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.
Goodbye World
Steam page
Release: November 17
Developer: Yo Fujii
Launch price: $10.79 | £8.36 | AU$15.25
Goodbye World is a cozy blend of narrative adventure and retro platformer that takes as its theme the difficulty of making videogames. Protagonists Kanii and Kumade are old friends who have collaborated on a number of games that haven’t set the world on fire, eliminating their chances of quitting their menial part time jobs. The story is presented in 13 chapters, and intercut with 12 platformer levels that resemble the warm blanket action of ye olde GameBoy gems. The concept is really promising, the setting fascinatingly meta, and the pixel art is just stunning.
Organs Please
Steam page
Release: November 18
Developer: Techhome
Launch price: $12.59 | £9 | AU$17.95
Launched into Early Access last week, Organs Please is a game about operating a recycling factory, but there’s a big twist. Have you guessed? It’s a recycling facility for recycling humans, of course! This recycling facility is on a space ship, naturally, and in addition to building up these headquarters you’ll also be recruiting and nurturing your staff—though you can choose to turn them into canned food, apparently. A morbid concept, yes, but the art style is cheerful and it’s all apparently played for laughs. Organs Please will stay in Early Access until at least January 2023, and will receive “three major updates” between now and then.
Zero Sievert
Steam page
Release: November 16
Developer: CABO Studio
Launch price: $18 | £15.29 | AU$26.55
Zero Sievert is a tense, top down survival shooter set in a bleak, pixelated wasteland. With its Eastern European setting and post-apocalyptic vibe, this shooter resembles a retro take on the likes of Escape From Tarkov or DayZ, with a focus on extracting precious resources from five procedurally generated biomes before the irradiated wildlife turns you to mince. Zero Sievert’s Early Access period is expected to last for about a year, with new biomes, weapons, customisation options and more expected to roll out during that time.
Lapin
Steam page
Release: November 17
Developer: Studio Doodal
Launch price: $14.39 | £12.14 | AU$21.15
Did the modern indie Metroidvania kill the modern indie twitch platformer? Lapin promises otherwise: It’s a precision-oriented affair in the vein of Super Meat Boy and Celeste, starring five rabbits determined to escape their subterranean home. The art style looks like a lavish 1980s feature cartoon in action, with enough detail to look lovely but not so much that it’ll botch your reaction time. Do be aware that this is an Early Access game, and that its four final episodes aren’t in this current build. In addition to those levels, the game will also get “various collection elements” and Steam achievements in the lead up to its early 2023 full release.
Terracotta
Steam page
Release: November 15
Developer:Appnormals Team
Launch price: $16 | £13.40 | AU$23.60
Terracotta is an action adventure game with some vague resemblance to the old 8- and 16-bit Zelda games—if the over world was removed in favour of non-stop dungeoning. As a warrior tasked with protecting an Emperor “in his afterlife”, you’ll fight and puzzle through 80 distinct levels, with eight “brutal” bosses to defeat along the way. It’s an appealing simple concept that benefits from an art style that draws from traditional Chinese painting.