Quest for Christmas: Steam Winter Sale

Bit of a newer Christmas thing for me, but as of a few years ago the Steam Winter Sale has become a mainstay in my run up to Christmas ritual. It's a chance to peruse all the games that have come out recently and make plans on what to buy this year. It's a great place for me to buy some otherwise expensive games as presents too (I think I've nailed Daniel's present this year!)

Now they have tethered it to the Steam awards the whole sale is transformed into a great way to celebrate all the great games that came out in 2017 as well. On reflection, the amount of effort Valve have put into creating an original and heart-warming aesthetic onto the sale is in decline, but the games and the deals are always worth sticking around for.

Some years I even buy small little puzzle games for about a pound which I'll probably play for a little while before moving on. Even if these games don't have a wintery look or feel, I will forever remember them as 'Christmas games' because of the time I bought them. Games like Chime and Botanicula are like little nuggets of early 2010's nostalgia, and playing them now still reminds me of playing them for the first time in the family sitting room in December. I've already bought Night in the Woods, my own little present to myself this year so I'll probably remember that game in a similar way over the next few years.

The sale always kicks off when it's less than a week away til Christmas day, it all starts to feel a lot more real now that it's only 4 sleeps away.