Image: Afterburner Studios

A Steam Sale usually means a slight lull in PC releases, but it has been business as usual this week, with plenty of releases big and small happening all the way into the start of the Autumn sale. I reckon we've done a good job keeping up with the big stories this week, but as always, there's a bunch of stuff that we didn't have the time to give a full writeup, and that's where our weekly roundups come in. Clearing the docket and giving you a peek at all the stuff you might have otherwise missed.

To help you sort through it all, we've got demos and updates at the top, and then all the week's other releases in alphabetical order. Mission START:

Demo: Castlevania: Belmont's Curse - Hollow Cellsvania

The long-awaited demo of the new Castlevania game dropped, a couple weeks before the game's full release. Developed by Dead Cells studio Evil Empire, it's not too surprising that there's a bit of their trademark chaotic, high-speed combat in there, blended in with some Hollow Knight-esque platforming and exploration. All signs are positive for a solid release.

Demo: Elta - Defy All Gods - Painterly comic-book brawling

I've not had a chance to play this one yet, but a few friends have been gushing over it. A character action brawler/platformer about a cyborg badass and their baby dragon-god buddy fighting their way through a metroidvania-ish world. What really makes this stand out is the art style. That up top? Action screenshot, not concept art. Every still shot of the game looks hand-painted.

Update: Space Marine 2's 2nd Anniversary Update adds Chaos PvE

After a slightly wobbly launch, Space Marine 2 really found its footing, adding a constant stream of new co-op missions, multiplayer modes and more. Along with the release of a new PvE mode where you get to play as the bad guys, they've announced plans for updates running all the way through 2027, as ever, free for everyone and supported by (fully optional) cosmetic DLC. The game is also 75% off right now. Cheaper still if you own Darktide.

Update: 007 First Light Adds Its First Big Chunk of Free DLC

Hot on the heels of the path-tracing graphical overhaul, Io Interactive have rolled out another chunk of free goodies for the excellent 007: First Light. There's a New Game+ mode with remixed enemy awareness and higher-tier guards, plus a couple new Tacsim missions. One letting you loose on the road with Bond's new car, guns and missiles enabled, and a heist mission set in Vietnam designed to be unpredictable and replayable. Plus a couple new guns and costumes.

One of my favorite puzzle games in recent years. The Talos Principle 2 was an intimidatingly large game at launch, and became only more head-spinning with the release of the three-part Road to Elysium expansion. Now it might be truly endless, if the community wills it - Croteam have released full level editing tools for the game, along with Steam Workshop sharing features. Players can create whole worlds (including multiple chained puzzles) and share them with the world. The game is also heavily discounted.

Out Now: Blades & Battles - Arthurian Legend: Golden Axe Style

There's been a real resurgence in the side-scrolling brawler sphere recently. After playing through a few levels of it, I'm quite impressed with Blades & Battles, which pits a shirtless barbarian King Arthur and the somewhat more chaste Sir Lancelot against a whole world of goblins, orcs and other fantasy gribblies. While I'm not a fan of the downscaled polygon graphics, the combat here has the sauce, with a mana bar charged through basic combos and then spent on extending your attack chains, enabling some very satisfying juggling action.

Out Now: Camp Whittlewood - Haunted Summer Camp Survival RPG

A short but replayable horror RPG from the developer of the wildly undersold Entering Host. While you might expect standard slasher horror stuff here, the truth is weirder than you'd expect. A playthrough is probably under two hours but there's several ways to go through this short and sweet horror story, so expect a couple more runs at least as you puzzle out your way to the true finale.

Free Games: Cartomancy Anthology - Major Arcana Minigames

I've had this one on my wishlist for years, but the price was always just a little too steep. Now there's zero excuse, because the team behind this highly creative project - 22 short games inspired by the major arcana of the tarot - have decided to make it completely free. I'll be doing my best to carve out some time for this one over the weekend.

Out Now: Compound Interest - "GTA & Blade"

Inspired equally by Grand Theft Auto and Mount & Blade, this criminal sandbox might be low-fi, but it looks to have the sauce, mechanically speaking. Starting as just minor street tough, your goal is to take over the entire city, one gang and business venture at a time. There's more than just mindless violence, as there's a whole bunch of RPG mechanics and skill checks giving you options to resolve situations intelligently.

Out Now: Crescent Break - Mega Man's Gone Rogue

A decade ago, indie developer Resnijars unleashed Mibibli's Quest upon the world, a game which I can only describe as 'Mega Man but very gay and weird'. This week they returned to their roots with this gleefully messy platform shooter roguelite, blending Mega Man's familiar movement and combat with a dash of Cave Story, all in a highly destructible, procedurally generated labyrinth populated by weird robot critters.

