Void Breach is a point-and-click adventure where you play as a scientist who must save his daughter after a science experiment goes wrong and sends her to another world. The game is strongly inspired by old Sierra adventure games. While it’s a point-and-click game and you can’t die, the game design and art style are based on those games. The game’s art is very similar to the style you would see in Sierra’s very early AGI games like King’s Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. For the most part it’s very good and nails the look, but unfortunately I’ve spent much more time than I’d like to admit looking at old games and there’s the odd bit here and there that looks off, like pixels being too small in some parts.
I think that the gameplay design and plot is very similar to those old games. Like I said before, you can’t die, but the basic structure where you are given a quest (rescue your daughter) and then are plopped into an open world where you walk around, seeing what other characters need, and grabbing items to help them out or overcome obstacles is very similar to the classic Sierra game structure. I realize it sounds like most adventure games do that, but to me it feels like a very Sierra thing to just plop you into a world and let you have at it. The writing is very similar to those early Sierra games too. The characters aren’t too developed, sometimes they’re just fantasy creatures like mermaids, and mostly exist to give you a quest. This sounds like a criticism but it’s not. It fits for the type of game that Void Breach is emulating and I think they do a good job of that.
Overall I think it’s a nice adventure game and would recommend it if you’re looking for something in this style and want something that you can play in two hours. It’s very affordable too. The game is only $2 and at the time of writing this review, it’s on sale for $0.50. My only real caveat is that while I like this game, Cosmic Void has made so many games and they keep getting better with each game so I guess if you’ve never played a Cosmic Void adventure game before then maybe consider checking out one of those on Itch.io or Steam. But it’s still good! What are you supposed to do when someone makes a lot of games you like? Tell people to play them all? Maybe.
It’s USA’s birthday. Hope its empire ends soon. Have some indie games.
I already wrote about it yesterday but Atuel (Steam/Itch.io/Android) is great and worth a look. It’s a surreal documentary about the Atuel River Valley in Argentina and how climate change has impacted it.
I already shared his blog post about it before but Terry Cavanagh really loved this mod on Itch.io for his game VVVVVV.
The Neo-Twiny Jam just wrapped up. It’s a jam where people make Twine games with 500 words or less and it’s a great opportunity for games to have experimental mechanics. I noticed it when I saw the game Glory by Grim Baccaris pop up in my Itch feed but you should dig around and see what else folks are doing with Twine.
Curse Match (Itch.io) is a puzzle game made in PICO-8 where every level results in you choosing a curse that will make the gameplay more difficult. It’s free to play in the browser but you can also buy a download and it looks like it’s already raised enough money to fund a soundtrack. I just think it’s fun to see PICO-8 games doing well.
Super Brick Maker 9000 (Itch.io) is a browser game that plays like a reverse Breakout. Hitting blocks causes more to appear. It’s for The Bad Game Jam but I think it’s good.
SUPER TAKE A SHOWER WHILE AUTISTIC AND LIVING IN A CRAPPY APARTMENT WITH BAD WATER HEATING PRO 2000!! (Glorious Trainwrecks/Itch.io) is an autobiographical game about….well
Hellkind (Steam) is a free short top-down horror game where you investigate a cult and ritual. I enjoyed the grainy black and white visuals and how it managed to be creepy without resorting to any jump scares. The game only takes 15-20 minutes to complete but there’s optional details you can discover if you want to investigate further. I wrote a little more about it here.
That’s it for this week. As usual, feel free to let me know about other neat stuff that has recently come out in the comments. Or even just what you’ve enjoyed playing lately. It doesn’t have to be new!
Hellkind is a free, short top-down horror game where you investigate a cult and ritual inside of a church. Apparently the game is inspired by Galician folklore, which I have no knowledge of but want to read more about after playing this game. I really enjoyed the grainy black and white aesthetic the game has. It’s not quite the 80s Macintosh look or what Return of the Obra Dinn did, but it feels similar. Usually I’m not a big horror person but I saw one or two reviews about how creepy the game was even though it doesn’t have any jump scares and I would say it succeeds on that front.
