Frog Detective, Edith Finch and more are all going cheap in Steam’s Mystery Fest

Steam Mystery Fest is well underway, discounting countless games about detectives, murder mysteries, or generally strange occurrences. Lots of heavy hitters have big sales like Return Of The Obra Dinn and Pentiment, but as always, you’ll need to do quite a bit of scrolling to find the hidden gems. The sales last until February 27th, so you have a week to grab some cheap games, and if you’re struggling with recommendations, here are some good’uns.

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Environmentally friendly city builder Terra Nil is releasing on March 28th

Terra Nil is a reverse city-builder where you work to rejuvenate natural ecosystems by planting greenery, purifying water supplies, and reintroducing wildlife – rather than building an industrial empire. Terra Nil has released a few demos over the last year, taking Steam by storm and impressing players with its ecological twist on the genre. All those demogoers should be pleased to hear that Terra Nil is finally launching onto PC and mobile (through Netflix) on March 28th.

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Company Of Heroes 3 review: a glorious comeback for this WW2 RTS

Company Of Heroes 3 feels like World War II on its summer holiday. With two campaigns spanning each side of the sunny Mediterranean, this is arguably Relic’s breeziest and most colourful theatre of war yet, evoking the same kind of swagger and gung ho optimism as a Hollywood action flick. It’s a feeling that might seem out of place given the current climate, especially now, just days away from the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But while your main objective is always one of domination, gradually turning the map from red to blue on both a micro and macro scale, this is ultimately a game about searing comebacks – of beating back seemingly impossible aggressors, and finding hope where previously there was only despair. I think we could all do with a bit of that in this day and age, even if the battles before you end up feeling like nothing more than the digital equivalent of plonking down a big box of toy soldiers on your living room floor and going daka-daka-daka as they all fall over.

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Birth review: a comforting puzzle game about death and decay

Birth really caught me off-guard. From the look of the screenshots, I was expecting a creepy story in the vein of Little Misfortune or Fran Bow, but instead Birth is infinitely more introspective. Sure, it’s a game about death, decay, and loneliness, but it’s told in the most gentle and genuine way possible. Its themes are heavy, but the game could not be more light-hearted. I have no idea how it does it, but Birth is weirdly the most wholesome yet creepy game I’ve ever played.

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Redfall’s co-op won’t tether players to each other in the open world

Redfall has received a new trailer ahead of its May release date, showing off its twisted open-world and magic-infused shooting. It looks like a bloody visual feast, but the bigger news is how Redfall’s open-world multiplayer is untethered, meaning a four-player squad can separate and fight bloodsuckers in different parts of the coastal town.

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See Jumplight Odyssey’s chaotic starship management in action with its first gameplay trailer

Jumplight Odyssey is an upcoming starship roguelite colony sim from the makers of Armello, and when I saw it in action late last year, I was extremely pumped for it. It was formally announced with its very flash animated opening sequence during November’s PC Gaming Show Preview stream, but now you, too, can see what it actually looks like in motion with its very first gameplay trailer. Come and have a gander at its spaceship antics – or, if you’re like me, just watch the two full seconds of a crew member giving Ham the pig a nice big belly-rub on repeat.

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The ZX Spectrum games that ought to be on Steam

Pixel Games. However, with the utmost respect to their output… these are not the kind of games that are going to foster interest in the Speccy amongst modern players. Of course, that may well not be the point, but I’d be a little taken aback if even avowed old-school gamers were going to bother picking up the likes of gardening simulator Pedro, a game that scored 63% in Newsfield’s iconic Crash magazine back in the day, or Sam Stoat: Safebreaker, which did a little better at 68%.

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Atomic Heart review: a mad science experiment that yields mixed results

Atomic Heart. It’s a fascinatingly chaotic medley of ideas, and a rare FPS that lacks even the slightest whiff of battle pass-peddling live serfdom, but those ideas so often fail to gel that it can feel like a game made by several different dev teams. For a shooter set within an alternate history Soviet Union, it could perhaps have used some more central planning.

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Lies Of P brings Soulslike mecha-Pinocchio to PC and Game Pass in August

Lies Of P is coming to PC and Game Pass in August.

Lies Of P’s newest trailer is mostly a black screen with a lot of VO, but we get a clear look at Pinocchio’s daddy Master Gepetto this time. The trailer follows a blob wobbling through very Victorian streets before it slides into some automation and uses the machine’s body as a puppet. The result is a boss-sized monstrosity that sits halfway between Lovecraftian horror and industrial defect. It also reminds me of Gears 5’s weird infected robots, with tentacles and slime hanging off their metallic arms – equally gross and cool.

The newest trailer doesn’t show off any Bloodborne-style combat, but we’ve had plenty of looks at that already, including a fight with a gorilla robocop. This Soulslike looks just as aggressive as you’d expect, emphasising quick dodge rolls and last-minute, anxiety-fueled parries. Pinocchio’s arm doubles up as a grappling hook to pull enemies in, which is always cool in a hack n’ slasher, and makes even more sense when you’re playing as a puppet. Also, is it just me or is Pinocchio pretty this time around?

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