Over 500 games are discounted on Steam this week, a sizable chunk of which are visual novels and cutesy anime games. But if gratuitous violence is more your thing, allow me to direct your attention to two of the sales' best games and steepest discounts: the Hotline Miami combo pack and They Bleed Pixels. 

Hotline Miami is a gory top-down action game about murdering gangsters in a chicken mask. As our own Graham Smith said in his review, it's "a tight, efficient game" that encourages brutal creativity and lives by trial-and-error. Through Monday, November 13, you can pick up the original Hotline Miami and the sequel, Wrong Number, for $6.79. Note that the individual games aren't discounted, so you have to buy the bundle. Luckily, the bundle is cheaper than either individual game. 

In a similarly grisly vein, 2D platformer They Bleed Pixels is available for $2—a hefty 80 percent off—through Monday. Phil called it "neat, but also absurdly difficult" back in 2015 when it received its big Crimson Update, which added a host of levels, speedrun leaderboards, and, crucially, improved blood effects. If you dig its chiptune music, you can also grab the soundtrack for $1, or kill two birds with one collector's edition9. for $2.59.

As previously reported, tech-noir tactics game All Walls Must Fall is also heavily discounted this week, as its Berlin Wall anniversary sale happened to line up with the weekly sale. Atmospheric survival game This War of Mine is another standout at 80 percent off. 

There are over 21,000 articles on PCGamer.com—I counted—and somehow not one of them is about They Bleed Pixels. That seems like a mistake, and one I will now attempt to rectify.

They Bleed Pixels is a hardcore combat-platformer. It's slower then, say, Super Meat Boy, but bolsters the extreme platforming challenge with a deep combat system that utilises combos and environmental traps. It's neat, but also absurdly difficult. And now, two years after its release, it's received a free update that adds new levels and an optional "novice" difficulty mode.

This live-action trailer should give you some idea of the tone and features of the Crimson Update.

Here's what's been added:

• New engine rewritten in C for 60fps gameplay on netbooks and older computers.
• Shorter and easier Novice Difficulty levels.
• New bonus levels! Winter s End and exp. 666.
• Record, play and share your best runs on the leaderboards. Watch the top players to improve your runs!
• Enhanced blood effects! Double the blood particles!
• Support for both DirectInput and XInput controllers.
• Lots of other little bits of polish, from save games to graphics options.

They Bleed Pixels is also now available for Mac and Linux. To celebrate the update, the game is 75% off until June 10. That makes it a ridiculously cheap 1.74/$2.49.