It’s definitely an adventure game. You aren’t being chased by any monsters or asked to fight anything. You are just slowly walking around this church trying to figure out what happened and picking up items to add to your inventory so you can use them elsewhere. The game only took me about 20 minutes to complete but there’s optional details you can discover if you want to investigate further and do the optional puzzles. I didn’t because I couldn’t really figure it out and was starting to get antsy about the player character’s slow walking speed (if I did have any gripes about the game, it’s this), but I think it’s fun that there’s optional stuff to pursue if you want. This is the first game by this “studio” (it’s one person that is very open about how they’re not solo because they buy assets) but I’m definitely interested in playing more games by them in the future. I recommend playing this game but think you should be aware that the game has flashing lights, the game warns you about this when you start it up.
Atuel is a short and free documentary game about the Atuel River Valley in Argentina. The game uses surreal imagery and audio from interviews to explain how the changes people have made to the river, like building dams, impacted the river and everything living around it. The gameplay is a linear walking sim-like experience, which I do not mean in a derogatory way, and has you shapeshifting into different animals and elements, usually downstream, to see the impact of climate change. I was impressed by the variety of environments and art, which changes each time you shapeshift into something new, and how it uses these changes and narration to explain how rivers are like living beings. I thought this was a new game but I guess it actually came out a few years ago on Itch, it’s only just now that it has received a big update and a release on other platforms. I’d highly recommend checking it out. It’s free and only 30 minutes long.
In case you missed it, the Commodore computer brand has been bought again, this time by a YouTuber. You can watch the whole bizarre thing here if you want. I saw some people on social media being excited about this I’m not even sure what you can do with what he bought. He got a bunch of trademarks and some people from the original run of Commodore as advisors, with the argument that if you get all this stuff, it does become the original company again and does it? Unless you can jump back in time and start manufacturing computers in a world where most people don’t have them, I still don’t see the point of what any of this is other than the opportunity to be an IP landlord. They spent all their money buying the brand so there isn’t really anything left to actually do something with it. But I guess this is the kind of thing the retro gaming community loves to get excited about, the tiniest possibility that a brand will continue to have its name on things. It doesn’t matter that it won’t be anything people actually want, it will still be alive. I guess this is why a lot of adventure game folks were willing to cheer on the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft. Didn’t matter how much of a disaster it would be, maybe Microsoft would be more willing to do something with old Sierra and Infocom properties (they aren’t).
It’s also just hard to get excited about that announcement when it’s filled with AI generated slop and the inclusion of disgraced actor and repeated sexual harasser Thomas Middleditch as an investor and member of the board. I would simply not include an incredibly problematic in my announcement video or let them have anything to do with my company!
My dream scenario that will probably never happen is that the retro gaming community buys the rights to obscure things that aren’t available today and have very little financial value, and makes them public domain instead of being IP landlords. Why aren’t we pooling our money together to buy the rights to Dot Gobbler and Pyst? They belong to the people.
Microsoft just announced that they’re laying off up to 9,000 people. I don’t know, I think that if your company has to lay off 9,000 people, maybe some people in leadership positions fucked up and should be losing their jobs instead? Maybe finally kick Phil Spencer to the curb?
“We’re doing better than ever and here’s why we have to let people go.” WELL OK! But please, keep piling money into the AI furnace and forcing us to use garbage no one wants. If only there were people that said the Activision acquisition was a bad idea! I had already pulled away from their products because they’re participating in a genocide, but maybe this is when I finally become a Linux Desktop person as well.
Maybe we should have all listened to the developers of Pyst
The Steam Sale started a few days ago and people have been doing their recommendations. The Adventure Games Podcast has a nice page with their recommendations, Miri Teixeiri has a good recommendation thread on bluesky, but now I want to do one because that’s what blogs are for. As usual, I also think you should consider buying games on Itch.io but they’re not doing a sale right now. I’m also missing a ton of stuff because I can only write so much, so if you enjoy these then keep looking around. Despite the occasional discourse about it being dead, there’s constantly new games coming out and I even wrote a post a few weeks ago about all the releases this year. So in no order really, here’s a list of recommendations that are more focused on recent releases.
Of course I have to start off by recommending Cyan’s remakes of Myst and Riven. I already loved those games and I think the remakes are an improvement on both. Riven was already a masterclass in world building in video games but I think the remake does a lot to make the game easier to get into. Just make sure the FMV option for the first game is turned on.
