He’s not saying that it will be his final game, but as Peter Molyneux talks about Masters of Albion, there’s certainly a sense of ‘one last job’ - a swansong and a homecoming that combines all the greatest works of his career into a culminating statement. The interface, a supple and intuitive hand that you can use to pick up villagers and assemble buildings, comes right from Black and White. The world and its name owe their inspirations to Fable, and the third-person combat (more on that later) whispers of Dungeon Keeper. Of course, just like Populous, Molyneux’s breakout hit from 1989, this is also a strategy and god game. Absent is the top-hatted financial manager from Theme Park, and Theme Hospital’s nasally receptionist, but the band is otherwise back together. As well as his best-known games, Masters of Albion reunites some of Molyneux’s closest creative collaborators.

Half-Life: Alyx needs to be played. Ignoring all the amazing set pieces and revolutionary visual flourishes, if you’re a long-time devout of Valve’s FPS series, there are some vital story moments in the VR shooter that completely change how you look at Half-Life 2 and the episodes. There are ways to play Alyx without an expensive headset (more on that later) and now, as rumors abound that Half-Life 3 might actually, really, truly be in development, the 2020 sequel is available at a historically low price. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe it’s not. But just to be on the safe side, this is probably a good time to give Alyx a whirl.

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Uboat is precisely the kind of game I love to see doing well on Steam. It’s committed, its creators clearly love the subject matter, and after five years in early access, it deserves a successful launch. A realistic submarine simulation game set during WWII, Uboat threads the line between believability and accessibility - unlike some milsims, where everything is recreated 1:1, in Uboat, the aesthetic and tone are very grounded, but mechanically, there’s a way in for everyone. Tense and tough, despite its niche premise, the underwater strategy shooter with hints of War Thunder and Command and Conquer is currently thriving on Steam, and deservedly so.

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Rainbow Six Siege has its place. It’s an energetic, imaginative multiplayer FPS with some smart mechanics and a good mix of arcade pace and simulation-style gravitas. It’s a solid online shooter - but it’s not Rainbow Six, not in the real, classic sense. Rainbow Six is slow, tense, and your life is balanced on a knife edge. It almost feels like a survival horror game, something close to tank-control legends like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Rainbow Six Vegas was maybe the last R6 game in that original mold. But the best one, for me, remains Rainbow Six 3, and now 21 years later, it’s all yours for less than $3.

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Since it disappeared from Valve’s platform in 2023, players have been eagerly awaiting the Dark and Darker Steam relaunch. As of Friday June 7, Dark and Darker is back not just on Steam, but the Epic Games Store as well, freeing the RPG from the dedicated Ironmace launcher which had previously been its only home. As part of the comeback, certain sections and components of Dark and Darker are currently free to access, but despite Ironmace’s original intentions, players on Steam are sharing criticisms regarding the game’s new free-to-sample model. In response, Ironmace says it has “failed” in anticipating players’ expectations.

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Between Escape From Tarkov, Gray Zone Warfare, and Arena Breakout: Infinite, the tactical, military simulation style of FPS is having a renaissance right now. But while realism and punishing, strategy-driven shootouts can be a thrill, sometimes you want something a little more balanced - the tension of tactics, but with higher playability and less frustration factor. Weaving between Tarkov and Counter-Strike 2, a new squad-based FPS promises precisely that, and a new playtest is just about to launch on Steam.

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Okay, so here’s a confession: I’m a little bored with the whole ‘90s boomer shooter revival now. I love Doom. I love Half-Life. I love Quake, Blood, and Duke Nukem, but there have been so many spiritual revivals and variations on the formula over the past six years, and the material is starting to wear a little thin. Old-school-style FPS games don’t automatically charm me like they once did. So when I say that this new one, which was first trailed back in 2021 and has just arrived on Steam, is worth your attention, it’s not just because I’m a sucker for GoldSrc or id Tech visuals.

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Doom, Duke Nukem, Blood, Quake, and of course Half-Life itself. There are dozens of great FPS games from the ‘90s, the timeless classics that helped shape the PC as a platform. Imagine now a kind of boomer shooter Valhalla, where the weapons, mechanics, and pyrotechnics that defined that glistening erstwhile era come finally together to fight, frag, and circle strafe for eternity. One of the greatest Half-Life mods of all time, itself inspired by the best ever Doom mod, delivers on that dream. And after years of silence, it’s finally back from the dead.

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There’s a difference between good hard games and bad hard games. When difficulty is at its worst, you feel frustrated, and like it’s impossible to make any meaningful progress. But when the greatest roguelikes get it right, your deaths and losses become a fundamental part of your emotional experience. Punishment as a mechanic. Game over as a reward. You lose weapons and resources, but you gain insight, and the joy of a gaming journey that’s all yours. As Hades 2 draws near, its superlative predecessor remains a must play, and is now cheaper than ever.

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Whether or not you also play on PS5, your Helldivers 2 Steam account must now be linked to the PlayStation Network, and the deadline to make the change will arrive soon. Until now, Arrowhead and Sony have allowed players to access the PC version of HD2 without any linking, but now confirm that the initial “grace period” for Helldivers 2 Steam accounts is coming to a close. If you want to access the co-op space shooter without any problems, you need to act soon.

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It’s a strange time for strategy and 4X games. In one sense, the genre seems more alive than ever, courtesy of ongoing hits like Stellaris and Civilization 6, and much-anticipated up-and-comers such as Manor Lords, Bellwright, and Frostpunk 2. Demand is high - but so is supply. From the publisher behind Cities Skylines 2 and Crusader Kings, an ambitious new strategy effort has so far struggled to make waves, but its first major update and a daring roadmap could now be enough to turn its fortunes around.

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Ever wondered why we like killing zombies so much? It’s because they exist in the center of a sweet spot, between recognizably human and monstrous and different enough that there are no moral ramifications. Shooting robots and demons is fine, but they’re perhaps a little too abstract for us to understand the impact, the damage, of every hit. Games where you’re killing people, it might be enjoyable, but a little voice remains at the back of your head, telling you to feel guilty. Zombies solve this problem. One of the best undead-slaying games of the last decade, alongside hits like Resident Evil, a true genre classic has finally shambled onto Steam, and it takes the thrill of the kill to stratospheric new levels.

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Between the instantly recognizable design of Black Mesa, the mysteries of G-Man, and all the debates about silent protagonist icon Gordon Freeman, you can neglect to notice just how fast and fluid the firefights are in Half-Life. Crouch jumping in the wake of Doom and id Software’s original Quake, Valve’s shooter feels - in the best way possible - like ice skating, as you sprint and weave between Xen creatures and HECU soldiers like an especially lethal dancer. Combine that with Deus Ex, the original, Ion Storm classic, where augmentations, government control, and conspiracy form the narrative spine for an immersive sim and FPS-RPG hybrid, and you've got some serious promise. Available to try right now, this is one of 2024’s most unique new shooters.

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