Five new Steam games you probably missed (February 21, 2022)

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. 

Liberté

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ February 15
Developer:‌ Superstatic
Launch price:‌ $13.59 ‌|‌ ‌£10.53 |‌ ‌‌AU$19.50

Sure, Spiders may be developing a game set during the French Revolution, but with robots, but how about the French Revolution, but shot through with cosmic horror? That's what Liberté is, basically. It's an isometric action rogue-like with a rich art style reminiscent of the modern Divinity games, where every aspect of your character is defined by a deckbuilding system with “over 100 unique cards”. Cooperative play for up to four people is supported, and there's a voting system for when important narrative decisions need to be made. An Early Access affair, Liberté is expected to launch into 1.0 by “Q1 2023”, and do be warned that the current build doesn't include the full main story.

Infernax

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ February 15
Developer:‌ Berzerk Studio
Launch price:‌ ‌$18 |‌ ‌£13.94 ‌|‌ ‌AU$26.05

Here's another retro-styled Metroidvania, with emphasis on the “-vania” side of that portmanteau.  You'll explore a vast interconnect world rendered in stunning pixel art, slashing at demons, collecting map-expanding power-ups, and slaughtering bosses—but only after they've repeatedly slaughtered you. The story is typically perfunctory: a “great knight” has returned from a heroic expedition, only do find his homeland “plagued with unholy magic.” Not good! Infernax is a very orthodox exploration platformer. Don't come expecting novelty or innovation, just a good time.

Super Dungeon Maker

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ February 16
Developer:‌ FIRECHICK
Launch price:‌ ‌$12 |‌ ‌£9.11 ‌|‌ ‌AU$17.20

Here's a cheerful looking tool for making your own 2D adventure games. Pretty much every mention of Super Dungeon Maker I've seen positions it as “Zelda Maker”, and that looks pretty close to the truth. The UI is a simple drag and drop affair, but of course, if you don't fancy yourself a game designer you can just play the in-built dungeons, or else dungeons made by the Super Dungeon Maker community. That community probably isn't massive at the moment, but hopefully it can grow over the course of the game's Early Access period, which is expected to last around six months.

Crown of Pain

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ ‌February 16
Developer:‌ Jagit Games, Coldwild Games
Launch price:‌ ‌$4.49 |‌ ‌£3.59 |‌ ‌AU$6.75

Here's a moreish match-3 game bolted onto an RPG. As you'd expect, you'll spend most of your time in Crown of Pain matching three identical tiles, but encounters are determined by which kind of tile you've managed to match. According to the Steam page there's a bit of freedom with how you kit out your build; you'll be able to synergize various heroes and the abilities they wield. But mainly, this takes a very familiar puzzle game and gives it a dark fantasy RPG spin. Crown of Pain is in Early Access and is expected to stay there for up to a year while new content is added, and a lot of balancing done.

Doki Doki Ragnarok

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ February 14
Developer:‌ BrutalHack
Launch price:‌ ‌$13 |‌ ‌£10.29 |‌ ‌AU$18.50

Are you seated? Because this game is strange. It's a viking visual novel dating sim, which is overall not such a strange thing: there's a pigeon dating sim after all. Except the vikings in Doki Doki Ragnarok aren't dating other vikings, they're dating villages. Yes: instead of violently raiding villages like you do in, say, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, you date the villages, and that's how you pillage them. “Date quirky villages across Europe,” the Steam page cheerfully promises. Videogames are a miracle. There's a free demo, too.