I realize I say it just about every week but hoo boy, what a week, and this time I mean it. Doing this post on time for once because tomorrow I’m going to a sleepover at a zoo and I will not give additional context to that. Anyway, instead of streaming Zork from some Microsoft cloud service that doesn’t even work, here are some indie games you can play instead. Or just download some free text adventures from IFDB.
Video Games
The biggest one for me this week is Virtue’s Heaven (Steam/Itch.io). I’ve been waiting a few years for it so I’m happy to see this come out. It’s one of those Metroid-like games but with a very nice Game Boy aesthetic and it’s felt great to play so far. I’ve been really enjoying the combat system and while I hate the term “Juice” to describe parts of games, sigh, it’s got good “juice.” It’s got a demo if you want to give it a try.
Six One Indie did a big showcase yesterday. Maybe you’ll discover a lot of cool, upcoming games through it?
Can a game about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles be considered indie? I don’t fucking know, I’m just some person with a blog named after a moose. But I like Strange Scaffold a lot so their newest game on Steam looks fun.
It’s been a ridiculous time for point-and-click adventures. I keep saying it every week but it’s because there’s been so many coming out. Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer is yet another one from a studio I like.
TweetTweetJam is a jam on Itch.io where people make a game in 500 characters or less. This is their 10th one and it’s always fun to see what clever stuff folks are making with such a small constraint.
Decker is a really neat tool for making Hypercard-looking applications, and now there’s a pink template.
I haven’t played the demo for Broken Relic yet but it looks like a very nice upcoming point-and-click adventure game.
s*ssy caption aesthetic II is an interactive collage….essay…zine? by bagenzo about a variety of personal topics. It’s brilliant, go check it out in the browser.
Blungo’s Dungeon Luncheon is a pay-what-you-want dungeon crawler strongly influenced by the NES, not just how it looks, but also the audio and how it controls. The language in it may be a turn off to something but I think it’s a neat little game. Plus I like saying Blungo.
I haven’t played it yet but Overlook Trail looks like a very pretty exploration game and it even has a demo.
Tabletop Games
Treat yourself to a tabletop game about kale
Sandy Pug Games is the best and it’s always a treat to see them release a new game. Hellpiercers is described as “a tabletop tactics RPG about post-mythic warfare, mechs powered by ritual and divinity, and the struggle for total, unconditional liberation.” Sometimes people balk at $30 for a PDF but I don’t know, it’s a fucking ton of art in there and tabletop rpgs are games designed to keep a group of 3-6 people entertained for many hours. So $30 for all of that sounds like a great deal to me.
I’ve always wanted to learn how to play Mahjong so maybe this zine will help me out.
Crowdfunding
I’m so excited that the Kickstarter for the documentary about Jeff Minter, Heart of Neon, has already hit its goal. There has never been a better time to be a Llamasoft fan between stuff like this and recent releases like I, Robot.
Crescent County is a single player, open-world, broom riding game that looks pretty nice. I’m happy to see that it hit its goal so quickly.
Possible Worlds Games is one of my favorite ttrpg publishers and they’re so close to hitting funding for their newest set of games, J. Walton’s surreal fishing RPG Tacklebox & Tyler Crumrine’s people-watching RPG Better Strangers.
Not brand new but it’s new to me
Dispatches from VR (Itch.io) is a zine about the author’s experiences with VR as a disabled person. It’s pay-what-you-want and you can also check it out in the browser.