Five new Steam games you probably missed (February 18, 2019)

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 you can play right now and a running list of the new games of 2019.  

Jumpgrid

Steam page
Release: February 12
Developer: Ian MacLarty
Price: $4.99 | £3.99 | AU$7.50

Jumpgrid is a reflex-oriented action game with a mesmerising art style, tasking the player with hopping between nine grid nodes in order to avoid colliding with obstacles. That may sound dull on paper, but you need only watch the video above to know that it's anything but – especially if you like stuff like Super Hexagon. "This is a game about honing your muscle memory until you learn to dance with your fingers," reads the Steam description. Definitely a must for masochists and people who love beautiful graphics.

Hyper Jam

Steam page
Release: February 13
Developer: Bit Dragon
Price: $12.99 | £10.29 | AU$18.50

Hyper Jam is a top-down multiplayer brawler with a 1980s retrofuturistic aesthetic. Supporting up to four players, the game has an array of close-quarters and ranged weaponry including sledgehammers and rocket launchers, but it's the perk system that makes things interesting: basically, every round rewards players with a new perk, and these stack with every round and apparently result in some pretty interesting effects. The game supports local and online multiplayer, and while there's no single-player campaign you can play against AI if you want to.

Plane Mechanic Simulator

Steam page
Release: February 14
Developer: Disaster Studio
Price: $11.99 | £9.29 | AU$16.95

If you've ever harboured dreams of becoming a plane mechanic, I suppose Plane Mechanic Simulator is for you. Launched into Early Access last week, its focus is slightly more narrow than the name suggests: the player is a RAP ground crew technician "at the start of the Battle of Britain" and there are three British aircraft that need seeing too: the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1, the De Havilland Tiger Moth, and the De Havilland Mosquito. Overall, the game offers 81 missions and "almost 800 parts to tinker with". That sounds like a fairly niche proposition but as of writing, there are alreay 350 "Mostly Positive" reviews on Steam.

Snow

Steam page
Release: February 15
Developer: Poppermost Productions, WastedStudios
Price: Free

Snow is a free-to-play winter sports game newly launched out of Early Access. Set on a vast open world ski mountain, the game gives you free rein using snowboards, skis or snowmobiles, and while you can partake in competitive modes it's also possible to just glide about peacefully in Free Roam. It may be free-to-play but you won't be gaining access to everything the game has to offer unless you pay – thankfully it doesn't cost anything to see if it's worth your while.

Vainglory

Steam page
Release: February 14
Developer: Super Evil Megacorp
Price: Free

Here's another Early Access free-to-play game, only this time it's a MOBA which has until now been exclusive to smartphones. And on that note, Vainglory supports full platform crossplay, so it's possible to compete against friends on iOS and Android. As for the game itself, there are more than 48 heroes to choose from, and modes accommodating for both the casual and the hardcore. The game has found no small success on phones, so it'll be interesting to see if it gains similar traction of PC: at the moment, more than 900 users have reviewed it on Steam.

These games were released between February 4 and February 11 2019. Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.  

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.