As of this writing, Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion has resulted in its current ongoing game hitting a new all-time peak player count on Steam. This comes as no surprise given the popularity of Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion, but oftentimes these games are not for everyone. The latest addition still isn’t, but it’s for enough to call the promotion a certified hit.
The latest giveaway via Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion is Moonlighter, a hybrid dungeon crawler/store management game where players, as Will, seek to be a hero. After clearing dungeons and collecting loot, Will returns to his store to sell the items he’s found, while managing customers and so forth. It’s always been a solid game, but as a single-player title, its player count has been very small over the years since its release. Not only is the promotion a big boost to current player counts, but it’s a new record setter on Steam.
Early on August 6, developer Digital Sun Games celebrated the Steam All-Time Peak hitting 10K, but it would continue to climb thereafter. It remains to be seen if the dust settles in this ballpark, but as of this writing, dungeon crawler/management/roguelike game on Steam has crossed over 12.2K players. Presumably, it’ll stabilize eventually and/or continue to climb and hit new peaks. It’s worth mentioning that Moonlighter is STILL available on the promotion as of this writing, although its free period ends on August 9 at 10 am PT/1 pm ET.
For Digital Sun, this is essentially a 2:1 promotion too. Alongside Moonlighter joining the Steam Free-to-Keep Promotion, it announced that Moonlighter 2 will leave Early Access with its 1.0 launch on September 2, less than a month away. Even in Early Access, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is seen as a major improvement over the first game, taking its iconic gameplay loop into 3D instead of the top-down pixel art. Those who are okay with that change are going to find a better game, plus 1.0 is bringing with it a ton of content too.
Of course, how many players jump from the free Moonlighter promotion to the paid Moonlighter 2 release remains to be seen, but the sheer number of players checking out the first one bodes well for the second. And it’s worth noting that Moonlighter 2 is not a full-priced $70 game on Steam. It’s respectfully cheaper at $29.99, so if someone enjoys the first game and has a little bit of that walking-around money, the Digital Sun team (and shopkeeper Will) would happily take it.
As of this writing, Steam’s Free-to-Keep Promotion has one more game confirmed for August 2026: the hand-drawn comedy adventure game Deponia. These two are not likely to be the only additions this month, but they are the only ones Steam users know about for now.
