When it comes to steampunk video games, Victorian attire, brass designs, and massive airships are all must-haves.
Furthermore, steampunk games first appeared as a subgenre of science fiction in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When PC games like Myst and early Final Fantasy games were developed.
In addition, Steampunk, which combines futuristic technology with 19th-century designs, isn’t just for great cosplayers and science-fiction literature.
Steampunk video games can cover various connected topics, ranging from space-age pirates to imaginary Victorian cities and more, depending on the series.
Some of the most classic steampunk video games you should be playing right now are;
1. BioShock: Infinite
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, OS X.
BioShock: Infinite is situated in an incredible floating metropolis with a fanciful steam-powered dystopia full of ambition and inventiveness rarely seen in video games.
However, the BioShock games include some steampunk themes. But BioShock: Infinite was the first to commit all of its time and energy to the genre.
Furthermore, the setting is a metropolis in the sky that is maintained by steam-powered technology. Additionally, BioShock: Infinite is a fantastic sci-fi setting that is influenced by the Victorian era.
2. Dishonored
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows.
Dishonored is one of the best steampunk video games you should be playing right now. You, the Empress of the Isles’ bodyguard, are accused of her murder in the fictional city of Dunwall.
However, you disappear into the shadows, seeking vengeance on those who framed you with a unique blend of stealth and combat, as well as intriguing magical skills to aid your twisted quest.
Furthermore, Dunwall is a reinvented Victorian England with a London-like industrial city populated by zombies and plague rats.
In addition, your (often violent) meetings with the elite take you to a brothel, a masquerade, and other exotic locales.
Aside from the visuals, Dishonored dazzles with its original magic and karma systems, allowing genuinely unique gameplay.
The game may be completed without killing a single person.
3. Skies Of Arcadia
Platforms: Gamecube, Dreamcast.
Old-fashioned airships are a staple of steampunk-themed content, and Skies of Arcadia makes excellent use of this element.
Furthermore, sailing across the boundless sky on your airship as you visit the floating continents evokes a sense of awe and majesty that fans of this theme appreciate.
Additionally, Skies has a distinct ambiance thanks to its unique elemental powers and bright fantasy motifs, coupled with a more technological edge.
However, the game’s rich world-building, exciting exploration, and satisfying turn-based combat have been hailed by fans of the Dreamcast classic.
4. SteamWorld Dig
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita.
SteamWorld Dig is one of the best steampunk games you should be playing right now. Get your hands dirty in this one-of-a-kind platformer, in which players take on the role of Rusty, a mining steamboat.
Additionally, SteamWorld Dig is firmly entrenched in Steampunk, as evidenced by the scenery, characters, and tools, all of which suit well within the genre.
As they go about their everyday routines, all robots, including Rusty, run on steam. That means digging until there’s nothing left to search for Rusty.
However, the deeper you dig beneath the old mining town, the more you’ll find fantastic treasures. And also long-lost information on individuals who have since devolved into shells of their former selves.
SteamWorld Dig is a surprisingly bright and vibrant game with a lot of content, especially for a free game.
5. Alice: Madness Returns
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3.
Also known as a Goth-inspired game, Alice’s Victorian-era dream world comes to life in this game, adding a dark twist to Alice’s Wonderland’s already hallucinogenic and punishing mood.
Additionally, platform and battle your way across five massive levels to get to the heart of the real-world trauma that caused Alice to be transported to Wonderland.
Furthermore, each level has its unique immersive theme, ranging from Hell to Orientalism, but Level 2 is Steampunk as viewed through the eyes of the Mad Hatter.
In addition, Jump, float, and fight your way through his lava-filled factories to retrieve each of his limbs and reassemble his body.
However, the clever enemies, such as giant teapots with insect legs, the bizarre weaponry, such as the hobby horse, and Alice’s stunning clothes, all warrant a severe look and playtime.
6. Machinarium
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X Linus, PlayStation Vita, Ipad 2, PlayStation 3.
