Five new Steam games you probably missed (August 11, 2025)

On an average day about a dozen new games are released on Steam. And while we think that's a good thing, it can be understandably hard to keep up with. Potentially exciting gems are sure to be lost in the deluge of new things to play unless you sort through every single game that is released on Steam. So that’s exactly what we’ve done. If nothing catches your fancy this week, we've gathered the best PC games you can play right now and a running list of the 2025 games that are launching this year.

Pager

Steam ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ August 6
Developer:‌ bilge

Pager is a first-person psychological horror with a morbid sense of humor and a disquieting 1-bit art style. You've just started a job in a normal-seeming '90s office tower, and it's your responsibility to follow the instructions on your pager in order to "climb the corporate ladder". These instructions lead you through an increasingly surreal dreamscape whose vibe and logic is clearly borrowed from Kafka and Lynch (the developer cites both, as well as the Stanley Parable and Severance). It looks fun, and appears to have a nice dog in it.

Is This Seat Taken?

Steam‌ ‌page‌
Release:‌ August 8
Developer:‌ Poti Poti Studio

This is a puzzler with, as far as I know, a completely original premise. It's your job to seat people together in a variety of public places according to their preferences, quirks, and pedantic hang-ups. For example, you're going to want to avoid putting the sniffly old man next to the germophobe young woman. I came up with that example myself; the actual characters in Is This Seat Taken? are much more interesting and varied, and part of the fun seems to come from making the right match and seeing a relationship blossom. Elie played an early demo in February and loved it.

Öoo

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ August 8
Developers:‌ Nama Takahashi, tiny cactus studio, Tsuyomi

A straightforward but finely-honed puzzle-platformer from Nama Takahashi, whose 2021 ElecHead went down extremely well with genre enthusiasts. In Öoo you're a caterpillar exploring a mysterious, interconnected subterranean world. You've got some bombs at your disposal, and most problems you encounter can be solved with them. Don't expect to rely on tried-and-true bomb-centric problem solving the whole way through, though: the fun of Öoo is discovering all the bizarre ways bombs can be useful.

Punk Juice

Steam page
Release:‌ August 3
Developer:‌ Lemon Boy

Punk Juice is an adventure game about being a punk. As part of a rough 'n' ready three-piece in a fictionalised Seattle, you must cope with the indignities of being a punk in an anti-punk world. This means playing crappy shows, going on crappy dates, and drinking crappy coffee, all while being the best punk you can possibly be. And don't worry: you can customize the appearance of your punk. As punk-centric as Punk Juice is, it's actually very cozy-looking.

Tiny Bookshop

Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ August 8
Developer:‌ neoludic games

Tiny Workshop is about running a little bookshop-on-wheels in an idyllic coastal town. It's a "cozy narrative management game" with all the usual cozy trappings: wistful pastels, eccentric but friendly characters to talk to, and "no stress, no drama" according to the trailer above. You'll stock your bookshop, decorate and furnish your bookshop, and try to hand sell the right books to your characters. It looks like a nice change of pace, especially if you've just spent the weekend playing the Heretic remaster like me.