Steam continues to run a near-monopoly on just about any gaming service for PC. After broadening its appeal to non-gaming software, both in its store and on Steam Greenlight, the Valve service still receives plenty of gaming updates. We’ve received a few recent announcements.

The free title Stealth Bastard will come to aforementioned platform in an enhanced, paying version. Stealth Bastard Deluxe forms a hybrid between the espionage of Metal Gear Solid and the difficulty of Super Meat Boy. Updates to the 2D platform title will include an origin narrative, 80 levels and new equipment. A level editor will allow the community to build and rate newly created stages. Online possibilities will also include a leaderboard for bragging rights.

The first version of the game will remain free on http://www.stealthbastard.com, however it will not receive any additional updates. Developer Jonathan Biddle stated: “The free version of Stealth Bastard, was only a sketch; an incomplete vision of what we wanted to do. With the new release, we’ve been given the opportunity to build on the original’s foundations, and broaden the gameplay experience.” Since its release nearly 12 months ago, approximately 125.000 people have downloaded this swift stealth title.

A game already on the service is the newly released Frontline Tactics. As we expected it from our time with a preview build of the game, this turn-based strategy title is free-to-play, since it’s marred by stunted progress. You need to grind through missions to receive credits to unlock new features and upgrade characters at a snail pace. Still, the tactical differences between good cover, different weapon types and lines of fire offer a decent pastime. Perhaps more importantly for socialites, the game also has a multiplayer option to fight on its deserted grids against friends and foes alike. Naturally, there are in-game purchases available. We highly recommend not playing against someone paying for the product, as they’ll get quite the advantage through it.

New downloadable content is also available for Hacker Evolution Duality (HED). The indie game from Romanian developer exosyphen studios has reintroduced their first hacker game into the new engine of HED with the Inception DLC. Ten reworked levels will make you experience the game as if it were a new title and that with updated features such as tools and console commands. The DLC is priced €4.99.