Steam Winter Sale 2015: Big Discounts And Plenty Of Patience

There's a bit of cruelty built in to the timing of the Steam Winter Sale. Launching just three days before Christmas, it's yet another reason for gamers to spend money. Luckily for gamers, Christmas does mean there could be Steam gift cards in their future.

Steam hosts seasonal sales, but none are bigger than the winter event, which starts on Tuesday and ends Jan. 4, 2016. Past Steam Winter Sales have included daily deals and flash sales, but 2015 will only feature discounts that run throughout the event, Shack News reported. Because of its popularity, the Steam Store will either experience heavy loads or could crash. Patience is important as gamers may need to wait until after the rush subsides to browse the deals.

One of the featured deals includes "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain," which is discounted to $40.19. "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" has been discounted in the past, but it's an extremely affordable $4.99 during the Steam Winter Sale. The Legendary Edition of "Skyrim" includes "Dawnguard," "Dragonborn" and "Hearthfire" DLC for $9.99.

"Gone Home" is discounted 70 percent to $5.99 while "Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition" is reduced 80 percent to $3.99. "Pillars of Eternity - Hero Edition" is discounted 60 percent to $17.99. The "Pillars of Eternity - Royal Edition" includes There are some fun quirks to be found in the sale, such as "Quake" getting a "132 percent discount" from $29.99 to $9.61 or the wildly popular "Undertale" getting a minimal discount of $2 to $7.99.

One of the best games of the years, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," is marked down 50 percent to $29.99. If "Witcher 3" made you want to experience more of Geralt's adventures, "The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings Enhanced Edition" is $2.99 while "The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut" is marked down to $1.49.

The "Sid Meier's Civilization" franchise is also deeply discounted during the Steam Winter Sale. "Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete Edition" is 75 percent off at $12.49. "Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth Classic Bundle" includes "Beyond Earth," "Civilization V," "Civilization IV" and "Civilization III Complete" for $32.99.

To track the Steam Winter Sale 2015, visit SteamDB. The site crawls the Steam Store and highlights all the current sales and user rating.