Hiraeth Playtest - ☵ HIRAETH™
The list of changes will be in a larger announcement in the following days.
Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim - RIO CalicoConundrum
Hey Puzzlers!
We’re incredibly excited to announce that Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim is finally coming to Steam - for both PC VR AND flatscreen! 🧩✨

You’ll be able to enjoy cozy and satisfying 3D jigsaw puzzles in a whole new way - even when you might not feel like putting on a headset!



Over 30 beautiful puzzles to explore
We will be remastering over 30 of our most beloved puzzles, adding additional attachments, animations and audio effects to really make them shine! We even just hired a composer to add more musical elements across the puzzles! We’ll have more to share with you about that very soon ☺️

New Playmodes
Playing in 2D feels quite a bit different than in VR - which is why we decided to offer 2 unique playmodes! Whether you're in the mood for a quick break or a deep, all-day challenge, we've got you covered:
  • Arcade Mode: Short on time? Build your puzzle a handful of curated pieces at a time! Ideal for flow and building puzzles over multiple quick sessions!
  • Tabletop Mode: start with all the pieces, sort arrange and build the fractured diorama piece by piece like a real world jigsaw.
As always: puzzles will come in multiple difficulty levels: 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 pieces – some even go up to 1000!

Cross-device & cozy
Lean back and puzzle on your Steam Deck, get serious on your desktop or step inside the puzzle with VR - Puzzling Places will be optimized across different devices, so you can pick your favorite way to play.


We’re super excited (and terrified) to take this next big step together with you all and wanted to take a moment to say thank you from the entire Puzzling Places team - we wouldn’t be here without you ♥️

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3530820/Puzzling_Places__where_everything_fits/
Apr 28
Kitchen Wars - Panzer




  • Various bug fixes.
  • Improved gameplay visibility.
  • Added rematch button at the end of the game.
  • You can briefly pickup enemy players in their own restaurant.
  • Restaurants no longer take damage from empty chair spots when low on health.
  • Added a "Hide Room Code" option for streaming.
Microcivilization - Ondrej Homola
Hello everyone,

after another month comes another update. This time I won't be able to talk much about what was done in these four weeks, but will instead look at what's going to happen shortly and view some of the fundamental features of version 0.11.

The main reason is I came down with annoyingly persistent flu for over 3 weeks (exchanging it with my son and wife) so this month progress was bad.

Beta Test drawing near

Regardless of this delay I am now in the finalization phase for 0.11. That includes final graphical polishing, testing and re-balancing. There are some small features missing and there's massive amount of work on music and the Demo (both of which are somewhat non-critical though).

My original estimate (about a month back) was to do Beta in the second half of May, but for the reasons mentioned above I will have to reserve extra two weeks at least (which is about the time lost to the illness).

Current plan is to start beta in the week of June 2nd-8th (for at least 3 weeks before releasing 0.11 live)

I will share my finalized plan on my next update in four weeks. As soon as we draw closer to this I'll also be able to provide actual release date. But this time I do not think I want to have too long beta. Instead I want to do more internal testing before. So optimally 0.11 would be out after 3 weeks of beta testing. According to my January Roadmap this still fits the Q2 release slot.



Rogue-lite Tier 3

As soon as you finish the second Scenario of the game (will be added as part of 0.11 release) you will be thrown to the Tier 3 immediately. Lots of things will change for the time you're in it. To get out you need to do the usual things - gain Lotuses and buy out all the main Ascensions on the ascension tree.

Tier 3 is a fall-from-grace chapter of the game. Your civilization is fighting to retain its position among the living. This is not about culture or prosperity. This is about survival against the most merciless of opponents.

YOU are now a Tribal Village and THEY are now you.

For this reason Tier 3 is going to be played in a slightly different style than Tier 1 and 2. This not to say the mechanisms will drastically change. No, 99% of the core concepts will be the same. The difference comes with some features temporarily disabled or weakened while some enhanced or made into primary gameplay.

