Steam’s annual winter sale is here — these are the best games to get
If you’re lucky enough to have a bit of time off around the holidays, we have great news: Steam’s annual winter sale kicked off today, and will run through Monday, January 5th at 1PM ET. Now’s a great time to stock up on some of the best games of 2025 at a solid discount, or add some classics to your backlog if you’ve got a hole in your library. Thousands of games are on sale, but we’ve picked out some highlights to help you get started. We were surprised to see Hollow Knight: Silksong for $15.99 ($4 off) given its modest price and how recently it came out. You can also pick up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for $39.99 ($10 off), Silent Hill F for $41.99 ($28 off), and Assassin’s Creed Shadows for $34.99 ($35 off). These games are all on sale just a few months after their release. Some of the most notable remakes and remasters...
If you’re lucky enough to have a bit of time off around the holidays, we have great news: Steam’s annual winter sale kicked off today, and will run through Monday, January 5th at 1PM ET. Now’s a great time to stock up on some of the best games of 2025 at a solid discount, or add some classics to your backlog if you’ve got a hole in your library. Thousands of games are on sale, but we’ve picked out some highlights to help you get started. We were surprised to see Hollow Knight: Silksong for $15.99 ($4 off) given its modest price and how recently it came out. You can also pick up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for $39.99 ($10 off), Silent Hill F for $41.99 ($28 off), and Assassin’s Creed Shadowsfor $34.99 ($35 off). These games are all on sale just a few months after their release. Some of the most notable remakes and remasters of 2025 have also been discounted. You can snag Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chroniclesfor $39.99 ($10 off), Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $44.99 ($15 off), Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 for $29.99 ($20 off), Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for $35.99 ($24 off), and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eaterfor $41.99 ($28 off). These t**les are worth trying even if you’re familiar with the originals. Steam’s sales are an opportune opportunity to pick up older t**les that have stood the test of time, some of which you can get for under a couple of bucks. Too many great games fall into that category, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t call your chance to grab Stardew Valleyfor $8.99 ($6 off), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Editionfor $9.99 ($30 off), Slay the Spirefor $2.49 ($22.50 off), Resident Evil 4for $15.99 ($24 off), Castle Crashers for $1.49 ($13.50 off), Bastionfor $2.99 ($12 off), and To the Moonfor $1.99 ($8 off). You can go even further back in the history of gaming and pick up collections of 8- and 16-bit games, including the chance to pick up Mega Man X Legacy Collectionfor $7.99 ($12 off), Castlevania Anniversary Collectionfor $7.99 ($12 off), and Contra Anniversary Collectionfor $7.99 ($12 off). There’s a little something for everybody in the sale, and we encourage you to mix and match contemporary and classic games to avoid getting bored.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Where to Buy:
$19.99 $15.99 at Steam
Hollow Knight: Silksong is a tough-as-nails Metroidvania whose boss battles and platforming sequences reward your tenacity as you slowly get better. As Hornet, you’ll cautiously ascend to the top of the world, using weapons and traps to take down over 200 enemies and more than 40 bosses. Be mindful that letting your guard down can be lethal. If you haven’t gotten around to playing the original Hollow Knight, you can pick it up for $7.49 ($7.49 off) during the sale. Read our hands-on impressions.
Silent Hill F
Where to Buy:
$69.99 $41.99 at Steam
Silent Hill F is an exceptional survival horror game set in 1960s Japan. Protagonist Hinako Shimizu is a high school student who has to defeat actual monsters with whatever weapons she can find while also wrestling with inner turmoil caused by familial trauma. Her personal growth, a great script, and terrific score may compel you to replay the game to see all five of its possible endings. Read our review.
Resident Evil 4
Where to Buy:
$39.99 $15.99 at Steam
If you prefer a healthy dose of action in your horror games, the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 is an excellent choice. Federal agent Leon Kennedy is sent to retrieve the president’s daughter from a remote Spanish village, and ends up uncovering a murderous cult and plenty of gnarly monsters. The original game’s story has been fleshed out, and its script has been reworked without losing all of its campiness. Read our review.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Where to Buy:
$49.99 $39.99 at Steam
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG with an engaging battle system that rewards you for mastering its dodge and parry system. Pulling off the right parry, which takes time to learn, and you can turn the tide of a battle. The game has an atmospheric soundtrack along with a story our reviewer found heart-wrenching, stirring, and humorous. It won Game of the Year at the 2025 Game Awards, too. Read our review.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Where to Buy:
$69.99 $34.99 at Steam
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has two big strengths: Its setting (medieval Japan) and its two lead characters, Naoe and Yasuke. Each character has a unique gameplay style, which gives you a couple of ways to approach each situation stealthily or by using brute force. Shadows’ open world is huge, and the little activities we found on our way to the big quests, and codex entries offering exhaustive details about the game’s setting made it fun to traverse. Read our review.
