Steam Hype Weekly - Issue #16

Do you feel the fear? That ever-present memento mori, that you will never have enough time to play all of the cool games dropping on Steam alone? We do, and it chills us to the bone. And yet, we continue our work, helping you find the best stuff to spend your ever-dwindling days on. This month in general has been packed, but this week in particular has been unbelievable. Several must-play games every single day, and a mountain more that we just didn't have time for a full feature on.

If you're a first-time reader, that's where the Steam Hype Weekly roundup comes in. We had to be brutal in what we're covering this time, but here's (almost) everything we wanted to cover in depth this week, but didn't have the mortal moments to dedicate to. But because we don't like to miss anything, here's a paragraph on each!

As usual, demos and updates at the top, and then all the week's other notable launches in alphabetical order. And so it goes:

Free Game: Helena: Cloud District - Megastructure photography trip

Let's start off with something that won't obliterate your wallet! Helena: Cloud District is a neat little free game about being a little rolling orb-bot, awoken to be the eyes of the central computer, Helena. Your mission is to scoot, leap and explore around and snap pictures of the many species of strange plans that are growing over the surface of a flying megastructure. Great environment design, some tricky navigation puzzles, and no combat.

Update: Look Outside - New spooks & scares for the console crowd

My game of the year for 2025 might just be a lot of people's GOTY pick for 2026 now, as the fantastic horror RPG Look Outside comes to consoles, accompanied by another beefy update on all platforms. While not looking QUITE as dramatic as the v2.0 update (which dang near doubled the size of the game), the developer has been streaming work on this new version for the past month, and there's lots of little surprises and additions for PC players coming back for one more playthrough.

Out Now: Age of Empires 4: Raiders of the North DLC - A highland throwdown for AoE4

This one falls under the BDS boycott, so maybe hold off on throwing money at Microsoft, but I still cannot deny that they've supported the entire Age of Empires series with fantastic energy. All of the games, aside from the (now-fan-run) Age of Empires Online, really. This expansion adds Scottish and Viking civilizations, with mobile, raid-centric mechanics for both, plus four new missions for Crucible mode. There's some new environment types to fight over as well.

Out Now: Buzz Or Die - Death game drama with callout videos

Not a single English language review on this one yet, but a fascinating concept for a mystery adventure. As a convict, you're part of a death game tournament. Instead of fighting with weapons, you get to dive into the memories of your opponent and are tasked with making a social media callout video based on the shocking dirt you dug up. Whoever the audience votes the most scandalous, dies, and the winner moves on. Weird concept, interesting video editing UI. I wanna try it - and there's a demo, too.

Out Now: Checkmage - Story-driven card battles on a chessboard

I played the demo of this one a while back and it's a gem. A fusion of deckbuilding adventure (vaguely reminiscent of Act 2 of Inscryption) fused to chess, with cards changing the board, pieces, rules and more. All of this tied into an overworld adventure as funny critter people magically butt heads because magic is boring and everyone just wants to play wacky rule-hybrid chess instead.

Out Now: CRACK - Egg-hatching on an industrial scale

A weird co-op horror incremental game. Up to four players work together as scientists trying to dig into a colossal egg, researching new devices and technology to chip away at it in order to reveal what's inside. But this being an October release, don't expect much good to be lurking in there. In fact, there may even be some tentacles.

Out Now: Crystallium - Visual novel rhythm action, Gay Furry style

Feeling like a direct counterpart to In Falsus, where that game was all about anime lesbians crushing on each other in the midst of dystopian drama, Crystallium (launched into early access today) has similar RPG-tinged rhythm action aspirations, but with beefy fantasy furry guys flexing all over the screen. Similar mixture of mouse movement and keyboard notes too. Despite being in early access there's a big chunk of game here, including 42 tracks to play.

Out Now: Danchi Days - Bittersweet slice of life sim

One that I got sent a key for but didn't find the time for this week, this is a potentially emotionally devastating slice-of-life game from some of the people behind Angeline Era and the Anodyne series. A 12-year-old girl does errands to create a summer festival for her dementia-wracked grandmother. Meet the locals in your apartment building and bring the community together for grandma, in cute 2D sprite style.

Out Now: Fangtopia - Spooky town-building puzzle strategy

Pure spooky-cute vibes on this one. A hex-based strategic puzzler about creating a perfect little economy on a haunted island, making sure resources are connected via trains, needs are met, and werewolves are well fed. Looks very cozy, and people seem to be loving it so far. Near-perfect user review scores - perhaps one to circle back on once the Halloween frenzy dies down.

