On an average day about a dozen new games are released on Steam. And while we think that’s a good thing, it can be understandably hard to keep up with. Potentially exciting gems are sure to be lost in the deluge of new things to play unless you sort through every single game that is released on Steam. So that’s exactly what we’ve done. If nothing catches your fancy this week, we’ve gathered the best PC games (opens in new tab) you can play right now and a running list of the 2023 games (opens in new tab) that are launching this year.
The Aching
Steam page (opens in new tab)
Release: April 6
Developer: Hadrosaurus Software
Launch price: $7.49 | £6.37 | AU$10.87
Here’s a fascinating adventure game designed in the style of 1980s Sierra and LucasArts gems. It’s not “point and click”—you’ll use arrows and enter text commands—and it’s built using an engine that can run on a real ye olde Tandy 1000 (opens in new tab) PC. In other words it’s authentic, both in appearance and for the code holding it together, but you probably never played something quite this weird back in the ’80s. The Aching takes the form of a cryptic horror story: you’re “a pale creature” who has mysteriously ended up in a cave, and naturally, you want to find out a) where you are, and b) how you got there. It’s apparently a pretty unforgiving affair, but whether you play it or just watch the trailer, it’s a gorgeous thing to behold.
Kujlevka
Steam page (opens in new tab)
Release: April 7
Developer: Callback
Launch price: $18 | £15.07 | AU$26.55
Kujlevka is set in early ’90s Russia, in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Amid this period of bleak uncertainty, an alien vessel has landed on a farm in the town of Kujlevka, and it falls to you to make first contact with the marooned spacefarers. This is a bizarre looking game: between shaping the aliens’ impressions of humankind you’ll be trying to learn more about them, while occasionally exploring a dreamed version of Kujlevka.
Blocky Dungeon
Steam page (opens in new tab)
Release: April 7
Developer: SquareAnon
Launch price: $9 | £7.65 | AU$13.05
Blocky Dungeon is a neat hybrid of Tetris and dungeon crawler. It emerged as a prototype (opens in new tab) back in 2019 and blew the socks off a lot of people (including myself), so it’s nice to see this full release. The trailer sums it up well, but the basic idea is that you’re simultaneously crawling dungeons and playing Tetris, with the latter’s blocks forming the dungeon itself. There are three game modes, six dungeon themes, over 30 enemy types and, of course, given the nature of how maps are constructed, “infinite layout combinations”.
Hyperviolent
Steam page (opens in new tab)
Release: April 7
Developer: Terminist Arcade
Launch price: $13.49 | £11.69 | AU$19.75
Another boomer shooter for haters of regenerating health and 3D enemy models. This one is set on a mining colony in deep space, where shit has reportedly hit the fan. It’s your job to get to that asteroid outpost and fix things with your gun. Interestingly, Hyperviolent seems to have Descent-style six-degrees-of-freedom combat too, but the focus is very much on pointing weaponry at gib-spewing bipedals. Hyperviolent is an Early Access affair: it contains five of eleven planned levels at the moment, but the final version is expected to release during the first half of this year.
Wall World
Steam page (opens in new tab)
Release: April 6
Developer: Alawar Premium
Launch price: $4.24 | £3.64 | AU$6.37
Wall World is a topsy-turvy roguelite about commandeering a giant robotic bug along a ginormous wall. This giant bug is your base, from which you’ll occasionally disembark to spelunk through the wall itself, all the better to secure precious materials and upgrades. If all this sounds blissfully stress free then think again, because of course there are baddies trying to kill you the whole time, both while you climb the heights of the wall and while you explore the mines. It’s a fun looking mix of tower defense and dungeon crawler, with some really nice pixel art.