Machinarium is one of the best steampunk video games you should be playing right now. Josef, a robot named after the creator of the word “robot,” is the protagonist of Machinarium.
Additionally, he must travel across the titular city, solving puzzles to save Berta, his girlfriend. While doing so, he must contend with three robotic gangsters who are causing havoc throughout the city.
Furthermore, the entire game is geared to have the player appreciate the steampunk setting.
It’s a point-and-click adventure game, except there’s no conversation, and nothing is written down.
In addition, the beautiful locations require players to pay close attention, making for a unique and exciting game.
7. Grandia
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Android, PlayStation 3, Sega Saturn, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, PlayStation Vita
Grandia combines vivid fantasy worlds and magic with technological aspects to create a sense of “grandiosity” to borrow a pun.
Additionally, fans are lured to the intriguing fighting system, which combines turn-based concepts with fast-paced action.
While the strictly “steampunk” features are minor, many of the sites during this 40-plus hour excursion have a mechanical and industrial vibe.
8. The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Track
Platforms: Wii U, Nintendo DS
The Legend of Zelda series is one of the most classic steampunk video games. It was created by Nintendo, has long been a classic in fantasy-based adventures that emphasize magic over mechanical.
Additionally, this one-of-a-kind voyage for young Link relies heavily on the usage of train travel. In addition, your mode of transportation is a 19th century-style railway, similar to Skyword Sword’s use of flying and Wind Waker’s use of sailing.
However, the typical fantasy themes and intense sword-based fighting that fans have grown to expect are still present, but DS’ Spirit Tracks adds a retro-technical touch that makes it stand out. When you’re grinding along on this 25-hour journey, it’s easy to be sucked in.
9. The Legend Of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Platforms: Nintendo DS, Wii U.
The Phantom Hourglass is one of only a few steampunk-inspired The Legend of Zelda games, and it’s a delightful diversion from the main series’ themes and tones.
Furthermore, the Phantom Hourglass, the forerunner to Spirit Tracks, is a sequel to The Wind Waker, the following Link after he awakens on a mysterious island in the Great Sea.
Additionally, the Phantom Hourglass spans multiple islands, which Link visits via the paddle steamer S.S. Linebeck. The Link must frequently defend himself aboard the ship, evading obstacles and incoming opponents using the onboard cannon and leap mechanism.
10. Syberia
Platforms: iOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, PlayStation 2,
Syberia is one of the best steampunk video games set in the present. Unlike most steampunk games, Syberia is set today, although Steampunk remains the game’s dominant theme.
Additionally, Syberia is set in a French village enamored with mechanical toys, but it also features automatons, making it steampunk in every way save the period, which is irrelevant.
However, the story follows Kate Walker, an attorney who travels to a small French village on behalf of her law firm.
Her goal is to purchase a toy factory, but when she arrives, it’s as if she’s stepped back in time, and Syberia is all about Steampunk.
11. Professor Layton and The Curious Village
Platforms: iOS, Android.
The Curious Village has remained a favorite option in the Professor Layton series, despite an “up and down” combination of titles.
However, Layton and his helper Luke were summoned to unravel the mystery of the Golden Apple, and they set out to crack codes, decipher clues, and solve some of the most perplexing puzzles ever devised.
What is the prize? The late Baron Augustus Reinhold’s family riches. Additionally, when you’re not engrossed in the Curious Village’s various riddles, you can relax and watch fully animated sequences that add to the steampunk atmosphere.
12. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscure
Platforms: Microsoft Windows.
Arcanum is an isometric RPG from the golden age of isometric RPGs, when games like Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Fallout 1 and 2 immersed players in fully realized alternate worlds and futures.
Furthermore, Arcanum, a game created by former Fallout developers, allows you to customize your character’s appearance and skills to the nth degree or choose from pre-made options.
In addition, There are zeppelins, cutting-edge technology and weapons, and magic in this Steampunk universe, the latter two of which are at odds.
However, as you travel across the open world, assembling a squad of Tolkien-like races such as elves, dwarves, halflings, half-orcs, and half-ogres, you can choose to follow the main goal diverge from it to explore and perform side quests.
