The best deals from the 2021 Steam Winter sale
Ho-ho-ho my, it's deals time once again. Valve pressed the big SALE button on December 22, kicking off a full two week-long Steam Winter sale for the tail end of 2021 and the first few days of 2022. Below, we've assembled a selection of our favorite deals from this year's sale. Most of them are at their lowest price ever, meaning they've never hit discounts this steep before, even in previous Steam sales.
Our recommendations are categorized by price, but we've also picked out the games released this year that have especially nice discounts.
Keep in mind that many of these games are also on sale on the Epic Games Store, and Epic offers a $10 coupon on top of the sale discount for any game that costs $14.99 or more.
Our favorite 2021 game deals
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - $38.99 / £32.49 (35% off, lowest price)
A surprise favorite this year, singleplayer adventure Guardians of the Galaxy manages to pull off "your oddball friends never shut up, ever" thanks to consistently great writing. It's $28.99 on the Epic Store sale.
Valheim - $14.99 / £11.61 (25% off, new lowest price)
Even for those of us who'd thought we were worn out on crafting survival games, Valheim commanded dozens of hours spent planting carrots, building longhouses, and sailing around sea monsters. For a discount, you may be able to talk any friends who've remained Viking holdouts into finally joining you for slaying gods.
Cruelty Squad - $13.99 / £10.84 (30% off, new lowest price)
It's a hilariously vile shooter that looks like someone's sicko Quake mod. But beneath those affronting textures, Cruelty Squad has some great open-ended levels, fun gunplay, and the best combined fish/human organ/stock market trading simulation you'll play this year.
Inscryption - $15.99 / £13.43 (20% off, lowest price)
Indie darling Inscryption has built up some real buzz since October, because it's a deckbuilding roguelike that's not really just a deckbuilding roguelike. The less you know, the more you're likely to get from the experience. It's $5.99 on the Epic Store sale.
It Takes Two - $19.99 / £17.49 (50% off)
A co-op adventure from the creator of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and A Way Out, It Takes Two managed to snag GOTY at this year's Game Awards. We appreciated how this rom-com cheerfully bounded between genres and styles between (and even within) levels.
Back 4 Blood - $34.99 / £29.99 (40% off, new lowest price)
We love Back 4 Blood for its novel twists on Left 4 Dead, and $35 is the best price we've seen for it yet. That is, unless you have Game Pass, in which case you can install it at no additional cost right now. You should really play it with friends, but its latest update finally added a proper singleplayer campaign mode, too. It's $25.99 on the Epic Store sale.
Psychonauts 2 - $38.99 / £35.74 (35% off, lowest price)
A funny, charming, and thoughtful platformer adventure that lived up to the wait, even after years of fan pining and more years in development. There's a conversation about pancakes that just keeps going that had me in stitches.
Deathloop - $29.99 / £24.99 (50% off, repeat of lowest price)
It's been 50% off a couple times this year, surprisingly, but we can't miss an opportunity to recommend something from Arkane at 30 bucks.
Steam Winter sale deals under $10
Metro Exodus - $9.89 / £8.24 (67% off, new lowest price)
The third (and best) Metro game is at its new lowest price ever. Take a swing if you like the idea of navigating an irradiated Russian countryside with an AK-47 and pressing a dedicated button to wipe rain off your gas mask. This is actually two versions for the price of one: The 2021 PC Enhanced Edition is a special rerelease that you can only play with ray tracing-capable graphics cards.
Wingspan - $9.99 / £8.49 (50% off, new lowest price)
One of the best boardgames of the last decade has an especially good digital translation, including online multiplayer. It's an "engine builder" game where you play cards that help you play more and better cards, and the engine you're building happens to be made of birds.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - $7.99 / £4.99 (80% off)
Look, The Witcher 3 probably hits this price in every major Steam sale, but if you somehow missed playing it and are watching season 2 of the Netflix show right now, it's a good time to buy.
Dishonored - $2.99 / £2.39 (70% off)
I'd still argue that Dishonored is a better game than this year's Deathloop. It's dour, it's slick, and it's got a lot more going on in its world than its contemporary cousin. It’s the origin of Blink, which is the single greatest videogame ability out there. There's no excuse to skip this game, or at least have it sitting in your backlog.
Tangledeep - $4.94 / £3.62 (67% off, new lowest price)
It's a throw-everything-in-the-pot RPG roguelike with a job system that should be a mess of borrowed ideas, but Tangledeep makes it all work.
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner - $5.99 / £4.99 (80% off, new lowest price)
This mecha action game from the PS2 era still holds up beautifully in its 4K remastered form, and the PC version adds surprisingly good VR support. Jehuty lives.