Out Now: Finals Week - Co-op exam cheating for fun and profit

We're regressing - it used to be all terrible job simulators, but now we're doing co-op terrible school simulators too. In this one, your goal is to pass your exams, but you've not studied and don't know anything about anything, so you've got to snoop all the answers from other students, pilfer the answers where you can, and generally avoid the attention of the school staff. They don't take kindly to your shenanigans.

Out Now: Gennady - Gloopy, gory roguelike platformer

A crude, surreal platformer about a weird, square-jawed guy in his boxer shorts, fighting through a procedurally generated maze of weird monsters, mutants and more surreal things, building up a survivable toolset. Very striking art style, with colored lighting accentuating stark monochrome art. Not played this one, but had half an eye on it, and there's a juicy demo available now.

Out Now: Giggleland - Narrative metatextual mascot horror

Giggleland has been a highly-anticipated horror release for some time now, with mysterious ARG-adjacent stuff cropping up all over the internet to promote it. Now the full game is out, it seems that it needed a little longer in the oven. The initial release caught a lot of flak for bugs and quality-of-life issues, but the situation seems to be improving as hotfixes roll out. An interesting looking game otherwise, as you interact with seemingly-benevolent cartoon mascot characters and far more threatening real-life menaces in an abandoned theme park.

Out Now: Grifford Academy - American Isekai RPG

Leaving early access to positive but thin praise, I've had half an eye on this one for a while. A dialogue-heavy Young Adult adventure about a band of students pulled into a magical world-in-a-book, fighting monsters and learning magic as they unravel a greater story. Dialogue choices change both your character's personality but also how other people perceive them, and curiously there's a voice acting mode that lets you record your own audio, if that's your thing. Fun for the Twitch streamer crowd, perhaps?

Out Now: Heir of the Dog - Jekyll and Hyde: The comedy point & clicker

One that I've heard nothing but praise for. Developed by the team behind the very well-regarded Lucy Dreaming, this one's a silly comedy adventure set in Victorian england. Transformed into some kind of hairy dog-man, Cummerbund Bandersnatch aims to restore himself back to normal, but there's a conspiracy to unravel, and only a short hairy man with a great sense of smell can crack the case.

Out Now: Hot Wax - Gothic Dr Mario

Stylish, slightly spooky block-puzzler from Punkcake Delicieux, creators of many short-form arcade goodies. A bit like a spooky Dr Mario, with you stacking up candles and then igniting them to start combos. The fact that the fire burns down through the wicks makes for some interesting mechanics, as you're not just trying to match colors, but keep facing and direction in mind as well.

Out Now: Hypnos - Lovecraftian narrative megastructure exploration

Our second spooky megastructure game this week! One I'd hoped to make more time for this week. Hypnos is the followup to last year's Blackshard, a striking exploration adventure set within an esoteric, otherworldly environment. Gorgeous environments and some striking character art. Hypnos has been in early access for a while, but the full game landed this week.

Out Now: Magical Girl ER - Playing doctor after kaiju battles

A deliciously original concept. Part visual novel, part doctor sim, but with a big supernatural spin. You're here to treat magical girls for all manner of physical and eldritch ailments after fights with Monsters of The Week, rampaging kaiju and supernatural disasters. User reviews are glowingly positive too - one I'd like to find time for in the near future!

Out Now: Milo - Trench warfare horror inspired by CoD Zombies

Co-op supernatural shooting set in haunted WW1 trenches. Interestingly, killing the swarms of zombie-like cultists coming to you ends up feeding your swarm of friendly rats, which can provide tactical bonuses. There's also some additional spooky meta-horror stuff going on, including sanity mechanics and some cheerful little minigames in a blood-red void outside of the trenches. The developers reckon there's a long way to go until this one's finished, with another two years of development to come.

Out Now: Neuron Activation - Score-attack fidget box simulator

A great concept - completing a chaotic swarm of tiny, interconnected minigames with a ticking clock, rising score target and general sense that there's something menacing lurking just behind the screen. Pet the dog, crack the code, pull the levers, etc, etc. Got sent a key for this but haven't been able to play it.

Out Now: Nightmare Frontier - Wicked Harvest DLC - Halloween Extraction Tactics

The first bit of DLC for Nightmare Frontier, which launched out of early access just a couple months ago. A weird western tactical extraction game - like XCom or Into The Breach, but you're wagering your best loot on ever-escalating challenges. The DLC adds 12 new boss fights (most distinctly Halloween'y in style), each designed to force you into different strategies, plus a bunch of new sidequest lines and goodies to collect from beating them up. More of a good thing, from the little of it I've seen so far.

