Wolfenstein. Assassin’s Creed. Call of Duty. The biggest names in the video game business are being unleashed upon a highly suspecting populace, and Steam’s sales charts reflect that. With one exception.
Right now, here’s what Steam’s top sellers list looks like:
All the big names, but then, toward the middle, is humble Spintires: Mudrunner. It’s a game about driving all-terrain vehicles or, if you’re me, flailing helplessly in mud like a drowning turtle. The original Spintires was a breakout Steam hit from a time before breakout Steam hits were really a thing, despite a fiasco involving bugs and tensions between the game’s very small developer and then-publisher. Mudrunner, a new release that came out yesterday, takes the original and adds a new coat of paint (to splatter with mud), new levels, new vehicles, a sandbox map, and more polish. It’s every Spintires fan’s dream, basically.
So, despite how unlikely it might seem at first glance, it makes perfect sense that a game about slowly hauling cargo up dingy Russian roads is going bumper-to-bumper with the heaviest hitters of this holiday season. Bless this wonderful medium.
You’re reading Steamed, Kotaku’s page dedicated to all things in and around Valve’s wildly popular PC gaming service. Games, culture, community creations, criticism, guides, videos—everything. If you’ve found anything cool/awful on Steam, send us a message to let us know.