I come to you today with important news: there is in fact more than one video game out this month.

Yes, that one video game is quite a biggie, and it’s definitely the one most will be picking up this December, but that doesn’t mean everyone is champing at the bit to play it. Maybe you’re not interested in the Deus Extra RPG that is Cyberpunk 2077. Perhaps you want gangsters, underwater puzzles, two-headed dogs!

So, if you’re one of those people, and you’re looking for a new game to play over the festive period, look no further than this list of the top 10 video games to play on PC this December.

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You’re supposed to put the genre in the introduction, but then you’re also supposed to write an introduction in the first place, and not a load of delaying tactics where you bang on about the vagueness of genres and how Haven is a hybrid of at least two of them anyway. You spend most of it skate-gliding around a 3D world, some of it fighting corrupted animals, and some of it in visual novel type sections that bring me to the plot and this paragraph to a merciful end.

Kay and Yu, a couple destined for a lifetime of Abbott and Costello routines, have fled a society that does not approve of their relationship, and hidden themselves away on Source, a floating archipelago that vaguely forms a planet. The End.

Oh no!

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Xbox Game Pass for PC continues to collect some absolute belters, with the likes of Doom Eternal, Va-11 Hall-A, Yes, Your Grace and Call Of The Sea headlining its new additions this month.

There’s loads more coming throughout December, too. Looking down the list we’ve got Greedfall, Unto The End and Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair. Genuinely, if you’ve been looking for a good time to try out the Game Pass for its cheapo £1 / $1 first month deal, I think now might be your chance.

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Opting for something quite different from their boss-battler Furi, The Gamer Bakers are just about ready to take Haven out of the oven. The romantic adventure about a couple who’ve escaped to an unfamiliar planet isn’t without combat though. You can catch a bit of that, and some more hints about the story, in a new trailer that announced its December 3rd release date.

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I can’t keep up, readers. A constant hoseworth of new games is one thing, but between mega bundles and a dozen streaming events, this month has become an avalanche of games. The Steam Game Festival has flung heaps of promising games in our direction. Frankly, far too many of them look good. My brain cannot parse this kind of volume.

So. Let’s stick with the action games, yeah? Yes, it’s a nebulous category. Yes, I’ve cheated and put in at least one that you could argue technically doesn’t belong. But do you really have time to worry about that, when you could be playing more of these demos instead? Exactly.

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Steam kicks off a nearly week-long spree of free game demos today with its Steam Game Festival. It is certifiably a celebration of great indie games, with demos available for some that are already released and others yet to come. There appears to be a bit of everything: puzzles, action, management, platforming, and more. Everything from Thunder Lotus’ upcoming cozy management game Spiritfarer to the buzzsaw hell game Disc Room. They’ve all got free demos available until Monday the 23rd.

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This would not be RPS if I didn’t return from Gamescom and write minimally about the triple A-xtravaganzas and maximumly about smaller, weirder things wot I saw. So here, have at it: my favourite of the independently made games I saw at this year’s show. I flatter myself that the selection is broad enough that it covers genres to suit every taste. Strategy games! Card games! Building games! I haven’t picked all story driven adventure games or RPGs! That’s personal growth on my part, that’s what that is.

Highlights include the one about loneliness, the one about loneliness, and the one about death.

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Haven looks like a lovely, chill game, which is exactly The Game Bakers’s stated intent. Veering hard in the opposite direction to their intense boss-rush shoot ‘o brawler Furi, Haven is a scenic and soft-looking RPG about a young couple that fled to an alien world to be together. While previously little more than a name and a short teaser trailer, the developers are now eager to talk about it, and let us see a little bit of it in motion. They’re open about their inspirations, talking about them in this blog post. Below, a trailer showing off what they describe as “Journey meets Persona“.

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Haven is the next from The Game Bakers, creators of frantic bullet hell hack n’ slasher Furi – so far, it looks like a much gentler ride than its intense predecessor. Due next year, it’s an RPG that can be played solo or with a “special someone”, about a couple who have fled to an alien world to be together. There’s not much to see of it yet beyond some lovely, scenic screenshots and a short teaser trailer below, but I can’t deny that I’m digging the aesthetic, and hope to play this one with my significant other. Have a quick peek at the romantic alien landscapes below.

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