States ask judge to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster
A federal judge is officially being tasked with deciding whether to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster. More than 30 states are asking Judge Arun Subramanian to order a sale of the ticketing giant, a "sufficient number" of large amphitheaters, and limit its ability to tie access to its remaining amps to...
A federal judge is officially being tasked with deciding whether to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster. More than 30 states are asking Judge Arun Subramanian to order a sale of the ticketing giant, a "sufficient number" of large amphitheaters, and limit its ability to tie access to its remaining amps to the use of its promotions services. In April, a jury found that the company is an illegal monopolist, after more than a month of trial. The initial remedies proposal doesn't include a further breakup of some other parts of Live Nation's business that California Attorney General Rob Bonta told The Verge and other outlets earlier this week the …Read the full story at The Verge.
John Doe New York
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I finally see why everyone removes Windows bloatware – here’s my complete removal list
There are things Windows is good at, and other aspects where it fails miserably. Bloatware, I believe, falls under the latter. Over the years, Microsoft has been pushing more and more apps on Windows that offer no real utility to the vast majority of users. And after AI integration picked...
There are things Windows is good at, and other aspects where it fails miserably. Bloatware, I believe, falls under the latter. Over the years, Microsoft has been pushing more and more apps on Windows that offer no real utility to the vast majority of users. And after AI integration picked up, the list got even longer.
Mia Freeman United Kingdom
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Anker’s new earbuds are the first with its AI chip that boosts noise reduction
The Liberty 5 Pro Max feature a larger touchscreen with more controls and the ability to record meetings without a phone. | Image: Anker Anker has announced a new version of its Soundcore Liberty Pro earbuds: the new Liberty 5 Pro. These are the company's first earbuds featuring the Thus...
The Liberty 5 Pro Max feature a larger touchscreen with more controls and the ability to record meetings without a phone. | Image: Anker Anker has announced a new version of its Soundcore Liberty Pro earbuds: the new Liberty 5 Pro. These are the company's first earbuds featuring the Thus AI audio chip Anker announced last month, here being used to bolster noise reduction capabilities and help ensure the user's voice can be clearly heard during calls, even in noisy environments. They're the first new Soundcore Liberty Pro earbuds since the 2024 version that launched with a charging case screen. Joining the Liberty 5 Pro are a new Max version that add AI-powered note-taking capabilities through their charging case.The Liberty 5 Pro are available starting today for $169.99 in …Read the full story at The Verge.
Emily Brown Houston
Published by: aplhsindia.in
This $900 network switch has been flawless for nearly a decade, and it just taught me that it was a mistake
There's something about a network humming along for years without fault. After many hours of painstakingly configuring every aspect of it, from virtual local area networks (VLANs) to DNS filtering, there's little I've found to provide the same amount of accomplishment as getting my LAN fully up and running. The...
There's something about a network humming along for years without fault. After many hours of painstakingly configuring every aspect of it, from virtual local area networks (VLANs) to DNS filtering, there's little I've found to provide the same amount of accomplishment as getting my LAN fully up and running. The center of my home network is OPNsense and a few switches, including an almost-decade-old EnGenius ECS2512FP. This eight-port multi-gig network switch helps make the magic happen, taking in a 10Gb uplink from the network and providing eight points for the home lab to connect to.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I bought the RX 9070 XT for FSR 4, but the games I actually play don’t support it
When I bought my RX 9070 XT upon release, I expected FSR 4 to be one of the bigger parts of my upgrade. AMD's machine-learning upscaler had been positioned as the answer to DLSS, and the actual gameplay footage that was put out by reviewers backed up the image quality...
When I bought my RX 9070 XT upon release, I expected FSR 4 to be one of the bigger parts of my upgrade. AMD's machine-learning upscaler had been positioned as the answer to DLSS, and the actual gameplay footage that was put out by reviewers backed up the image quality claims. A year later, with Adrenalin 25.12.1 installed and the FSR 4 override toggle sitting right there in the driver, I still spend most of my evenings on FSR 3.1 or whatever older version a given game shipped with. Not because FSR 4 looks worse, but because the games actually loaded on my drive don't qualify for the override more often than they do. The toggle is a great piece of engineering, but the widespread support it promises isn't as widespread in practice.