Firewatch - $4.99 / £3.74 (75% off, lowest price)
In Firewatch, you can name a turtle Shelly Duvall. That should give you a good idea of the type of game this is. It's a tight adventure in the Wyoming forest, where you and a partner communicate via radio about the sometimes strange and sometimes mysterious events that unfold.
Batman: Arkham Collection - $8.99 / £6.73 (85% off)
You can grab all three main Batman Arkham games (Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight) for the price of a big coffee. That's a lot of very good stealth action. You can also grab each game individually for $5, except for Arkham Knight, which is one dollar less for some reason.
Steam Winter sale deals under $20
Valheim - $14.99 / £11.61 (25% off, new lowest price)
Even for those of us who'd thought we were worn out on crafting survival games, Valheim commanded dozens of hours spent planting carrots, building longhouses, and sailing around sea monsters. For a discount, you may be able to talk any friends who've remained viking holdouts into finally joining you for slaying gods.
Cruelty Squad - $13.99 / £10.84 (30% off, new lowest price)
A hilariously vile shooter that looks like someone's sicko Quake mod. But beneath those affronting textures, Cruelty Squad has some great open-ended levels, fun gunplay and the best combined fish/human organ/stock market trading simulation you'll play this year.
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - $18 / £15.74 (55% off, new lowest price)
Our GOTY winner in 2019 is even better thanks to the Final Cut edition, which adds full voice acting and more quests. Just be aware that it might ruin other RPGs for you. It's $7.99 on the Epic Store sale.
It Takes Two - $19.99 / £17.49 (50% off)
A co-op adventure from the creator of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and A Way Out, It Takes Two managed to snag GOTY at this year's Game Awards. We appreciated how this rom-com cheerfully bounded between genres and styles between (and even within) levels.
Inscryption - 15.99 / £13.43 (20% off, lowest price)
Indie darling Inscryption has built up some real buzz since October, because it's a deckbuilding roguelike that's not really just a deckbuilding roguelike. The less you know, the more you're likely to get from the experience. It's $5.99 on the Epic Store sale.
Death Stranding - $17.99 / £17.49 (70% off)
Our 2020 GOTY, Kojima's babysitting/hiking sim is back to a price so low that you can justify getting it just to see how buck-wild the story gets. The only kicker is this version doesn't have the cool Director's Cut stuff that released exclusively on PS5 this year.
Hunt: Showdown - $19.99 / £17.99 (50% off)
If you're not sure that a competitive cowboy shooter with zombies and slug monsters is for you, then this discount is a great excuse to finally give Hunt: Showdown a try.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - $14.79 / £12.94 (63% off, new lowest price)
Respawn's take on Star Wars Dark Souls is some of the most fun you can have with a lightsaber in videogames. For less than $40, you can also grab this in a bundle that comes with Star Wars: Squadrons and Battlefront 2.
Planet Zoo - $11.24 / £8.74 (75% off, new lowest price)
It's a management sim that's also a survival game because your animals can starve, contract diseases, and injure or even kill each other if you're not careful. It's a busy and sometimes stressful sim filled with beautifully rendered creatures and some pretty deep management options. Just make sure you take care of them.
Dark Souls: Remastered - $19.99 / £17.49 (50% off, lowest price)
Elden Ring is coming, and you still have time to see where a lot of the love for From Software's games began. Dark Souls is a sad fantasy game where you kick skeletons and fight gods. It rules.
Nier: Automata - $19.99 / £14.99 (82.79% off, lowest price)
Yoko Taro said he won't release more Nier games unless Square Enix gives him a big bag of money, so here we are. Cry with robots, put up with 9S, and dazzle yourself with lots of brilliant sword animations in this postapocalyptic world. This year's Nier Replicant is also 35% off.
Steam Winter sale deals under $40
Back 4 Blood - $34.99 / £29.99 (40% off, new lowest price)
We love Back 4 Blood for its novel twists on Left 4 Dead and $35 is the best price we've seen for it yet. That is, unless you have Game Pass, in which case you can install it at no additional cost right now. You should really play it with friends, but its latest update finally added a proper singleplayer campaign mode, too. It's $25.99 on the Epic Store sale.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - $38.99 / £32.49 (35% off, lowest price)
A surprise favorite this year, singleplayer adventure Guardians of the Galaxy manages to pull off "your oddball friends never shut up, ever" thanks to consistently great writing. It's $28.99 on the Epic Store sale.
Psychonauts 2 - $38.99 / £35.74 (35% off, lowest price)
It's a funny, charming, and thoughtful platformer adventure that lived up to the wait, even after years of fan pining and more years in development. There's a conversation about pancakes that just keeps going that had me in stitches.
Deathloop - $30 / £24.99 (50% off, repeat of lowest price)
It's been 50% off a couple times this year, surprisingly, but we can't miss an opportunity to recommend something from Arkane at 30 bucks.