The new week on Steam brings fresh games in abundance. We show you the 17 most exciting releases of the week.
This week, a wide range of new releases await you on Steam – from dark historical reworkings to atmospheric sci-fi psychological thrillers to an ambitious life simulation. As always, we provide you with an overview of the most important Steam releases of the week.
Table of Contents
Highlight of the week: inzoi
(Genre: Life Simulation – Developer: inZOI Studio – Release: March 27 (Steam/Early Access)
Have you always wondered what a modern version of The Sims would look like in a real open-world city? Inzoi tries to do just that: a huge city is simulated simultaneously, and each of your characters – known as Zois – pursues their own needs and daily routines.
You take on the role of an almighty creator
and can build houses for your Zois, assign them jobs, let them enter into relationships and watch as their stories unfold – or control every action yourself.
Thanks to Unreal Engine 5, Inzoi scores with amazingly realistic graphics and an extensive character and city editor that already makes The Sims look old. However, the Korean Sims
initially starts in early access – a lot of content will only be added in the coming months.
Even though Inzoi definitely has a big wow factor, we still struggled with the gameplay in our early access test.
Monday, March 24
- Schedule I (Early Access): This open-world co-op game lets you build a criminal empire. As aspiring drug barons, you take care of production, trade, and business relationships – a kind of Breaking Bad you can play in.
- Folklands (Early Access): A relaxed city-building game that will enchant you with procedurally generated island worlds and cute low-poly graphics in the style of The Settlers 3. You found your own little village, collect resources and build a lively settlement step by step. Perfect for unwinding after a stressful day – the game emphasizes coziness over challenge.
- Drive Beyond Horizons (Early Access): In this mix of open-world exploration and driving simulation, you drive your car through expansive landscapes. Drive Beyond Horizons sends you on a road trip to uncharted territories, where you search for resources, upgrade your vehicle and uncover secrets. Think of it as a mix between SnowRunner and No Man’s Sky.
- Dark Deity 2: Fans of turn-based tactical RPGs take note: Dark Deity 2 picks up 25 years after the first installment and once again sends you into strategic battles with a squad of heroes, reminiscent of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. Developer Sword & Axe promises improved class and skill management – this time there are 45 unique classes to choose from, which you can use to develop your 20 heroes.
Tuesday, March 25
- The Darkest Files: After Through the Darkest of Times, developer Paintbucket Games is once again turning its attention to Germany’s Nazi past. In The Darkest Files, you take on the role of young public prosecutors in post-war Germany in the 1950s, who are supposed to bring unpunished Nazi crimes to court. The gameplay mixes visual novel elements with investigative adventure fare: you collect evidence, question witnesses and have to fight for historical justice in court proceedings. A serious, story-driven game.
- Nordhold: Tower defense meets city building in the far north. Nordhold lets you build a Viking settlement and defend it against waves of enemies. During the day, you collect resources, reinforce walls and train heroes; at night, hordes of enemies attack, and you fend them off with traps and defense towers.
Wednesday, March 26
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad: An action RPG that lets you write your own story in the GoT universe. You will explore famous locations from King’s Landing to the Wall, complete quests and fight all kinds of threats such as wildlings and white walkers. The title will be cross-platform playable as it is also being developed for mobile devices in parallel.
- Legend of Heroes: Three Kingdoms (Early Access): The sandbox role-playing game transports you to China during the Three Kingdoms period. You are free to choose your path – will you become a mighty warlord, a cunning advisor at the imperial court or an independent mercenary? The game offers a mix of RPG and life simulation: you can command armies and fight battles, but you can also marry, build a house and engage in diplomacy.
- Grit and Valor – 1949: a real-time tactics game set in a dieselpunk scenario after World War II. In this version of history, the war doesn’t really end in 1945 – in 1949, a new axis of evil is emerging, but this time you’re taking to the battlefield with a troop of powerful mech tanks.
Thursday, March 27
- Mini Royale (Early Access): Toy Story meets Fortnite? Mini Royale brings the battle royale action into the children’s room. You take on the role of little green plastic toy soldiers and engage in heated battles in a huge dollhouse map full of oversized furniture.
- The First Berserker: Khazan: This Souls-like RPG lets you play as an angry berserker in a dark fantasy world, where you beat up hordes of demons and monsters with a big sword. The motto is hack & slay in its purest form – combo attacks, finisher moves and a good amount of gore. The story, which revolves around an ancient warrior who increases his strength through bloodlust, is probably more of a side dish. Instead, the game promises smooth animations and brutal combat.
- ENA: Dream BBQ: Here it gets surreal: the game is based on the abstruse web animation series of the same name by YouTuber Joel G. The adventure, the first episode of which is being released for free, is just as weird and whimsical. You control the perpetually grinning protagonist ENA through bizarre dream worlds full of floating heads, abstract puzzles and inexplicable events.
- Atomfall: A survival action game à la Stalker, set five years after the real-life nuclear disaster at Windscale in 1957 in northern England. In an open game world full of radiation and destruction, you have to fight for survival after the reactor accident. Explore dilapidated facilities, make new equipment out of scrap metal, and engage in skirmishes with looters and mutant creatures – either alone or cooperatively. Also coming directly to Game Pass!
- AI LIMIT: Even more action, but in a completely different setting: AI LIMIT takes you to a post-apocalyptic sci-fi metropolis called Havenswell. You play a cybernetically enhanced heroine who takes on mechanical monstrosities with a sword and high-tech weapons. In terms of gameplay, you can expect a typical Souls-like experience: challenging boss fights, dodging rolls and combos.
- KARMA: The Dark World: A first-person adventure that relies heavily on psychological thriller elements. In a dark, desolate world, you have to solve puzzles and sneakily watch out for a mysterious killer. The author of this article has played the demo available on Steam and is convinced that this could be a real story secret that also looks incredibly good and has great English speakers. At least watch the trailer!
Friday, March 28
- Within the Cosmos: A sci-fi role-playing game from a first-person perspective: You wake up in the 24th century in a distant star system and have to find out what happened to the quarreling human race there. You explore various planets, engage in dialogue with NPCs, shoot your way through hostile aliens and level up your character. The title was in development for a long time and should have actually been released in 2024. Now you can finally see for yourself whether the Starfield competitor, developed by just one person, is any good.
As you can see, there is something for everyone this week. Inzoi alone should keep Sims fans busy for many hours, despite being in early access, but the other titles are also worth trying out. And don’t worry: if you don’t find anything this week, the next big releases will be waiting for you in April.
