Steampunk

2018 · City-Building Survival · PC / Steam

Frostpunk is one of the most atmospheric and emotionally affecting strategy games ever made, using survival pressure to turn ordinary city-building decisions into genuine moral reckonings. It's relatively short, and replayability drops after you've mastered the scenarios, but while it lasts it's gripping in a way few games in the genre manage. Play it for the experience, not the long haul.

1986 · Hayao Miyazaki · 124 min · Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Castle in the Sky is Studio Ghibli's rousing debut feature, a grand adventure packed with chases, robots, and Miyazaki's signature blend of wonder and environmental conscience.

2023 · Action RPG · PC / Steam

Lies of P is the strongest non-FromSoftware entry in the soulslike genre, and it earns that distinction through sheer commitment to its own identity. The Belle Epoque steampunk setting is gorgeous, the weapon assembly system adds real creativity to builds, and the boss fights will test even experienced players. Some of those bosses push past challenging into frustrating, and the story doesn't quite stick the landing on every thread it weaves. But Round8 Studio built something that stands next to the games it draws inspiration from without looking like a shadow, and that's an achievement very few studios have managed.

2019 · Real-Time Strategy · PC / Steam

They Are Billions delivers one of the most punishing and rewarding colony defense experiences on PC. The survival mode is a masterclass in tension, where a single breach in your walls can end hours of careful planning in seconds. A disappointing campaign mode and limited late-game variety hold it back from greatness, but the core loop of building, defending, and sweating through each wave is strong enough to justify the price of admission for strategy fans who like their stakes high.

2015 · 2-4 Players · ~60-120 min · Competitive

Clockwork Wars is a hidden gem of area control design where simultaneous secret deployment eliminates downtime and creates dramatic reveals, delivering a tense steampunk strategy experience that rewards table reading and bold positioning.

2001 · RPG · PC

Arcanum is one of the most ambitious RPGs ever attempted and one of the most flawed. Its world, a collision between industrial revolution technology and traditional fantasy magic, is unlike anything else in the genre. Character building is extraordinarily deep, offering technology trees, magic schools, and social skills that all fundamentally change how you interact with the game. But the combat is poor across both real-time and turn-based modes, bugs persist decades later, and the late game rushes through content that deserved more development time. For players who can tolerate mechanical roughness in exchange for creative ambition, Arcanum offers an experience that nothing else has replicated.

2013 · 2-5 Players · 60-90 min · Competitive / Worker Placement

Spyrium pairs a fresh worker placement mechanism with tight economic decisions in a steampunk setting that never quite comes alive thematically, delivering satisfying strategic tension for players who value mechanics over atmosphere.

2014 · Graham Annable · 96 min · Animation

The Boxtrolls is Laika's most visually charming and least narratively compelling film, a beautifully animated adventure that delights with its handcrafted world and inventive creature design but can't quite find the emotional depth that defines the studio's best work.