(Image credit: Larian Studios)
2024 games: Upcoming releases
Best PC games: All-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best MMOs: Massive worlds
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
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.
Murky Divers
Steam page
Release: June 20
Developer: Embers
Here’s a brilliantly morbid online coop game about erasing the evidence of your employer’s heinous experiments. Trouble is, the evidence is the bodies of murdered colleagues, and the workplace is an abandoned lab at the bottom of the ocean. That means long dubious trips to the darkest reaches of the ocean, and then long dubious trips back with corpses in tow. It better pay well! And to make matters even worse, there are hideous creatures to contend with. Murky Divers is an Early Access game: studio Embers expects to add a lot of new stuff over the next 12 months, including new beasts, biomes and more. In the meantime, this is getting some great early reviews, and will probably appeal to people who found Subnautica a bit too chill.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2
Steam page
Release: June 21
Developer: Byterunners
This first-person crime sim is set in the early 2000s on the tropical island of Isla Sombra. As the name of the game implies, this sleepy isle is where you’ll be doling out contraband to all and sundry, while either avoiding (or perhaps colluding) with cops. The open world is apparently “six times” bigger than the open world in the first Drug Dealer Simulator, and there are even more ways to acquire and produce drugs. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a drug dealer but, for whatever reason, have felt disinclined to enter that world IRL, why not simulate it?
Republic of Pirates
Steam page
Release: June 20
Developers: Crazy Goat Games
It’s been a good year for videogames about pirates, and this latest entry in the canon takes a different tack to most, with a focus on building a pirate utopia. Yes, it’s a city builder essentially, but one with a big focus on developing and maintaining infrastructure that can facilitate waterborne robbery. Keeping pirates happy is also a pretty important component—I’m guessing you’ll be building loads of distilleries—and never fear: naval combat is here, albeit from a top down perspective. If you’re looking for something more complex and strategic than Skull & Bones’ “go here and shoot this boat” format, this could be the ticket.
Dystopika
Steam page
Release: June 22
Developer: Voids Within
Dystopika belongs to the burgeoning genre of stress-free city builder—think Townscaper—except instead of peaceful ‘n’ pastoral idylls, you’re building a sprawling cyberpunk metropolis. Everything implied by cyberpunk is here: ginormous billboards, towering skyscrapers, flying vehicles, and endless rain. As someone who spent a lot of my time in Cyberpunk 2077 just slowly walking around at night, this definitely has its appeal. I guess it also rubs shoulders with Cloudpunk, in the sense that it’s a mood-first, conflict-free cyberpunk experience.
It’s Just a Prank
Steam page
Release: June 22
Developer: Bober Bros
A fascinatingly creepy first-person horror game about kids playing pranks on each other. I don’t really know much else about It’s Just A Prank; I’m mostly including it because the face models here are among the most exquisitely disturbing I’ve seen for a while. Which is a good thing! This is a 40 minute narrative-driven affair, and I’m guessing that the less you know about it going in, the better.
