Early Access has been a pretty controversial state since it first started to make waves a few years back, but over the past couple of years, we’ve seen some interesting things coming out of the early access vaults, and 2019 is shaping up to be an interesting year for developers currently marketing their games through Steam’s Early Access system. To help you wade through the plethora of titles, we’ve put together a small list of four games that we think you’ll want to keep an eye on going into 2019.
Beat Saber
While technically only available as a VR title, Beat Saber has taken the VR world by storm, offering one of the most entertaining and enjoyable rhythm games available in or out of virtual reality. Building off the ideas of lightsabers, players control two blades similar to the iconic Star Wars weapons as they slice their way through intense songs in Guitar Hero fashion. It’s by far one of the most challenging experiences you can find in virtual reality, and something work keeping an eye on as the library of songs grows over each and every passing month.
Hunt Showdown
Developed by the forces behind Crysis, Hunt Showdown offers a unique experience designed to test players in a brutal and challenging bounty hunting simulator. Take on massive beasts as you fend off other players, and work to become one of the greatest bounty hunters alive. The game features amazing gunplay, fantastic visuals, and an extremely bright future as Crytek continue to smooth out the wrinkles and add more features to the game.
Atlas
Developed by the minds behind Ark: Survival Evolved, Atlas places 40,000 players into a massive open world where players literally run the world. Built with PVP and PVE features in mind, Atlas takes the idea of a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas and gives players everything they need to build their own crew and run their own fleet. Tame fantastical creatures, take on legendary enemies, and fight against other players as you try your best to become the world’s greatest sailor, merchant, or even pirate.
Oxygen Not Included
Take over your own space colony in Oxygen Not Created, a quirky, challenging and intriguing survival simulator from Klei Entertainment. Dive headfirst into the challenge as you fight to expand your colony and keep your colonists from dying of oxygen deprivation, starvation, or disease. With countless hours of gameplay, as well as tons of constant updates courtesy of the Klei development team, Oxygen Not Included is a game you’ll want to add to your watchlist as it evolves and grows throughout the rest of 2018 and into 2019.
With so many promising titles to look forward to, buying into Early Access can be a bit overwhelming. These are just a few of the titles available and should give you a good starting point to dive into next year. Make sure you also check out some of the most promising FPS games of 2019, to see what other great games are on the horizon.
