If there’s something we can all agree on, it’s that 2025 is The Year of the Blog. V Buckenham is saying it and Robert Yang is saying it, so here is another roundup of blog links. If you find anything you enjoy, be sure to subscribe to their sites with your RSS feed reader so you can catch further updates.
Video Games
Voting on the MAGS adventure game jams is now open. Even if you don’t have an interest in voting, Wraithkal’s link is a nice little roundup of point-and-click adventure games made in jams that you may have missed.
Jolt Country writes about the shareware classic Abuse.
There was a new Ink console announced that sounds like a disaster to me but smarter people like Andrew Plotkin and V Buckenham have already posted about it.
Atari Archive goes into the history of the Superman game from 1979.
Rob asks Who Gets To Sonic Meme?, a reference to the meme featuring Sonic saying they want shorter games with worse graphics made by people paid more to work less.
Developer: Ben Croshaw Publisher: Ben Croshaw Year: 2001 Genre: Adventure Game
In the early 00’s, adventure games were in a weird spot with Sierra imploding and Lucasarts pulling away from adventure games. There were still a few commercial adventure games being made but with the advent of tools like Adventure Game Studio, the adventure game community decided to make their own adventure games. One of the most interesting projects from this time was Reality-on-the-Norm, a community effort to create a shared universe. This universe ended up having dozens of games, with the most recent being released in 2019. Anyone can still make a RON game, you just need to follow the rules that have been established over the development of this universe, created so one game dev doesn’t step on the toes of another dev by doing anything drastic like killing an established character.
I had never actually played any of these before, so I thought that it would be a fun opportunity to check out the series through the Adventure Game Club (see link at top), starting with the first game. Lunchtime of the Damned is a point-and-click adventure released in 2001 and created by Ben Croshaw, who went on to be the YouTuber Yahtzee and makes a lot of videos that I don’t think are any good. This one has you accidentally creating a zombie and then stopping him before he can murder more people.
So, what did I think about it? It’s alright! It’s hard to be critical of it because it’s a game created by a community that was not only learning how to make adventure games, but also learning a new tool. It’s got obtuse moments with some puzzles being implemented in a clunky way and it’s doing the adventure game trope of an area not having anything interesting, but then leaving and coming back revealing something new to interact with. Some of the humor is dated and edgelordy but it’s still way better than I expected. There’s still something about it that’s charming to me though. I didn’t play any of the RON games at the time but I did play some of the other ones created by the AGS community, so the MS Paint art and lack of polish really works for me. I also think parts are genuinely funny and while there are some bits of puzzles that have issues, most of it is perfectly fine. It makes me wish I had played more AGS games at the time, because I think I would have really loved following along with these games and playing them as it came out. I also wish I didn’t spend more time figuring out how to get it to work, but that’s not the game’s fault. ScummVM does support AGS but I don’t believe it supports anything this old at the moment, so I ended up using a Windows 98 VM because DOSBox wasn’t working for me either.
It’s hard to have a Would I Recommend? thing for this because it’s only 15 minutes long and so much of it hinges on if you have been playing adventure games for a long time since it’s a little tricky to get this working. I can tell you I had fun playing it though. I would definitely recommend going back and just exploring the early AGS games if you’re a fan of the genre. Not just because I think it’s historically interesting and you can see where a lot of today’s adventure game designers came from, but also because there’s still a lot of good stuff in there.
Don’t have a whole lot to say in this intro paragraph. If you enjoy these, do a blog post with your own game and art recommendations. If you don’t have a blog, consider starting a free one on neocities or bear blog. I also have start putting more effort into my recommendation list on Itch.io if you want more recommendations. Consider starting one of those too. I’ve heard they’re way cooler and sexier than Steam Curator pages. I like these ones by Meagan and WildWeasel. And leave nice comments on things you like! Anyway, as Geoff Keighley always says, “Now more than ever, video games.”
Video Games
I have been playing adventure games my whole life. If there’s a hater of slider tile puzzles, it’s me. That said, I think landflip (Itch.io) is different enough that it’s not one of those, or at least they cracked the code and made a good one. It’s probably the best looking one too.
mausimus released version 1.0 of ShaderGlass (itch.io) last night and it does a really need CRT monitor effect on whatever game you’re playing. I tried it with Doom 2 and it was really neat. I don’t buy into the thought all old games must be played on a CRT by some folks in the retro gaming world, but it’s still fun to look at.
I haven’t played twin stick shooter roguelike Star of Providence (Steam/Switch) but I guess it just got a release on the Nintendo Switch and I’ve seen so many people praise it. It also got an update on the PC.
Super 10 Pin (Itch.io) just got a demo and I haven’t seen a game nail the feel of the N64 era of games like this in long time. Even it being a bowling game makes it feel like more of a N64 game to me. Fortunately it’s a good one and does more than just “roll a ball down a lane.”
