On average, a dozen new games are released on Steam every day. And while we think that’s a good thing, it can be hard to keep up. Potentially exciting gems are sure to be lost in the deluge of new things to play, unless you sort through every game released on Steam. So that’s exactly what we did. If nothing appeals to you this week, we’ve rounded up the best PC games you can play right now and a running list of 2023 games launching this year.
A guide to Babel
Steam page
Released: August 3
Developer: StarryStarry
A Guide to Babel was released on Nintendo Switch last year, but eventually made the jump to PC. It’s a point-and-click adventure about a mysterious ship known as Babel, which is populated by the dead. This vessel from the afterlife is literally fueled by memories, so it’ll have to be taken care of, but you’ll also have to delve into the memories to slightly alter their order of events, to better create more preferable butterfly effects. While a proudly story-driven affair, A Guidebook of Babel is also very puzzle-focused, with some light RPG elements.
Daisy in the Bunburrows
Steam page
Released: August 3
Developer: Bunstack
This game about catching cute bunnies was a surprise hit on Steam last week. Described as a “path-finding puzzle game to catch bunnies”, it’s essentially about learning pixel bunnies patterns and outsmarting them. It gets progressively more complicated with the addition of new tools – traps, pickaxes, carrots – and of course, increasingly awesome bunnies. There are over a hundred to catch, all of which are added to a pen that you can then marvel at forever. Oh, and if that’s not enough for you, the same developer has another rabbit-centric game coming out soon called Horribunnies.
Refidenptio
Steam page
Released: August 5
Developers: Nezashiron Games
Refiendenptio is a bizarre and surreal first-person shooter about depression. Its 1-bit graphical style looks appealing and morbid, but also serves a practical purpose: most enemies have two possible colors, and every weapon has two colors – you have to match them, hence the high contrast visuals . The game takes place in the mind of the protagonist, who must navigate a world of despair in search of some semblance of hope, the better to avoid possible tragedy. Refidenptio is in Early Access and will stay there for up to a year while the developers add loads of new stuff to the game including cutscenes, new villains, new weapons, and more.
The adventure of the frog
Steam page
Released: August 2
Developer: Sokpop Collective
Sokpop Collective has gone on a point-and-click adventure about a cursed frog with sudden intelligence. They are no longer just frogs going about their instinctive frog business: now they have consciousness and feel emotions. Completely undesirable! Your job is to navigate a charming hand-drawn world in search of a fairy who can return you to normal. Along the way, you will meet other animals also stricken with this curse of intelligence. Expect fun conversations, tricky puzzles, and walking (fishing) fish.
Pig saw
Steam page
Released: August 2
Developer: Christopher Yabsley
Pigsaw is one of those mind-bending horror experiences that’s both shocking and darkly hilarious. It takes place in a slaughterhouse where pigs do the slaughter and humans die. It’s wildly over the top, both in terms of the oppressive sound design and the grossness of the pigs themselves, in that even the likes of Murder House seem cheerful by comparison. You’ll spend a lot of time quietly escaping these monstrosities, or shooting them straight in the face if you’re lucky enough to have ammo, or hitting them with a pipe. The good news is that, as hectic as Pigsaw is, it’ll be over in an hour. That’s probably all you can handle. This was released on Itch.io in 2020; this is its debut on Steam.