Additionally, your actions have repercussions: your supporters may abandon you or assault you if you take an aggressive stance.
Create your maps, quests, and NPCs with the integrated WorldEdit mode. It is also one of the best steampunk video games of all time.
13. Sunless Sea
Platforms: iOS, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS.
Exploring the blue waters of Sunless Sea, an ’18 release by Failbetter Games, has a distinct feeling of Steampunk’s dark mood.
Additionally, the game is a partial expansion of the web adventure game Fallen London, adding a lot of exciting narratives and terrifying water creatures to the experience.
Furthermore, the game is primarily a slow-paced and straightforward adventure, with the lush surroundings and sad music taking center stage.
However, as you explore the underground ruins of Victorian-era London, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe.
Additionally, if you appreciate the 19th-century motley crew, this roguelike survival romp for PC and PS4 is well worth a look.
14. Thief Series
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Nvidia, Mac OS.
Thief Series is one of the best and most classic steampunk video games you should play. Thief: The Dark Project, Thief II: The Metal Age, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and Thief, released in 2014, are part of the Thief video game series, which began in 1998.
Garrett is a master thief on a mission to steal valuable artifacts from the city’s wealthiest people.
Furthermore, Thief is a first-person sneaker, as the genre it pioneered is sometimes uncomfortably referred to; consider it an early version of Assassin’s Creed.
Furthermore, the setting of Thief is a desolate metropolis that straddles the late Middle Ages and the Victorian era, with contemporary technologies and supernatural monsters tossed in for good measure.
You’ll find yourself doing more or less battle and more or less creeping in various games, battling enemies left and right or barely at all.
However, the latest installment in the series, which returns after a 10-year absence, features gleaming new visuals and a gravelly new voice actor in the character of Garrett, but otherwise falls short; it’s the least well-received of the bunch.
For the most extraordinary Thief experience, pick either The Dark Project or The Metal Age.
15. Frostpunk
Platforms: PlayStation 4, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Android, Mac OS.
The world was transformed into a winter “wonderland” in the nineteenth century, a step back from where we are now.
Additionally, surviving will necessitate resource management, the trust of your people, and the use of steampunk technology.
Although Frostpunk isn’t primarily about Steampunk, the aesthetics are influenced by other genre-specific literature.
In this strategic city-building survival game set during the volcanic winter, players establish their city.
11-bit studios also created the war survival game This War of Mine, and Frostpunk bears the same sad and ominous tones as that game’s wartime thriller.
As a result, don’t expect the decisions you’ll have to make to be simple.
16. Myst
Platforms: Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Oculus Quest, Xbox Series X and series, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable.
Myst is one of the best steampunk video games you should be playing right now. Interactive puzzles and worlds within worlds make up Myst’s island.
Mechanical, for example, is heavily influenced by steampunk elements, which can also be seen across the main island.
In addition, Myst was a surprise hit when it was first released in 1993, and it quickly went on to become the best-selling PC game of all time.
It is often referred to as one of the earliest predecessors to the steampunk genre.
Additionally, when the Sims came out over a decade later, it lost that title. The game has no conversation and relies on the player to solve problems by moving through the several Ages (worlds).
17. The Misadventures Of P.B Winterbottom
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360.
The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom is constructed so that it resembles a silent film from the late 1800s. Furthermore, there is no spoken conversation. However, title cards are present.
Everything is black and white, and the piano score gives the impression that you’re playing the game/watching a silent film in London at the turn of the century.
However, the Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom started as a graduate thesis. Still, it grew into an incredible puzzle platform game that was first released in 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade and the PC.
The player controls the eponymous Mr. Winterbottom as he hunts for pies, although it’s a bit more complicated than that.
In Conclusion, these classic steampunk video games take you on distinct excursions through the Steampunk universe, from RPGs to first-person shooters, real-time strategy games to platformers and first-person shoes.
Whatever gaming style you like, one or more of these games will transport you to a realm of steam power, magic, and early industrial society.
