Three games. Three casual indies. Three launch discounts. That’s the story on Steam’s New Releases chart this week.

At #1 sits Pakinpaks, a luggage-packing puzzle game from developer Indiebuild and publisher Catoptric Games. You help animals organize travel gear in what The Comfy Quest calls a “light, simple puzzle” experience with a cute concept. The demo runs about 20 minutes and is strictly mouse-and-keyboard — no trackpad support. It’s currently 10% off at $8.99.

Diggin It holds the #2 spot at just $1.59 (20% off). This tunnel-digging adventure from Lexmodia adds cat and dog companions, upgrade paths, and what the developer calls “risky buffs” — push-your-luck mechanics that let you decide how deep to dig before cashing out. At under two bucks, the barrier to entry is essentially nonexistent.

Melody Friends takes #3 with a hook that should work better than it does: a rhythm game that auto-generates beatmaps from any song on your PC. The execution isn’t quite there yet, according to early player feedback. One reviewer notes the generated charts “doesn’t often make much sense with the music” and lag behind the track. At $6.39 with a 20% discount, it’s priced like a work-in-progress — which, fair enough, it might be.

All three titles sit at zero user reviews and single-digit concurrent players as of March 23rd. These are Day One numbers, the kind that don’t tell you much about longevity but say plenty about discoverability on a platform flooded with releases.

Casual gaming isn’t going anywhere. Whether any of these break through the noise is a different question.

Sources