Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Gamescom 2025 schedule
  • Gamescom
  • Battlefield 6
  • New Games for 2025
Don't miss these
Stormgate
Real Time Strategy Games $35 million in crowdfunding and investment later, Warcraft-inspired RTS from Starcraft devs is leaving early access unfinished at version 0.6, not 1.0 – so it's replacing numbers with codenames, which is worse
Cheaters Cheetah cheetah man crouches in a corner
Games Steam expert points to the games you never see quietly "making hundreds of thousands of dollars for small devs" as a key sign "Steam is doing okay"
Gnomes art of gnome holding a bloody knife
Strategy Games Paying Valve $108,000 just to be on Steam is "totally worth it," says dev of roguelike strategy game made in 10 months which has now earned over $360,000
Rusty's Retirement main character Rusty on a bench
Simulation Games Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, and a strange strategy game from 2023: the now wildly successful dev behind idle farming sim hit Rusty's Retirement says he learned from the greats, and literally called his latest game "Idle Valley" internally
Schedule I
Simulation Games Schedule 1 patch arrives alongside its solo dev apologizing for taking "a bit longer than usual," while teasing the drug dealing sim's upcoming "first major update"
Rusty's Retirement
Simulation Games Indie dev behind quietly massive Steam trend says they only learned to code 5 years ago but have made 2 games selling 750,000 copies: "I still don't believe it myself sometimes"
Stormgate character with glowing blue eyes
Real Time Strategy Games Stormgate, the RTS from ex-Starcraft and Warcraft devs, launches out of Steam Early Access with perfect balance, by which I mean with 50% positive user reviews: "We plan to be in active development for a long time"
Escape from Tarkov
FPS Games After announcing Escape From Tarkov is finally leaving early access, the extraction shooter dev has confirmed a "page on Steam will be available soon"
Two players in horror game REPO.
Horror Games REPO and Schedule 1 receive the highest honor an indie game can possibly get outside 2 seconds in a Nintendo sizzle reel: Geoff Keighley telling the world they're outselling some genuine AAA juggernauts
Town to City
City Builder Games Beautiful city-builder Town to City sets its early access release date, and it's very soon
Magic Inn gameplay screenshot of a witch in a pointy hat and purple dress cleaning a wooden table in a tavern
Management Games I accidentally played 10 hours of Magic Inn and it's already the most hands-on management sim I've played since Two Point Campus
Constance
PC Gaming "Sounds like I'll be a millionaire soon": Steam error sends game wishlist numbers to the moon, indie devs take a moment to celebrate their new massive audiences before Valve fixes it
Tiny Bookshop
The Sims We get a lot of cozy life sims, but not many of them crack Steam's top 20 best-sellers in 4 days with 95% positive reviews, and thank goodness this adorable bookshop management sim has nothing to do with a farm
Manor Lords
City Builder Games Manor Lords' new update is "overhauling a lot of systems at once," and it should be worth the 6-month wait as "we'll be able to shift to smaller, more frequent updates going forward"
Promotional artwork for the Steam Summer Sale 2025 which runs from June 26th - July 10th at 10am PT
Games I've spent six hours exploring the Steam Summer Sale with our Games Editor, and these are the 10 best games on discount I'd recommend so far
  1. Games

Checking in with Steam Early Access' class of 2013

Features
By Lucas Sullivan published 16 July 2015

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Extended stay

Extended stay

Early access is a fascinating grey area in gaming consumerism, where developers can charge money for unfinished-but-playable products with no clear indication of when - or if - they'll ever be completed. Valve, ever the risk-taking experimenter, launched the Steam Early Access program back in March 2013, letting customers buy into alpha builds so they could give developers direct feedback, kickstart the beginnings of a community, and bring needed bug fixes to light.

This uncertain space in the game market isn't going away anytime soon; just look at the runaway success of the recent 'sandbox survival with dinosaurs' Early Access game ARK: Survival Evolved, or Microsoft's E3 2015 announcement of the Xbox Game Preview program, which mimics Steam Early Access but with free demos. So let's examine the forebears of the format, and find out which games in Steam Early Access' class of 2013 have actually graduated (given that they all entered the program during its debut year). Let these be a lesson, because as the Early Access FAQ puts it, "You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game."