New Map Resources
Most of your early activities will be restricted to finite resource on the map. There will be new actions (Quests) you can do on the tiles. New Resources like Ancient Ruins or Foragable Berries will be your initial source of economy and progress. As you move to the end of the Tier you will slowly transition to your old play-style economy.



No Population-based research
This is the first difference you will spot in Tier3. Your population is stuck with something called 'tyranny of custom' and you gain no free Research points. You will need to actively search for Ancient Ruins on the map to gain temporary Research bonuses.

Ancient Ruins will be the primary source of progress in general. However you will have to choose between Technological progress and Meta-game progress (Lotus and Secrets). You will also frequently have to fight your way to these ruins over Cannibal clans and Barbarians.

So getting Research will not be easy. But after all that effort you will ultimately unlock an ascension returning population and autonomy based research back.


Reflection Dilemma is the reward for exploiting Ancient Ruins on the world map. Each will offer you options to progress your civilization. This is also initially the primary source of Lotus at the cost of some of your heroes (future or present depending on the dilemma card).

No Workshops & Heroes

With no permanent settlements there are no workshops. Discovering Permanent settlements is one of the last Technologies in the Tier 3 tree so it will take significant effort to reach it. For the majority of your time in Tier 3 you will not have to worry about workshops.

As mentioned previously - on Tier 3 you do not have sophisticated benefits as mythology and history. So your Heroes will not work. Or in other words you wont be able to equip them. Instead you will be using a new type of Idol heroes, which must be collected from scratch.

While both of these problems make your life significantly harder, they also make it far less complex.

Conquistadores
These guys will be your ever-present Nemesis here. Conquistadores start on Level 1 like everything else here. That is about the only good news though. They will be re-spawning very quickly and gaining new powers mercilessly. Initially you won't likely survive further than their third raid.

As you unlock more meta-game features, Idols, technologies, you will be able to deflect them more easily.

Conquistadores never become Mortal here. You will have to crawl through the Ascension tree up to the special 'Nemesis Eradication Scenario' where you will finally be able to defeat them. This scenario -if won - will also permanently remove them from the Game.

Later in tier 4 EVERY Nemesis type in the game (smallpox, inquisition etc. ) will have their Eradication Scenario to remove them from the game.

An overview of some of the unpleasant challenges of Tier 3 including the 'four conquistadors of apocalypse'.

Expanding Civilization
Conquistadores are tied to their home civilization. In Tier 3 this civilization will always spawn hostile and with a large territory in its control. It will also expand this territory every couple of minutes limiting the free roaming space for your civilization's migratory economy.

You will not be able to defeat this civilization entirely nor be able to wage diplomacy with them. The only Quests available to you will be Raiding their territory which makes a single tile abandoned.


Swimming up to the surface

All the Tier 3 challenges eventually get resolved permanently. Before you are out of this purgatory most of your lost old abilities will be back and the game mechanisms will return very closely to where they were at the beginning of the game.

The Tier 3 Ascension tree is currently pre-balanced to about 10-15 ascension cycles with a 'moderate playstyle' to complete it. With single ascension run beginning from 5 minutes slowly increasing to about 30 minutes (depending how long you can survive) we are talking about 3 to 5 hours play time to complete. If rushing it will likely be possible to reach Tier 4 in half this time.

As I said back in one of the other updates, Tier 3's purpose is to introduce a sudden change in the pace of the game and add all remaining pieces of the puzzle to it. At the same time it is meant to provide a relief from strategic complexity. It is an 'intermission' with different play style compared to the rest of the game and which serves as a contrast to the advanced future era civilization you achieved just before.

This means that once you are out of the Tier 3 you do not need to ever go through the same ordeal again. Tier 4 will resume back to the original play style, except combined with some of the newly discovered features.

Ok, that's all I have to share today. Next month I'll wrap these Tier 3 updates with the last one - about Judgements and what role high-tiered lotuses will play in this new meta-mini-game. Also I might share some stuff about the Tier 2 scenario (but I don't want to spoil much from that). That will cover pretty much all there is about 0.11. So let's hope all works out well in the finalization phase and Beta-test and that we can all get The Biggest Version Update live.

