Hoping to harness the millions of people who use the Epic Launcher to play Fortnite, Epic has gone in hard on securing exclusivity deals for games ranging from anticipated indie titles like Hades, to big-money behemoths like Metro Exodus. The new kid in town, though maybe ‘kid’ isn’t the right term for a veteran publisher that’s delivered us Unreal, the Unreal Engine and, lest we forget, Fortnite. This really is a Steam alternative that deserves your support.

It has a strong community focus, with plenty of discussions, devlogs, and a schedule of the endless gamejams where aspiring developers can jump in and make games in tight time periods. The app works smoothly and keeps your games updated. There are tens of thousands of games to peruse, many of which were conceived in one of the many game jams organised by Itch.

Many games here are free at first, relying on feedback and donations before going commercial. What’s nice about Itch.io is that it puts you right on the frontline of indie game development, helping devs along the tough road to success. This makes it one of the best and most interesting Steam alternatives out there. Itch.io (opens in new tab) is exclusively committed to indie games, and there’s a good chance that some of your favourite indie titles on Steam actually started life on Itch.io before growing to become fully-fledged commercial products. The independent PC gaming platform, equivalent to the eccentric bric-a-brac shop selling obscurities from stuffed animals to crystal skulls.

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