Page 1 of 13
Page 1 of 13
DayZ

DayZ

The quick pitch: DayZ was one of the first breakout hits in the 'open-world survival' genre, dropping your unarmed avatar into a world full of brain-munching zombies and players ready to backstab one another to survive.
You could buy it as far back as: December 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Things aren't looking too good at the moment. When it first hit Early Access, DayZ was all the rage: fans of the original Arma 2 mod were excited to try this standalone version, and innumerable livestreams and Let's Plays exposed thousands to a pioneer of the 'zombie survival' genre. But two years later, a lot of those customers are feeling betrayed, given that the game's still in alpha and riddled with bugs. It may end up limping to the finish line - and now it has to compete with almost identical Early Access games like 7 Days to Die and H1Z1.

Page 2 of 13
Page 2 of 13
1... 2... 3... KICK IT! Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby

1... 2... 3... KICK IT! Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby

The quick pitch: A canonical sequel to the indie oddity (deep breath) AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, you zoom through a void weaving around shapes generated by your MP3 library.
You could buy it as far back as: June 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Unlikely. The terribly acronymed 123KIDTBLAUB has had a tumultuous existence, first 'launching' on April 1, 2011 as part of the Portal 2 ARG, then inexplicably transitioning onto the Steam Early Access platform in mid-2013. Given that the game hasn't been updated since July 2013, it's all but assured that it's been unceremoniously abandoned, especially given that it's no longer for sale.

Page 3 of 13
Page 3 of 13
Prison Architect

Prison Architect

The quick pitch: Live out your dreams of being the warden of a maximum security prison, doing everything in your power to prevent breakouts, riots, and general tomfoolery.
You could buy it as far back as: March 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Assured, but it'll probably be a while. Prison Architect actually tried out the Early Access format before Steam did, offering a buy-in alpha build on its site as early as September 2012. Things have been improving steadily since then, with a new build every month and plenty of ways to put your inmates through hell (or try to rehabilitate them, but where's the fun in that?).

Page 4 of 13
Page 4 of 13
Rust

Rust

The quick pitch: You're a buck-naked guy in the wilderness. What comes next is up to you - but whatever you want to accomplish, it's going to involve loads of crafting, resource gathering, and quite probably being held up at spear-point by a tribe of experienced players.
You could buy it as far back as: December 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? High. Rust's community is still thriving, and the developers provide a steady stream of weekly updates and constant communication. Recently, one such update introduced variable penis sizes for your randomly generated male avatar. This has created, as PC Gamer calls it, a dong dilemma.

Page 5 of 13
Page 5 of 13
Interstellar Marines

Interstellar Marines

The quick pitch: Not to be confused with Aliens: Colonial Marines, this tactical, squad-based FPS has you playing a near-future soldier wearing a helmet with a seriously spiffy heads-up display.
You could buy it as far back as: July 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Uncertain. Updates from the development team have started to pick up speed as of this year, but the progress is slow going. After two years, the single-player/co-op campaign still only has a scant two levels, and there isnt much to distinguish its bare-bones multiplayer from all the other near-future shooters out there.

Page 6 of 13
Page 6 of 13
Space Engineers

Space Engineers

The quick pitch: Explore a procedurally generated chunk of the universe in your colorful astronaut outfit, gathering minerals from passing asteroids and building space stations piece by piece.
You could buy it as far back as: October 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Good. Constant updates keep the game fresh for its dedicated playerbase, including new modes like Survival and the PvP-enabled multiplayer. If you've ever wanted to play a version of Minecraft with realistic graphics and an outer space setting, this is it.

Page 7 of 13
Page 7 of 13
Nuclear Throne

Nuclear Throne

The quick pitch: A frenzied top-down shooter that evokes 16-bit classics like Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Smash TV, created by the inventive minds at Vlambeer. As a member of a ragtag group of apocalypse survivors - cutesy mutants, mostly - you have to blast your way through white-knuckle shootouts across the wasteland to claim your seat on the Nuclear Throne.
You could buy it as far back as: October 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Definite; the question is when. Nuclear Throne might be a case of trying to polish a piece of art ad infinitum - it's already got tons more features and inventive weapons than most indie games, and it's imminently playable to boot. Vlambeer says it'll "be in Early Access until it is done", but at least you get new updates every weekend to tide you over 'til its nebulous release date.

