Cave Story dev's Kero Blaster hitting Steam with Zangyou upgrade

Kero Blaster

I get the feeling that Kero Blaster—Studio Pixel's platforming follow-up to its rightly revered Cave Story—slipped under many peoples' radars when it released last year. That might be because it's a slightly different type of platformer to Cave Story; it might be because it wasn't on Steam; heck, maybe people just really hate frogs. Well, Kero Blaster gets another shot at success with its imminent Steam release: the game is coming to Valve's monopolistic distribution service on November 11. Look, here's the game's publisher Playism announcing just that. And with a cute picture too.

Kero Blaster Steam

Now, 'game coming to Steam' isn't particularly noteworthy, but this is a good chance to tell you about Kero Blaster's recent big update, which added a new mode, extra stages and more story to the game. Zangyou mode went live on Playism three days ago, and will be included in the Steam release.

(Don't worry: if you bought the game on Playism, you'll be given a Steam key.)

Kero Blaster has had two free spin-offs—separate small games set in the same world. I've mentioned Pink Hour before now, while another, Pink Heaven, was released last month.

Wes reviewed the original version of Kero Blaster last year, and found it "refreshing to play a game with such mechanical purity, even if it doesn't do much we hadn't seen by 1993."

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Action
A unique aspect of Japanese architecture turned out to be a key reason the Like a Dragon games can reuse assets so effectively—and deliver more compact, memorable open worlds than western cities
Naoe looking at the wrist blade in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft says don't compare Assassin's Creed Shadows' success to Valhalla: The latter launched in Covid's 'perfect storm' and feedback on platforms 'less affected by review bombing' is stellar
A Lagiacrus render from Monster Hunter Generations, photoshopped over a screenshot of Wilds' Scarlet Forest region.
Oh my God, it's happening: Monster Hunter Wilds is finally bringing a fan-favorite sea snake home from the war
helldivers 2
'Never thought I'd go back' Helldivers 2 players steel themselves to return to the site of its most infamous battle, Malevelon Creek
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is a hit and Steam played a 'significant role' in that: 27% of activations were on PC and it's the 2nd-biggest AC launch of all time
assassin's creed shadows review
Assassin's Creed Shadows streamer goes viral after confronting whining commenters: 'Normal people don't get upset about this sh***'
Latest in News
Ciri in The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4 won't be out until sometime in 2027 at the soonest, CD Projekt says
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
A unique aspect of Japanese architecture turned out to be a key reason the Like a Dragon games can reuse assets so effectively—and deliver more compact, memorable open worlds than western cities
Pacific Drive Endless Expeditions spring 2025 update trailer still - a sexy, tricked-out 1980s station wagon being blasted with magic healing electricity
Pacific Drive developers change their mind: A year after refusing to give it mid-run saves, it's getting mid-run saves
Starfield's companion robot giving a thumbs-up
Former Bethesda dev who quit Starfield to go solo says it's 'much less stressful as an indie' without daily meetings or 'office politics': it's 'very refreshing to just care about the game'
Schedule I drug deal going down
Forget REPO, Monster Hunter Wilds and Assassin's Creed Shadows, Steam's current global top seller is an early access game about managing a drug empire