New on Steam: The world’s most-wanted game is finally launching

The most-wanted game on Steam is finally launching this week: Subnautica 2 leads a strong release week featuring survival, horror, strategy, and building games.

This week, half the gaming world is likely to be looking toward the ocean floor: With Subnautica 2, the currently most-wanted game on Steam is finally arriving in Early Access.

But even aside from the big underwater hype, there are exciting new releases—from sci-fi horror to Battlestar Galactica to rail-based building games.

Quick Navigation

• The highlight of the week: Subnautica 2 (Early Access)
• More exciting Steam releases this week

  • Monday, May 11
  • Tuesday, May 12
  • Wednesday, May 13
  • Thursday, May 14
  • Friday, May 15

The highlight of the week: Subnautica 2 (Early Access)

Subnautica 2 isn’t just any new survival game—it’s currently the most-wished-for game on Steam. And that’s no coincidence: The first game already showed just how compelling survival can be when the focus isn’t just on chopping down trees and crafting, but on genuine curiosity about an alien world.

Subnautica 2 once again drops you into an alien world full of strange biomes, unknown creatures, and potentially very bad decisions made while running low on oxygen. The big difference from its predecessor: This time, you can team up with up to three friends in co-op to build bases, gather resources, and figure out together what’s actually waiting for you down there.

Once again, it’s all about exploration, crafting, base-building, and that very special feeling when you actually just wanted to quickly grab some new materials… and suddenly find yourself way too deep, way too far away, and way too close to something very big. It’s precisely this mix of fascination and underlying panic that’s likely to be the sequel’s biggest draw as well.

But here’s an important note:Subnautica 2 is launching in Early Access. That means: At release, you won’t get the finished full version, but a growing version that will be expanded via updates with new biomes, creatures, items, features, and story content.

So if you’re expecting a polished, complete package right off the bat, you might want to wait a bit longer. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for exploring together, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more exciting Steam release this week (Subnautica 2 is also coming to the Epic Games Store, by the way).

More Exciting Steam Releases of the Week

Monday, May 11

• Outbound: Here, you build a home on wheels. In this cozy open-world game, you transform a camper into your personal base, gather resources, upgrade your vehicle, and explore a laid-back futuristic world—alone or in co-op.

• Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes: The new Battlestar Galactica game is a survival fleet management roguelite with real-time combat. You lead a fleet of survivors, make tough decisions, and try to stay one step ahead of the Cylons.

• Don’t Panic! It is Just Turbulence: In this co-op puzzle game, two players must work together to save a crashing plane. One sits in the cockpit, the other gives instructions as an air traffic controller—the perfect recipe for misunderstandings, shouting, and very funny evenings.

Tuesday, May 12

• Directive 8020: Supermassive Games sends you into space with the next installment of the Dark Pictures series. Instead of campfire horror, this time there’s sci-fi thrills, a dying Earth, a colonization mission, and, of course, decisions that could end quite badly for the crew.

• Better Than Dead (Early Access): A brutal bodycam shooter that throws you into a photorealistic Hong Kong. The game features intense combat, a personal revenge story, and a pretty uncompromising presentation—so it’s not really for a casual after-work shooter on the side.

Wednesday, May 13

• Notmads (Early Access): In this open-world action RPG, you build your fortress on the back of a giant living beast. It also features magic, loot, crafting, and co-op for up to five players.

Thursday, May 14

• Dark Light: Survivor (Early Access): A dark roguelike survival game set in a dying multiverse. You fight your way through a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world full of nightmarish creatures, switching between top-down and third-person perspectives.

• Psychic Kung Fu Master: An unusual martial arts RPG with turn-based combat and a wuxia vibe, in which you aim to become a kung fu legend.

• Company of Heroes 3: Dare & Destroy: The new DLC pack for Company of Heroes 3 adds four additional battlegroups for multiplayer, co-op, and battles against the AI.

• American Truck Simulator – Illinois: American Truck Simulator continues its journey across the U.S., this time adding Illinois to the lineup. The DLC features new roads, cities, industrial areas, and, of course, many more miles for relaxing long-haul trips.

Friday, May 15

• Steel Artery: Train City Builder: A city-building game on rails is quite an unusual concept. You build an entire city on a moving train, managing the economy, logistics, and the needs of your residents—exactly the kind of building game where a few hours can fly by.

This makes for a pretty diverse lineup this Steam Week: Survival fans get Subnautica 2, horror fans can check out Directive 8020, while building and strategy gamers are also well catered to. Feel free to let us know in the comments which game is going straight to your wishlist or shopping cart!