Every year I’ve been doing a post on the games I’m looking forward to. It’s a little bit late this year and some of the stuff I was planning to mention, like The Roottrees are Dead, are already out. Oh well, it’s my blog, I can post stuff late if I want. I think all the links on this post are going to Steam page if you want to wishlist. Like every year, it’s usually something I don’t know of that catches me off guard and becomes my favorite thing but maybe you’ll discover something new anyway.

Ron Gilbert put his rpg project on hold but said he has a much smaller game we should be getting soon. I have no idea what that is but it’s….something?

Tony Warriner is working on a game for that modern ZX Spectrum thing. I kinda don’t understand what makes a modern computer a ZX Spectrum but the game itself looks like a fun top down shooter thing.

New Inkle game this year. No idea what it will play like but it’s an Inkle game so I’ll probably like it.

Spirit Swap is a Match 3 game that comes out in a few days. I backed it on kickstarter a while ago so it’s already paid for and I can just enjoy this neat little queer game.

Trails and Traces: The Tomb of Thomas Tew is a point-and-click detective adventure. I liked the dev’s previous game from a few years ago so I’m happy to see them making another.

Old Skies! It’s a new Wadjet Eye game! I’m technically a beta tester on it, but haven’t really found that many bugs so I’m a pretty lousy one, but I am allowed to say that what I’ve played has been fantastic and at the level of quality you would expect from one of their games.

Citizen Sleeper 2 comes out in a couple hours but I published it before it came out so I can still say I’m looking forward to it!

A Chamber of Stars looks like a trippy visual novel or adventure game. I just really like the art and it has a demo.

The Ape Painting is an upcoming interactive fiction by an author I’m a fan of.

Peripeteia is an immersive sim coming out next month. I’ll always take more of those. It has a demo I haven’t played yet.

Rosewater! This one has been on a list or two before. It’s a western point-and-click adventure that has been in developer for quite a while and looks great. I love the rotoscoped art. We’re definitely getting this one this year since it was just announced that it’s coming out in March.

We’re getting a new Heroes of Might and Magic this year. There’s actually a couple of HOMM-likes floating around or entering early access so this might not even be necessary, but I’m still cautiously interested in it since it’s set in an older M&M world, Erathia, instead of the universe that Ubisoft has been putting their games in since they took control. Ubisoft’s setting has been boring as shit so I’m happy to see them return to this.

Quantum Witch looks like a fun and queer platforming adventure game. This one has a demo too.

Operation Zero just looks like a fun retro-looking arcade top-down shooter.

The Drifter has been on a previous list and I’m hoping we get it this year. I just really like Powerhoof’s shorter adventure games and think a long one would be good too.

We have a new game by the creator of Midnight Scenes. I will keep buying their short horror adventure games as long as they keep making them.

Nivalis is some sort of bar simulation set in a cyberpunk world. It’s by the developer of Cloudpunk, which I thought was very good.

Agent 64 is a FPS inspired by Goldeneye. Really liked the demo of it and hope we get the full game this year.

Super Cucumber is a cute platformer by the creators of Down the Drain. I thought that game was a fun roguelike and this is a dev local to me so I’m looking forward to this game.

Vaporwave Pinball is a pinball game with a vaporwave theme. Pretty straightforward! I like the demo so I’ll probably like more of that.

Legends of Castile is a historical point-and-click adventure set in Spain. I just think the art is very nice and reminds me a tiny bit of Curse of Monkey Island. It has a demo too.

Nekomancer of Nowhere looks like a really cute isometric puzzle game.

Soup Rooms is an upcoming anthology game where you explore various rooms. It’s inspired by an old game I’m not familiar with but the opportunity to walk around a variety of weird spaces sounds like a good time to me.

Having a little bookstore is a fun little dream I have so a game about that, Tiny Bookshop, where I can do that without all the actual stress of running a bookstore sounds nice.

Generation Exile is a game about humanity’s only generation ship. I’m sure it will be an emotional experience that will make me feel like crap. Can’t wait.

I don’t know much about Usual June but I like the art and I’m a Finji Fan.

Promise Mascot Agency just looks like a wild adventure game and I’m very excited to see Alpha Chrome Yayo doing the soundtrack.

Sleight of Hand is a stealth game with a really fun looking mechanic where you have cards you draw from and each one has an effect to help you stay hidden and dispose of enemies.

Angeline Era is a new game by the Anodyne devs featuring bump combat!

Acronia is a platformer inspired by old DOS games. It has a demo on the Itch page that runs in DOS.

I think Roman Sands comes out this year? I was a fan of their previous game Paratopic and really like the Y2K aesthetic this has.

We’re getting a new Halloween Harry this year! By the same dev as the original game.

Perfect Tides: Station to Station is the sequel to one of the best recent adventures, by the creator of the comic Octopus Pie.

Streets of Fortuna looks like a really interesting sandbox rpg.

Heir of the Dog is a new adventure by the creator of Lucy Dreaming. That was a fantastic point-and-click adventure and I’m sure this will be a good one too.

Dream Settler is the sequel to Hypnospace Outlaw, one of my favorite games!

Zid Journey is a sequel to Zniw Adventure and looks like another point-and-click adventure that the whole family can play.

I really like the vaporwave aesthetic that the puzzle game Axyz has.

Tiny Garden is a game I backed that looks like a chill gardening game set in tiny Polly Pocket-like containers.