5 Must-Play New Steam Games to Try This Weekend

If it seemed like this week would be a good time to catch up on your Steam backlog, you were woefully mistaken. Following a week of retro indies, we got a major new game this week in the form of Mortal Shell 2, one of the year’s best Soulslikes. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though, as PC players have plenty of options to dig into this week.

Whether you’re looking for a good horror game, something cozy, or an ambitious MMO, there are plenty of new games to try on Steam this weekend. These are just five highlights you can check out on Steam right now.

Mortal Shell 2

The original Mortal Shell wasn’t exactly a genre-defining Soulslike. The grim action RPG was par for the course, launching to perfectly middling reviews. The developers at Cold Symmetry appear to have taken that to heart, because Mortal Shell 2 is a major improvement. Critics have praised the sequel for its refined combat, which gives players a lot more ways to customize their playstyle thanks to reworked Shells. That goes hand-in-hand with an enticing map, filled with standout dungeons, that begs to be explored. It’s been a slow year for action RPGs aside from Nioh 3, so Mortal Shell 2 is a welcome jolt of action.

The Sinking City 2

Speaking of hugely improved sequels, The Sinking City 2 sits in the same boat as Mortal Shell 2. The Lovecraftian horror sequel launched to significantly more positive reviews than its predecessor thanks to a full-on survival horror pivot that’s resonating with fans. Drawing clear inspiration from Capcom’s Resident Evil series, The Sinking City 2 is an ominous, gruesome third-person shooter that has you exploring the city of Arkham in the 1920s. Gory monstrosities await in dark alleyways, of course. If you don’t have time to get to it this weekend, at least get it on your Halloween playlist this year.

Stars Reach

The promise of Stars Reach is so massive that you can’t help but be curious about it. The indie MMO, which launched into early access this week, aims to give players a shared galactic sandbox to build in. It’s aiming to be a reactive outer space simulator where each decision a player makes can have a tangible impact on a planet’s ecosystem. It’s going to take a while for that vision to fully pay off; the early access version is indeed very early. So long as you don’t mind sifting through bugs to test a neat idea out, Stars Reach is interesting enough to toy around with right now.

Starsand Island

Image: Seed Sparkle Lab

If you’re looking for a new cozy game, Starsand Island is your best bet this weekend. The farming sim has just about everything you’d expect from the genre: fishing, relationship building, animal ranching, and even a bit of combat. It even puts a greater emphasis on exploration than some of its genre peers, letting you skateboard around a scenic island. With its charming visuals, it’s a great game for anyone who wants the hook of Fields of Mistria in a proper 3D game. (Though I won’t be leaving Mistria anytime soon — at least not until I wed Reina.)

Steins;Gate Re:Boot

For the visual novel crowd, this week is a big deal thanks to Steins;Gate Re:Boot. The remaster celebrates the 10-year anniversary of 2016’s Steins;Gate by rescuing it from PlayStation Vita jail and giving it a modern makeover. New visuals, improved UI, and more make a genre classic feel new again. The main reason to play it, though, is just to experience the original game’s out-there time-travel story. The remaster even throws in some new story content that expands a rich world even further. It’s a hefty game, but one visual novel enthusiasts shouldn’t miss.