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.
Edge of Eternity
Steam page
Release: December 6
Developer: Midgar Studio
Price: $19.99 | £15.49 | AU$28.95
Launched into Early Access last week, Edge of Eternity is a third-person JRPG developed by a team of nine. On paper, it'll immediately appeal to anyone keen on modern turn-based JRPGs, and Midgar Studio has even recruited Yasunori Mitsuda of Xenoblade Chronicles and Chrono Trigger fame to compose the soundtrack. It's unusual for an indie studio to tackle a fully-fledged JRPG, with all the narrative and world design challenges that entails, but Edge of Eternity definitely looks the part and it's currently sitting on a "Very Positive" rating. Be warned that the game currently only boasts "a small portion" of the final product, ie, the first chapter. It's expected to launch proper in 2020 with Steam Workshop support.
Battle Princess Madelyn
Steam page
Release: December 6
Developer: Causal Bit Games Inc
Price: $19.99 | £15.49 | AU$28.95
Battle Princess Madelyn is a retro-styled 2D platformer with a huge whiff of Ghouls 'n Ghosts about it. Developed in collaboration with the daughter of creative director Christopher Obritsch (whose name is, by the way, Madelyn), the art style is rich and vibrant and the difficulty as high as you'd expect from a game inspired by 8-bit classics. The game features a story mode and an arcade mode (the latter apparently for "the experts"), across ten levels with five stages. It's definitely among the more interesting looking retro platformers to release of late.
Iris.Fall
Steam page
Release: December 7
Developer: NEXT Studios
Price: $14.99 | £11.39 | AU$19.99
Iris.Fall is an intriguing third-person puzzle game (with fixed camera perspectives) with an eerie monochrome aesthetic. "After awakening from a dream, Iris follows a black cat into a dilapidated theater, traveling back and forth through a strange labyrinth of light and shadow," so reads the Steam description. "As the story unfolds, Iris begins to realise that everything in this theater seems to have some kind of hidden connection to herself." As far as I can tell, Iris can switch between light and shadow versions of the game world, which plays pretty heavily into how puzzles are solved.
Override: Mech City Brawl
Steam page
Release: December 4
Developer: The Balance Inc
Price: $29.99 | £24.99 | AU$44.95
Here's a lavish mech-brawler with a strong Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic, if Saturday morning cartoons featured blistering dubstep soundtracks (maybe they do nowadays?). While there's a single-player campaign, the local and online multiplayer seems to be the big selling point here: there are twelve mechs to choose from, each with their own skills, and most importantly the arenas are all cities based on real locations. As you'd expect, these cities can be gloriously demolished during the mech tiffs. There's mech customisation, and even a cooperative mode where up to four players are responsible for controlling the same mech. Definitely one for fans of mechs and destroying cities.
Aeon of Sands - The Trail
Steam page
Release: December 5
Developer: Two Bits Kid
Price: $19.99 | £16.99 | AU$28.95
Aeons of Sands is a fascinating take on the ye olde grid-based first-person RPG, with turn-based combat and grim fantasy landscapes and dungeons. The thing that stands out most about this however, is that you're not playing a steely warrior or mystical wizard: you're "a likeable slacker, who is suddenly thrown out of his cozy home into a terrible, infinite desert that seems to hate him." While quite story-focused it's far from linear, and the way you engage in dialogue appears to be just as important as your skill in combat. It looks like a fascinating spin on a classic genre.
These games were released between November 26 and December 3 2018. Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.
