(Image credit: Larian Studios)
2024 games: Upcoming releases
Best PC games: All-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best MMOs: Massive worlds
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
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 2024 games that are launching this year.
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II
Steam page
Release: February 15
Developer: Experience, Ghostlight LTD
The first Death Mark game was a gratifyingly odd Japanese horror, so I was surprised to see this sequel release last week: I hadn’t known it was in development. It’s a visual novel with first-person point ‘n’ click adventure sleuthing elements, though this new instalment adds a small amount of exploration thanks to its side-scrolling navigation. The protagonist is a Spirit Doctor sent to the fancy Konoehara Academy to investigate some pesky supernatural visitations. What follows—if it’s in any way like the first Death Mark—is an atmospheric and occasionally disturbing story with a really, really gorgeous art style.
News Tower
Steam page
Release: February 14
Developer: Sparrow Night
This Early Access tycoon sim is about building and running a newspaper in early 20th century New York. Once you’ve got a daily out on newsstands, it’s time to decide what goes in the paper, what gets left out, and whose agenda you’re going to disseminate—whether opportunistically or by force. Which is to say that if you publish something the mafia doesn’t like, for example, that might have consequences. Whether playing as a flagrantly unethical publisher or as a truth-dedicated paragon, News Tower still has you picking and choosing from various 1930s news stories and space is limited. This Early Access build includes the period 1930 to 1932; the final build will go all the way up to 1939.
Neon Tail
Steam page
Release: February 17
Developers: Fei, Leo, Yang
Long in Early Access, this stylish open world skater has finally hit 1.0 and it looks great, especially if you loved Jet Set Radio and Rollerdrome. Neon Tail is similarly about skating on rollerskates, not a skateboard, and there are ways to gain “strange super powers” to make your trips around the neon-hued Bluepulse City more dramatic. Oh, and there are aliens, so getting rid of those with guns and various bizarre melee attacks while moving balletically around on wheels is also on the menu. Looks like a lot of fun.
Lords of Exile
Steam page
Release: February 15
Developer: Squidbit Works
8-bit platformers with grainy dark fantasy pixel art are among my very favourite things, so of course I’m including Lords of Exile this week. It’s basically an old school Castlevania instalment (back when they were linear), but if you’re a bit younger it may be more useful to reference Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. There are eight levels, two playable characters, a boss rush mode and more annoying enemies with hard-to-hit movement patterns than you can wave a katana at.
20 Small Mazes
Steam page
Release: February 17
Developer: FLEB
The name seems self-explanatory and not particularly promising, but this free puzzler offers up not just 20 simple mazes but 20 new twists on mazes. One maze needs to be folded in a certain way to be completable, another has destructible walls, and yet another puts you in control of the maze itself, repositioning around the navigating dot. It’s free, takes about two hours to complete, and is sitting on an “overwhelmingly positive” ranking on Steam. Seems like a no-brainer.
