Steam’s storefront real estate is the most valuable digital shelf space in PC gaming. Right now, it belongs to GRIME II.

Clover Bite’s surrealist Metroidvania sequel sits at #1 on Steam’s Featured Win chart — ahead of bigger budgets, bigger names, and bigger marketing spends. The numbers backing that placement are spotless: six user reviews, 100% positive, and 876 concurrent players at launch. It also claims the #7 spot on the New Releases chart, priced at $23.79 with a 15% launch discount off the $27.99 base price.

The Featured Win placement isn’t pure sales math. Steam’s curation team hand-picks these slots, and choosing an indie soulslike sequel over flashier competition is a deliberate endorsement. The original GRIME flew under the radar when it dropped in 2021 — a cult favorite with grotesque body-horror aesthetics and punishing parry-centric combat that never quite broke into the mainstream. The sequel earns its spot by broadening the formula without ditching what worked.

GRIME II shifts the visual palette from organic grotesquerie to a world built around art — painted nails, shattered sculpture, environments that feel like walking through a fever-dream gallery. The combat expands significantly: over 30 weapons, 20 armor sets, 40-plus abilities, and a new Mold system that lets players absorb defeated enemies and reshape their forms into offensive and defensive tools. The grappling hook adds mobility and combat options, though some reviews note the thumbstick aiming can feel imprecise during demanding platforming sequences.

Critics are on board. COGconnected praised the combat depth and accessibility improvements — including a damage modifier that can crank enemy vulnerability up to 200% for players who want the exploration without the punishment. The site called GRIME II a game that “definitely deserves to break more fully into the mainstream this time around.”

That’s exactly what Steam is betting on. When the platform’s algorithm and its human curators align on an indie sequel, it means something. GRIME II didn’t buy its way to the top of the storefront. It played its way there.

Sources