Page 8 of 13
Page 8 of 13
Dungeon Dashers

Dungeon Dashers

The quick pitch: A gorgeous pixelated take on classic D&D, Dungeon Dashers sees you slashing swords and casting spells through monster-filled caverns and fortresses, one turn-based tile move at a time.
You could buy it as far back as: October 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Improbable, though there's reason to hold on to hope. Early buyers were miffed that the game had such great potential, but hadn't heard a peep or played an update from the developer since September 2014. That's because he was devoting his attention on Crossy Road, a side project that unexpectedly became a hit on mobile. In a commendable gesture, the money from that success will go into rebuilding Dungeon Dashers in unity, giving this RPG another chance at life.

Page 9 of 13
Page 9 of 13
Take On Mars

Take On Mars

The quick pitch: Bohemia Interactive is best known for its military simulation series Arma, but this curio lets you be the first astronaut to explore the barren surface of Mars.
You could buy it as far back as: August 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Could be any day now. After two years of alpha development, Take On Mars should transition into beta sometime this July (the game was originally projected for a June 2015 release date, but Early Access buyers can't be choosers). From there, it's only a matter of time until it's officially launched, much to the delight of gamers who can appreciate the serene, almost unnerving tranquility of trekking solo through a red desert.

Page 10 of 13
Page 10 of 13
Under the Ocean

Under the Ocean

The quick pitch: You're the husky, abstractly rendered survivor of a shipwreck, trying to fend for yourself on a 2D tropical island via exploration and crafting. It's a spiritual successor to indie game jam gem Under the Garden, from the same developer.
You could buy it as far back as: April 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Zero - but that's only in reference to the original version. The project was in dire straits when it was revealed earlier this year that Under the Ocean was pulled from Steam, due to depleted funding and the departure of the game's lone programmer. But earlier this past April, the developer has claimed that he'll restart the whole project, working solo this time around. Kudos to him for trying to see the game through.

Page 11 of 13
Page 11 of 13
Kenshi

Kenshi

The quick pitch: One of the earlier games to employ the 'survive and establish a fort in this sandbox desert apocalypse' structure, and easily among the most ambitious. Its RPG elements are more prominent than its contemporaries, and the intriguing weapon and costume designs give it a Mad Max vibe, minus the cars. Also, there are cannibals, conical hats, and samurai swords.
You could buy it as far back as: March 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? Decent, but don't hold your breath waiting for a final build. Kenshi is a labor of love, with one developer estimating that it's been nine years since the project started. But the new alpha versions continue to steadily roll out, so the game's bound to be finished at some point.

Page 12 of 13
Page 12 of 13
Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program

The quick pitch: Try your hand at rocket science by building a space-voyager from scratch, with some inevitable crash-and-burn failures along the way. Thankfully, you're cheered on by the adorable Kerbals (which, come to think of it, are not unlike mint-colored Minions).
You could buy it as far back as: March 2013

What's the likelihood of it escaping Early Access alive? It already has! Of Steam Early Access' class of 2013, Kerbal is undoubtedly the valedictorian, graduating in April 2015 to universal acclaim from players and critics. It's the exemplar of an Early Access game done right: it launched with a unique concept that got players interested, kept them hooked with constant updates, and ultimately delivered the product that was promised and anticipated from the beginning. Two years can feel like a long time, but Kerbal Space Program made the wait painless with continuous iteration atop a perfectly playable foundation.

Page 13 of 13
Page 13 of 13
Lucas Sullivan
Lucas Sullivan
Social Links Navigation

Lucas Sullivan is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+. Lucas spent seven years working for GR, starting as an Associate Editor in 2012 before climbing the ranks. He left us in 2019 to pursue a career path on the other side of the fence, joining 2K Games as a Global Content Manager. Lucas doesn't get to write about games like Borderlands and Mafia anymore, but he does get to help make and market them. 

