Looking at my Steam Wishlist, I realise that almost everything that’s listed isn’t out yet (at least when typing this). It is perhaps the opposite for my Nintendo eShop wishlist, reserved for overpriced games that await a hefty discount.
It got me thinking for a whole 30 seconds: instead of a GOTY feature, how about a feature/list on upcoming games worth watching? Who knows, you might find one or two titles you’ve not heard of or forgotten to add while you wait for your Cyberpunk 2077 refund. Not me, I’m happy with it.
That’ll do for the introduction, so let’s get straight into the list and see if anything is missing from yours. Do bear in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive list – I have about 70 odd games in my Steam wishlist, this is a curated (posh) example.
Unto The End
Unto The End has been released since making a note of these titles, but it’s good enough not to remove from the list. I’m saying that as I played the demo, not just read about it.
It’s a title from husband and wife duo, 2 Ton Games and released by Big Sugar. Unto The End is a cinematic adventure about survival, calculated combat and reaching home safely. Well, that’s a brief rendition of it.
Rawmen
Misreading the title as ramen wasn’t such a bad thing as it’s a play on words anyhoo. Developed by Animal (from The Muppets) and produced by the excellent tinyBuild, Rawmen is a third-person multiplayer of soup-slinging.
Between two and eight players can take part with fully customisable man buns and all. The demo was a lot of fun, but alas, it’s been removed from Steam, and no release date yet. Still, you can add to your wishlist.
Cyanide & Happiness Freakpocalypse
If you’ve been on the internet for more than a few weeks, you should have read or at the very least seen some memes taken from the Cyanide & Happiness series – a webcomic that brings happiness to all around. If you’re a sadist.
One of those titles without a fixed release date, I played it back around summer, and this point and click is on par with the visuals you can expect from the series, but more importantly, the humour is wicked and if dick and fart jokes resonate with you as they do with me, keep it on your radar.
Cyanide & Happiness Freakpocalypse on Steam.
Tunche
There will be a day when I download the Tunche demo, but the Spring of 2021 will already be here, thus the subsequent full release. Also, I’m sure it was removed at one point during a festival so getting a go has been elusive.
Read the Tunche review.
In summary, Tunche is a hand-drawn beat ’em up with co-op options and has me quite enchanted with the visuals. They aren’t everything, but the illustrations piqued my interest, with some quirky looking characters. Hopefully, this feature will prompt me to download the demo as it’s currently showing on the Steam page.
Just Die Already
You may have come across this on the tail end of a Pewdiepie video, if you’re of a particular demographic, or perhaps you’ve seen the excellent videos noting Death Stranding and Cyberpunk 2077?
The developers have a seriously good sense of humour but have an equally strong message too on how the elderly will do anything to get into the best retirement homes, even if that includes frequent decapitations.
Hellish Quart
Is this Bushido Blade successor now in Early Access stage? I’m not entirely sure as if that’s the case, I didn’t get the invite and therefore challenge Kubold to a duel.
A 19th-century fencing simulator of sorts, Hellish Quart looks marvellous and looking forward to when this comes out in February 2021, unless that’s when the Early Access comes out. I just don’t know any more…
No Place For Bravery
Blood and guts – yay! Well, it’s more than that, clearly, and it’s a game that should be on your list. If it’s not, you’re a wuss. Ok, I’m being facetious, but I was quite in awe of the presentation of this game, a style that isn’t usually my thing.
No Place For Bravery is a top-down (ish) action RPG that reminds me a little of Berserk. I may or may not have said that in the preview I wrote. Check it for me, will you?
No Place For Bravery on Steam.
Minute of Islands
Minute of Islands is one of those alluring artwork type games that capture my attention, read up about it then click ‘add to wishlist’. Playing as protagonist Mo, a mechanic, you have to save the world from its imminent collapse.
The blurb for this game refers to it as a ‘narrative puzzle platformer’. There’s quite a bit involved in that description, which I loosely translate to as a point and click – at the very least, an adventure. Yep, this is one to watch for 2021.
Hell Architect
What the hell is this? I had to click on the page again to remind myself and then questioned how could I forget seeing someone stab their own eyes out. Some things just can’t be unseen. That’s a paradox, considering the circumstances.
Read the Hell Architect review.
Hell Architect is unsurprisingly a management-like game, wherein this vision it’s creating and managing your own hell with graphic consequences. I’m not much of a sadist, but this brings out the blood lust and inner micromanager in me.
Fireworks Mania
The brief playthrough of this demo during the Steam Autumn Festival thingy was so enjoyable, it had to go on the wishlist. What seems like a novelty (fireworks are for Bonfire Night and New Year, right?) is far from it.
Read the Fireworks Mania review.
Fireworks Mania is so infectious that it will bring out the pyrotechnic in you, with superb physics, amazing lighting effects and a wholesome selection of flammable sparkly things.
Fireworks Mania on Steam. *N.B. released the day of publishing this, so, erm, go get it.
The Wild At Heart
Yet another game I’ve not necessarily judged by its front cover, but the art style drew me in. It has a certain DoubleFine charm to it, but a unique aesthetic that makes it stand out.
It’ll be good to see this in action, i.e. a demo, as I’m not entirely sure on how the game plays out other than your legion of Spritelings to cause havoc. Published by Humble Games, we can expect this one in 2021 at some point.