Out Now: Dog in the Machine - Digital Doggie Saga

While this one might look a bit like Mewgenics at first blush, this tactical roguelite is a bit closer to Into The Breach, with you able to plan out and test your theoretical moves, bouncing enemies around the arena and into hazards as you build up the perfect attack string. Cool aesthetics, and lots of roguelike buildcrafting as you expand your deck of tricks.

Out Now: Dual Protocol - Assymetric Co-op Puzzle Adventure

A fascinating looking puzzler that boldly launched right in the middle of the Steam sale. A mystery detective adventure, where one player is the field agent, solving problems hands-on, while the other is your analyst back at home, poring over notes, records, blueprints and schematics to solve complex problems that require a lot of verbal communication.

Out Now: Escape from 8-Bit High - Old-school Point & Clicker

Indie outfit Duck Made Of Wood have a few classic point-and-click adventures to their name, and this one is no different. Seemingly inspired by Day Of The Tentacle, a band of three weirdos are trapped in a high-school corrupted by a sentient old computer, forcing them to puzzle their way through a mix of silly videogame scenarios.

Out Now: Muchi Muchi Pork! & PinkSweets Boosted - Cute n' Horny Shmups

While the last Cave shmup relaunch wasn't exactly a hit, this one appears to have stuck the landing. A double-pack of two brightly colored and cute shooters, one about a pair of aerial ace twins trying to save their mother from an arranged marriage, and one about a trio of curvy, swimsuit-clad pig-girls battling an evil pork-based empire. It's all very silly, but they're good games, featuring multiple modes and with new (optional) remixed soundtracks.

Out Now: Okko The Exiled - Classic Platforming Through Japan's Underworld

It's nice to see they still make classic stage-based platformers instead of roguelikes and metroidvanias. Okko The Exiled is a very good-looking adventure through a Japanese-inspired netherworld, starring a young Oni armed with a big metal club, and with a focus on smacking enemies into each other and their projectiles back to their owners. Gorgeous sprite-work, nice music and sharp level design, from the little I've seen so far.

Out Now: PSI: Pressure Climbing - Jump King meets Immersive Sim

A mixture of Jump King shenanigans and immersive sim exploration in an industrial megastructure. You are a funny little frog-person, tasked by your idiot king to ascend to the skies and find a way out to save your people. Your main tool is a high-pressure jetpack where you dial in your jump power in advance, then hurl yourself into the sky, hoping that you'll land on something solid. It's very weak at first, so expect regular trips back to ground level to upgrade using the stuff you scavenge in the field.

Out Now: Subterfuge - The Mobile Social Scheming Game Hits PC

Subterfuge has been around for ages - a social strategy game, played out over the course of week-long, real-time campaigns, encouraging players to scheme, plot, ally and undermine each other as everyone grasps for the same resources and goals. Looks like the PC version is pretty decent, although it only caught my attention because Adam Sessler is front and center in the trailer, and acting every bit as obnoxiously as I remember.

Out Now: The Merlies - Whimsical Miniature-scale Exploration Platformer

A charming little game about a flock of tiny flightless birds, exploring a world far too big for them, scavenging up artifacts to make into new homes and rebuilding their little tribe. Not quite a metroidvania, but rather a game about pure exploration, collecting and building up your town, accompanied by a charming narrator and some lovely comic-style art.

Out Now: Tiny Flock - Physics-driven VR Sheep-herding Puzzler

From the developers of the ever-expanding fumblecore hit Human Fall Flat, this one is a very different beast, although similarly physics-driven. A cute puzzler about leading a herd of sheep through environments that no sheep should be going through. You can't touch them directly, but you can pick up stuff in the world, luring them forward with carrots and placing objects in the world to create bridges and safe landing spots. Looks really fun!

Out Now: Unshine Arcade - Haunted Arcade Roguelike Fun

An interesting genre-hopping action roguelike set in a haunted arcade, with several types of gameplay to earn arcade tickets, which can be traded in for gacha pulls for upgrades to help you further through the run. Great aesthetics, and a nice, interesting mix of first person exploration, simple arcade stuff and twin-stick shooting.

Out Now: Vessels: Noiret Mansion - Haunted Doll's House Survival Horror

A very slick-looking PS1-styled survival horror game, set in a haunted mansion full of dolls. Some merely unsettling, some positively murderous. Reportedly only a few hours long, but that seems a very reasonable scope for a $5 game, and the user reviews seem to agree, with almost all of them filled with praise.

And on that spooky, pre-Halloween note, we're off to unwind for the weekend! Don't forget to check out our Steam Autumn Sale coverage, which will be running through the weekend! Peace!