Valve Corporation, owner of Steam, often showcases games that have had success on their distribution platform. Recently, their blog post on the top releases of January 2020 indicated that last month was a good start for the company. What's outstanding about this list of top releases is games from China, Japan, and Korea completely dominated it.

Sands of Salzaar is a breakthrough RPG game for Chinese studios

Out of a list of 20 top games, 13 of them came from Asian studios. "Sands of Salzaar" by Han-Squirrel Studio, a Chinese RPG game which just came out last month, has proven itself an unexpected sleeper hit among Steam users. The game currently holds a 92% score on the platform. Other than "Sands," China also contributed "Paranormal HK" to the list. Meanwhile, the rest of Asia had eight games from Japan, two from South Korea, and one from Indonesia.

In DEEEER Simulator, which is one of the top January Steam games, you can be a Metal Deer

Valve believes that the global popularity of Steam has allowed for this shift, since almost half of January's top releases did not even have English localization. “Not too long ago, including English support at launch was a requirement for success on Steam,” the Steam blog post goes.

“English-speakers are still a huge part of Steam’s audience, but the success of January’s top releases reinforces the fact that now, more than ever, Steam players come from all over the world and will support a huge variety of language options.”

Steam Top Releases list of January 2020

So, here are the top games on Steam for January 2020, ordered by their release date:

VR-focused Walking Dead game also made the list

  1. 部落与弯刀 / Sands of Salzaar
  2. 港詭實錄 / Paranormal HK
  3. SUPER ROBOT WARS X
  4. Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX
  5. GemCraft - Frostborn Wrath
  6. Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX
  7. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX
  8. some some convenience store 썸썸 편의점
  9. DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT
  10. ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV
  11. DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game
  12. Temtem
  13. Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
  14. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
  15. Commandos 2 - HD Remaster
  16. Warhammer Underworlds: Online
  17. Coffee Talk
  18. The Pedestrian
  19. Astellia
  20. Not For Broadcast