Five new Steam games you probably missed (March 11, 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.  

Ethereal

Steam page
Release: March 8
Developer: Nicolás Recabarren, Tomás Batista
Price: $9.99 | £7.19 | AU$ No price

Ethereal is a puzzle game with an entrancing art style – think the minimalist angle-oriented aesthetic of N++ dowsed in a bit more colour. This isn't a hard-as-nails affair though, in fact it looks quite relaxing. According to the Steam description, "each corner of its world has been carefully designed to communicate without any text and [to] expose a novel puzzle to solve without time pressure, evoking an introspective state of mind." There are 24 levels across four worlds, with new twists on the gameplay formula around every corner.

Shotgun Farmers

Steam page
Release: March 9
Developer: Megastorm Games
Price: $9.99 | £6.99 | AU$14.50

As the name implies, Shotgun Farmers is all about farming shotguns – or is it about farmers wielding shotguns? Both, actually! It's a multiplayer first-person shooter centred around farmers scrapping with shotties, but it has a big twist: every missed shot (ie, every shot that doesn't collide with an opponent) grows a new gun. The longer that gun is allowed to grow, the more ammunition it will have. Confusingly, there are more than just shotguns in the game, apparently there are sniper rifles too. It launched out of Early Access last week with a handful of game modes, and looks stupid enough to be amazing.

TAMASHII

Steam page
Release: March 6
Developer: Vikintor
Price: $4.99 | £3.39 | AU$7.50

Tamashii is a sidescrolling pixel-art horror game inspired by "obscure Japanese games from the 90s and late 80s". As far as I can gather, the player character is exploring a mysterious temple full of horrors, atrocities and perversions.Which obviously sounds pretty great – but words probably won't do it much justice, check out the trailer. The music in particular is brilliant.

Ruination

Steam page
Release: March 9
Developer: Zachary Lee
Price: $0.99 | £0.79 | AU$1.50

Ruination is a pretty straightforward sidescrolling platformer, but get a load of the gunplay in the trailer here (I couldn't find a version to embed, annoyingly). And get a load of the euphonic bleeps and bloops of that heavy-duty weaponry! It's definitely a precision-oriented affair, and while its 12 levels and three bosses can probably be completely very quickly by pros, I dare say most of us will be dying hundreds of times. Ah, the enduring appeal of punishing games. 

Undead Horde

Steam page
Release: March 6
Developer: 10tons Ltd
Price: $14.99 | £11.39 | AU$21.50

Launched into Early Access last week, Undead Horde is a top-down RPG which finally lets us wreak havoc as the undead. Players take the role of a necromancer leading a gaggle of technically-dead minions (up to 100 of them!) against the oppressive living. Felled enemies can be recruited throughout the world, and there's apparently an "endless number" of weapons, trinkets and magical items. The game is expected to launch into 1.0 within two months.

These games were released between March 5 and March 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.