Michael Johnson Chicago
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Anker’s new earbuds have the best call quality I’ve ever heard
The Liberty 5 Pro series are Soundcore’s most ambitious earbuds yet. Soundcore, Anker's audio brand, has mostly lived in the budget-to-midrange world, but with its new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it's aiming at the big guys. The two new earbuds - the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max...
The Liberty 5 Pro series are Soundcore’s most ambitious earbuds yet. Soundcore, Anker's audio brand, has mostly lived in the budget-to-midrange world, but with its new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it's aiming at the big guys. The two new earbuds - the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max - use Anker's new Thus chip, which has more processing power than previous Soundcore earbuds to try and compete with the chips found in Apple, Sony, and Bose products. And that extra processing power gives the Liberty 5 Pro the best in-call noise canceling I've heard in any earbuds.Previously, the highest-priced Soundcore earbuds (not counting the sleep buds) were the Liberty 4 Pro at $150, but the Liberty 5 Pro are $170 and the L …Read the full story at The Verge.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
PC gamers are leaving 20-30% performance on the table with this one setting
Let's say you spent months picking out parts or researching a pre-built PC. You made sure to get 16GB of fast dual-channel RAM, so your games would run smoothly, and your desktop wouldn't choke under heavy multitasking. But somehow your system feels strangely sluggish. You notice erratic 1% low frame...
Let's say you spent months picking out parts or researching a pre-built PC. You made sure to get 16GB of fast dual-channel RAM, so your games would run smoothly, and your desktop wouldn't choke under heavy multitasking. But somehow your system feels strangely sluggish. You notice erratic 1% low frame rate, which is stuttering, in CPU-bound games like Cyberpunk or Counter-Strike. Alongside this, opening heavy apps feels slightly delayed. For some reason, despite the fact that you opted for 16GB of RAM, it just feels like your PC is a machine with half of the memory capacity it has.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I stopped switching between four apps the moment I connected them to Claude Project
For a long time, my workflow was spread across too many disconnected places. Editorial tasks lived in one dashboard, side projects in another. My ideas were scattered across note apps, and my inbox was getting buried under marketing threads. At some point, switching dashboards and keeping context became more exhausting...
For a long time, my workflow was spread across too many disconnected places. Editorial tasks lived in one dashboard, side projects in another. My ideas were scattered across note apps, and my inbox was getting buried under marketing threads. At some point, switching dashboards and keeping context became more exhausting than the actual work.
Patricia Ellis United Kingdom
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Stop treating the Raspberry Pi 5 as a smart home hub — it’s actually built for something bigger
The Raspberry Pi has always been easy to recommend for home automation, but the Raspberry Pi 5 complicates that recommendation in a useful way. If all you need is a box to run Home Assistant, a few Zigbee devices, and some basic automations, it’s more machine than the job really...
The Raspberry Pi has always been easy to recommend for home automation, but the Raspberry Pi 5 complicates that recommendation in a useful way. If all you need is a box to run Home Assistant, a few Zigbee devices, and some basic automations, it’s more machine than the job really needs. A Raspberry Pi 4 can still handle that workload comfortably, and older models can remain useful for modest setups. The Pi 5 starts to make more sense when the home automation hub becomes part of a wider home lab rather than a single-purpose appliance.
Sophia Wilson Atlanta
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Lenovo’s G02 retro handheld is reportedly packed with copyrighted ROMs, including Nintendo games
The wild world of retro handhelds just got a little weirder.
The wild world of retro handhelds just got a little weirder.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Buying Plex Pass Lifetime is still one of the best streaming decisions I’ve ever made
I've been using Plex for more than half a decade, and one reason I've stuck with it is the lifetime subscription I bought. I still think it's one of the best purchases I've made for home streaming because Plex has almost everything you need for remote access and media management.
I've been using Plex for more than half a decade, and one reason I've stuck with it is the lifetime subscription I bought. I still think it's one of the best purchases I've made for home streaming because Plex has almost everything you need for remote access and media management.
Emily Lopez Switzerland
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I used frame generation wrong for months – here’s what helped
Even though I've been using an RTX 4090 since 2022, I barely ever enabled frame generation for anything besides benchmarking. Every time I toggled it on, I was just underwhelmed with how the game felt while moving around, and turned it back off within minutes. Sure, the FPS counter looked...
Even though I've been using an RTX 4090 since 2022, I barely ever enabled frame generation for anything besides benchmarking. Every time I toggled it on, I was just underwhelmed with how the game felt while moving around, and turned it back off within minutes. Sure, the FPS counter looked impressive and made for a great screenshot to show off to my friends, but the actual experience never felt nearly as transformative as the numbers suggested.
