Users of Steam were greeted with a pleasant surprise this morning when they logged in: the Steam Summer Sale has started a little early this year, as Valve just announced the Monster Summer Sale for 2015.
The Monster Summer Sale features four categories of deals. You’ve seen two of these deals in Steam sales before:
-Daily Deals: Daily discounts on major games
-Flash Sales: Higher discounts on a new bunch of games every 12 hours
But new to this year’s summer sale are two additional categories. One category involves a mini-game Valve created specifically for this event called the Monster Summer Game. The more time users spend playing this game and fighting enemies, the more sales there will be. Milestones are reset every day.
Thankfully, you don’t have to actually play the Monster Summer Game to unlock daily deals, although you can be a Good Samaritan (and a fun gamer) by jumping into the game and playing it to help unlock more sales.
You’ll also get some trading cards, Steam experience points, and badges for your hard work.
The final surprise category lasts for the entire Steam sale. The sales aren’t as steep as the Daily Deals or Flash Deals, so they’re typically reserved for major flagship games or games made by stingy developers.

Wait Before You Buy

One of the most important lessons to remember about every Steam Sale is the importance of waiting before you buy. Wait until a game you like appears as a Flash Sale before you make a purchase, or wait until the final day of the sale (when all games go on sale again).
Of course, games are so cheap on Steam that it doesn’t make that big of a difference waiting for a Flash Sale compared to a Daily Deal.
Happy bargain hunting, PC gamers!