Steam'The range of free games has recently expanded with four new titles. While all four releases are smaller in scale, they make for a diverse group of additions that could potentially appeal to bargain hunters, especially those browsing Steam looking for a new action game or three.
While Valve's storefront giveaways are a regular occurrence, they're more often time-limited. Nevertheless, completely free-to-play releases are far from unprecedented, as evidenced recently by e.g. Run up, Crimson loop, Walt the dogand Ze Gunner – four new indies that debuted during the same period in late February as the last edition of Steam Next Fest.
Steam users have a limited time to get 7 great games for dirt cheap
Steam is currently offering deep discounts on 7 well-reviewed games expiring on various dates between March 16th and March 19th.
Steam's latest free services share more than just a release window
Although these four games differ in style, they share several clear features. Notably, they all come with the promise of action-packed gameplay and all quantify player performance in some way, something that's likely to appeal to those chasing high scores. This applies especially to Run up and Walt the dogboth fast-paced games that steadily increase in difficulty as the chaos unfolds on screen.
Arrange the covers in the correct US release order.
Start
Arrange the covers in the correct US release order.
Easy (5) Medium (7) Hard (10)
As its name suggests, Walt the dog has a canine hero. That is, with a hammer, with the overall premise of the game focused on physics-based action and a chaotic score attack setup. On the contrary, Run up is a free-to-play action platformer that challenges players to climb higher and higher through a series of monster-filled rooms. Its main hook is a mixture of combat, platforming and time-based pressure, with the game encouraging repeated runs through the leaderboards.
New free games on Steam
Crimson loop is a free-to-play action roguelite about surviving increasingly intense waves of monsters while stacking defensive and offensive power-ups and abilities between runs. Its biggest hook is the combination of automatic shooter combat and layered meta-progression that makes each subsequent run a little more successful. While such crowdfunding incentives are as old as gaming itself, this particular mix of roguelite mechanics and automatic shooting is a more modern formula that dates back to 2019. Magical survival and 2021 The surviving vampireswhich eventually popularized the survivor genre, also known as bullet heaven.
From Gunner is a free-to-play basic defense game that puts players in the role of an operator of a 360° tower system protecting their people's last line of defense. Compared to the other new Steam bonuses, its height is straightforwardly tactical, built around quickly acquiring objectives, quick turns, and holding the line as approaching enemies close in and start firing back at the player's base.
Humorous Adventure Deponia is still free to pick up on Steam, but not for much longer
In related news, a comedy adventure Landfill is still free to pick up on Steam and its reveal is now approaching the one week mark. Originally released in 2022, Landfill is a comedy adventure about a serious junkyard that has consumed much of its fictional world populated by many bizarre personalities. Developer Daedalic Entertainment is framing the game's tone to be in line with that of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Matt Groening. Since these authors are essentially the Holy Trinity of making absurdity diagnostic, anyone who likes witty monologues and deeply flawed characters will probably wonder what Landfill has to offer.
Landfill free to claim and keep until March 16th 10:00am PT / 1:00pm ET / 6:00pm CET. Valve's Tower Defense Fest is set to end on the same day. The conceptually much more ambitious Steam Spring Sale 2026 is then set to begin on March 19, Valve's first big shopping holiday of the year. Meanwhile, Square Enix and Spike Chunsoft seem tired of waiting for spring, with both publishers already running their own promotions on Steam ahead of Valve's bigger seasonal push.
