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 2022 games that are launching this year.
The Backrooms 1998
Steam page
Release: May 26
Developer: Steelkrill Studio
Launch price: $8.99 | £6.47 | AU$13.05
If you don't know what "The Backrooms" are, they're a location in an especially eerie internet urban legend inspired by a photo of an empty office space with a sickly yellow hue. It's worth reading the Wikipedia article for the full background, but it's a very popular creepypasta that has inevitably spawned quite a few Backrooms-themed horror games. Most aren't released yet, though The Backrooms: Survival is, and more recently The Backrooms 1998, which traces the unfortunate adventures of a '90s teen who has fallen into The Backrooms. Naturally, expect the inherently unsettling graininess of well-used VHS tape, and also expect to wander a bunch of poorly lit yellow hallways in search of an escape. This Early Access affair could take "a couple of years" while new features are added, such as randomized environments. I'm not sure how good this particular game is; consider this a heads up, or a warning, that there are plenty of Backrooms-themed games out there for those looking for them.
Freud's Bones
Steam page
Release: May 26
Developer: Axel Fox
Launch price: $12.59 | £11.69 | AU$17.95
This Kickstarter-funded narrative adventure game stars Sigmund Freud, the Austrian father of psychoanalysis. Unfortunately for our stern friend Freud, a "strange Egyptian artifact" in his possession has started talking to him, challenging him with philosophical puzzles that you, the player, must solve on his behalf. Don't expect the usual point and click adventure puzzles, because here you'll need to "psychoanalyse Freud's patients and explore their unconscious, to discover their hidden dreams, their obsessions, as well as the causes of their sexual disturbances". Doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs, especially if you make a big mistake.
The Sargosian Abyss
Steam page
Release: May 28
Developer: Esturia Games
Launch price: $6.39 | £3.99 | AU$9.20
As old school as they come, The Sargosian Abyss is a turn-based roguelike with a gorgeous 1980s DOS art style. Your four-strong team has been thrown into the Sargosian Abyss, and with their piddling starting weapons must progressively grow stronger and better armed, all the better to hopefully escape their fate. Of course, that's easier said than done, because this is a roguelike, and while there are only ten levels you'll need to complete the whole game without dying. There is an optional mode that turns off permadeath, but even that concession aside, this looks like one for the more masochistic tactical RPG lovers among us.
Hellslave
Steam page
Release: May 26
Developer: Ars Goetia
Launch price: $16 | £12.39 | AU$23.16
Here's a fascinating dungeon crawler with a bleak and bloodied art style reminiscent of Darkest Dungeon. The format is quite different, though: in Hellslave, the turn-based combat plays out from a first person perspective, though the dungeons themselves are navigated from top down, and each of these dungeons are reached via a larger overworld map. Your party is on a mission to make a pact with the Devil, which will apparently stop a world-destroying demon invasion. I don't think making a pact with the Devil is a very good idea, but it at least offers an excuse to wield some cool demonic powers as you fight your way through some very grim environments indeed.
Uninvited
Steam page
Release: May 26
Developer: Octavi Navarro
Launch price: $6.29 | £4.67 | AU$8.95
Another horror game (there are a heck of a lot of indie horror games releasing every week these days), Uninvited is a first-person affair with a unique art style blending pixel art with 3D environments. A group of friends have set themselves a challenge: a bunch of cards are scattered throughout an eerie old mansion, and using just a jar of fireflies as a light source, whoever finds all the cards wins, therefore becoming the "gang leader". Except, this all-in-good-fun activity quickly goes sour, as things are wont to do in horror games. At a time when most horror games opt for either a modern realistic approach, or else a 1990s polygonal veneer, Uninvited certainly stands out.
