The best deals in the 2022 Steam Winter Sale

Total War: Warhammer 3 Boris Ursus
(Image credit: Creative Assembly)

Tens of thousands of new games pile onto Steam each year, which has made the seasonal sales harder and harder to tame. Sure, the Steam front page features a good selection of popular games, but what else is lurking down Steam's less-visited aisles? What strange gizmos and anomalies await discovery deeper in the Steam labyrinth? And what 2022 games are—surprise!—already on sale, despite still having that new game smell?

We've gone on an expedition into the reaches of Steam to find the best Winter Sale deals, and below you'll find our picks for the best discounts on games released this year, followed by some of our favorite popular and niche games from past years organized into under $25, under $10, and sub-$5 picks. Among all of them, we hope you find something new to play, or something you've been waiting for at just the right price.

The Winter Sale is long: It lasts until January 5, and also includes voting for the annual Steam Awards. The next big Steam sale will come in the spring.

2022 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 captivated even some of PC Gamer's biggest soulsborne skeptics when it released in February. 30% off is a pretty decent reward for waiting less than 12 months to play the year's biggest game.

Total War: Warhammer 3

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1142710/Total_War_WARHAMMER_III/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Total War: Warhammer 3 | $44.99 / £37.49 (25% off)
It's not a huge price cut, but it's a discount on <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/best-strategy-game-2022-total-war-warhammer-3/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">2022's best strategy game. Pretty swell. To play the Immortal Empires sandbox mega-campaign, you'll need to own both the previous entries as well. Fortunately, they're also discounted in a <a target="_blank" href="https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/9505/Total_War_WARHAMMER_I__II/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Total War: Warhammer bundle that's 75% off. 

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 this is what you get: a historical murder mystery in the style of medieval art. Everything you say might have consequences, and there are no easy answers. It's basically Fresco Elysium.

Strange Horticulture

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574580/Strange_Horticulture/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Strange Horticulture | $9.74 / £9.09 (35% off)
Inheriting a plant shop where nothing is labeled sounds stressful, but it's actually a wonderful combination of cozy and spooky thanks to fascinatingly odd customers, and a cat you can pet. We just named Strange Horticulture <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/best-puzzle-game-2022-strange-horticulture/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">the year's best puzzle game, and this is a sweet price for the year's best anything.

Norco

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1221250/NORCO/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Norco | $8.99 / £6.83 (40% off)
A point-and-click adventure for the post-Disco Elysium era. Norco is deeply specific and personal, set in the real life Norco, Louisiana, but with some otherwordly near-future twists, like androids and a (only slightly) more evil version of Uber run by a sentient AI duck. It's weird as hell and will sit with you long after you finish it.

Rollerdrome

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1294420/Rollerdrome/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Rollerdrome | $19.79 / £16.49 (34% off)
Not to be confused with Roller Champions, Ubisoft's roller derby game, nor with Videodrome, the Cronenberg movie in which James Woods inserts his head into a television set, this is an ultra-stylish third-person roller skate shooter <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/rollerdrome-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">that we loved when it released this summer.

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, putting its good dealness off the charts.

Stray

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1332010/Stray/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Stray | $23.99 / £19.19 (20% off)
A little discount on the popular cat adventure game that released in July. For some of us, Stray's appeal relies too heavily on the novelty of being a cat, but others of us would argue that's a very dog-person thing to say.

Immortality | $14.99

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1350200/IMMORTALITY/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Immortality | $14.99 / £11.61 (25% off)
A modest discount on the 2022 game the received one of our <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/immortality-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">highest review scores of the year. This FMV detective puzzle game may be Her Story creator Sam Barlow's best yet.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1475810/Ghostwire_Tokyo/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Ghostwire: Tokyo | $23.99 / £19.99 (60% off)
One of many games overshadowed by Elden Ring early this year, Tango Gameworks' action-adventure set on the spooky, demon-infested streets of Tokyo is a good grab at 60% off its launch price.

Grounded

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/962130/Grounded/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Grounded | $26.79 / £23.44 (33% off)
Obsidian's fun backyard survival game came out of early access this year, and got an enthusiastic recommendation from Fraser, who called it "delightfully creative and occasionally terrifying" in our <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/grounded-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">review. This is a little cheaper than it was in the Autumn Sale.

Citizen Sleeper

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1578650/Citizen_Sleeper/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Citizen Sleeper | $13.99 / £10.84 (30% off)
You're essentially a sad, decaying Blade Runner replicant trying to make a life for yourself in this well-written RPG. It does a lot with a little, sucking you into a "just one more" routine as you roll dice to determine what you can do day by day.

God of War

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1593500/God_of_War/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">God of War | $29.99 / £23.99 (40% off)
Sony brought its best to PC and now it's 40% off, which is much better than the 25% off Steam Autumn Sale discount just a few months ago. This port has all the bells and whistles we could ask for, like DLSS and widescreen monitor support, and runs on middle-of-the-line machines.

Teardown

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1167630/Teardown/?curator_clanid=1850" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Teardown | $15.99 / £14.79 (20% off)
A physics-based, voxel-powered playground melded with a genius puzzle game: "If I blow up this entire mansion, will I have space to drive this sportscar into the ocean?" It came out of early access this year with a full campaign and enhanced modding tools.

More great 2022 games on sale

Below, find more discounts on some of 2022's best games (anything we scored 80%+ in our reviews this year), organized from smallest to biggest discount.