See you next time,

Ondrej



Fortune Paradox - Arjan
Tailside: Cozy Cafe Sim - ☕︎ Coffee Beans Dev
The café doors are opening early with a special public playtest, and it's all about sandbox decorating! This build is just for fun: no customers, no pressure, just your imagination and your cafe to design however you like.

Arrange favorite furniture pieces and create the café of your dreams. Screenshots, videos, and café creations are welcome and encouraged! Feedback and suggestions for new décor ideas are also appreciated. There will be a few surprises for those who share their cafes around. 👀 ☕

If you would like to be part of the development journey, you can vote on various ideas on:
Discord | Twitter | Instagram | Leave your own suggestions
Thank you so much for the support - Coffee Beans Dev
Shadow Empire - danamite
It’s official! Two years after the release of the Oceania DLC, a new chapter is coming to the award-winning 4X wargame Shadow Empire.

Republica DLC: A New Political Era in Shadow Empire

The Republica DLC expands Shadow Empire’s political systems, adding new layers of realism, challenge, and replayability. Manage societal decay, pass laws, confront a paranoid computer, and navigate evolving forms of government.

A major addition is Virtus, a system that represents the collective will of society. Under its influence, democracies can decay into dysfunctional states, meritocracies into oligarchies, and autocracies into tyrannies. Players must confront this instability with careful strategy, political maneuvering, or even radical actions like revolutions or adopting extreme governments—such as aristocracy or fanatical autocracy.

The DLC also introduces political bodies that vote on laws, creating unpredictable shifts in power. While laws can offer powerful benefits, they also come at a cost, forcing players to either adapt or resort to authoritarian control.

Want to learn more? Wishlist the DLC now and stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3645760/Shadow_Empire_Republica/

To celebrate the announcement, the Complete Bundle is now available at an exciting 25% weekly discount, instead of the usual 10%.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31532/Shadow_Empire_Complete/


Gold and Graves - meolo95
Welcome to Gold and Graves!

We’re excited to finally reveal our upcoming 2D roguelite deckbuilder, featuring intense battles, mercenary recruitment, and dungeon exploration.

🌟 A playable demo will be available during the Steam Next Fest (June 2025)!
🌟 We plan to post updates, news, and development insights here.

Feel free to leave your thoughts or questions — we’re listening!

Thank you for visiting!
Hop 'n' Marty - Evilkookey
I'm happy to announce that steam achievements will be coming in the next Hop 'n' Marty update. This was heavily requested and I've been working hard to come up with a fun list of achievements that will challenge player to explore everything Hop 'n' Marty has to offer.

You may already see achievements listed on the game's library page. Please note that this is for testing purposes and they are not currently unlockable however they will be soon.

Thank you for your patience and I am excited to release the achievement update soon!
Cubic Cosmos - Ellen
Hail, Cosmonauts! See below for details on the latest update:

Update Version
v0.0.9.41

Update Details
  1. Fixed an issue that led to model problems.
  2. Fixed a number of issues that led to crashes during combat.
  3. Fixed an issue where Auto and Mobilize pawns could not be selected from your hand in certain circumstances.
  4. Fixed an issue where pawns would erroneously respawn after attacking multiple times in certain circumstances.
  5. Fixed an issue where trait descriptions would not be displayed correctly when viewing cards in the Codex.
  6. Fixed an issue where you could not right-click cards to see creatables in the Shop.
  7. Fixed an issue where continuous fast-motion bullet effects could cause models to be knocked crooked.
  8. Fixed an issue where quitting your run when animations are triggered at the start of battle could cause problems.
  9. Fixed an issue where enemy card models were inconsistent inside and outside of certain stages.
  10. Fixed an issue where erroneous trait text would appear for pawns in certain circumstances.
  11. Fixed an issue where card selection status would not be displayed correctly after the hidden event in the Sacrificial Altar stage.
  12. Fixed an issue where Exasperation would not grant Shrapnel.
  13. Hailstorm effects will now appear on pawns with the Can't Attack and Follow Up traits.
Thank you for your patience and support as we work hard to improve the game!
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