2025 games: Upcoming releases
Best PC games: All-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best MMOs: Massive worlds
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
On an average day about a dozen new games are released on Steam. And while we think that’s a good thing, it can be understandably hard to keep up with. Potentially exciting gems are sure to be lost in the deluge of new things to play unless you sort through every single game that is released on Steam. So that’s exactly what we’ve done. If nothing catches your fancy this week, we’ve gathered the best PC games you can play right now and a running list of the 2025 games that are launching this year.
The Necromancer’s Tale
Steam page
Release: July 17
Developer: Psychic Software
The Necromancer’s Tale is a horror CRPG following a noble’s descent into scary occult shenanigans. It’s a story-focused adventure set predominantly in 18th century Italy, with a top-down perspective and turn-based combat, most of which revolves around increasingly grizzly spells (or Dark Necromantic Arts). The fully-customizable player-character has acquired a great spellbook, and the loose objective is to figure out how to use it towards your own possibly dubious ends “without losing your mind or being strung up by the townsfolk”. The Necromancer’s Tale looks like the real deal: there are over 180 characters to speak with, a detailed Trust system measuring your relationship with the game’s different populations, and a beautifully haunted art style.
The Karters 2: Turbo Charged
Steam page
Release: July 18
Developer: Pixel Edge Games
Developing a kart racer without some major franchise attached to it seems daring, to put it mildly, but The Karters 2 has received over 200 positive reviews since it launched on Friday, and looks pretty fun too. Taking cues from Crash Team Racing, it’s as much about on-track combat as it is about placing first, and the graphics share the same chunky cartoonish quality as that still-revered racer. While this is an early access launch, there’s already a lot: a singleplayer campaign, 16 tracks and six battle arenas, full online and split-screen support, as well as Steam Workshop integration with an already huge amount of mods.
Kaizen: A Factory Story
Steam page
Release: July 15
Developers: Coincidence
Long story short, Coincidence is basically Zachtronics, and Kaizen: A Factory Story is their first game under this new name (unless you include Add Astra, which was developed for a school and released commercially almost as an afterthought). Set in 1980s Japan, Kaizen is about designing production lines for products like “calculators, camcorders and arcade machines”. As you’d expect, the way these production lines are created is completely open-ended; it’s up to you to either come up with a brilliantly optimised system, or to go about it in the most amusingly counter-intuitive way possible.
Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson
Steam page
Release: July 17
Developer: Ritual Studios
Fretless is a retro-style RPG with a rhythm game combat. The protagonist is Rob, presumably named after the guitar YouTuber whose “musical rock world” the game is based in. As Rob (Scallon), you’ll take the fight to the boss of Super Metal Records company, who is using underhanded means to gain control over musicians and their work. I mean, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek makes this baddie look downright benevolent, but never mind that: this looks like a fun romp if you’re into pixels and shredding.
He is Coming
Steam page
Release: July 17
Developer: Chronocle
Launched into early access last week, He is Coming is an auto battler roguelite, and yes, I understand if you’re tired of hearing of those. But the art style here is magnificent, reminding me of the ye olde Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons games. There are over 350 items to discover, all the better to optimise your avatar as they seek to face off against the Demon King. This EA build has over 30 bosses too, and over the course of the year a bunch of new stuff will be added.