Our favorite Steam Deck games in the Steam Winter Sale

Features
By Wes Fenlon
published

If you're all-in on portable PC gaming these days, here are the games you should grab in the Steam Winter Sale.

Valve Steam Deck on a table
(Image credit: Future)
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As of Christmas Eve, I'm shutting down the desktop PC and burrowing under a pile of blankets to begin my winter holiday. But I'm not leaving my PC games behind: I'm just going to be playing them on the Steam Deck. Valve's handheld gaming PC has given me a great excuse to play some of the older games in my Steam library this year, but it's also made me hungry to snap up deals on games that feel perfect for the Deck. There's no better time for that than during the Steam Winter sale, which is on now and runs until January 5.

Below I've collected the standout deals from our best Steam Deck games list—our top picks that are on significant discount. We also have a guide to the best deals from the 2022 Steam Winter sale in general, but not everything there is primed for portable play. Here are __ games we love on the handheld, broken down into under $25, under $10, and under $5 tiers.

2022's best Steam Deck games on sale

Elden Ring

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1245620/ELDEN_RING/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Elden Ring | $41.99 / £34.99 (30% off)
This is the first discount we've seen for FromSoftware's 2022 magnum opus, which runs at a solid 30 fps on the Steam Deck (and is remarkably less stuttery there than it is on desktop).

Pentiment

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1205520/Pentiment/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Pentiment | $14.99 / £11.24 (25% off)
Give Fallout: New Vegas developers Obsidian free reign to follow a passion project and you get a historical murder mystery that's basically Fresco Elysium. Full controller support makes it an easy fit for the Deck.

Vampire Survivors

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Vampire Survivors | $3.99 / £3.19 (20% off)
Earlier in 2022, we <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-survivors-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">called Vampire Survivors "one of the best deals you can get on PC" at its full price: $4.99. Now it's on sale for just $3.99. It's regularly at the top of Valve's most-played Steam Deck games chart for good reason.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1687950/Persona_5_Royal/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Persona 5 Royal| $41.99/£34.99 (30% off)
An epic length JRPG we've wanted on PC for years. That we can now play its 100 hours of socializing and dungeon crawling in bitesize portable chunks? Even better.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1313140/Cult_of_the_Lamb/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Cult of the Lamb | $18.74/£14.61 (25% off)
A blend of roguelike and Animal Crossing that makes for ideal second screen time; get cozy on the couch and build up your cult while watching some true crime, or something.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1637320/Dome_Keeper/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Dome Keeper | $12.59/£9.79 (30% off)
A bit of a sleeper hit this year, Dome Keeper is built for fairly quick runs, where you protect your tiny fortress from attacking monsters while digging deep for new resources. Deck-sized strategy.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1462040/FINAL_FANTASY_VII_REMAKE_INTERGRADE/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Final Fantasy 7 Remake | $39.89/£39.89 (43% off)
One of those "I can't believe this runs on the Deck" games, which looks great locked at 40 fps. Verified, built for a controller, and flashy as all hell. Just don't go in expecting a complete story. (It's not a 2022 game, but it did hit Steam in 2022).

Steam Deck deals under $25

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/235460/METAL_GEAR_RISING_REVENGEANCE/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Metal Gear Rising Revengeance | $14.99/£9.99 (50% off)
Platinum's finest action game has had a well-deserved resurgence in 2022 thanks to memes. We'll take it: if you haven't played Revengeance, you should play Revengeance and cut everything.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/757310/Sable/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Sable | $12.49/£9.99 (50% off)
The art and music carry this soulful desert adventure, which sees you climbing the remnants of civilization and flying around on a sweet customizable jet glider on a coming-of-age journey. Verified on the Deck.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1923/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2_Essentials/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Euro Truck Simulator 2 bundle | $14.40/£11.82 (75% off)
You probably already know if Euro Truck Sim is the kind of game for you or not. If it is, you can get a nice pile of expansions here for cheap.

Steam Deck deals under $10

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Disco Elysium | $9.99/£8.74 (75% off)
What more really needs to be said about the best RPG of the decade? Well, for our purposes here: the Final Cut update added full controller support and other niceties that make Disco play very comfortably on the Deck, so there's really no excuse not to own it.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Slay the Spire | $8.49 / £6.62 (66% off)
Slay the Spire remains our favorite deckbuilder, as perfect an execution of the genre as we've seen. This price matches its last two Steam Sale discounts, so it seems like 66% off is as low as it's going for now.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/590380/Into_the_Breach/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Into the Breach | $10.04/£7.63 (33% off)
Our favorite strategy game of 2018 (and our GOTY, in fact) got a surprise free update in 2022, making it even better. You won't find finer strategy than this in 5-10 minute bites.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Dorfromantik | $9.79/£7.69 (30% off)
The reigning chill game of the year, Dorfromantik is a light puzzler that wants you to have a nice time laying down puzzles to build a tiny little cottagecore world. An update added Deck verification and smooth controller support, too.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/473950/Manifold_Garden/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Manifold Garden | $9.99/£7.99 (50% off)

A beautiful and inventive puzzle game that has you messing with gravity inside Escher-like worlds. A real stunner.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/323190/Frostpunk/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Frostpunk | $7.49/£6.24 (75% off)
This survival strategy game is still our favorite and feels like the trendsetter of the last few years. Until Frostpunk 2, this is the one we keep coming back to to be forced into terrible choices (sometimes you just gotta put those five-year-olds to work!).

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/535930/Two_Point_Hospital/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Two Point Hospital| $8.74/£6.24 (75% off)

With a little control fiddling this management sim really works on the Deck. <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1649080/Two_Point_Campus" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Two Point Campus is the fresh sequel, but that just means Hospital's available for a real steal.

Steam Deck deals under $5

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/638970/Yakuza_0/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Yakuza 0 | $4.99 / £3.99 (75% off)
Every day is a good day to start the best first Yakuza game you'll play. Runs like a Dream on the Deck. <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1235140/Yakuza_Like_a_Dragon/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Yakuza: Like a Dragon is also at its lowest price yet.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/620/Portal_2/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Portal 2 | $0.99/£0.85 (90% off)
It's a Valve game, so naturally they made it run well on the Deck, and at this price you probably won't even notice you bought it. Just sell a few Steam trading cards or give it to a friend who somehow hasn't played Portal 2. Even better: Co-op it.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/501300/What_Remains_of_Edith_Finch/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">What Remains of Edith Finch | $4.99/£3.74 (75% off)
A heartwrenching walking sim you could probably play during the span of a long, cozy holiday bath. Explore the history of a tragically doomed family, with each member's story teaching you something new about your own character's place in the world.

Wes Fenlon
Wes Fenlon
Senior Editor

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.


When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).

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