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.
CrossCode
Steam page
Release: September 21
Developer: Radical Fish Games
Price: $19.99
CrossCode is a gorgeous action RPG styled after 16-bit era classics, boasting “around 30-80 hours” of gameplay, according to studio Radical Fish Games. The variety here is reportedly enormous: there are 120 enemy types, 30 boss fights, 100 “combat arts” and just as many quests. You’ll encounter all this across a world with seven areas and seven “expansive” dungeons. The game has spent a while in Early Access but as of last week is officially feature complete, and it’s currently receiving “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on Steam from a pool of nearly 3,000. It’s rare for a retro-styled action RPG to not be a rogue-lite, and this is one of them. The studio believes it has struck a perfect balance between a classic action RPG and Zelda-inspired dungeon exploration. But there’s a demo if you want to test this for yourself.
The Gardens Between
Steam page
Release: September 20
Developer: The Voxel Agents
Price: $19.99
The Gardens Between follows Arina and Frendt as they adventure through “vibrant, dreamlike island gardens” solving puzzles. These puzzlescapes are rich and colourful, and decorated with all manner of nostalgic iconography: 8-bit games played on CRT screens; bike helmets plastered with stickers, typewriters, dot matrix printers. In keeping with this theme, time manipulation is at the heart of The Gardens Between’s puzzle solving. You’ll need to direct Arina and Frendt to the pinnacle of 20 islands, a journey which will “examine the significance of their friendship.” Aw.
Hyperspace Delivery Service
Steam page
Release: September 21
Developer: Zotnip
Price: $9.99
Hyperspace Delivery Service is a fascinating hybrid of space trading, pre-Doom first-person shooter, and ye olde space combat. Hired by the nominal delivery service, you’re tasked with travelling all the way across space to make a delivery to Miridian V. You’ll need to ensure your crew survive this trip, and along the way you’ll be gunning down robot space pirates both on foot (hence the Wolfenstein 3D-esque FPS component) and in space. While studio Zotnip promises the game offers “pick up and play style gaming”, it appears to be more engrossing than any of the separate components would suggest alone. A really curious game, probably worth taking a punt on.
Underhero
Steam page
Release: September 19
Developer: Paper Castle Games
Price: $14.99
Here’s the week’s obligatory 2D side-scroller, in the form of an RPG inspired by the Paper Mario series. According to studio Paper Castle Games, the combat is turn based… except it’s not. Instead, rather than turns you’ll use reflexes and timing. “We call it timing-based combat,” write the devs, and having not played the thing I’ll just have to take them at their word that it’s a bit different from real-time combat. The art style is all chipper pixels and Saturday morning cartoon gaiety, and there’s tonnes of secrets and mini-games and stuff like that. Looks pretty fun, but I’m a sucker for this stuff.
The Slater
Steam page
Release: September 21
Developer: Laina Interactive
Price: $14.99
The Slater kinda looks like what Max Payne or Hitman would look like, if either of those were first-person and developed by a single person (in this case, Alessandro Laina). A “story-driven first-person stealth-action-puzzle game”, The Slater follows grizzled former cop Mark Slater as he exacts revenge on the bastards who killed his father. There’s plenty of shooting, of course, though Laina encourages players to think of enemies “as puzzle pieces” - so expect a fair bit of stealthy movement and tactical planning. It’s tough to develop shooters, tougher still to do it yourself, but this is interesting enough to warrant a closer look.
These games were released between September 11 and September 24 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.
