April was poor in blockbusters, but rich in smaller releases. Here are 12 of the best new games that not everyone knows about
In April, the building game Manor Lords was the most requested game on Steam, but big blockbusters were few and far between. Nevertheless, many new titles were released on Steam, GOG and Epic that were not in the spotlight. And among them are also some insider tips, which we have picked out for you like every month
In order not to miss anything, this time we have also included two games that were released in March over the Easter weekend. We were unable to include this period in our article for the previous month
Quick navigation for those in a hurry:
- Open Roads
- A Divine Guide To Puzzle Solving
- Headquarters: World War 2
- Laysara: Summit Kingdom
- Underspace
- Rauniot
- Sker Ritual
- Bellwright
- Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
- Another Crab’s Treasure
- Sand Land
Table of Contents
Open Roads
- Genre: Adventure
- Developer: Open Roads Team
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: Steam
- Release: March 28, 2024
- Steam ratings: 75 percent positive (117 user reviews)
In Open Roads, you embark on an emotional road trip with your mother as 16-year-old Tess Devine to get to the bottom of your family’s secrets. You explore abandoned, long-forgotten places and have conversations with your mother. Visually, you can expect a mixture of realistic graphics and drawn characters.
A Divine Guide To Puzzle Solving
- Genre: Puzzle game
- Developer: Nementic Games
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: (Steam)
- Release: March 29, 2024
- Steam ratings: 97 percent positive (90 user reviews)
In this puzzle adventure, you are whisked away to the realm of the gods and have to traverse a pretty garden full of puzzles based on a special game mechanic: using the swap beam, you swap the positions of objects in the game world to get closer to the solution. You might even get to go home again as a reward!
Botany Manor
- Genre: Puzzle game
- Developer: Balloon Studios
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: (Steam)
- Release: April 9, 2024
- Steam ratings: 94 percent positive (264 user reviews)
Have you always wanted to live in a comfortable villa in rural England? Then enjoy a vacation at Botany Manor in the role of botanist Arabella Greene. Explore your sprawling estate and further your research: your goal is to grow rare plants from seeds by creating the perfect conditions
Headquarters: World War 2
- Genre: Round Tactics
- Developer: Starni Games
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: Steam, GOG, Epic
- Release: April 10, 2024
- Steam ratings: 80 percent positive (161 user reviews)
Real-time strategy is too hectic for you? Then try the turn-based strategy game Headquarters: World War 2. Here you lead tanks and soldiers from the Second World War into battle. In battles on destructible maps, you must always pay attention to the cover that buildings or destroyed vehicles can offer you
Laysara: Summit Kingdom
- Genre: Construction game
- Developer: Quite OK Games
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
- PC-Stores: Steam
- Release: April 10, 2024
- Steam ratings: 82 percent positive (483 user reviews)
Laysara: Summit Kingdom takes the construction genre to unimagined heights. In an Asian setting, you colonize the flanks of a huge mountain. Of course, this is not without danger and you must always protect your city from avalanches. If you get far enough, you can even build an impressive temple on the summit
Underspace
- Genre: Space simulation
- Developer: Pastaspace Interactive
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: (Steam), (GOG)
- Release: April 10, 2024 (Early Access)
- Steam ratings: 80 percent positive (161 user reviews)
When you hear science fiction, do you mainly think of fancy spaceships and laser cannons? Then Underspace (not to be confused with Everspace) is the game for you. The space game sees itself as the spiritual successor to Freelancer and lets you explore the wonders and dangers of a galaxy in a speedy fighter. Whether you become a trader, pirate or explorer is entirely up to you
Rauniot
- Genre: Point-and-Click-Adventure
- Developer: Act Normal Games
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: (Steam), (GOG)
- Release: April 17, 2024
- Steam ratings: 100 percent positive (35 user reviews)
With its post-apocalypse from the iso-perspective, Rauniot is reminiscent of Fallout at first glance. However, the point-and-click adventure is actually set in Finland, which has been destroyed by a natural disaster. You are part of a community of survivors and must travel through the dark and dangerous world on their behalf. In typical genre fashion, you explore various scenes and solve puzzles to progress.
Sker Ritual
- Genre: Co-op shooter
- Developer: Wales Interactive
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
- PC-Stores: (Steam)
- Release: April 18, 2024
- Steam ratings: 84 percent positive (2,504 user reviews)
Sker Ritual is similarly dark but much more action-packed. In this first-person shooter, you play alone or as a group of up to four players against whole hordes of repulsive monsters. You fight your way through an island landscape where bosses, collectibles and new abilities await you.
Bellwright
- Genre: Build-up strategy game
- Developer: Quite OK Games
- Platforms: PC
- PC-Stores: (Steam)
- Release: April 23, 2024 (Early Access)
- Steam ratings: 76 percent positive (2,338 user reviews)
Wrongly accused of murdering the prince, you are hunted down by the tyrannical king of a medieval kingdom. What reads like the beginning of a normal
role-playing game, however, aims to offer much more in addition to an extensive story. Alone or in co-op, you will build entire camps and settlements, raise armies and lead a rebellion. The game is still in Early Access
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
- Genre: Action game
- Developer: Surgent Studios
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
- PC-Stores: (Steam), (Epic)
- Release: April 23, 2024
- Steam ratings: 77 percent positive (203 user reviews)
In this Metroidvania, you play a grieving boy who wants to bring back his deceased father and turns to the God of Death. Armed with cosmic powers, you wander through mythological lands inspired by African cultures and master challenging battles against restless spirits.
Another Crab’s Treasure
- Genre: Action-Adventure
- Developer: Aggro Crab
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
- PC stores: Steam
- Release: April 25, 2024
- Steam ratings: 93 percent positive (1,549 user reviews)
If there was a prize for the craziest Soulslike, it would definitely go to Another Crab’s Treasure in 2024. As a hermit crab, you want to buy back your confiscated shell and set off on an adventure into the underwater world. You use floating garbage as armor and weapons to fight all kinds of animal enemies. Along the way, some sea creatures will teach you powerful new attacks, known as Umami techniques.
Sand Land
- Genre: Action role-playing game
- Developer: ILCA
- Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S
- PC-Stores: (Steam), (GOG), (Epic)
- Release: April 26, 2024
- Steam ratings: 90 percent positive (208 user reviews)
The last work of the recently deceased Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama is an action game with an open world. As the demon prince Belzebub, you travel through the desert and woodland of Sand Land with a wide variety of vehicles, which you then use in battles.
Have you come across a game in our insider tips that you might like? If you haven’t found anything, or your library is already overflowing anyway, you can take a look into the future with us: In the podcast, we talk about new details on the newly announced Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. And with Kingmakers, we took a closer look at a very wild genre mix.