Wadjet Eye Games is one of the best modern point-and-click adventure game developers and they keep getting better with each game. I strongly recommend their two most recent games. Old Skies is a time travel story and Unavowed is an urban fantasy thriller that feels a lot like a Bioware game minus the combat, where you build a party before going on missions.
Speaking of Wadjet Eye Games, The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is a horror adventure set in rural Victorian England and developed by Cloak and Dagger Games, another adventure game developer I’m a fan of.
Grundislav Games is another adventure game developer that I think should come up when people talk about folks doing great stuff and keeping the genre alive. Lamplight City is a steampunk detective adventure and Rosewater is a western set in an alternate 19th century world. Both games are in the same world but you do not need to play them in a specific order.
Perfect Tides is a point-and-click adventure about being a teen in the year 2000 by Meredith Gran, creator of the comic Octopus Pie.
The Crimson Diamond is a mystery adventure game inspired by Sierra’s Laura Bow series with an EGA color palette.
If you’re looking for something that will challenge you, Lucy Dreaming and Will of Arthur Flabbington are both nice choices and remind me of 90s adventure games from a difficulty level standpoint.
Don’t Escape: 4 Days to Survive is interesting because it should be something I hate. You can softlock yourself into a bad ending and you constantly have to make tough choices to survive but it works! Unlike a lot of old adventures where I put an asterisk next to the recommendation because it’s good despite those things, it’s an intentional part of the game’s design and that’s actually a good thing.
NORCO has some of the best writing in a video game in recent years and was my favorite game overall in 2022. It’s a sci-fi mystery set in an alternate southern Louisiana.
Return to Monkey Island is the most recent game in the Monkey Island series and I think it’s some of that crew’s best work. The game does some really interesting stuff mechanically to update the genre that I hope we keep seeing in other games, and I think the writing (yes, even the ending) are top notch too.
Thaumistry: In Charm’s Way is a great fantasy comedy text adventure made by an Infocom alumni. I’d recommend this one if you’ve never played a text adventure before because it’s very friendly to new players.
Kentucky Route Zero is one of my favorite games ever. It’s described as “a magical realist adventure game about a secret highway running through the caves beneath Kentucky” and the vibes and writing are perfect. If you do play this one, I really recommend playing it slowly over a sequence of nights for maximum vibes.
Cosmic Void is another adventure game dev I’m a fan of. I recommend their sci-fi space opera Blood Nova and horror adventure Devil’s Hideout.
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard reminds me so much of 90s adventure games but is very much doing its own thing too and features some great animation and pixel art.
Midnight Scenes is another series with great pixel art. The games are self contained horror adventures that can be played in a single sitting.
The Shapeshifting Detective is a murder mystery where you are able to shapeshift into various characters to get clues from people who will react to you differently based on who you are. It is a game packed with FMV, which has always been cool.
Immortality also uses FMV to have you investigate what happened to a missing actress through viewing clips of three unreleased films.
Hypnospace Outlaw is another favorite. You explore a 90s alternate internet and enforce moderation rules.
The Forgotten City is a mystery adventure where you find yourself in an ancient city and try to find out what’s going on through a timeloop and repeating the day.
Case of the Golden Idol has you solving deaths through a really unique interface where you gather clues and build a theory to what happened.
Phoenix Springs is an adventure I’ve praised a lot on social media. It’s a very surreal mystery adventure and I think the game mechanically does some really interesting stuff by using memories and thoughts as inventory items.
Darkside Detective is a series of very goofy supernatural point-and-click adventures.
Developer: Wurm Fud Publisher: Wurm Fud Year: 2024 Genre: Visual Novel
Backwater Eulogy is a very short (10-15 minutes) visual novel and autobiographical exploration of loss and the experience of grieving someone you had a complicated relationship with. I think this type of VN is described as a Kinetic Novel, since it is linear and there are no choices, with the interactive elements just being the user clicking to transition from one page to the next. I don’t have a problem with that! A game can just be a very well written story featuring lots of great pixel art, which is what this is. The music is very minimalist and low key but works well for the story the game is telling and helped with the immersion.
