This is Niche Early Access. In this column, we regularly showcase various promising games that are currently in some form of early access or development, and haven’t reached full release. Please let us know if there’s a game you want us to showcase!

After a short break due to lack of content, I’m back with another batch of promising games that recently entered Steam Early Access. Even if you don’t like buying games in Early Access, remember to wishlist any games that catch your eye so you’ll be notified when they get a full release.

Here’s 5 Early Access games that might be worth your attention:

Drone Strike Force
Developers: Odisi Games, NGD Studios, Globant
Platform: Windows PC
Price: $19.99

First up this week is Drone Strike Force, a multiplayer shooter where everyone controls a high tech, heavily armed aerial combat drone in a near future war between nation states and global megacorporations. Players can customize their drones by choosing a chassis, an Operating System (functionally the same as a class in other games), and your pick of machine guns, rockets, and other gadgets. The game currently only features one map and one mode, but nine different drones, seven weapons, and over a dozen perks and gadgets.

Drone Strike Force is expected to remain in Early Access for around a year.

Here Be Dragons
Developer: Red Zero Games
Platforms: Windows PC, Mac
Price: $14.99 (Price will increase)

Here Be Dragons is a satirical historic strategy game that seeks to tell gamers the truth about the Columbus expedition. You play as a fleet of drunk and unhinged sailors that are tasked with hunting the various sea monsters and supernatural entities that threaten Christopher’s ships, all set on a “living” map inspired by sea charts from the Age of Sail. Engage in tactical battles using a dice-based activation system, and use Ink to “errata” events during combat to give you an edge.

Here Be Dragons will be in Early Access for around three to six months.

Warfork
Developer: Team Forbidden
Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Linux
Price: Free

Warfork is an old school, competitive arena FPS based on Warsow that is completely free. The developers have no intention of implementing any sort of business model, and the game exists solely as a passion project they want people to experience. The game currently features 11 modes, 37 maps, and already includes full mod support and community servers.

Warfork will be in Early Access for around a year.

Piko Piko
Developer: Marquet
Publisher: Degica
Platform: Windows PC
Price: $9.99 (Price will increase)

Piko Piko is an action-platformer about a small girl with a massive hammer. The game follows Piko, a student at the Hammer Academy, that enters a blacksmithing contest to prove that her hammer is the strongest of them all. Explore a quirky world full of equally eccentric characters to find hidden secrets and upgrades. Fight your fellow classmates, who are also all small girls carrying giant hammers, with a variety of smash attacks, pogo jumps, and parries.

Piko Piko will be in Early Access for about four months.

ΔV: Rings of Saturn
Developer: Kodera Software
Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Linux
Price: $9.99

Finally, we come to ΔV: Rings of Saturn, a space sim that tasks you with excavating minerals in the booming asteroid mining industry among the rings of Saturn. The game is set in a realistic, retro sci-fi universe based on hard science and physics. Sell the minerals you excavate to upgrade your ship, hire more crew, expand your operations, and repair any damage suffered on the job. There’s also a free demo you can try.

ΔV: Rings of Saturn will release from Early Access sometime before the end of 2019.

Which of these games are you interested in? Are you playing any recent Early Access releases that we missed? Tell us more in the comments below.