Steam is no stranger to themed discounts — seasonal sales, holiday events and quirky promotions crop up all year — so it’s notable that Valve had never formally marked Black Friday until 2025. This year the store is offering Thanksgiving-adjacent discounts for the first time, and unlike many of Steam’s promotions it didn’t leak early on third-party trackers like SteamDB. See the specials on Steam.
Roughly half of the games on my wishlist are discounted right now. Steam says thousands of titles are on sale, and the event runs through Dec. 1. Keep in mind December will bring the Winter Sale, which overlaps with voting for Steam’s Game of the Year Awards — so there’ll be another round of bargains soon.
There are several strong offers in the Black Friday lineup, including:
- Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut — 40% off.
- Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater — 30% off.
- Blue Prince — 34% off.
- Shiren The Wanderer roguelike — 50% off the latest release, with DLC available for a small additional fee.
I’ll single out Shiren because it’s been one of my most-played titles this year: a brilliantly replayable roguelike with deep, surprising systems and a rescue mechanic that makes failed runs something to share rather than bury. If you enjoy the emergent, creature-collecting play loop in games like Pokémon Rescue Team, Shiren’s design will likely resonate.
Among indie highlights, check out Star Vaders, a tactical, Into The Breach–inspired entry that recently received a 2.0 update adding two pilots and dozens of new cards. Developer Pengonauts has also announced a follow-up set in the same universe where you control the aliens from the original game — a neat reason to jump in now. Many of the titles we picked as top indies for 2025 aren’t discounted, but several are priced affordably in the $4–$10 range.
Hardware deals are part of the sale too: the entry-level Steam Deck model is currently 20% off, and a lot of these discounted games are ideal for handheld play. Meanwhile, the rumored Steam Machine continues to seem more like a small PC than a traditional console based on current pricing chatter.
What are you planning to buy? Share your picks in the comments below.
Source: Polygon
