Best Early Access Games on Steam

Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated early access games.

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Dead Effect 2 Dead Effect 2 is the newest addition to the acclaimed Dead Effect franchise. This action sci-fi shooter is looking to push the boundaries of first-person shooters to new levels with slick graphics, rich narrative and RPG elements.

Price 11.99€
Rating 7.1
Release 06 May 2016
Fantasy Tales Online Fantasy Tales Online is a retro MMORPG where you must form parties, collect gear, fight through dungeons and defeat bosses. Featuring puzzles, a rich item system and complex encounters. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill grindfest MMO title!

Price Free to play
Rating 6.6
Release 05 May 2016
Glitchspace Glitchspace is about reprogramming the game to solve puzzles. Trapped in an abstract cyberspace world, your way forward uses visual programming to edit environmental geometry, whilst unlocking key programming concepts along the way.

Price Free to play
Rating 6.9
Release 05 May 2016
Flesh Eaters Flesh Eaters is retro style single player RTS zombie survival game with resource gathering and crafting. Zombies are everywhere! You must gather resources to build barricades, upgrade weapons and armour and explore the city under the siege of the dead

Price -92% 0.44€
Rating 6.9
Release 03 May 2016
Snooker Nation Championship Dream of playing in the World Snooker Championship? Indulge your snooker fix, and play along with the televised version of the sport with Snooker Nation Championship

Price 3.99€
Rating 6.1
Release 27 Apr 2016
Wayward You awake to discover yourself no longer in the company of good men or a fine seafaring vessel. Treasure... you remember something about treasure. Wayward is a challenging turn-based, top-down, wilderness survival roguelike. Explore, build, and most importantly survive in these unforgiving lands.

Price -93% 0.60€
Rating 8.2
Release 22 Apr 2016
Ascent - The Space Game Ascent is a PVE sandbox space MMO with 270 BILLION star systems and an emphasis on strong Sci Fi. It encourages Exploration, Colonization, Research, Asteroid mining, Farming, Trading, and Combat. Outside the tutorial sector, everything in-game has been built by players.

Price -97% 0.64€
Rating 6.5
Release 11 Apr 2016
StarsOne You’ll see an unexplored world full of dangers, mysteries and adventures. You will explore randomly generated planets, develop industry, conduct trade, plant colonies, explore outer space.

Price -69% 3.03€
Rating 7.0
Release 08 Apr 2016
Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Do you like hot dogs? How about horseshoes? Hand grenades? (everyone likes hand grenades) Anyway, we've got all that, and guns. SO MANY GUNS. So if you like ordnance, meat, and far too many groan-worthy puns, this is the VR sandbox game for you.

Price 19.99€
Rating 9.5
Release 05 Apr 2016
Windlands A first person grappling hook exploration game.Soar through the ruins of a fallen world and discover the secrets of the ancients. Designed with full Virtual Reality support for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, also works great in Non VR.

Price 9.75€
Rating 7.4
Release 05 Apr 2016
CHKN Behold, the miracle of life… packed into cubes! Create fantastic creatures in an open-world sandbox game like no other. Explore, craft, and survive—all with the help of your very own creations.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.7
Release 01 Apr 2016
MachineCraft The main purpose of this game is showing and watching machines made out of blocks. Some of the game-modes allow you to battle or race against other players. (testing phase) You can create your original machine with ease by reassembling those machines that are distributed, or by using the automatic control block.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.4
Release 25 Mar 2016
Gunscape Gunscape provides easy-to-use tools based on a block-placement interface everybody's already familiar with to create all types of maps. Don't like building stuff? Then just blast your way through hordes of monsters or duel with other players!

Price -97% 0.66€
Rating 6.4
Release 01 Mar 2016
Gnomoria Gnomoria is a sandbox village management game where you help lead a small group of gnomes, who have set out on their own, to thrive into a bustling kingdom! Anything you see can be broken down and rebuilt elsewhere.

Price -11% 11.13€
Rating 7.3
Release 23 Feb 2016
Plague Inc: Evolved Plague Inc: Evolved is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation. Your pathogen has just infected 'Patient Zero' - now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself.

Price -50% 7.43€
Rating 9.3
Release 18 Feb 2016
Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls 2d space combat like no other. From the perspective of a single crew member, explore the fully destructible interior of any ship in a massive living world. Engage in space combat with no hitpoints where you know your enemy is dead when you see them fall out of their ship into the cold dark of space.

Price 27.99€
Rating 6.6
Release 11 Feb 2016
Rivalry Rivalry is a hotseat game where two players take turns moving their rag-doll character’s limbs and weapons until one is victorious. While the beginning stages of each game captures the strategic essence of swordplay, as damage and limbs are taken, the endgame turns rather Pythonesque.

Price 2.39€
Rating 8.6
Release 22 Jan 2016
Scrap Mechanic Enter the creative paradise of Scrap Mechanic! Build fantastic machines, go on adventures with your friends and defend against waves of evil Farmbots in this imaginative multiplayer survival sandbox. With Scrap Mechanic’s powerful creation tools you can engineer your own adventures!

Price 19.99€
Rating 9.1
Release 19 Jan 2016
The Bug Butcher A fast paced action shooter inspired by the arcade classic Super Pang! Use a wide selection of weapons and powerups to tear through increasingly challenging levels.

Price -59% 3.33€
Rating 8.6
Release 19 Jan 2016
Feed and Grow: Fish Hunt and eat other fish - simply, grow into larger beasts!

Price 14.99€
Rating 7.6
Release 08 Jan 2016
Waves 2: Notorious Waves 2: Notorious is an arcade twin-stick shooter set in Cyberspace. Build Combos, earn Adrenaline and unleash powerful Burst attacks as you Dive into the Net and do battle against an AI that adapts to your weaknesses!

Price Free to play
Rating 8.5
Release 16 Dec 2015
The Isle Experience fierce open world survival gameplay as you attempt to stay alive on an unforgiving island inhabited by dinosaurs! Hunt. Grow. Survive.

Price 19.99€
Rating 8.0
Release 01 Dec 2015
Euro Fishing Euro Fishing immerses you deep into the adrenaline-packed action, fun and beauty of Europe’s most famous lakes. Master your rod, line and tactics, and refine your technique to become a top angler. This is the closest you can get to real fishing from the comfort of your own couch.

Price -95% 0.74€
Rating 6.4
Release 02 Nov 2015
Chaos Reborn Turn-based wizard combat with the tactical positioning of chess and the bluff of poker. Features wizard customization, 100s of gear items, single player realm adventures, online leagues and co-op play.

Price -96% 0.42€
Rating 7.2
Release 26 Oct 2015

Most played early access games


74,530 players

1,071,135
156,649
Rating 8.7

51,105 players

876,898
17,560
Rating 9.7

36,063 players

181,623
58,732
Rating 7.5

29,895 players

118,511
50,510
Rating 7.0

28,589 players

355,171
21,892
Rating 9.3

27,618 players

358,266
22,443
Rating 9.3

25,899 players

39,563
10,970
Rating 7.7

21,673 players

471,451
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Rating 9.4

18,504 players

179,154
6,488
Rating 9.5

18,057 players

313,873
8,405
Rating 9.6