Out Now: Pao Pao - Overcooked meets cozy critterful life sim

An optionally-co-op twist on the now ubiquitous Overcooked formula, expanded from a quickfire party game into a whole life sim. Grow ingredients, meet the townsfolk, explore, and then scramble once your restaurant is open to serve hungry guests, hopping between stations. That's where extra players really come in. Very good initial user reviews, and a relatively slim early access estimate, with the full game out in 6-12 months.

Out Now: Remothered: Red Nun's Legacy - End of the stalker horror trilogy

The Remothered series are games that I've been vaguely aware of for some time, but despite my love of good horror stuff, I've always managed to miss out on them. Might be a good time to start though - Red Nun's Legacy is the final chapter, inspired heavily by classic Italian Giallo horror. Can't deny that it looks striking, and the howling, often heavily pregnant nuns make for unsettling antagonists.

Out Now: Selkie's Salvage Co. - Frantic mouse-clicking incremental salvaging

A first-person incremental game about dredging up trash from the ocean, processing it, and cleaning up the planet, all while accompanied by a sassy cute mouse-girl. That last part seems to have been the magic part of the formula as this one has been a big hit this week, quickly closing in on that Overwhelmingly Positive rating. The developer, Uglycoal, also released one of my favorite recent freeware games - A Whole Wolfrush - a time-looping, short boss rush shooter that's less short than it first seems.

Out Now: Sepulchron - Puzzly immersive sim in a very haunted house

A really fun-looking spooky puzzle immersive sim. Dodge and fight ghosts by night, solve logic problems by day, repeat the 72-hour loop until you manage to escape with all your blood, bones and important organs intact. Chunky voxel aesthetics with detailed modern lighting give this one a nice aesthetic. Seems exactly up my alley, but haven't had a chance to pick this one up or see it in full action yet.

Out Now: Stygian: Outer Gods - Cthulhoid first-person survival horror

A good-looking lovecraftian survival horror game that I previewed back when I was at PC Gamer. Back then, I had some concerns that the final game would be a bit threadbare (same as the rushed and incomplete first game in the Stygian series), and initial user reviews seem to confirm that's largely what happened. From what I've played, not a bad game, but in a year packed with amazing survival horror stuff, 'decent' is unlikely to make headlines.

Out Now: Suri: The Seventh Note - Vivid rhythm platforming

Another that I got sent an early key for but haven't had the time to dig in. Suri has been in development for ages - a stylish rhythm platformer through a world based on Indian myth and legend. While there's a little wiggle room, the winning move is to hit all those double-jumps and air-dashes in time to the music, often while being bombarded with similarly-synched attacks.

Out Now: The Mailroom - Comedy work sim in hell

One that I'm looking forward to trying at the weekend if I can find time - a very well-regarded Terrible Job Simulator. This one being single-player and about being a mortal mail clerk tasked with keeping hell's bureaucracy in order. All while plotting your own escape, avoiding the watchful eye on of your 'coworker', and talking with a sassy weird frog.

Out Now: The Zibbo Show - Deadly dice-rolling Balatro-like

As if Balatro wasn't terrifying enough. The Zibbo Show is a dice-rolling game about manipulating the odds and coming out on top against a procession of FMV victims contestants that seem to be very willingly competing against you. All for the promise of BIG MONEY and BIG PRIZES! The cursed game show aesthetics are pretty slick, I must admit. Once more, a game I've been sent a key for but not had a chance to dig into.

Out Now: Vampolitics: Valssals Of the Void - Space Dracula Strategy

A narrative and politics-heavy space strategy game set in a gothic universe where vampire lords rule the stars. A great concept, and a fun excuse for the entire universe to be packed full of immortal backstabbing turbo-bastards attempting to summon ancient cosmic horrors to murder each other. Interestingly, it's playable two ways - the more narrative-heavy story mode, or the sandbox conquest mode, playable solo or in multiplayer.

Out Now: You Are Empty: Absolute Edition - Peak Slavjank returns

And lastly, another surprise revival - as if the Ecstatica series returning wasn't enough of a shock. This time, it's Ukrainian oddball FPS You Are Empty, set in a surreal, hallucinatory and rapidly-collapsing soviet union. Strange super-science, weird monsters and dense political allegory pile up as the world falls apart around you. By all accounts this is a shockingly good remaster, tuning it up nicely for modern PCs.

It's over!... Or is it? We've still got one more day in the month, and it's the spookiest one of them all. Have you picked out what you're going to be playing for the capstone of spooky season, or are you just going to be hiding under the blankets until the noises stop? As ever, let us know what you're playing and if you tried any of these games in the comments below. Prepare yourself, though. Next week looks pretty packed too.

Remember, if you howl at the moon long enough, it'll retreat. Show no fear.