Open-and-Shut (Itch.io) is a free noir sci-fi point-and-click adventure game made for the Cyberpunk Jam on Itch.
I missed this one when it came out early this month but Slender Threads (Steam) is a paranormal point-and-click adventure that I’ve seen get a lot of praise by folks in the adventure game community.
Oplero (Itch.io) is just a really solid bullet hell shmup that you can play in your browser window.
FISH FEAR ME (Steam) by Heather Flowers is possible the world’s first fishing roguelike?
Adam Saltsman has been on a roll lately with all the PICO-8 games he’s been making. His newest game Weasel (Itch.io) is a Snake-like.
SNØ: Ultimate Freeriding (Steam) looks like an incredibly chill skiing game and has a demo too!
People are still making games for the Commodore 64. Pirates of the Black Seas (Itch.io) is a new text adventure available for Pay-What-You-Want created with the classic IF writing software Quest Writer by Loadstar.
Smol Gods (Itch.io) is the newest game by game dev collective PUNKCAKE Délicieux. It’s a card deck creating game where you try to have a powerful deck of monsters by drawing and swapping cards.
I love covering games by local devs and this week some students at Michigan State University have created a zero gravity horror game called BURN (Steam), which looks like if someone used the classic game Descent to make a horror walking sim (complimentary).
This bluesky post describes it better than I could, so please read that, but Fahmi Mohammad’s final game Afterlove EP (Steam) is here after being completed by his studio after his passing.
Rapture Island (Itch.io) is a low poly walking simulator where you explore an island in a relaxing environment. Available for Pay-What-You-Want.
This week’s Downpour game is Back of My Hand#HISS (Downpour site) by Florence Smith Nicholls.
Neyyah is a Myst-like game that’s been in development for quite a while and now it has a demo on Steam!
Peripeteia (Steam) is a first-and-third-person role-playing stealth game taking place in alt-history cyberpunk Poland. It has just entered Early Access and sounds wild. A lot of folks are excited for it but have recommended playing the demo first before buying it.
Star Fox-like Whisker Squadron: Survivor (Steam) has just left Early Access and is on sale as part of the full version launch.
The tabletop rpg Pale Dot is running a Kickstarter for a print run. It has already reached its funding and is just looking for additional funds to do more now. The digital version of the game has been out for a while now and I recommended it if you’re looking for an Outer Wilds inspired ttrpg.
I follow about a billion different blogs and sites right now through my RSS feed reader and I feel like once in a while, but not too often, I’ll see a post where a person has a comment in their post where they wonder who this is even for or assume no one is going to read it, and I just wanted to say that I think it’s the best. If anything, this site is too focused on video games and technology. It brings me a lot of joy when I see someone post on their site about what they’re up to, art they’ve been enjoying, and also incredibly specific things like their bookshelves or whatever.
There’s also just something about reading it on someone’s personal site, instead of on social media, that makes it feel more personal or real and not focused on brand building, since it can’t really get shared through retweets. That isn’t to say that people are posting about the sandwich they liked on social media to build their brand, they’re clearly excited about that sandwich and posting to social media is the fastest and easiest way to mention it. But if they do that blog post about that sandwich then man, they must have really loved it if they’re putting that much effort into it.
Anyway, just wanted to say that I like reading the personal posts like that if you ever feel self conscious about that stuff or feel like you’re going off topic.
This week is almost going to be more of a blog roundup slush pile because I’m behind on my rss feed reader and wanted to get something out there so it doesn’t become a gigantic post when I finally get caught up. So enjoy some blog posts that maybe be older than a week. I think that’s fine.
All the cool kids are doing roundups of things they like these days! Here are some by Yaffle, tallywinkle, and Aura. Join them!
I said in the last blog roundup that I get really excited about game devs posting recipes, so here’s one by Julia Minamata for her mom’s thumbprint cookies. There’s also lots of updates about her great point-and-click adventure The Crimson Diamond.
Not a blog post but my kids loved this WebGL fluid simulation. It works great on mobile too!
It’s an older post from a year ago, but I really like this one about how web3 propaganda wants you to think the internet was only a place where people read websites those first 10 years.
Not a blog post but Kritiqal continues to have great interviews with indie game devs on their podcast. This time it’s two members of the indie game studio, Mortally Moonstruck Games, developers of Mushroom Musume.
Atari Archive goes into the 1979 Atari game Miniature Golf. I don’t think I’ve actually mentioned this site on here before but I’m a big fan of Atari Archive’s videos and Kevin’s book of the same name.
Harris Powell-Smith announces their next interactive fiction game The Earth Has Teeth.
