We're one month into 2026 and the new games are already stacking up. Three games debuted in the last few days that are worth highlighting: the early access release of the board-building cyber-roguelike NET.CRAWL, the play-multiple-realities-at-once deckbuilder Parallel Dungeons, and the lovingly illustrated sushi-chef puzzle game Bento Blocks. Here's a brief rundown on each of them:
The computer-hacking themed NET.CRAWL just dropped into early access, and calls itself a "grid-building" roguelike, following along in the typical deckbuilder tradition but playing over a hexagonal grid instead of a deck of cards. You draft tiles (nodes) and assemble them into levels which you'll move through, triggering the various effects and abilities and hoping to make big synergies and combos. From the Steam page:
Blue nodes give you Data. Yellow nodes - Credits. Green nodes are your personal toolbox, with effects ranging from basic defense to creative rule bending. Red nodes are hostile. They will cause you all sorts of trouble. And then there are the purple ones. The Cores. Mini-bosses, each with its own unique ability or victory condition. They are very powerful, almost game-breaking. You won't be able to defeat them without a tailored strategy.
You can get NET.CRAWL on Steam in early access now, featuring a 15% launch discount, or play the free demo.
Bento Blocks is calm, simple, and very charming. You're preparing sushi-style meals into bento boxes, dividing up veggies, fish and the rice underneath them to fit into very specifically shaped compartments. Not a wasteful chef, you're aiming to be as efficient as possible with your cuts: using fewer knife actions to get the job done will award you with stars for your recipe book.
It's all very quaint and it's not exactly reinventing the puzzle genre, but this one feels to me like an example of the whole being greater than the parts. The truly lovely painterly illustrations and the gentle, relaxing soundtrack elevate it and convince me that this would be a very enjoyable diversion to unwind with.
Bento Blocks is available on Steam with a 20% launch discount. A free Steam demo also available.
Parallel Dungeons comes from the developer behind the N-Step Steve series of games as well as some other impressive web puzzles, one of which we featured in our newsletter Thinky Games Club some time ago. The departure here is from the pure-puzzle space into the deckbuilder-roguelike stream. If you've played Slay the Spire or Dicey Dungeons or any of the many games these classics continue to inspire, you understand the basic formula here of purchasing items and abilities that you'll use in turn-based battles against various enemies.
The big twist in Parallel is in the name: rather than crawling a single dungeon at a time, the game simulates many simultaneous battles happening at once between you and your opponent (shown by the vertical red-green health bar stripes across the screen) and as various elements of chance come into the equation, these individual outcomes will diverge from each other. To be successful you'll need to figure out how to consistently come out on top, rather than just having one lucky break.
Parallel Dungeons is available now on Steam where you can check out a free demo or get the full game 15% off.
Disclaimer: Thinky Games is a Carina Thinking Games Initiative and may have professional relationships with individuals and businesses related to the subject of this article. Please see our Editorial Policy for details.
