In the middle of each month, Valve releases a list of the top new games released on Steam in the past month, based on sales in the first two weeks. (Since the sales numbers are not released, it is impossible to say with certainty which games are #1, but every month there are at least a couple that are clearly #1, and a couple that are surprising.

February is no exception: it is not at all surprising that "Metro Exodus," released on Steam on February 15, a year after its original release on the Epic Games Store, made the list, nor that "Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem" Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection" and "Dota Underlords" also made the list.

Meanwhile, "Tank Mechanic Simulator," "Death and Taxes," and "Oshinobu! Bancho 7" also ranked in the list. While not critical, it is fair to say that these and other films are probably less obvious contenders. Also again, new studios make up a significant portion of the list: 11 of the top 20 new games are by developers who released their first game on Steam.

Games that started or finished Steam Early Access also featured heavily in February. When we launched Early Access in 2013, we hoped the program would provide developers with an optional avenue to work on their games alongside data and feedback from players," Valve said.

"It's great to see so many studios finding success through Early Access.

The full list, sorted by release date:

And the top five free games based on unique player count:

Click here to visit the sale page, which features all games on the February list.