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.
Lost Ruins
Steam page
Release: May 14
Developer: Altari Games
Launch price: $20 | £15.49 | AU$28.95
Lost Ruins is an exploration platformer (a Metroidvania, I guess) with a big chunky pixel art style. You’re probably well familiar with the territory because there are a lot of these games, but as usual the art style here makes it more attractive than some of the competition. The combat here is fluid and gruelling—think Dead Cells—but in addition to hacking and slashing away you’ll also be wielding magic with the usual array of status effects. Naturally, this one looks like a game for people already in love with the genre, but if you’re a fan of stuff like Hollow Knight, Ori, or more obscurely, the quite brilliant Alwa games, then you should consider Lost Ruins. A good game for a Sunday arvo.
Hundred Days – Winemaking Simulator
Steam page
Release: May 13
Developer: Broken Arms Games
Launch price: $22.49 | £17.54 | AU$32.35
You’ve probably consumed wine, but have you tried making it? Not easy! And an expensive endeavour too, but Hundred Days lets you simulate the whole process, from tending the soil through to constructing your production line and dealing with the whims of the market. It’s a pretty granular sim: you can even choose what kinds of yeast and bacteria you’ll use during the fermentation process, but there’s more relaxing tasks too, like designing your wine bottle stickers. The only thing the game really lacks is the ability to taste the wine, but maybe that’s asking too much.
Geometric Sniper – Blood in Paris
Steam page
Release: May 13
Developer: YAW Studios
Launch price: $1.59| £1.35 | AU$2.36
We covered the first Geometric Sniper game about a year ago: As a sniper, you pan across pencil-drawn environments in order to find your target and murder them. It plays like a gruesome hidden object game, and it must have proven decently popular, because now it has a new offshoot called Blood In Paris. The premise looks mostly the same, except this time around there’s the risk that you’ll get shot back. Hectic. There are also some changes to the way missions play out, but overall, it’s a light extension of the original game’s premise. Looks worth checking out if you love those Hitman sniper challenges. It’s an Early Access game, so more missions and a tutorial will be added over the next three months.
Purrfect Apawcalypse: Patches’ Infurno
Steam page
Release: May 14
Developer: Denny Truong, Andy Schneider
Launch price: $7 | £5.19 | AU$9.95
This is the third and final instalment in the Purrfect Apawcalypse trilogy, an off-kilter point and click adventure game featuring very violent cats and, occasionally, “bifurcated dogs.” You’re probably going to want to play the first two episodes before jumping into this one, but for those keeping up: This episode sees protagonist Patches “dragged to school for the first ever cat-and-dog day,” which sounds potentially dangerous since the cats and dogs in this series hate each other. If you’re after a misanthropic adventure game full of cheek, it’s worth investigation.
Broken Sky
Steam page
Release: May 13
Developer: Addictive 247 Games
$6.79 | £4.92 | AU$9.77
Here’s something nice and simple: A sidescrolling dogfighting game that looks quite a lot like Luftrausers. According to the Steam page there are “no boring, long winded missions—just fly, shoot and kill as many aliens as you can,” which is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. Despite this advertised simplicity there are a selection of planes to unlock and choose between, as well as upgrades to weapons and special abilities. But really, I think you just shoot aliens.
These games were released between May 10 to 17 2021. Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.