We're trying out a new format for our weekly list of new games on Steam you might have missed, with a separate entry for each week's collection. You can check out previous games we've highlighted here. As always, these are five of the smaller games that might have otherwise escaped your attention in the glut of titles that come out on Steam every day.
EXAPUNKS
Steam page
Released: August 10
Developer: Zachtronics
Price: $20
You may know Zachtronics as creator of puzzle games like Opus Magnum, Spacechem, and Infinifactory. He's also the brain behind hacking games TIS-100 and Shenzhen I/O, and EXAPUNKS is in that vein, thematically speaking. You're a hacker forced to make viruses and bust open the security of everything from banks to highway signs because it's the only way to get the medication you need. EXAPUNKS is set in 1997, so you learn how to hack by reading a zine called Trash World News between levels, which is a great concept. EXAPUNKS is in Early Access, but as with prior Zachtronics games it's feature-complete and will receive polish and balance tweaks over the next few months.
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass
Steam page
Released: August 8
Developer: Kasey Ozymy
Price: $15
It seems like there's an entire generation of game designers who grew up on the surreal JRPG Earthbound. Yume Nikki, Undertale, and now Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass all bear the weight of its influence. In this you're a boy who is sent out into the wide world by your mother on a quest for honey so she can make a cake, but along the way you'll use your power of imagination to transform into a variety of creatures with their own abilities and also get into turn-based battles with some real unusual monsters. It's quirky as all get-out, and pretty sizeable too.
Alter Army
Steam page
Released: August 7
Developer: Vague Pixels
Price: $4.50
A 2D action-platformer made by two teenagers from India (you can read their story here). Alter Army has a rocking guitar soundtrack, and one of its heroes wields a guitar as a weapon. You'll be smacking up evil trees and exploring a dying civilization, all in service of collecting crystals that summon a new batch of enemies each time you grab one.
LIBRARY
Steam page
Released: August 10
Developer: Happy Snake
Price: $2
A little game with the cutesiest visuals, LIBRARY is about throwing books at people. But in a nice way? You run through a colorful library making friends and then chucking books at them while everyone smiles as if it's all as delightful as tea and crumpets. It's got the jauntiest soundtrack, which is what makes it all seem like innocent fun. LIBRARY also contains Happy Snake's previous game, Morning Post, which was the same kind of thing only with envelopes instead of books.
Circle Empires
Steam page
Released: August 9
Developer: Luminous
Price: $8
Once a popular little demo you could get from Gamejolt, Circle Empires is now a full-fledged standalone game. It's an RTS where the map is made of circular areas representing mountaintops, all connected in a grid. You plunk down some workers in one circle, gather resources, make some fantasy troops and then march them over to one of the next mountains to take over. Circle Empires takes the RTS formula and makes it snackable.
These games were released in the week prior to August 12, 2018. Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.
