Steam's Winter sale 2016 has begun: Hide your wallets!

As the all-knowing PayPal foretold, the Steam winter sale for 2016 has begun. Like all the sales before it, this one brings plenty of discounts on much of Steam's catalog. The sale will last until January 2nd as well, giving you plenty of time to consider your options.

Today also kicks off the first day of voting in the Steam Awards. Games were originally nominated for 10 different categories during the autumn sale last month, and now a winner from each category will be decided from five finalists. Voting each day will net you a Steam Awards trading card, and today's category is "Villian Most in Need of a Hug."

As with all sales from the past few years, all titles are marked down to their lowest price from day one. This gives you the duration of the sale to find good deals without the fear of missing out on flash and community choice sales. With that in mind, the highlighted deals will rotate every day at 1 PM Eastern, and here are a few good offers that jump out at us today:

Cities: Skylines – $7.49 (75% off)

Civilization VI – $53.99 (10% off)

Just Cause 3 – $14.99 (75% off)

Hyper Light Drifter – $11.99 (40% off)

Grand Theft Auto V – $29.99 (50% off)

The Walking Dead – $6.24 (75% off)

A lot of these deals are similar to the ones we saw during the autumn sale, but a little searching should reveal deeper discounts than last time. Many publishers and indie developers drop their prices to their yearly lows and go all out during the winter sale, so if you've been holding off on buying some games, now might be the time to take the plunge.