Trash Sailors
I played the demo for Trash Sailors earlier in the year and fell in love with the art style almost instantly. It’s like playing your own animated storybook using an array of cutout characters as they salvage trash from the seas.
Read the Trash Sailors review.
It’s playable on your own, but the real fun comes from other players helping to steer your heap of crap through a sea of crap, firing the cannon and oversized beasts and fellow pirates. A fun multiplayer experience so far.
Whateverland
I played the demo or Prologue a while ago and meant to write up about it but never got around to it. Whatever. A bit on the fence with this one as the humour was there but the delivery, as in the voice acting, was a bit off.
Sometimes it felt half-hearted, other times intriguing enough to want to dive deeper. It took three or four playthroughs to unlock everything, and it was through these repeat plays that I became more interested in this Tim Burton like adventure, hence added to the wishlist.
Incantamentum
Grave robbing is wrong, right? Well, it’s not grave robbery when so elegant and also as eloquent as Thomasina in Incantamentum. This was only a tease of the tip as the demo is rather short, but enough to make an impact and adding to mah wishlist.
A throwback to classic point and click adventures, Cloak and Dagger Games’ title is set in Victorian times and captures a certain mystique really well.
Fire Tonight
Another title I played during the Autumn Games Festival and didn’t write about, Fire Tonight was a sort of point and click adventure mixed in with a visual novel. Unfortunately, the demo was cut pretty short, but possibly at that desirable spot that made me add to my wishlist.
Read the Fire Tonight review.
Fire Tonight has a nostalgic charm to it with simple, yet effective graphics that made me reminisce of the days of dating and locating one of five phone booths near my apartment as my landline when dead. Not an anecdote, sort of in the game.
Sword of the Necromancer
Yet to play this one and it got to the point where I may have been writing a news piece every week. Sword of the Necromancer has garnered quite a bit of attention, and rightly so, it looks like a decent title.
Read the Sword of the Necromancer review.
There’s that old thing about fighting fire with fire, well how about going to town on that and commanding the dead against your enemies? Fight death with death, for that, is the power of the necromancer (and Grimorio of Games).
Sword of the Necromancer on Steam.
Land of Screens
Surprise, surprise – another good-looking game, and equally predictable, a point and click adventure. Hell yeah, it’s my list. Land of Screens is about a problem we all face: screentime.
Join Holland (the person, not the country) as you embark on a mission to drop all social media and live a life without the internet. Is it remotely possible? Who knows. Legend has it that society was full of toxic critics and orange box dwellers who would ensure to tell everyone their opinion whether you liked it or not. Not in today’s society, no siree Bob. Thanks, internet.
Conscript
Warfare is a hellish thing (check out the Early Access review of Hell Let Loose for an idea), and Conscript was one of those titles that have really captured the moments.
From the actual horrors of trench warfare, amplified to Silent Hill like proportions, this indie title should be at the top of your list. Some genuinely fantastic sound design and a somewhat enchanting art style in full lo-res glory.
Source of Madness
Foolishly, I thought this was already out and went to get it only to find Source of Madness isn’t out yet. Mad. This is a rogue-lite that features twisted Lovecraftian monsters and a distorted space and time continuum.
Read the Source of Madness preview.
From the lovely people at Thunderful Publishing and developed by Carry Castle, this side-scrolling action title looks amazing, but I’m under no illusion that it’s hard as nails. Read: procedurally generated monsters. Yikes!
Pecamonisa
A whole feature and only one mention of dick in the Cyanide & Happiness Freakpocalypse segment. Well, this dick reference is a P.I. in this gritty noir coming to Steam in 2021.
I’ve not had the pleasure in playing just yet but the developer’s enthusiasm, Cereal Games, exudes in every piece of material they provide of the game and looking forward to playing. Just make sure to wishlist it too so it gets discovered on Steam.
Ocean’s Heart
The last one, and I’ve played a preview of this. Boy, it got me stoked for when the complete game is released. Ocean’s Heart isn’t the type of game I seek – I mostly skipped over the whole Zelda RPG-like titles back on the 8-bits and above.
Read the Ocean's Heart review.
The homage is accurate, and it replicates these games of old, but the controls and movement are so fluid and responsive that it begs to be played. More so, the music is brilliant, and one of those few game soundtracks that I’d listen to in real life. That’s because gaming isn’t real, ’tis just a dream and you’ll wake up in the shower to realise it. There’s a reference for you, kids.
In Summary a.k.a. Closing Time
You’ll note the pattern of point and click adventures and games with stylish artwork. That’s what PC gaming is for right? Do you mean that RTX 3080 was to play Fortnite and Witcher 3? Ok…
There are others, but they’re mostly retro games that I need to purchase when I have the time to play them – mostly Sierra and LucasArts titles I finished back in the day and wish to relive. A handful are on the Steam wishlist that I intend to buy at some point such as Hades, and they’ll probably be games I regret not getting sooner.
Are there any titles I’ve missed? Of course, there are! This is just a snippet, and accumulation of me writing a news piece and then adding straight to my Steam wishlist for later, only for it to fester while I try to master that old thing called Time Management.
Hope you found a few worth adding – especially if it’s an indie dev that needs our support 😛
