(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
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.
ArcRunner
Steam page
Release: April 27
Developer: Trickjump Games Ltd
Launch price: $18 AU$24.25
Remember Skinny and Franko? I didn’t, but I Googled it and there was indeed a 1994 Amiga game called Franko, upon which this newer beat ’em up is based. Considered an Amiga Final Fight clone back in the day, this new instalment in the series looks like a pretty conventional sidescrolling brawler, albeit with a grittier vibe than most modern takes on the genre. There are eight main stages, over 50 weapons and special attacks, and—most appealingly—over “80 different bullies and morons” to pummel. As you’d expect, local cooperative play is supported, which is the very best way to beat the crap out of baddies.
Digital Exorcist case_(0);
Steam page
Release: April 28
Developer: Cool Beans Productions
Launch price: Free
This freebie is an adventure game visually inspired by the PC-98 catalogue, but it also takes cues from the likes of The Silver Case. A mix of horror and deductive gameplay, the protagonist is a washed out digital exorcist tasked with investigating a crime and then fixing it via the exorcism of a demon. This forbidding task takes him to some strange places, most notably to a “spooky deep web forum”. Expect to solve puzzles, fight demons, and reconstruct crime scenes, but most importantly, to soak up a very unsettling and weird atmosphere.