Reflecting on my winter sale gaming haul

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I have a bad habit. Whenever the big Steam sales come around, I end up buying far more than I intended. Last year, I put three or four games in my cart at the start of the Winter Sale, and purchased my 17th game at the end of it.

2025 Winter Sale Haul My complete winter sale haul

Thinking about what I play the most

I gave a lot of thought to my purchases this time and realised that the games I play the most tend to be mouse-only and playable in short bursts. So with that in mind, I picked up:

  • Demonic Mahjong - A roguelite mahjong game influenced by Slay the Spire and Balatro. I admit I was swayed by the anime girls and brilliant theme song. I even bought the soundtrack!
  • Kemono Mahjong - a mahjong game with Japanese rules. I bought this because people said the tutorial would prepare me for Demonic Mahjong. It turns out that the game itself is really addictive. Quick, fast rounds against CPU opponents is exactly what I needed.
  • Dorf Romantik - A relaxing city-builder in which you place tiles to expand your town. Some people have dozens of hours in this game. I can see the appeal, but not sure it has the depth to keep me engrossed that long.
  • Football Tactics & Glory - a turn-based tactics game described as XCOM meets Football Manager. I actually bought this years ago and refunded it because it was so confusing. Now, at the ridiculously cheap sale price, I thought I'd try again. A friend of mine has played it for about 80 hours and highly recommends it.
  • Hexarchy - a 4X strategy game which uses cards and deckbuilding for comparatively short, fast games. The only 4X game I'd played prior to this was Age of Wonders 3, which I quite enjoyed. Hexarchy feels similar, but more accessible. I hope I can get into this one.
  • Inscryption - a card-based puzzle game described as a psychological horror. I'm assuming it's the unique art style and creepy nature of the game that has made Inscryption so popular. The gameplay itself is nothing particularly special (yet). It feels like a case of style over substance.
  • Jewel Match Solitaire Winterscapes 2 - a solitaire card game with Christmas music and winter scenes. I was surprised by how massive this game is. There are multiple game modes and so much content. This is a game I can see myself coming back to time and time again.
  • Logic Town - a relaxing puzzle game in which you read clues to figure out what goes where. An easy play, not too difficult, and great in short bursts.
  • Luck be a Landlord - a popular roguelike deckbuilder with slot machine mechanics. It looks terrible, but the music is upbeat and the gameplay is fast. Once I figured out what was going on, I enjoyed it enough to win a run. I probably won't play it again though.
  • Nurikabe World - a relaxing puzzle game that's similar to minesweeper but with a Japanese aesthetic. I've enjoyed what I've played so far, though I wouldn't call it a must-play.
  • Occlude - a "cosmic-horror" solitaire card game in which you figure out the rules as you play. This one is very good. It looks fantastic and is interesting to play. I've already finished the story mode, but there is still so much more to unlock.
  • Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition - a match-3 RPG. Imagine grinding puzzles to level up your stats so you can beat goblins and monsters. This is a remake of an old game that led to the free-to-play behemoth Gems of War, which I sank thousands of hours into. So far, Gems of War was more fun.
  • A Solitaire Mystery - a collection of solitaire card games made by the Baba Is You dev and inspired by the Zachtronics Solitaire Collection. I've beaten three of the 20+ solitaire variants in this so far. It's REALLY hard, but very compelling.

And the rest

Not every game I got was a mouse-only quick play. I need both hands and a controller for these:

  • Drop Duchy - a Tetris-like medieval roguelite. Collect resources, recruit troops and fight armies with a rock, paper, scissors mechanic. I like this one a lot. Despite it looking like a very cool game of Tetris, the action is slow and methodical. You've got to think carefully about where to place your blocks to maximise your rewards. I definitely recommend Drop Duchy.
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - the Game Awards winner in 2025. A turn-based, story-rich fantasy RPG which I couldn't resist getting on sale. The opening couple of hours were fascinating. However, once the actual Final Fantasy style gameplay kicked in, I started to lose interest... I will play it again though, I promise!
  • Star Wars Outlaws - A big open world Ubisoft game - imagine Assassin's Creed in the Star Wars universe. I tried the demo before buying this one and was really impressed. The game got a lot of bad reviews, but what I've played of it so far has been jolly good fun. I do tend to like big games with a female protagonist. Consider my hours in Tomb Raider and Horizon Zero Dawn as examples.
  • Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 - Shoot bad guys from a distance. This one was cheap, had good reviews and reminded me of how much I enjoyed Sniper Elite 4. So I thought I'd give it a go. I've only played the tutorial and think it takes itself far too seriously.

Looking forward

Last year, I spent most of my gaming hours on my "Bought in 2025" Steam collection. I intend to do the same this year with these games. For the record, I start the year on Dec 1st to include the winter sale games. It'll be interesting to see which of my purchases rise to the top in terms of hours played. At the time of writing, A Solitaire Mystery is leading the field.