The list of best-selling new releases on Steam for the month of August is, as we've come to expect, an interesting mix of genres and also developers, with more than half of the studios represented on the list launching games on Steam for the first time.
The list includes both Early Access and full releases, and is based on sales over the first two weeks immediately following a game's releases. Sales figures aren't included, so instead the games are listed chronologically, from Hide or Die on August 1 to Re:Legend on August 30. (That's why the lists don't show up until well into the following month—so Valve can collect the full two weeks' worth of sales from games that came out at the end of the month.)
Here's who led the way in August:
- Hide or Die
- Age of Wonders: Planetfall
- Cliff Empire
- Metal Wolf Chaos XD
- Dicey Dungeons
- Ion Fury
- Shortest Trip to Earth
- Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
- We Need to Go Deeper
Rad - Remnant: From the Ashes
- Undermine
- Oninaki
- Telling Lies
- Hunt: Showdown
- Pagan Online
- Monster Sanctuary
- The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
- Blair Witch
- Re:Legend
The monthly roundup also includes the top five free games released in August:
- Steel Circus
- Steambirds Alliance
- Hobs
- Undefeated
- Rise of Legions
The top free game releases are based on peak player count over the first two weeks of launch, so it's a bit easier to gain insight into their performance. Steel Circus had a peak concurrent player count of 2153 according to Steam Charts, for instance, while Rise of Legends maxed out at 476, although Rise of Legends appears to be having better luck holding onto players. Steel Circus peak concurrent player count over the past 24 hours was 99, compared to 230 for Rise of Legions.
If you'd like to check out any or all of these games yourself—I think Shortest Trip to Earth looks particularly interesting, but there should be something in there for just about everyone—Valve has collected them all together in a Steam page you can dive into here.