See more Games Features
Read more
Stormgate
$35 million in crowdfunding and investment later, Warcraft-inspired RTS from Starcraft devs is leaving early access unfinished at version 0.6, not 1.0 – so it's replacing numbers with codenames, which is worse
Cheaters Cheetah cheetah man crouches in a corner
Steam expert points to the games you never see quietly "making hundreds of thousands of dollars for small devs" as a key sign "Steam is doing okay"
Gnomes art of gnome holding a bloody knife
Paying Valve $108,000 just to be on Steam is "totally worth it," says dev of roguelike strategy game made in 10 months which has now earned over $360,000
Rusty's Retirement main character Rusty on a bench
Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, and a strange strategy game from 2023: the now wildly successful dev behind idle farming sim hit Rusty's Retirement says he learned from the greats, and literally called his latest game "Idle Valley" internally
Schedule I
Schedule 1 patch arrives alongside its solo dev apologizing for taking "a bit longer than usual," while teasing the drug dealing sim's upcoming "first major update"
Rusty's Retirement
Indie dev behind quietly massive Steam trend says they only learned to code 5 years ago but have made 2 games selling 750,000 copies: "I still don't believe it myself sometimes"
Latest in Games
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong will have a free Nintendo Switch 2 edition upgrade at launch, meaning you don't have to pay extra to get the 120hz mode
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' struggles aren't just down to PC optimization issues, Capcom boss says – the PS5's lofty costs are also to blame
A screenshot of three Borderlands characters in Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced.
Borderlands 4 could have looked very different – the OG RPG initially had realistic visuals that were too similar to Fallout 3, so Gearbox "rebuilt the whole game" after 2 weeks of experimenting led to its iconic comic style
Where Winds Meet hands-on preview
I played Where Winds Meet and fell in love with the RPG's open world so fast I could barely pay attention to any of the missions
A black dragon roaring with a manor house behind it and lighting in the sky during Skyrim.
Skyrim player marries a literal dragon with the help of a mod, giving "Dragonborn" a whole new meaning as he breaks the RPG and makes it run as "buggy as Oblivion"
Borderlands 4
Borderlands 4 can't even win in its own ads, as WWE has cosplaying wrestlers take the L in their own championship match
Latest in Features
Valor Mortis
Ghostrunner devs abandon parkour for Valor Mortis, a first-person soulslike that might explain why the rest of the genre follows Dark Souls' lead
A mech firing a machine gun in the desert in Menace
Menace is an XCOM-Warhammer hybrid that makes turn-based strategy feel like an immersive sim, and for the first time in my life I'm playing a game that seems made for me
Metal Gear Solid 5 showing Snake and Ocelot looking to the horizon in front of more soldiers
10 years later, Metal Gear Solid 5 remains a masterpiece that was never going to live up to its own hype
Dogtooth
The new Yorgos Lanthimos movie is getting rave first reactions out of Venice Film Festival, but I think it's worth revisiting his breakout feature Dogtooth before Bugonia hits theaters this fall
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Legacy of the Forge DLC showing Henry and two allies standing looking down
I built a home and ran a business in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's next DLC, and the added role-playing guarantees I'll spend another 70 hours in my current game of the year
D&D Player's Handbook laid out on a wooden surface
Will romantasy be the next great crossover for Dungeons & Dragons? Fourth Wing could be the perfect D&D setting, if you ask me
  1. Kaser clad in black and Victor in white clash swords in Lost Soul Aside
    1
    Lost Soul Aside review: "We (don't) have Final Fantasy Versus 13 at home"
  2. 2
    Hell is Us review: "The lack of waypoints and explicit objectives is a double-edged magical sword that pulls me deep into its harsh world"
  3. 3
    Shuten Order review: "The Danganronpa creator's new multi-genre mystery feels like a forgotten DS cult classic I would have been obsessed with"
  4. 4
    The Rogue Prince of Persia review: "I roguelike but don't roguelove this freerunner – there's just not enough to stand out"
  5. 5
    Shinobi: Art of Vengeance review: "So close to being to a pitch-perfect revival of a classic series, but just can't quite line up the killing blow"
  1. Jacob Elordi as the monster in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
    1
    Frankenstein review: "A classy, if somewhat safe, adaptation"
  2. 2
    Weapons review: "A twisted fairytale that bests Barbarian"
  3. 3
    The Fantastic Four: First Steps review: "An occasionally thrilling heroic adventure that sits safely within a B-tier MCU range"
  4. 4
    Superman review: "A triumphant reinvention and a promising start for the DCU"
  5. 5
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  1. John Cena as Peacemaker holds a gun to the head of a different John Cena as Peacemaker in Peacemaker season 2.
    1
    Peacemaker season 2 review: "Darker and sadder than the first year, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids."
  2. 2
    Wednesday season 2 part 1 review: "Complex and exciting but weighed down by too many subplots"
  3. 3
    Alien: Earth review: "Arguably the franchise's strongest outing since James Cameron's Aliens"
  4. 4
    King of the Hill season 14 review: "Hank Hill himself has evolved into a much more open and accepting person"
  5. 5
    Eyes of Wakanda review: "A creative premise shortchanged by the runtime and Marvel bloat"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...