It hit me really hard as someone who has experienced a sudden and very upsetting loss lately. I didn’t have a complicated relationship with my aunt but I still think about things I wish I could have done to change the outcome, even though there’s nothing I could have actually done. The story is also strongly influenced by the developer living in the midwestern US and that also resonated with me. Sorry about this one being such a bummer. Sometimes you play a short game about a depressing topic but it’s exactly what you needed to play at the moment.
Backwater Eulogy is available on Steam and Itch.io.
Yesterday there was an article I read about the history of bisexuality in games, which I’ll always welcome, but it was a frustrating read because it left out so much and basically ignored anything before The Sims and anything that wasn’t a major hit. It was this quote specifically that I really didn’t care for:
Because when games started tentatively including queer representation in the late 00s, it began with playersexuality: the idea that characters would be attracted to the player, no matter who they were. You could marry someone of any gender in Skyrim or the later Harvest Moon games, for example. Liara in Mass Effect would want whichever Shepherd – male or female – you chose to be.
It’s very possible I’m misreading what it’s saying, but this isn’t true in any reading I could think of. The representation is certainly notable, but queer games go back all the way to the late 80s at least, with games like Caper in the Castro in 1989 and Gayblade in 1992. Both are games by developers who are part of the LGBTQ+ community and are about people in the community.
Even if you’re ignoring indie games (and why would you?), there’s plenty of examples from larger publishers in the 80s and 90s. If we’re just talking about video game characters, Infocom’s game Moonmist from 1986 has a Lesbian woman and a bisexual woman as NPCs. If the article means playersexuality, that goes back to at least 1992 with Ultima VII: The Black Gate. There’s also games with a big budget like Phantasmagoria 2 in 1996 that explicitly have a bisexual male protagonist if the subtext that’s basically text in Gabriel Knight 2 was too subtle for some people. There’s so many other examples listed too from a basic Wikipedia search. Granted, a lot of the examples listed are very homophobic and transphobic, but there’s positive representation in the 80s and 90s too and it’s just really frustrating to see this history get ignored. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it happen at a games outlet and it probably won’t be the last.
On a more positive note, I really liked this recent page listing games developed by trans people before 2010, which extends basically to the beginning of the games industry. Trans game developers have always been here and always will be.
Developer: Goloso Games & Julia Minamata Publisher: Panic Year: 2025 Genre: Adventure
I’m attempting to get caught up with all the games coming out each week as a part of the Playdate Season 2 package and saw that Goloso Games and Julia Minamata, two folks I’m a fan of, made a new point-and-click adventure for the system. This season surprisingly has a lot of adventure games (and also a FMV game) and I’m not sure why. I’m definitely not upset about it but I suspect Panic just happens to be big adventure game fans since they’ve published a few of them outside of the Playdate too.
You play as the dog Chance as you are called to help out a criminal mastermind but are delayed by a flat tire. What starts off as a simple tire change puzzle leads to a series of events where you are bailed out by Chance’s extremely good luck.
I loved this one. It’s just a really nice adventure game that lasts about 30 minutes and occasionally uses the Playdate’s built-in features as puzzle solving gimmicks. There’s maybe one chapter where using the crank felt a little clunky but this only stood out because it works most of the time and the game moves at a really nice pace. The game is divided into six chapter and each one is about 5 minutes long. I felt very satisfied doing the puzzles but they weren’t too difficult either. For the most part, the use of the Playdate’s crank and microphone were fun ways to add some variety to the puzzles.
As expected, Julia Minamata’s art is fantastic. It manages to cram in a lot of nice little animations on such a small screen but everything is very readable. The game is very funny too. I really love absurdist humor and the situations in each chapter get more ridiculous as you move from one puzzle to the next.
I also loved the music! It has this nice jazzy soundtrack you would expect from old noir films and Philip Aldous does a great job with that. I’m always surprised at how good the games on the Playdate sound since it’s so tiny and I guess my expectations are low?
Anyway, great stuff. If folks like this one then they should check out other games by the developers. Julia worked on the free Playdate game Recommendation Dog and created the excellent mystery adventure game The Crimson Diamond. Goloso Games made Spike II: The Great Emu War (Itch.io/Playdate store) for the Playdate and Inspector Waffles (Steam/Itch.io).
