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.
Equilinox
Steam page
Release: November 24
Developer: ThinMatrix
Price: $9.99 / £7.50 / AU$14.50
Equilinox is a nature simulator focused on creating and nurturing ecosystems. While you're free to plonk any old plant or animal into the sandbox world, choices will affect the grander picture. In the words of the devs, "every plant and animal has its own life-cycle, behaviors and requirements, so you need to ensure that each species is satisfied with its environment, has enough resources, and that the ecosystems are balanced." Flourishing life will earn you points, which can be spent towards changing the traits of your plant and animal species to more positive ends. It looks beautiful in action and people seem to be liking it: it's currently got over 300 "very positive" reviews on Steam.
Das Geisterschiff
Steam page
Release: September 21
Developer: Radical Fish Games
Price: $9.99 | £7.19 | AU $12.32
Das Geistershiff (German for 'The Ghost Ship') is a retro-styled, cyberpunk-themed dungeon crawler with ominous wireframe graphics. The player is a mecha pilot belonging to one of two dominant megacorps locked into perpetual war. The Steam description boasts that the game has "no healing, no ammo pickups, no mercy", and there is apparently a survival horror aspect to it. The game doesn't have any reviews on Steam yet, but it has a free demo and I'm including it because it looks very promising.
Maia
Steam page
Release: November 24
Developer: Simon Roth
Price: $24.99 | £17.98 | AU$35.95
A hardcore sci-fi colony building game, Maia has been in Early Access for a while but launched into 1.0 last week. As the leader of a colony on the planet Mai,a you'll need to carve out a life in an environment far from hospitable: it's "toxic to humans, yet lush with new life". That means, in addition to building the colony you'll also be focusing on survival, and also building and maintaining a gaggle of AI robots who can help mine for resources. The work of Simon Roth, this looks like a staggeringly detailed sim.
Storm Boy
Steam page
Release: November 20
Developer: Blowfish Studios
Price: $5.99 | £4.79 | AU$8.50
Storm Boy is a 2D narrative adventure game based on Australian novelist Colin Thiele's novel of the same name. Set on the south coast of Australia, it focuses on Storm Boy and his pelican sidekick Mr Percival as they go about their business doing a bunch of staunchly unviolent tasks: feeding pelicans, hunting for cockles, sailing, sand drawing and more. It's hard to tell how appealing this game will be to anyone who hasn't read Storm Boy (it's very popular in Australia), but it's nice that devs are out there, filling obscure niches like this.
Element: Space
Steam page
Release: November 21
Developer: Sixth Vowel
Price: $19.99 | £15.49 | AU$28.95
Launched into Early Access last week, Element: Space is a turn-based tactical RPG with a science fiction palette. Protagonist (and "rogue captain") Christopher Pietham is on a mission to destroy intergalactic terrorist network Tempest, and to do so he and his squad will use a power called the Sixth Vowel, which apparently lets you manipulate sound, light and matter. The game is in its final stage of development and will most likely launch in the first months of 2019. One for fans of XCOM.
These games were released between November 19 and November 26, 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.
