Keeping up with all the new games on Steam can be a job unto itself, and potentially disappointing if you're rushing to grab stuff the second it launches. That's why every month we wait for the dust to settle before picking the best new Steam games we've played and adding them to our Steam Hype Playlist. Showers? More like a deluge, as we go wading through April 2026's best games.

PRAGMATA PC

Capcom have been on a winning streak for the past decade, and games like Pragmata are the reason why. In the not-too-distant future, an astronaut finds himself stranded and alone on a lunar research base, hunted by killer robots. But what could have been a survival horror game becomes a third-person buddy action-comedy as he meets an android child with the ability to hack the robots (via an action-puzzle interface you have to navigate mid-combat), making them vulnerable to more traditional attacks. Gorgeous graphics, densely paced and with some fun optional challenge areas and modes. Just a great action game all round.

Far Far West PC

Still in early access but already a meaty, highly replayable co-op shooter already. Halfway between Ratchet & Clank and Helldivers, you're a posse of robot cowboys, fighting robot ghosts and zombies across irradiated, cursed wastelands. Unlike Helldivers and its procedural environments, each map here is a fixed location with its own collection of secrets and easter eggs, meaning that while each run is a randomly generated set of objectives and challenges, there's real depth to be found in learning the lay of the land and knowing which perks can be acquired with just a little detour by (robot) horseback. This one's great now and only growing and improving with updates.

Windrose PC

Survival-crafting sandboxes are a common sight these days, but Windrose does have a cool theme and a great reason to have players wash up near-naked on a deserted coastline: Pirates! While the game doesn't have quite as much of a naval focus as I'd like, there's still a good chunk of sailing and blasting scallywags with your broadsides, on top of the usual survival sandbox loop of hacking down trees, building houses and plumbing caverns for buried treasure guarded by sea-creatures and the occasional skeleton crew. Dead men probably do tell tales, but they're not really much for talking to you.

Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors PC

A very silly, very compelling spinoff from the mega-hit 'bullet heaven' game. Vampire Crawlers trades in real-time action for turn-based dungeon crawling and card-battling. But this being Vampire Survivors, you'll frequently be up against dozens of enemies with absurd health pools, demanding you to create some utterly heinous, game-breaking card combos that fill the entire screen with explosions. That trademark Vampire Survivors goofball humor is present and correct, and it really does feel like part of the series despite a complete shift in mechanics. Free updates have already brough a bundle of goodies, including an endless mode, and plans for new mechanics to really challenge buildcrafters later in the year.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire PC

What started out as a parody of now-public-domain Steamboat Willie has grown into a genuinely hefty cartoon noir FPS. Great rubber-house sprite art animation in detailed monochrome environments give this one a really unique look. Lots of guns, decent enemy variety and some fun mechanical twists later in the story keep this one fresh. Whether you'll get along with the script depends on your tolerance for there being a cheese pun in every other sentence, but if you're on board, there's a lot of gouda stuff going on here, with more adventures in the works, with the first story expansion due by year's end.

shapez 2 - Factory PC

Sequel to the least pretentious of factory-builder games. No story, just an endless void full of geometry that needs hacking up, recombining and dumping into an ever-hungry vortex to generate new technology to let you do it on an even grander scale. A low-pressure, expressive kind of construction and strategy sandbox, subtly encouraging players to optimize and expand their plans instead of rushing to get the job done quickly. Shapez 2 left early access after a successful stint in early access and updates have added more quality-of-life and modding features, although the planned Puzzles DLC has now been spun off into its own game.

REPLACED PC

A throwback to the days of cinematic platformers like Flashback or Heart of Darkness, this one's a surprisingly beefy sci-fi adventure. You're a corporate AI, trapped unwillingly in the body of your own creator. Hunted by everyone from hungry tech-scavengers to city police, your quest to return yourself to digital form rapidly spins out of control. Lots of drama, stylish setpieces and some Batman: Arkham-inspired combat, putting a focus on deflecting oncoming attacks from multiple angles then punishing anyone foolish enough to take a swing at a machine hyper-intelligence, even if you are trapped in a squishy human body.

Magical Princess PC

Ever since the Princess Maker series defined the whole 'raising' genre (where you play as a proud parent, trying to steer your kid towards greatness, usually in a fantasy or sci-fi setting), there's been surprisingly few contenders to the crown. Magical Princess might be the best yet, with lots of plot threads to follow and fifty possible endings. On top of managing your child's time at magical school and beyond, there's some decently fleshed-out JRPG adventuring to be done, with a full party thrown into turn-based combat, drawing on whatever combat-applicable stats and gear you've passed on to your protege.

Forbidden Solitaire PC

You’ve found a rare copy of an obscure horror-themed card game that made headlines back in the 90s. Obviously, the correct thing to do is explore its depths, even as people mail you increasingly worrying news clippings about people surrounding the game dying unexpectedly. A fantastic mixture of retro creepypasta-style horror, some tongue-in-cheek humour, and genuinely smart solitaire gameplay. There’s a complex magic system to help you clear boards, and even turn-based stealth segments played entirely with cards. Our only complaint was that it could have been a bit longer. Then they went and patched in a New Game+ mode, with new levels and puzzles for players with a fully powered-up character. Thanks!

Another great month, with a new sci-fi universe coming from Capcom, an indie rival to Helldivers and an unhinged take on the dungeon crawler genre. Been playing any of these? Are you still hooked on them months later? Picked up something entirely different? What are you hooked on - let us know below!