Resident Evil Gamers Shouldn’t Miss Steam’s Newest Free Release

February can’t come soon enough; on 27 February, 2026, Capcom will officially launch Resident Evil Requiem, the long-awaited ninth mainline entry in the iconic horror series.

The latest instalment centres around FBI agent Grace Ashcroft who is sent to investigate a string of mysterious deaths at a hotel.

This time around, the big bad is an unknown hooded man, with plenty of theories already having emerged online.

Is he a Wesker? Perhaps Brandon Bailey? Could Spencer be making an unexpected return?

It’s going to be a couple of months until we find out, but in the meantime, you may want to check out a new free-to-play game on Steam that echoes the Resident Evil releases of yesteryear.

Shadow of Winter is a narrative-driven survival horror from indie devs Tucker Holmes, Travis Wilson, and Rein Tice.

Set within a frozen wilderness in 1985, Shadow of Winter revolves around a Soviet bunker where players must unearth “dark secrets” and “fight to survive the terrors lurking within”.

“Winter, 1985. A storm forces an emergency landing deep in the Canadian wilderness. You are Joseph, a young man stranded in the snow with no way out and one mission: find your missing brother,” the synopsis begins.

“The search leads you to a place long forgotten, an abandoned Soviet military bunker, sealed away beneath the ice. What begins as a rescue quickly becomes a fight for survival.”

It continues, “The bunker isn’t empty. Its halls are scarred with roots that push through steel, its silence broken by something that moves when you’re not looking. Every room holds fragments of its past: Cold War paranoia, failed experiments, and a story buried under layers of secrecy.”

Shadow of Winter, Credit / CRiT2 Games

It’s an interesting premise and as I said, the simplicity of the spooks almost harkens back to the Resident Evil games of the early 00s.

Players will need to manage their supplies, crafting tools that’ll help them survive this ordeal.

You’ll explore the bunker, uncovering notes, journals, and clues, occasionally coming face to face with the nasties that now call it home.

By the sounds of things, you’ll need to evade creatures but so too will you engage in shootouts should you fail to remain unnoticed.

There are various puzzle-solving elements too, with players needing to “restore power [and] bypass locked systems” to name a few examples.

Shadow of Winter is free-to-play

For now, Shadow of Winter is only available on Steam where it’s completely free-to-play.

There’s no review consensus just yet so you’ll have to venture into this one somewhat blind but I suppose that’s the best way to enjoy horror, really.

It could scare the bejeezus out of you, it may not, but there’s only one way to find out.

If nothing else, Shadow of Winter could provide for a spooky, atmospheric night of entertainment.