Everyone knows there are two conditions that must be met before Christmas can officially begin. The first is playing Skeal. The second is the arrival of Steam’s Winter Sale. Blissfully, we can now tick both of these objectives off our to-do list, as Valve have finally unleashed their flurry of seasonal deals. Between now and January 5th, thousands of games will be discounted across Steam, and you’ll also be able to claim a free sticker every day as well, for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing.
We’ll be putting together a list of our own deal recommendations tomorrow, but to see everything that’s on offer, get your jolly selves over to Steam and let the festivities begin.
Just like previous Winter Sales, spending money on games will earn you Steam Points, which you can then use to buy little cosmetics, including those aforementioned stickers, to decorate your Steam profile and liven up your Steam chats. Personally, the only Steam doodads I care about these days are the trading cards. Happily, you can get one of these each day as well, as long as you’re willing to do a daily trawl through your Discovery Queue. I’m not gonna lie, this has become something of a Christmas holiday ritual for me over the years, and I’m still not entirely sure why I put myself through it every year. Hey ho. A trading card a day keeps the doctor away, amirite?
The 2021 Steam Awards are also in full swing at the moment, and you can vote for your favourite nominees over on the Awards page. You’ve got until January 3rd to cast your votes, and you’ll also earn a random trading card from this year’s set of Winter Sale Trading Cards for your trouble. Music to my ears. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing who wins the “Sit Back And Relax Award” this year, as they’ve got my favourite Dorfromantik in there, and Unpacking, Potion Craft and Townscaper. That’s a tough crowd! But I’ll be cheering on Dorf from the sidelines. You can do it, tiny townbuilder!
As for Game Of The Year, Valheim is up against some real big heavyweights, includingForza Horizon 5, Resident Evil Village, New World and, somehow, Cyberpunk 2077 again. Will Valheim survive the cut? We’ll find out at 10am PT / 6pm GMT on January 3rd.
Steam’s Winter Sale is on now, and ends January 5th 2022 at 10am PT / 6pm GMT.