On average, about a dozen new games are released on Steam every day. I think that’s a good thing, but of course it’s hard to keep it going. Unless you sort out all the games released on Steam, potentially exciting gems will surely get lost in the flood of new plays. That’s exactly what we did. If nothing caught your eye this week, we’ve compiled an updated list of the best PC games you can play right now and his 2023 games coming out this year.
Sludge Life 2
Steam Pages
Release date: June 28th
Developer: Terri Vellmann, Doseone
Launch price: $15 | £12.79 | AU$21.95
Chris enjoyed his first sludge life, and you didn’t too? It’s a photography and vandalism sim set on a fucking tiny island surrounded by sludge. This sequel follows the same format, with plenty of surreal first-person exploration and bizarre interactions with his languid NPCs. In Sludge Life 2, you’re tasked with finding Big Mud (a lapping frog) in the ‘sprawling’ Siggy City Suites. It’s so vast that it even has its own private beach (Siggy Beach!). If Sludge Life 2 is for you, you’ve almost certainly already sold it, but even better, the installment has his double jump and portable launcher to make the majestic Ciggy Suites a breeze. It’s even better for jumping over. Weird game. It’s kind of like Hubert Selby Jr. and Todd Solondz co-created an Adult Swim cartoon.
pekoe
Steam Pages
Release date: June 29th
Developer:Kitten Cup Studio
Launch price: $14.39 | £12 | AUD $21.20
If the benefits of Sludge Life 2 are too many, suffocate Pekoe’s hilarious whim? It is a “tea making simulator full of cats” that runs a teahouse. In addition to brewing teas and concocting new and experimental tea combinations, you can also build and prepare your very own tea room. When you meet new townspeople (who are all cats, by the way), you’ll have to work hard to make the kind of tea that best suits their palettes. A game where you make tea for a cat, right? I don’t understand why this has never been done before. Pekoe is in early access and in early 2024 he will be released to 1.0, with new modes, ingredients, recipes and more to come by then.
Slavic Punk: Oldtimer
Steam Pages
Release date: June 29th
Developer: Red Square Games
Launch price: $17.49 | £14 | AUD $25.54
It’s a stylish isometric shooter based on the novel by Polish author Michał Gołkowski. SlavicPunk is a grueling sci-fi tale about Janus, whose work as a private detective puts him in regular clashes with gangsters and corporate minions. Thankfully, Janusz knows how to handle guns. While the action looks satisfying, the studio’s attempt to imagine an Eastern European equivalent of “Blade Runner’s LA or Akira’s Neo-Tokyo” seems especially interesting (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is already?).
Shogun Showdown
steam page
Release date: June 27th
Developer: Robotino
Launch price: $9 | £9 | AU$13.05
Now, putting the words “rogue-like” and “deck-building” in the same sentence is dizzying, but Shogun Showdown seems to be garnering a sizable audience in a completely saturated market. Studio Roboatino, which entered early access last week, has not hesitated to mention Into the Breach, Darkest Dungeon, and Slay the Spire on its Steam page, but the game also features gorgeously detailed pixel art and atmospheric music. And so on, it has its own sense. The Early Access period will last him for a year and will add many new elements including new playable his characters, skills, locations and more. Sure, the genre is saturated, but it’s also so exciting that it seems like a worthy contender for aficionados.
A long journey to an uncertain ending
Steam Pages
Release date: June 29th
Developer: Crispy Creative
Launch price: $21.24 | £17.84 | AU$31.02
It’s a narrative-driven management space opera where players play as a spaceship (the ship itself, not the pilot or crew). The problem is that the fictional world (and perhaps the real world) hates sentient spaceships. That’s why it’s important to have a good, sympathetic crew on your side. As a result, a large part of A Long Journey… is gathering and coordinating the crew. Sentient spaceships also seem to have a romantic relationship. The Steam description reads, “Take on any job and keep flying towards freedom to stay one step ahead of your abusive ex.” This is fascinating, isn’t it?
