Steam survival game festival kicks off August with adversity

August is set to begin with a Steam survival game festival aiming to highlight a range of current and upcoming survival-themed PC games on the storefront. Valve says it plans to feature a range of games that fit into the survival genre, including survival horror games as well as open-world survival crafting games.

The Steam Survival Fest is scheduled to run from August 1 – 8 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST. Valve says that “participating games must have survival as the primary game mechanic.” It emphasises a “focus on using defensive tactics to stay in the game against destructive forces including nature or supernatural beings.”

Games included will be promoted on the Steam homepage, much as with other similar events such as Steam Next Fest. Games do not have to offer a discount to be included in the festival, although Valve says that “the Steam Survival Fest page will prominently feature discounted games.” Demos of upcoming games are also encouraged.

Valve has also provided a list of game mechanics that they feel best encapsulates the type of game they are looking to feature. Among the things they consider to be suitable are games that include defensive gameplay; some adversity the player must overcome; resource and health management such as hunger/thirst; conflict between several groups or individuals trying to survive; and sim or building games with survival elements such as “NPCs that attack or environmental damage the player needs to shelter from.”

A list of games that are not eligible for the event has also been provided, which includes “games in which the primary aim is to inflict harm on others” such as battle royale games and MOBAs, multiplayer games and MMOs without a specific survival element, and pure horror or tower defence games that don’t fall under the survival banner.

New rules set to come into effect in September ban the use of extraneous text in game art on the Steam store. The storefront’s Discovery Queue has also seen an overhaul in Steam Labs, in an attempt to make it more suitable for platforms such as the Steam Deck. Meanwhile, Valve has confirmed that all reservations for its Steam Deck will ship in 2022, so anyone waiting for the handheld should be able to get their hands on it soon.