2023 games: Upcoming releases
Best PC games: All-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPSes: Finest gunplay
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 2023 games that are launching this year.
Stray Gods
Steam page
Release: August 10
Developer: Summerfall Studios
This "roleplaying musical" is written by BioWare veteran David Gaider, and follows the trevails of Grace, a college dropout who acquires the power of a Muse. Long story short: that means she can sing real good, which will come in handy as she seeks to uncover the truth about what happened to the Muse before her. What follows is a narrative-driven adventure starring a gaggle of defamiliarised Greek mythical figures, a lot of interactive music, and a plot so rife with choices that "no two playthroughs are the same", according to the Steam page. This is a huge, ambitious, and stubbornly unique outing: it almost certainly deserves a closer look.
Bokura
Steam page
Release: August 10
Developer: ところにょり
This cooperative puzzle game features two runaway brothers seeking to put as much distance between themselves and their childhood homes as possible. To complicate things further, both encounter a dead deer which mysteriously causes both to faint—when they wake up, they're in seemingly different worlds. Bokura is a two-player affair, and can't be played alone. Nor can it be played in local coop, and for good reason: each player sees an entirely different game world, thanks to that dang deer. As a result, verbal communication is paramount (via Discord, probably: the game itself doesn't support native voice chat). It's a neat idea for a puzzle game, and it helps that the pixel art is pretty too.
Mondealy
Steam page
Release: August 9
Developers: uglycoal
Mondealy is a laidback retro-styled adventure inspired by the likes of Undertale and Oneshot. I don't know what it's about, but it's set in a kingdom full of characters who will happily talk to you, which I think is the primary appeal here: the writing, the humour, and the general wistful atmosphere. Across four districts you'll encounter mysteries, puzzles, and probably some sad people. There's also a free demo if you need convincing.
To The Core
Steam page
Release: August 10
Developer: SomethingExtra
When I write that this incremental game (think Cookie Clicker) is about drilling planets in order to get resources to drill other planets more effectively, and etcetera in perpetuity, I don't expect that to rock your socks. Fair enough, but the appeal of To The Core is mostly in the way it looks: this is probably the most visually appealing incremental game I've seen, and the sense of having passively acquired better and stronger tools is really well demonstrated on screen. Apart from that, well, it does seem to be a tad needier than your average clicker, but overall the early user reviews on this are abundant and favourable—pretty rare in this genre.
Acceptance
Steam page
Release: August 12
Developer: Rasul Mono
Not for the faint hearted, Acceptance is a psychological thriller in the vein of Detention: it has a sidelong perspective, disturbing horror elements, and is largely narrative focused. It follows the experience of a white collar worker in the wake of a loved one's suicide, and is based on the five stages of grief. While classified a thriller, I really think Acceptance looks and feels more like a horror game, and the above trailer alone is quite disturbing. Maybe one to enjoy—or at least experience—during daylight hours.