Not Blog Posts
It’s a bit older but I really liked Alice Bell’s article Can a Steam profile be a real memorial for a lost life? Getting older means you have more digital artifacts in your life from people that are no longer with us and I have a lot of feelings about that.
I continue to post about indie games on here because it’s either that or spiraling about the state of the world and I don’t know if anyone needs that. That said, there’s a couple of cool bundles this week where you can get a lot of great games and help folks out, so that’s alright.
The first bundle is the Grève bundle GG25 (Itch.io). All money goes to the strike fund for the Video Game Workers Union (STJV) to help compensate for loss of income linked to the 2025’s video game general strike. For $10 or more you can get a ton of great games and some come with Steam keys. I’m a big fan of PUNKCAKE Délicieux, who has a few games in this bundle and it also contains PicoMix, which is a collection of games I just covered very recently.
The second bundle is the HRT Harm Reduction Toolkit Bundle (Itch.io). For just $25 or more you can get a ton of great tabletop rpgs and help trans folks. I want to get a special shoutout to the game Dinocar that’s in this bundle. It’s the first ttrpg that I played with my kids and we had a great time. People that make tabletop rpgs you can play with your kids are my heroes.
And finally, this bundle on Itch.io for Palestinian aid is looking for submissions.
Knotdoku (Itch.io) is a cool twist on the classic sudoku game. In addition to all the rules you must follow when solving your typical sudoku puzzle, all the numbers are tied together with string and must never cross each other when you place the numbers on the board. This free browser game was created by LCB Game Studio, the developer of horror visual novels like Mothmen 1966. This isn’t a horror game though, just a very chill puzzle game with some music that slaps.
Worldwide Wizard Racket Rumble (Itch.io) is a cute, free ping pong game between wizards, where players can cast spells to help win points. I was really impressed by the level of polish and I’m looking forward to playing this one with my kids.
Renkon has done a journal entry in Bitsy (dev site). I think that’s a fun use for Bitsy and you can find other journal entries here.
Adam Saltzman has been on a roll with all the PICO-8 games he’s been making lately and this is another solid one. In Skeleton Gelatin (Itch.io), you explore a cave as a blob and solve puzzles. I think Adam described it as something along the lines of a Metroidvania without the jump button. Instead the game has you stacking bubbles to climb up and bases the puzzles around that.
We also got a ZX Spectrum game this week called Plyuk (Itch.io) that uses a very similar stacking mechanic for solving puzzles. Maybe 2025 is the year of stacking. This one is available for Pay-What-You-Want.
oceans::ephemera (Itch.io) is a walking simulator (they use the tag! It’s ok!) by the collective INFINITE TEARS and the designer Farfama where you explore a surreal space for 7 minutes and 43 seconds. I have always loved games where you just explore a space for a while and this was a beautiful space to meditate in for the duration of the game. From looking at social media posts, it sounds like there is a hidden part of the game that no one has seen yet, and while I really wish I could know what it is, even what I experienced is fantastic. It’s available as Pay-What-You-Want and if you enjoyed this, I also highly recommend city::ephemera.
286 Miles (Itch.io) is a short browser game about everyone’s favorite Luigi. It uses music by John Maus, who I kinda think can go fuck himself, but good lord the animation in this is incredible. The dev’s itch also has a game I’ve previously played called Cathedrals that I think is worth checking out if you want to build sculptures with Tetris blocks.
Breaker Box (Itch.io) is a free browser shmup where you must also shake to charge your flashlight and see your enemies.
Juan made an arcade game with his 7 year old (dev site) and it’s good. It makes me want to do more game dev with my kids too, so maybe I’ll mod this one since it’s open source. My 7 year old beta tested my last game and found some stuff and it made her incredibly happy that she’s listed in the credits for the game. We’re also poking at some adventure game stuff and using clay. If you’re a game dev and have kids, you should make something with them too. It’s the best. Am I doing the thing all parents do and just bragging about how cool my kids are? Yeah maybe.
If you’re like me and have mixed feelings about the new Dragonsweeper redesign (although you can still download the old version), maybe you’ll be interested in this version by Brianna Townsend (dev’s site) that looks like a DOS game and has some really nice new features.
If you’re a developer that has a ton of projects, cécile (post explaining it on Bluesky) has created a project that turns your Itch page into more of a grid layout and making it easier to read. You can download it on Itch.io.
It’s not new but I don’t think I’ve ever given a shoutout to Fireflower Games before. If you’re looking for DRM-free adventure games, consider picking up a game from their store. Itch.io doesn’t get every indie game and this site has done a pretty good job building up a catalog of games from various adventure game folks. Plus a chunk of their proceeds gets donated to environmental groups (see their FAQ).
Whale Flesh (Steam) is a horror game where you dig through the flesh of a giant whale to find out what happened to your team. Yep, sound great, sign me up.
