A Waterworld style MMO and an isometric Souls-like game, just some of the exciting projects leading the Steam Early Access charge this month. Today, we break down the 10 most exciting upcoming titles due to hit Steam Early Access this month, April 2024.
April’s shaping up to be a great month for Steam Early Access releases. Age of Water promises a PvP-fueled Waterworld-esque adventure, Kill it with Fire 2 hopes to capture the lightning in a bottle of its predecessor, and Manor Lords, well, there’s a reason it’s the most wishlisted game on Steam.
I’ve been in this industry for nearly 15 years, and I’m still amazed at the quality of games that slip under my radar. How many of these titles did you know were launching this month?
No Rest For The Wicked
Developer: Moon Studios GmbH | Publisher: Private Division | Early Access Release: April 18th | Wishlist
Not exactly the sort of game I expected to follow from Moon Studios. Developers of the critically acclaimed Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, No Rest for the Wicked is a brutal, isometric action RPG promising to “reinvent” the genre.
Precision-based combat has led many to describe No Rest for the Wicked as a Soulslike experience, and a mature and dark narrative leans even further into the Dark Souls ethos.
We’ve seen very little, but what we have seen sets this up to be not only one of the most exciting Early Access releases of this month, but of the entire year.
The combat looks visceral, the world expansive, and the graphics rival the very best this genre has ever seen. We cannot wait to jump in.
I was aware of this one after Johnny sent me a link on Discord, Smith Radar winning 1-0. That counts, right?
Manor Lords
Developer: Slavic Magic | Publisher: Hooded Horse | Early Access Release: April 24th | Wishlist
Manor Lords, at the time of writing, is currently the most Wishlisted game on Steam with over 2 million Wishlist entries. That’s pretty impressive, right?
Eh, it would be if that didn’t pale in comparison to the fact all of this has been achieved by a one-man development team (with a helping hand from the fantastic folk at Hooded Horse).
Manor Lords offers players an exciting bridge between city-management sim and real-time strategy combat. Total War, Age of Empires, it takes bits and pieces of the most popular strategy games and infuses them into a beautifully crafted game world befitting of any AAA game.
Players will be tasked with exploiting regions for resources, managing food and supplies to keep families happy, arming and preparing militia and mercenaries for war.
Manor Lords is one of those genre mashups that we only hope and pray for a AAA developer to take on at some point. Honestly? It’s even sweeter when an indie one pops up.
I’ve already got over 30 hours of Manor Lords under my belt, so had this one on my radar for some time. Smith Radar sitting at 2-0.
Age Of Water
Developer: Three Whales Studio | Publisher: Gaijin Network Ltd | Early Access Release: April 18th | Wishlist
Waterworld, as infamous as that movie is for being a massive commercial flop, offered such a thrilling and intriguing world. A post-apocalyptic Earth almost completely covered in water, a premise it shares with this exciting new Early Access title, Age of Water.
Sail through deadly storms, navigate treacherous seas, capture boats or build your own, find and extract rare and valuable resources, uncover the secrets of the ocean, Age of Waters promises a pirate-like experience that we should all be sick of by now…
Well, if Skull & Bones didn’t disappoint as much as it did.
Age of Water supports both co-operative and PvP-based gameplay with the MMO tag on Steam suggesting large-scale encounters and thriving players communities as a real possibility. Be sure to check out the trailer below.
If you don’t want to wait until release, you can check out Age of Water: The First Voyage now.
As much as I completely love the concept for Age of Water, I had no idea this was coming. Smith Radar takes its first hit at 2-1.
The Dead Await
Developer: Shotx | Publisher: Freedom Games | Early Access Release: April 15th | Wishlist
The Dead Await is a combination of some of my favorite aspects of gaming. A deck-building, turn-based RPG set during a zombie Apocalypse. Check, check, and check.
Combat, shown throughout the trailer, really gives me some Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon vibes, both games I absolutely love.
The open-world exploration kinda reminds me of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, except not terrible and you can actually explore manually. So, it’s not really anything remotely similar, but I mentioned it anyway.
Anyway, if you’re into your deckbuilding RPGs and want to couple that with managing resources and stopping your characters going insane, be sure to check out the trailer below.
Interested players can check out The Dead Await: Prologue for free.
Very much loving the visual style of The Dead Await and the genre is right up my alley. Alas, it was a darkened alley that I didn’t see coming. Smith Radar 2-2.
Survival Nation: Lost Horizon
Developer: Wenkly Studio Sp. z o.o. | Publisher: Freedom Games | Early Access Release: April 15th | Wishlist
The original Survival Nation was an open-world online RPG designed for VR. Survival Nation: Lost Horizon features a similar open-world RPG design but from an isometric perspective with a heavier emphasis on survival.
Players will need to work together with their fellow survivors to gather and manage resources, tackle down challenging roaming zombie bosses, oh, and fight off the never-ending onslaught of the undead.
Survival Nation: Lost Horizon supports online and multiplayer play, allowing groups of survivors to band together to take on the games various challenges. It can also be played solo, for those wanting to brave the elements alone.
