The top-selling new game on Steam is this open-world co-op factory builder with huge Satisfactory vibes, which just launched in early access with 84% Very Positive reviews

A new year is upon us, which means – among a whole lot of other things – that it's time to start staring down the Steam charts in an effort to predict what the next big surprise hit on Valve's platform is going to be. We've got a strong early candidate in StarRupture, a first-person factory-building game that builds on the formula with a more robust focus on combat.

In StarRupture, you play as a prisoner on an alien planet, sent down to extract resources and pay off a vague debt to a galactic corporation. You've got to build mines, factories, and logistics systems to move goods from place to place, all while fighting off local creatures that don't take kindly to your presence. Naturally, you can also invite friends in to do it all co-op.

StarRupture launched into early access on January 6, and has already reached a respectable start with a peak concurrent player count of 26,997, as SteamDB shows. It's also currently the top-selling game on Steam, eclipsed only by the revenues generated by massive free-to-play titles Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG.

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The 84% positive Steam reviews are perhaps the more important part of the story. The basic gist of the positive response is that all the base-building and management mechanics compare favorably to titles like Factorio and Satisfactory – the latter is perhaps the most relevant comparison, since it shares that game's 3D world and first-person perspective – but with more emphasis on engaging combat and exploration.

Early access for StarRupture is set to last for "about a year," as the devs explain on the store page, with future updates set to expand the map, add more wildlife, and further refine the combat. Developer Creepy Jar has plenty of experience refining a game over the course of an early access period, as its previous title – horror-themed survival game Green Hell – received robust content updates and developed a strong following over the years.

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