Steam goes social (and free) with Spiral Knights by Sega and more

Spiral Knights in action
You know this whole social games thing those whippersnappers are talking about is big when Steam gets into the game. The premier PC games distribution platform from Valve, creators of the Left 4 Dead and Half-Life (read: hardcore) franchises, has just signed on five free-to-play games for gamers to enjoy for, well, free! The games include hits like Forsaken World and Champions Online. But most notable of which is Spiral Knights, a brand new casual online role-playing game, or RPG, published by Sega and developed by San Francisco-based Three Rings. Did we mention it's free? Because it totally is.

Spiral Knights is a top-down, hack 'n slash RPG that isn't a far cry from games like The Legend of Zelda. Players assume the role of a Spiral Knight (no way, really?) as they delve deeper into the "Clockworks" of an unknown planet named Cradle. Your mission? Find a way home for your people by harvesting new materials to repair their busted spacecraft. You'll do just that through countless ever-changing dungeons presented in a style that harkens back to the good old days of gaming. And you can dungeon crawl with up to four friends at a time, create guilds, and craft your own armor and weapons with what you find.

Spiral Knights on Steam
"A game with strong co-operative and social elements like Spiral Knights is, put simply, a great fit for Steam," said Three Rings CEO Daniel James in a statement. "Beyond the convenience of automatic game updates and easy Energy purchases through Steam, our players will be able to enjoy their time in the Clockworks with their existing Friends List members, aided by built-in voice chat and instant messaging."

The game, since it is free to play (we hope that's sunken in by now), is supported by micro-transactions for new duds and the like, but most important is Crystal Energy. As you dive deeper into the Clockworks, you will need more of this Energy to operate the gates that unlock those dungeons. Luckily, just like in your favorite Facebook games, that Energy refills over time. You can check out the lot of Steam's new free-to-play games right here, and get to playing some Spiral Knights already ... we could always use more dungeon buddies.

DC Universe Online: Pound on bad guys for free starting next month

If you've always wanted to try out Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe online (on either PS3 or PC), but didn't want to pay actual money to do so, you'll be happy to know that you'll soon be able to access "the entire game" for free starting next month. As reported by PCWorld, this switch to a freemium pricing plan will still allow users to purchase premium content, but all of the open world gameplay, missions, game updates and patches will be free.

To be specific, DC Universe Online will have three different levels of access. The first and completely free level, gives players access to create just two characters and join a league with other players. From there, the Premium level of users requires that a player spend at least $5 in real money in the game's store to be given that Premium player status for life. This gives them access to larger inventory space, the ability to create more characters and the ability to trade items with others. Finally, if you still want the subscription plan, you can be a Legendary player, paying around $15 a month for access to even more character and inventory slots, along with access to the game's DLC packages at no additional cost. There are plenty of other differences between the three gameplay levels; head over here to check them out.

DC Universe Online is just the latest of many once entirely paid-sub games to go free-to-play in some form. While the most noteworthy case has arguably been World of Warcraft's free-to-play setup for users up to level 20, this is just another case where social and casual players are given an opportunity to break away from Facebook simulators and jump into the world of true MMOs. While the two worlds are (for the most part) entirely different, a bigger selection is definitely not a bad thing.

Will you try out DC Universe Online when it goes free-to-play next month?