Steam Charts: The Awakening

Heavens to Murgatroyd, it's only the weekly Steam charts! That is to say, the ten games which sold best on Steam last week.

After a string of backwards-looking weeks, it's beginning to look a lot like 2017 at last.

10. The Forest

While last week this was here because of a sale, this placement is based only on full price (still a relatively low $15) purchases. I.e. it seems that this 2014-vintage survival-o-craft 'em up has put down new roots in the top ten based on good word of mouth. It's still in early access but it's in a good, polished, atmospheric shape, as I discovered when I made my first foray into its cannibal-haunted woods last week.

9. Pit People

Called it. Didn't I call it? I so like it when I'm right. Apart from when it's about short-fingered vulgarians. This comedy 'toon strategy game had 'brief Steam smash hit' written all over it, and I'm glad to see both that this happened and that it was deserved. Brendy reckons it's the comedy that sings far more than does the strategy element per se, and given the great dearth of genuinely zingy laugh 'em ups, that's recommendation enough for me.

8. ARK: Survival Evolved

I've been playing Plants vs Zombies with my little one. A few weeks ago she wanted to know what zombies were - a memory of sights seen around Halloween - and I baulked at trying to explain the icky truth to her. I raided my thin reserves of genuinely worthwhile knowledge in the hope of something to sanitise or divert from the subject, and instead my brain whispered "she likes flowers! There are flowers and zombies in Plants vs Zombies! And the zombies aren't scary and don't kill people! Go go go!"

And now I have to play and attempt to explain PvZ to her for a half hour every bedtime, instead of her usual brief TV. It's fun, it's sweet, she's really interested, she's learning a few things about e.g. the differences between mushroom and plants, I get to see the game through a refreshed lens of charm rather than total over-familiarity, and most importantly she too thinks Wall-Nut and Tall-Nut are bestest best. But: I don't want to create a gateway drug here.

That said, I really want to show her Abzu.

7. Planet Coaster

Speaking of which, it feels like a long wait until she can overcome those 'you must be this high to ride..." signs. I wanna take her to Universal Studios. Anyway: has this made David Braben more money than Elite Dangerous has yet?

6. RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard / BIOHAZARD 7 resident evil

That's two actual 2017 videogames in a 2017 videogames chart. What's going on here? These aren't the rules. New things scare me. Can't I just carry on tiresomely pretending that mentioning Grand Theft Auto V every week is somehow causing an actual mental breakdown instead?

In fact I'm dead (dead like a zombie haha!) excited about Resi 7. The demo was genuinely unsettling, as well as beautiful in a totally horrific way, and I'm keen to see how its super-mystery, contained-spaces vibe can be extended into a full a game. Adam's working on the full review, but plan is I'll bung up some knee-jerk impressions of the initial hours a bit later today.

5. Grand Theft Auto V

Oh NOoooo GTA V I can't bear it this is the worst thing that ever happened to anyone ever I'm losing my miiiiiiiiind I'm so maaaaad aaaargh wooorgh Mr Flibble wakka wakka wakka we like to party.

4. Endless Grand Master Collection

Just for a moment, I hoped that some kind of chess collection had become a surprise smash hit. That's exactly the sort of unpredictability I'd like to see in these charts. Not because I'm a chess fan (quite the opposite; I sort of loathe it due to being forced to join the school chess club by default because I looked so nerdy, only to find that I was consistently terrible at it) but because PC gaming is the broadest of churches and it's lovely whenever that's reflected.

The disappointment that this is in fact a bundle of Amplitude's excellent, genre-straddling Endless games was minor and brief, for they too are a fine reflection of PC gaming's breadth.

The package was discounted to by 85%, from $119.99 to $17.99, last week, which is yer actual incredi-bargain, given that it includes the following:

Dungeon of the Endless, Dungeon of the Endless - Australium Update, Dungeon of the Endless - Crystal Edition Upgrade, Dungeon of the Endless - Rescue Team Add-on, Endless Legend, Endless Legend - Echoes of Auriga, Endless Legend - Emperor Edition Upgrade, Endless Legend - Guardians, Endless Legend - Shadows, Endless Legend - Shifters, Endless Legend - Tempest, Endless Legend - The Lost Tales, Endless Space - Disharmony, Endless Space - Emperor Edition.

Unfortunately, the deal's over now. I shall have to immediately fire RPS' entire staff for not posting about this at the time, myself included. See ya!

3. Astroneer

2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

1. H1Z1: King of the Kill

Alright, alright, I'm still here really. Come on, I have no practical skills, what else am I going to do for a living?

Anyway: Daybreak seem to be doing extraordinarily well with their battle royale spin-off of their initially DayZ-esque survival game. There's a lot of this belated comeback success going around lately - see also Ubisoft with Rainbow Six Siege.

So: odds on Resi 7 taking the top spot next week? Reviews I've read so far claim good things, and I think that everyone's been waiting for a solid new game, hence the hitherto relative scarcity of 2017 games in these charts.