10-15% off

20-25% off

30-35% off

40-50% off

Steam Winter Sale: $25 and under

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/477740/Zero_Escape_The_Nonary_Games/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Zero Escape: The Nonary Games | $11.99 / £9.51 (60% off)
One of PC Gamer's, and a lot of other people's, all time favorite visual novels. Selected for no particular reason other than that it feels like the kind of thing you might binge over a holiday break.

Chivalry 2 | $19.99 / £17.99

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1824220/Chivalry_2/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Chivalry 2 | $19.99 / £17.99 (50% off)
The best first-person medieval warfare game available now. Chiv 2 came out last year, but released on Steam this year with a big update that added a new faction and horses. This is its lowest price, which it also saw during the Steam Autumn Sale.

Hunt: Showdown | $15.99 / £14.39

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/594650/Hunt_Showdown/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Hunt: Showdown | $15.99 / £14.39 (60% off)
Don't tell Warzone 2 DMZ, but this is the best extraction shooter, and here it is at its lowest price yet. This might finally be the right price if you've been waiting to convince a couple friends to join you on the hunt.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1030840/Mafia_Definitive_Edition/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Mafia: Definitive Edition | $13.99 / £12.24 (65% off)
You wanna be a wise guy, wise guy? Tommy guns, pinstripe suits, a meditation on the ultimate hollowness of the fantasy while still going all in on that fantasy: our favorite mafioso bits are present and accounted for.

Hitman 3 |

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1659040/HITMAN_3/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Hitman 3 | $20.99 / £17.49 (65% off)
The final chapter of one of the best stealth games ever made, and number five on our list of the <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/top-100-pc-games-2021/#section-10-1" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Top 100 PC games you can play right now, is at its lowest recorded price, which it last saw during the Autumn Sale.

Steam Winter Sale: $10 and under

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/292030/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | $7.99 / £4.99 (80% off)
If you've been patient waiting for the exact right time to play what many people consider the best RPG of all time, you might have found it: it's less than ten bucks and just got <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/full-witcher-3-update-patch-notes-include-pc-exclusive-ultra-graphics-setting/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">a big visual update. You're not seven years late to the party, you just feel that games age like wine.

Sunless Skies

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/596970/Sunless_Skies_Sovereign_Edition/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Sunless Skies | $9.99 / £7.59 (60% off)
A PC Gamer favorite—we're suckers for grim, wordy adventures—Sunless Skies puts you in charge of a steam locomotive... in spaaaace. It's good roleplaying fun, with some of the sharpest videogame writing you'll find.

Super Mega Baseball 3

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/988910/Super_Mega_Baseball_3/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Super Mega Baseball 3 | $8.99 / £6.99 (80% off)
It'd be understandable to be turned off by Super Mega Baseball's unserious title and cartoon stylings, but it's truly one of our favorite PC sports games. A <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/super-mega-baseball-3-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">90% we gave this one just a couple years ago, and here it is for $9.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/289070/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Civilization 6 | $5.99 / £4.99 (90% off)
<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/597180/Old_World/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Old World may be the hot new thing in civilization building grand strategy, but for $6, this is a game you can easily disappear into for entire weekends at a time. (If you get the $29.77 Anthology Bundle, you get the DLC and upcoming new leaders, too.)

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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/1102190/Monster_Train/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Monster Train | $6.24 / £4.87 (75% off)
Already played Slay the Spire to death? Some of us would say that Monster Train is our second-favorite deckbuilder, and it's never sold for less than this on Steam.

Steam Winter Sale: $5 and under

Metro 2033 Redux

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/286690/Metro_2033_Redux/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Metro 2033 Redux | $3.99 / £2.99 (80% off)
One of the all-time best singleplayer shooters by a lot of measures. The original released in 2010, while the Redux version bumped it up to 4A's latest engine tech in 2014. A damn good FPS for $4.

Ikaruga

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/253750/Ikaruga/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Ikaruga | $4.99 / £3.49 (50% off)
We don't talk about bullet hell games too often here at PC Gamer, so when we noticed that <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/ikaruga-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">one of the best to ever release on PC was on sale for $5, we felt compelled to mention it. Be warned that Ikaruga is gruesomely difficult (but we know how many of you enjoy that kind of thing).

The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human

<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/401360/The_Aquatic_Adventure_of_the_Last_Human/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human | $0.99 / £0.71 (90% off)
An even deeper cut than Ikaruga, this is <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/the-aquatic-adventure-of-the-last-human-review/" data-link-merchant="pcgamer.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">a fantastic and largely-overlooked metroidvania from 2016. Grab it for $1 and you'll probably be the only person you know who's played it, which will make you special.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/550/Left_4_Dead_2/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Left 4 Dead 2 | $0.99 / £0.85 (90% off)
New co-op zombie shooter <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/924970/Back_4_Blood/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"" target="_blank">Back 4 Blood it a good price for the sale, but it's not one dollar. Valve's classic is over a decade old at this point, but it's still one of the 100 most-played Steam games, and there are a ton of mods for it.

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<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/367500/Dragons_Dogma_Dark_Arisen/" data-link-merchant="store.steampowered.com"">Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen | $4.79 / £3.83 (84% off)
This is a steep discount on a great fantasy RPG that made its jump to PC back in 2016. Grapple big bosses with your NPC helpers at its steepest Steam discount to date. A sequel is finally in development.

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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. Throw your cash at this like it's the '80s, baby, and then start punching punks in the face to refill your pockets in the best crime dramedy there is.
<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.

Steam Winter Sale: 10 years of Game of the Year winners

You can get 10 years' worth of the best in PC gaming (according to us) for a little over $100. Read about why these games are so special in our Game of the Year awards archive.

Tyler Wilde
Executive Editor

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

With contributions from