When it comes to big names, I reckon you won’t be surprised to find Mafia: Definitive Edition, Crusader Kings 3, and Marvel’s Avengers on the list, even though Avengers has had a rocky takeoff, leading to the delay of their first post-launch hero. Also unsurprising are some long-awaited sequels to old favorites. Serious Sam 4 claimed a spot, another win for Croteam, who were just acquired (er, married?) by Sammy 4’s publishers Devolver Digital. Permadeath cave diving game Spelunky 2 is up there as well, no big surprise even though Mossmouth had to delay multiplayer until after launch. In his Spelunky 2 review, Graham says “I have been tense, I have been excited, I have been elated. I have also rediscovered the joys of being lost, uncertain, and surprised.” He’s even been doing a bit of regular Spelunking by taking on the daily death challenge, an exercise in confronting his own mortality that has involved lava, jetpacks, and moles. In other indie success stories, Hades has finally escaped hell, er, early access, and launched on Steam as well. Supergiant Games’ roguelike was “basically already game of the year when it released into early access in 2018,” says RPS’s Hades review. Now that it’s properly out, you can hear Colm explaining how grand it is above. The Untitled Goose Game is another former Epic Store exclusive that has done well Steam-side. That’s thanks at least in part, I have to imagine, to that new goose game co-op update. Two geese are definitely better (worse) than one. Now for the unexpected. Craftopia, that game that looks like a Breath Of The Wild knockoff ate Stardew Valley and also Satisfactory, has claimed a top-seller spot. Apparently being an absolute Frankenstein of favorites has worked out for it so far. I admit I’m also a bit surprised to see Doom Doom Revolution game BPM: Bullets Per Minute up there. The rhythm-based FPS game looks pretty neat, so I’m glad to see it’s gotten some attention. Last one I’ll mention, I swear, is the early access ghost-hunting game Phasmophobia. I was cautiously interested when it started cropping up on Twitch and Twitter. Then I bought it and played every single night for two weeks straight. So no, I suppose I don’t find that one surprising after all. I am all in on janky ghost busting. That’s a good handful of the games from this month’s top releases on Steam. You can find the rest of the list in Valve’s post. Now you know which of the best sellers sold me. What about you, reader? Did you use your wallet to vote for one of them?
