New Free Steam Game Has a 97% Rating With Players

A new free PC game has been released on Steam. And it’s not free-to-play. It’s a single-player, narrative-driven game, but it’s very short. More specifically, only about 1 to 2 hours long. And of course, it’s a smaller-budget game, but a smaller-budget game free for all. That said, those on Steam Deck may run into issues trying to play the game, as its Steam listing notes Steam Deck compatibility is “Unknown.”

The new free Steam game in question is called Dear Magical Girls, which is pitched as a story-driven defense game by its developer GigaBlock Studio and publisher Jungle Game Lab. And for a smaller free game, it’s apparently quite good, or at least that is what a 97% approval rating across 164 user reviews suggests. To this end, it has 160 positive reviews from those who have played it, and only four negative. Of course, it being free helps curry favor, but it also lowers the barrier to entry, and the effect of the latter is usually stronger than the former, which is why when a paid game is made free, its review score typically, though not always, lowers. All of this is to say, a 97% approval rating is impressive no matter the circumstances and context.

Story-Driven Defense Game

As for the game itself, Dear Magical Girls is a story-driven defense game where players play as Arin, a young girl tasked with protecting mana stones that keep her city’s magical infrastructure running, which is necessary to hold back waves of beasts.

As noted, almost every review for the free Steam game is positive, with many, if not most, highlighting its unique gameplay mechanics and overall design. And for what it is worth, the gameplay is quite unique, and on the harder difficulties, quite challenging as well.

As for the negative reviews, they cite the gameplay being obtuse, so praise for it is not universal. That said, interestingly, while story is not mentioned all that much in positive reviews, it is noted in the negative reviews as being the stronger aspect of the game. However, given the length of the game, only about 1 to 2 hours, there obviously isn’t much room for story development. In fact, outside the gameplay sequences, there isn’t much room for story at all, but what is there is decent for a free game.

If this new free PC game isn’t your type of game, or if you have played it already, the good news is there are other free options currently. While this game is always free, there is another limited-time free download for a 2021 sci-fi game that normally costs $25. That said, this offer is set to expire later today.

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