For me, there are several unfinished games between each I complete. I have 28 tabletop roleplaying games on the back burner right now; 476 games in my Steam library, and I’ve yet to count which I’ve played. Some three-quarters are from my Steam Family.
I never finished Night in the Woods, 1000xRESIST (I wish it was for me), Hades, Hollow Knight: Silksong or ULTRAKILL (I suppose one couldn’t). I had no hangups about quitting VA-11 Hall-A in the first act. I have been stuck on the same Armored Core VI level for nine months.
As for games I finished and kept to myself, I think everyone should play Citizen Sleeper; Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is its masterpiece little sibling. I think the raw style behind BIRDCAGE will stay with me for years. Deadlock is a fever dream.
But I think most about the games that I have yet to play. Especially games that aren’t out yet, whose best and worst are yet to be discovered. What follows is a piecemeal list of launches I can’t wait for.
Firstly, a very imminent release. Motorslice launches May 5, 2026 (in the future at time of writing). Motorslice is a post-apocalypse action game with an industrial aesthetic. I never moved on from either NieR game, and I’ll be playing Motorslice like it’s my job. I’m still not sure it’ll be any good.
NITRO GEN OMEGA leaves early access on May 12 and I’ve been watching it for months. An open-world mecha strategy RPG constructed like an anime, it is certainly the pitch of all time. As soon as 1.0 hits, the main story will be playable.
NIGHTMARE OPERATOR (gore warning) will be the first game out of studio DDDistortion, a retro anime-horror third-person shooter bathed in Junji Ito. The website describes “high-speed shooting and mechanics inspired by classic fighting games.” There’s no release date yet.
ECO BREAKER will be the second game by POLYGON BIRD, indie purveyor of throwback shoot-em-up experience BIRDCAGE. A retro JRPG about a girl and her mech, it so far looks like a lost Final Fantasy game. No release date yet.
THE IRONY will be the first game by indie studio SYLOPON. It’s a sidescrolling horror platformer about killing monsters and making them part of your body. Metroid Fusion for the modern age.
VHOLUME is a first-person parkour runner where everything is concrete and fluorescent bulbs. Scored by 1000 Eyes, built by a team of three developers as the studio IronEqual.
Lancer Tactics is an isometric simulation of Massif Press’ famous mecha tabletop RPG Lancer. Produced by the singular programmer Wickworks, Lancer Tactics is an incredibly ambitious piece of software that promises the ability to completely replicate campaigns within its engine.
Last but not least, .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND – one of two games in development at Sukeban Games, the team behind VA-11 Hall-A. The game is an action RPG shooter about “a washed-up radical looking for paradise,” according to its Steam page.
PS1 graphics on a NieR-like aesthetic, a Metal Gear-like plot and a main character that looks like they’re terrible. It’s a genre we could certainly use more of from a studio that excels at worldbuilding.
Graduating with a Software Engineering degree, I’ll be unemployed for a while, so I’m really excited to see how these games turn out.
Zien can be reached at [email protected].
