9/10 RPG On Steam Is Now Free To Keep Forever

Published Oct 21, 2026, 3:04 PM EDT Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream. You may know him as the former Managing/Reviews Editor of Destructoid, where he published hundreds of game reviews across every genre, including MMOs, sports games, and Metroidvanias. Find Chris on Twitter @_SRChris. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Steam has become a one-stop shop for pretty much every genre, including RPGs. Discoverability has become a problem in the past year or so, with tons of submissions waiting on a constant basis, but various curation tools help make the process much smoother. After all, you can sort by genre and reviews, allowing you to find well-rated RPGs even faster. Not every RPG is a AAA sensation with tons of marketing, but you can still find the best games on the platform. This particular Steam RPG has a positive rating from fans, and the best part is that it's completely free with no strings attached. Live on Steam and completely free, Heavy Wake is a deckbuilding RPG that takes a page from classics like Slay the Spire. It's from studio Cold and Wet Studios, and the premise will sound familiar: "Explore a cursed island in a short dark-fantasy deckbuilding RPG. Recruit strange survivors, build a party of unlikely allies, and survive tactical card battles as Fyodor searches for a cure for his dying tribe. Fyodor’s people are dying. Following an old legend, he sets out for a cursed island from which no expedition has returned. Its interior is inhabited by monsters, uneasy survivors, and people with their own reasons for remaining there." According to the studio, it began as a student project, developed by six people over an entire year. It was supposed to be an opening chapter of a "larger game," but the scope was narrowed so that it could be a complete product. The game started as a small paid release, but now it's free. Here's a bit of background on the studio's journey: "Since launch, Heavy Wake has continued to find new players through local indie and student game events. We’d now like to make it easier for anyone curious about our studio’s beginnings to jump in and experience this early piece of our work. Making it free feels like the right next step. If you’re discovering Heavy Wake for the first time, it’s a short dark fantasy deckbuilding RPG about a journey to a cursed island. You’ll meet strange survivors, recruit companions, and build your party through tactical card battles." Fans are taking to it, including this user review: "Really enjoyed the game. The style is cool, what stood out to me the most was the overall sound design and the UI - they both feel really polished and fit the game well. Combat is fun and there's a good variety of cards, so it stays interesting. I also liked the bonfire conversations and the overall atmosphere. The Story plot twist was a nice surprise. A few small things that would have been great are a run button, autosaves after boss fights, and having the game end only when the whole party is defeated instead of just one hero. Though most of these feel like quality-of-life features that would probably have made it into the game if it had a larger scope" For Steam fans, picking up Heavy Wake is a no-brainer. It has replay value thanks to Cold and Wet Studios' year-long development process, and it won't break the bank. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003