrolling action with modern Metroidvania design, elaborate traversal and fast combat.
It looks considerably more modern than most games here, but its lineage certainly earns it a place.
#4 – SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance
Metascore: 86 | Discount: 50%
Lizardcube’s SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance takes another dormant SEGA name and gives it the same kind of treatment that worked so well for Streets of Rage 4.
Hand-drawn visuals replace the pixels, while fast side-scrolling action maintains the connection with its arcade and Mega Drive predecessors. A 50% discount this soon after release doesn’t hurt either.
#3 – Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo
Metascore: 87 | Discount: 30% | Retrolike.net: 9/10
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo takes the visual language of Game Boy Advance-era adventures and builds an inventive top-down action game around a yoyo.
Movement, combat and puzzle solving increasingly overlap as new tricks are unlocked, resulting in a game firmly rooted in handheld gaming history without simply copying one particular classic.
Retrolike.net rated Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo 9/10.
Read our full Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo review →
#2 – Celeste
Metascore: 88 | Discount: 75%
Eight years later, Celeste hardly needs an introduction. Its pixel-art presentation immediately fits our brief, but its reputation comes from what it does with a remarkably small set of platforming mechanics.
Movement is precise, failure is frequent and restarting takes barely any time at all. At 75% off, it costs very little to discover why it’s one of the most acclaimed precision platformers of the last decade.
#1 – Future Knight
Metascore: 78 | Discount: 20% | Retrolike.net: 9/10
And that brings us to our highest-rated Retrolike.net game on this list: Future Knight. It has largely flown under the radar of mainstream outlets, with only a handful of critic reviews appearing so far.
Its short runtime has been one of the recurring criticisms, but that doesn’t take away from what we considered its biggest strength. Future Knight doesn’t overstay its welcome. Instead, it delivers what we described in our review as perhaps the best three to five hours of fun you’ll have with a game this year.
As it has only been out for a couple of months, the discount is ‘just’ 20%. Still, that might be enough to convince those who were on the fence to give it a go.
Retrolike.net rated Future Knight 9/10.
Read our full Future Knight review →
With Future Knight, we conclude our list, but there are well over 100 games in the Steam Autumn Sale that fit within our scope of interest. So, needless to say, there’s plenty more to discover.
The Steam Autumn Sale 2026 runs until October 8.
