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 2024 games that are launching this year.
Buckshot Roulette
Steam page
Release: April 5
Developer: Mike Klubnika
Originally released on itch.io last year, Buckshot Roulette has made a big bloody splash with its arrival on Steam, proving there’s no shortage of sickos Russian roulette enthusiasts out there. The game is pretty simple: enter a den of iniquity, place your bets against the creepy opponent, and then cop a shotgun round in the head if you lose. It doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun when laid bare like that, but the morbid atmosphere is what elevates Buckshot Roulette, with its disturbing subterranean bunker setting mixing well with the coldness of its techno soundtrack. It’s the work of Mike Klubnika, whose horror mini-game compilation Unsorted Horror was well-received by sickos upon release last year. Needless to say, not for the faint of heart. There are leaderboards.
Withering Rooms
Steam page
Release: April 5
Developer: Moonless Formless
Launched from Early Access into 1.0 last week, Withering Rooms is a sidescrolling, procedurally generated take on Resident Evil, with RPG progression and scrappy combat. Set in a creepy Victorian mansion (is there a Victorian mansion that isn’t creepy?), the objective seems to be to escape, but good luck: there’s a lot of baddies and not very many goodies, and even the goodies are a bit suss. It’s a gorgeous looking game, with a lot more variety than the Victorian mansion setting would suggest.
Quit Today
Steam page
Release: April 3
Developers: Youcan Co., Ltd
Quit Today is a roguelite beat ’em up about going out with a bang. Forced to resign from a meaningless corporate job due to being branded a traitor, the newly liberated / unemployed protagonist must escape unscathed from the premises. That means, of course, beating the crap out of former colleagues with a briefcase! The office building is scattered with various buffs and upgrades to make that process a little easier and more enjoyable, and there are a handful of companions you can call upon for help. Looks like some cathartic fun for the terminally deskbound.
Silent Breath
Steam page
Release: April 6
Developer: Exodiac Studios
Silent Breath is a first-person horror with a very convincing found footage aesthetic. Armed with just a 1990s camcorder, the hapless protagonist must search a mysterious forest for missing people, and—surprise, surprise—those people are missing because of some freaky shit. The camcorder point of view makes for a startlingly realistic presentation, but it’s the microphone implementation that is the star: if you scream or, presumably, murmur a shocked swear word in Silent Breath, the monstrosities are going to hear you. This is an Early Access affair: the full version will release by the end of the year with “new scares”, VR implementation, and more.
Dishwashing Simulator
Steam page
Release: April 3
Developer: Frinky, Frosty
Man, I don’t even know what Dishwashing Simulator is. There is definitely some dishwashing involved, but there also appears to be lots of aimless wandering through disturbing dungeons that feel torn from a fever dream or, maybe more accurately, the Windows 3D Maze screensaver (with better lighting). There’s also “base building”, though it’s more akin to decorating an underground lair. Anyway, despite my confusion I’m definitely very keen to check out Dishwashing Simulator. So says the Steam description: “In Dishwashing Simulator, washing dishes is not just a chore, it’s your existence, a puzzle to solve, and a journey to freedom. Don’t be fooled by the suds and bubbles, there’s more beneath the surface than you’d expect.”
