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 2021 games that are launching this year.
Colossus Down
Steam page
Release: December 17
Developer: Mango Protocol
Price: $17.99 | £14.99 | AU$25.95
This game sounds pretty cool: it follows the exploits of a little girl in a mech who's determined to smash the crap out of everything that she doesn't like. It's a sidescrolling beat 'em up with a colourful cartoon art style, which isn't exactly novel, but the motivation of its protagonist certainly is. What are the things Nika doesn't like? "History books, planned obsolecence, kitschy dresses, never-ending sagas of boring video games and pea soup," so reads the Steam description. So look forward to smashing the crap out of those things, I guess.
Dealer's Life 2
Steam page
Release: December 17
Developer: Abyte Entertainment
Price: $9.99 | £8.49 | AU$14.95
It's not what you think: it's a pawn shop tycoon game where you'll be haggling your way from rags to riches, learning to separate the wheat (authentic antiques) from the chaff (counterfeit antiques) and fending off the advances of scammers. It's a sequel to the relatively popular original, which only released last year. But Dealer's Life 2 is a significant expansion, and like its predecessor it'll be finetuned in Early Access with an expected 1.0 release early next year.
Leafling
Steam page
Release: December 16
Developer: Celtaria Productions
Price: Free
Here's a free-to-play MMO with a gorgeous pixel art style heavily reminiscent of Stardew Valley. Don't expect a breezy and benign farming adventure, though: this is an action RPG with all that entails: a wealth of classes to choose from, randomised gear and a wealth of dungeons to crawl. There's overworld PvP and, apparently, "no pay-to-win mechanics," with the game's monetisation focused on cosmetics. Leaflings is in Early Access, and is expected to launch proper in late 2021.
Eternal Radiance
Steam page
Release: December 16
Developer: Visualnoveler
Price: $19.99 | £15.49 | AU$28.95
This JRPG has been in Early Access for a while, but if you've been waiting for each chapter to roll out and for the game to feature complete: now's the time. Eternal Radiance is about as orthodox as 3D JRPGs get: it's very story focused, though there's plenty of action combat (it's not turnbased), plenty of sidequests, and a fair bit of gear customisation. If you're after some traditional comfort food for the holiday break, this looks like a good candidate.
Kontrol Flow
Steam page
Release: December 15
Developer: Tyler Stansfield Jaggers
Price: $6.99 | £5.19 | AU$9.95
Here's a puzzle game inspired by "1980s electrical and plumbing simulations," which is probably an instabuy proposition for some of you. The gist of it is this: you have to connect generators to the right ports using "interactive fuses." So at its core, the game is kinda like Pipe Mania with some interesting twists and complications. The art style is compelling enough, and the game seems to do a good job of easing the player in to its gradually ramping difficulty curve.
These games were released between December 14 and 21 2020. Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.
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