I love an isometric zombie killing smash fest as much as the next guy, but missed this one too… Smith Radar 2-3…
Kill It With Fire 2
Developer: Casey Donnellan Games LLC | Publisher: tinyBuild | Early Access Release: April 16th | Wishlist
The original Kill it with Fire took Steam by storm. Releasing in August of 2020, it delivered the spider-killing frenzy nobody knew they wanted.
Every house has the designated spider killer. The brave soul you send to the frontlines to deal with any unwanted arachnids. Straight faced and free of fear they head into battle, armed with a glass or broom, depending on preference.
What most don’t know is the designated spider kill is typically as terrified as you are. Enter Kill it with Fire. Tackling an unwanted 8 legged squater becomes infinitely less scary and downright enjoyable when it can be down with a flame thrower, a frying pan, or a weed chopper.
Kill it with Fire 2 looks to build on everything that made the original great. More ludicrous weapons, terrifying new species of spider, and a multiverse of spiders to take down.
If you don’t want to wait until release, check out the Kill it with Fire 2 demo.
It’s hard not to know about the Kill it with Fire sequel, it has been all over my Steam for some time. Clawing it back, Smith Radar 3-3.
Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure
Developer: Massive Miniteam | Publisher: HandyGames | Early Access Release: April 24th | Wishlist
A beautiful blend of managing efficiency and solving puzzles, Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure looks to be the perfect new titles for fans of games like Factorio, albiet in a much cuter skin.
Oddsparks promises players exciting opportunities to explore, discover, and unearth in an exciting, procedurally generated world as they battle, build, and manage their way to victory.
The game supports up to 4 players with both narrative and gameplay progression kept in the same save file, making it the perfect drop-in, drop-out adventure to have with friends.
Oddspark has been designed from the ground up with an “accessible core” supported by a variety of accessibility features, allowing all players to enjoy building and managing an expansive automation and logistics network regardless of skill or ability.
Don’t want to wait until Early Access launch? Check out the Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure demo today.
Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure looks wonderfully charming, but today was my first time seeing it. Smith Radar 3-4, and that’s about the end of the positive trend for my ever impressive industry knowledge.
Spanky
Developer: HappyHead Games | Publisher: HappyHead Games | Early Access Release: April 30th | Wishlist
Spanky is described officially as…let me just check this. Yup. A booty-physics party game that gives players the opportunity to slap some “jiggly tush“.
You read that right, Spanky is all about the booty, the junk in the trunk, the but-tocks (in the words of Forrest Gump).
With huge AAA games vying to take up hundreds of hours of our time, live service games fueling the FOMO of missing the latest Battle Pass items, a laid-back party game could be just the thing we need.
Players are promised a variety of exciting game modes with a high skill-ceiling movement system that, *clears throat*, gives you the chance to master the “booty schmovement“.
I really don’t know what else to say about Spanky. Watch the video. Seriously, watch it.
Nope. I had no idea such a booty heavy game was coming to Steam, and I’m an ass man. Smith Radar 3-5.
Pine Harbor
Developer: Vision Forge Team | Publisher: Vision Forge Team | Early Access Release: April 25th | Wishlist
I almost glossed over Pine Harbor when it appeared in my Steam Discovery feed. If you’ve been on Steam as long as I have, the image of a lone weapon in the center of the screen is rarely a sign of something as dark and forboding as Pine Harbor.
Based in a small fishing town on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, a technological disaster of unknown origins brought the town to its knees.
An almost Silent Hill-like fog covers Pine Harbor and much of its surroundings, as players explore a dark and gritty world, trying to help the survivors and uncover the secrets of the disaster.
Pine Harbor looks fantastic, especially the scene with the old man in the cabin. However, I’ve been hyped by similar first-person games far too often in the past so it’s a Steam scene I don’t frequent. Missed this one. Smith Radar 3-6
Denizen
Developer: Departure Interactive | Publisher: Departure Interactive | Early Access Release: April 29th | Wishlist
Have you grown tired and weary of the 9-5 grind? You wake up every day, bust your ass for a boss or company that doesn’t appreciate you, go home, sleep, and do it all again the next day. You have?
Well, fantastic news. Now you can do it all again when you get home. Denizen is a life simulation game that places players in a city full of opportunity, rise to the top through hard work and grind.
It’s like real-life, but the payoff at the end actually happens.
In Denizen players can customize their characters with a huge variety of clothing items and accessories. Players can own, furnish, and upgrade their own property.
Various jobs promise endless hours of “workertainment” as you throw pepperoni on pizza, make deliveries, and even do work for the locals.
What’s your dream job in an open-world life simulator game? Is it the same as your real dream job?
30%. I knew 30% of the games I’ve listed in today’s breakdown of exciting upcoming Steam Early Access games. Anyone got any job vacancies?
April is a relatively quiet month on the AAA scene, but this wonderfully creative industry is never far away from its next massive and unexpected indie hit.
If any of the games shown in today’s list pique your interest, be sure to Wishlist the games on Steam, it’s a huge help for the developers and publishers.
Any that we missed? Let us know your most anticipated Steam Early Access games in the comments below.
