Five new Steam games you probably missed this week
These games were released between 02.04-09.04
Terrorhythm
- Released: April 7
- Developer: EvilCoGames
- Publisher: EvilCoGames
- Price: $19.99
Terrorhythm is a rhythm action game which casts the player as a 25th century criminal / hero. In this cyberpunk-esque dystopia music has been banned, but you’ve gone ahead and played it anyway (in public, no less) and the cops aren’t having a bar of it. Situated in the centre of the screen, the hero must fend off hordes of oppressors to the rhythm of whatever beat is playing, and that’s arguably the best thing about Terrorhythm: you can play the game to any music you own on mp3. Not sure if Slayer ‘Reign in Blood’ is cyberpunk enough, but that’s what I’d recommend. While the concept is simple the devs promise that it “has a lot of nuances”, and you can tell when you watch the trailers that this is probably true. It’s in Early Access, and will remain so for around 2-3 months.
Infernium
- Released: April 3
- Developer: Carlos Coronado
- Publisher: Carlos Coronado
- Price: $24.99
This is a first-person survival horror with a permadeath system, and while it’s received mixed reviews here and there, the concept and art style is too interesting to ignore. There isn’t much of a story, but you’ll be exploring a surreal, “interconnected and persistent” world populated by enemies that you can’t destroy (you don’t have the means to do so). And by “persistent”, any changes you make to the world remain the same, even if you die, meaning every move needs to be considered thoroughly. There’s a photo mode, 17 interconnected levels, six player skills and a New Game Plus mode. Some reviews have complained about the unforgiving permadeath and one-hit enemy kills, but there are plenty of folk for whom that will be an incentive to play.
PWND
- Released: April 7
- Developer: Skydance Interactive
- Publisher: Skydance Interactive
- Price: Free
Yes, this arena shooter launched in October last year, but it’s worth including this week since it has now re-launched as a free-to-play game. It looks like a mix of Overwatch and Unreal Tournament, but for better or worse (better, in my minority opinion), its focus on aerial movement recalls Lawbreakers. There are three maps, five characters with varying play styles, and there’s a single player challenge mode with 20 levels. Apparently developed by folk with experience working on the likes of Borderlands 2, Armored Warfare, The Evil Within, and more.
The Day Online
- Released: April 4
- Developer: Reloaded Studios
- Publisher: Reloaded Studios
- Price: Free
And here’s another free-to-play action game, this time a third-person MOBA mixing ranged and melee combat in a neon-hued futuristic world. The focus is on keeping it fast-paced, and in that respect it might resemble (however vaguely) the recently abandoned Paragon. Early-game farming and building is minimized and there’s no mana cooldowns to worry about. Currently there are two arenas with two different play styles. It’s currently in Early Access, and the reviews at this early stage in development are mixed. But if you’re after a free-to-play action-oriented MOBA and you just don’t gel with Smite, it’s probably worth keeping an eye on, assuming it can build a playerbase.
Minit
- Released: April 4
- Developer: Reloaded Studios
- Publisher: Reloaded Studios
You play as a weird duck-looking creature who dies every sixty seconds, which is less of a pain in the arse than it sounds. That’s mainly because, in this top-down Zelda-like, the world state carries over with each death, as does the duck-looking creature’s inventory, meaning Minit plays out more like a fairly conventional adventure game intercut with regular inexplicable deaths. If that sounds annoying, well, occasionally it is, but when you adjust to the game’s imperative that everything must be done quickly and efficiently, almost balletically, then its appeal shines through.
