Steam’s free game offerings have recently expanded to include four new titles. While all four are smaller-scale releases, they make up a motley group of arrivals that could potentially appeal to bargain hunters, especially those browsing Steam in search of a new action game or three.
Though giveaways are a regular occurrence on Valve’s storefront, they are more often than not time-limited. Even so, entirely free-to-play releases are far from unprecedented, as most recently exemplified by Escape Up, Crimson Loop, Dog’s Walts, and Ze Gunner—four new indies that debuted during the same late-February window as the latest edition of Steam Next Fest.
Steam Users Have Limited Time to Get 7 Great Games for Dirt Cheap
Steam is currently offering steep discounts on 7 well-reviewed games that expire on various dates, ranging from March 16 to March 19.
Steam’s Newest Freebies Share More Than a Release Window
Although the four games vary in style, they do share a few clear traits. Notably, they all come with a promise of action-packed gameplay, and they all quantify players’ performance in some manner, which is something that is likely to appeal to high-score chasers. That is especially true of Escape Up and Dog’s Walts, both fast-paced games that keep ramping up in difficulty as chaos unfolds on screen.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
As its name suggests, Dog’s Walts has a dog protagonist. A hammer-wielding one, at that, with the game’s overall premise centered on physics-based action and a chaotic score-attack setup. Conversely, Escape Up is a free-to-play action platformer tasking players with climbing ever higher through a series of monster-filled rooms. Its core hook is a mix of combat, platforming, and time-based pressure, with the game encouraging repeated runs through leaderboard chasing.
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 upgrades and abilities between runs. Its biggest hook is a mix of auto-shooter combat and layered meta progression that makes each subsequent run a bit more successful. While such numbers-go-up incentives are as old as gaming itself, this particular mix of roguelite mechanics and auto-shooting is a more modern formula, tracing back to 2019’s Magic Survival and 2021’s Vampire Survivors, which ultimately popularized the survivor-like genre, also known as bullet heaven.
Ze Gunner is a free-to-play base defense game that casts players as the operator of a 360-degree turret system protecting the last line of defense for their people. Compared to the other new Steam freebies, its pitch is the most straightforwardly tactical, built around quick target acquisition, fast turns, and holding the line as incoming enemies close in and start firing back at the player’s base.
Humorous Adventure Deponia Is Still Free to Claim on Steam, But Not for Much Longer
In related news, comedic adventure Deponia is still free to claim on Steam, with its giveaway now approaching the one-week mark. Originally released in 2022, Deponia is a comedic adventure about a serious garbage dump that has engulfed much of its fictional world inhabited by many bizarre personas. Developer Daedalic Entertainment frames the game’s tone as being in line with that of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Matt Groening. Since those writers are essentially the Holy Trinity of making absurdity feel diagnostic, anyone who enjoys witty monologs and deeply flawed characters is likely to be intrigued by what Deponia has to offer.
Deponia is free to claim and keep through March 16 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CET. Valve’s Tower Defense Fest is scheduled to end the same day. The conceptually much more ambitious Steam Spring Sale 2026 is then scheduled to begin on March 19, marking Valve’s first large-scale shopping holiday of the year. Square Enix and Spike Chunsoft, meanwhile, appear to have gotten tired of waiting for spring, with both publishers already running their own Steam promotions ahead of Valve’s bigger seasonal push.
