Seablip has been on my radar for a while thanks to its Next Fest demos because who can resist the allure of a game that plays like Terraria, remixes FTL's lovely ship management, and has a boatload of pirates? Thankfully, the game's proper early access release has enjoyed smooth sailing and glowing reviews.

Seablip is a side-scrolling, gorgeous pixel art game that has you captain a pirate ship across an open world map full of islands to explore and treasure to plunder. You can also make stop-offs to randomly fight enemy ships and claim your title as the most feared pirate on the high seas. 

What reminds me of roguelike FTL is the ship management, however, which consists of unlocking the 48 different upgrades, bolstering hulls, adding magic shields or fire damage, and recruiting various sailors, each with their own unique attributes and skills. Micromanaging little guys to work is always a pleasure in games - for me, not for the poor things getting bossed around. 

When you're not being distracted by other hidden discoveries, secret treasures, and various mini-games, Seablip's early access tasks you with taking on seven different bosses (bounties), with more to come via updates. 

Steam user reviews so far have gushed about the breezy vibes, satisfying progression, and the way the game chucks a bunch of inspirations into an ocean-sized melting pot. There are also, apparently, developer notes left in some unfinished sections, which I think more early access games should feel comfortable including. 

"The goal is not to rush out of Early Access but to sustain constant and valuable updates over time, aiming to reach the full release next year (if possible)," the game's Steamblip description reveals. Seablip is normally available for £12.70/$13.50, though there’s a nice introductory offer going right now. 

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One of Morrowind's designers and writers has returned to the game via an expansive quest mod 20 years after leaving Bethesda Game Studios.

Douglas Goodall worked on the RPG factory's loveably funky, alien Morrowind leading up to its release in 2002 before departing the studio. But over the past year, more than two decades after his first tenure in Morrowind, the veteran developer has circled back around to the classic game.

Goodall's latest modding endeavor (under his NexusMods moniker AFFA, in collaboration with modders Greatness7 and Melchior Dahrk) is the beefy Red Wisdom - An Ashlander Prophecy, which takes players to a "brand new grotto used by the Ahemmusa to bury their dead," as well as the Erabenimsun and Zainab tribe's exterior burial sites, to experience "new Ashlander lore."

"Embark on a mystical journey as you unravel the ancient prophecy of Red Wisdom," reads the project's description on NexusMods. "Join forces with wide-eyed Nirani to unlock the hidden truths that lie within the sacred burial sites of the tribes. Explore a new angle to Ashlander lore, confront wild beasts and Daedric interlopers, and piece together the puzzle that may shape the fate of Morrowind."

Those looking for another Morrowind fix can check out the very similar but still wildly different Dreaded Delusion or Goodall's previously-released trio of mods, with the Fargoth Says Hello duo of quests, the Python Character Builder that lets you plan ahead, and over 30 smaller quests added in the AFFresh mod. Or you can just have a laugh with the GTA 6 trailer, hilariously recreated in Morrowind. 

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There are plenty of survival crafting action sandbox games, but only one of them is purely focused on the concept of being a wizard with a gun*. That's the aptly-named Wizard with a Gun, which got an upgrade to four-player co-op this past week in its new Better Together update and so I guess they'll have to rename it to Wizard with a Gun and Several More Friends.

To celebrate it's free to try on Steam this weekend, and 50% off until May 23 if you'd like to buy.

The Better Together update also added more stuff to the game: New difficulty levels let you experience it easier or harder, and customized difficulties let you tweak how it feels to play. There are also new libraries for your wizard's tower, a proper upgrade to just regular bookshelves. And, apparently, a new ending or boss or something nasty lurking in the void at the end of time.

Wizard With a Gun is a cool pitch, giving you five minute jaunts into the collapsing apocalyptic world outside before you're forced to return to your grubby little wizard's tower to rearm, restock, and rewind the clock to before the apocalypse. Over time you collect stuff to upgrade your tower, your guns, and your magic clock that stops the world from ending. Personal opinion here, but that seems like an important clock.

"A lean roguelite that never feels like it's wasting your time, even if it's got some rough edges," said critic Nova Smith in the 80% PC Gamer review of Wizard with a Gun.

"While there's some obvious similarity to Don't Starve, Wizard with a Gun really feels like it's expanding on the groundwork laid by Enter the Gungeon. Even if I failed to grab the gears or didn't make it back with quite as many resources as I hoped, I never felt like my time was being wasted—a feeling that often pervades even the best of roguelites," they said.

You can find Wizard with a Gun on Steam for $25, though it's 50% off until May 23 and it's free for the weekend.

*There are probably others.

The science-fantasy 4X Endless Legend is free on Steam until May 23, or until they run out of their supply of nebulously free games. That's free to keep, forever, by the way—apparently when they gave it away for free earlier this year they considered it a real success and so they're doing it again.

As part of the sale all of Endless Legend's expansion DLC is on sale from 50-80% off, meaning you can grab the complete edition it including all DLC for just $16.

Endless legend is a Civilization-like 4X game, but the twist is that it's on a science fantasy planet that's sliding into what may well be a permanent ice age. The other twist is that the factions you play as are wildly divergent. One's made of conflict-averse nomads that can just up and move their cities. Another's some smooth-talking dragons that are so good at diplomacy they can just un-declare any war you start with them. A third is made up of weird magical vampires that don't eat food at all.

PC Gamer has been on team Endless Legend for nearly a decade now, since an 89% review back in October 2014, and it remains on our list of the best strategy games on PC. A position that it's likely to retain for a while seeing as nobody has tried to make anything quite like it since.

You can find Endless Legend on Steam.

Fairytale fantasy city-builder Fabledom launched this week, picking up pretty positive responses from early players. In Fabledom, from developer Grenaa games, you build up a little city-state in a fantasy world and expand it to meet your neighbors and the general challenges of a world where bridges naturally attract trolls and castles naturally attract dragons.

It's not all violence, of course. Some giants and witches are very friendly people, but the trio of evil witch sisters is not in fact at all friendly. Fabledom's real power is that it's one of those "start small, build big" games where you have a humble village at the start and a sprawling stone city with attendant castle at the end.

Seeing as living happily ever after is very important fairytale stuff, Fabledom also lets you meet and woo the leaders of other nearby kingdoms. Those princes and princesses are people on the map that you befriend, do diplomacy with, and yeah, go on dates too.

The little fabling people that make up your city aren't tough, but they are at least brave. That'll come in handy when you hvae to defend your riches from attackers, which is mostly done by building nice strong walls to shoot them from on top of—but brave knights help too. Combat isn't the focus of Fabledom, but it is a nice little bonus on top of the city-building and diplomacy.

Fabledom captured the imagination of PC Gamer's city building enthusiasts last year: It appeared on both Chris' list of most exciting upcoming city builders and Lauren's list of top cozy games.

You can find Fabledom on Steam.