Fill the world with your rainbow 2 (Itch.io) is a free browser puzzle game and rerelease of a Puzzlescript game from 10 years ago. I never played that one so I was happy to see this rerelease and it has a message that I think a lot of people could use right now.
Stewpot (Itch.io/Print) is here! Stewpot is a tabletop rpg by one of my favorite designers, Takuma Okada, where you tell the story of a tavern run by former adventurers through a series of mini games. The games absolutely works as a standalone thing but would also work very well at the end of a ttrpg campaign, once your adventurers retire and you want a more cozy way to continue their adventures.
I am a big fan of games inspired by the frustrating parts of Sierra adventure games, like Stair Quest and KIDNAME:ICEBOY, so I was thrilled to see Drive Quest 3 (Itch.io). DQ3 is a browser game based on the incredibly frustrating driving parts of Police Quest 3.
Shadowgate 2 (Steam) comes out today. You’re probably thinking “oh wow, it took them this long to make a sequel to Shadowgate for the Mac and NES?” NOPE! Buckle up, here are all the Shadowgate games we’ve got so far, not counting ports:
Shadowgate (1987)
Beyond Shadowgate (1993) for the TurboGrafx CD
Shadowgate 64 (1999) for the N64. I believe this one has mixed reviews but I remember actually really liking it
Shadowgate (2014), a remake of the original game.
Beyond Shadowgate (2024), a completely different game than the previously named Shadowgate. Why does it have the same name as the first sequel? Don’t know!
There was also a VR game and a board game too. Anyway, we now have a Shadowgate 2, which I guess is based on some concepts from a canceled N64 game called Shadowgate Rising. “Michael, aren’t you generally just optimistic about video games in this?” Yeah usually. The game is probably fine! I heard that Beyond Shadowgate game from last year was good and I think that remake from 2014 is solid too. So I’m actually generally a fan of this series, just a weirdo grump about how they name things.
Terry’s Other Games (Steam/Itch.io) is a collection of various small games by Terry Cavanagh, of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon fame. Notably, it features the first commercial release of a game made in Downpour, the game dev tool that you can use on smartphones (and I highly recommend). The developer of that wrote about it on their blog.
Zine month is happening right now in the ttrpg world and while I haven’t followed it too closely because I simply cannot afford to back everything I’ll get excited about, I did back Underneath (Kickstarter) by Seb Pines. I’m a fan of Seb’s games and solo ttrpgs in general and this one has you exploring unknown cave systems.
I haven’t played Reality Break (Steam) yet but it looks like a fun action rpg set in space and already has a few hundred reviews even though it just came out a few days ago. I heard about this from Aura’s blog, who seems to love the game.
The Creation of Wonder (Itch.io) is a tabletop rpg that can either be played as a solo game or for groups of 2-4 people and uses a tarot deck. It’s described as a narrative worldbuilding game about the labour that goes into the creation of art, and about the art that lives on when its makers are forgotten. It’s available for Pay-What-You-Want.
Steam Next Fest is coming up (or is already happening? I don’t know.) so a bunch of demos are being uploaded. Old Skies has a demo and I’ve mentioned before that I’ve beta tested it and think it’s probably their best game, so go play that one or just take my word for it and wishlist it. Axyz also looks like a fun vaporwave puzzle game.
Finally, it’s not a game but a musician I’m a fan of, Alpha Chrome Yayo, has released an album called Dream Chaser (Bandcamp) that is packed with tunes inspired by PSX-era racing games. It also comes with a Stepmania chart.
As much fun as these posts are, it came take a while to write them so if you enjoy these, add the site to your RSS feed reader, tell a friend, and do your own roundup! Social media and search engines suck and we need to build up a better web that doesn’t rely on the same 3 websites.
Developer: Id Software Publisher: Id Software Year: 1993 Genre: First Person Shooter
I’ve done another playthrough of the classic Doom as my comfort game for dealing with everything going on lately and what can I say, the game still slaps. There’s nothing really unique I can say about this game that hasn’t been said before. It’s all been said before a billion times because it’s the most heavily discussed FPS on the planet and people are still making levels and mods for it.
I played the Ultimate version through Bethesda’s rerelease so I guess my only real criticisms are as follows:
That 4th episode that was added in Ultimate Doom? Meh, it’s an episode I guess. I don’t find it particularly interesting and my preference in Doom levels has always been shorter ones, which this starts to pull away from. It doesn’t add anything new so it’s just there. More Doom levels are fine, it’s just not that interesting beyond that.
The more time I spend with the recent Bethesda rerelease, the less I like it. I keep running into bugs where it crashes and that mod browser has so many issues since anyone can upload a mod, screw up the crediting, and it may not even work! Who knows how much moderation is even happening. It just feels like a way for Bethesda/Microsoft to try to build walls around a community when Doom just should be free since it’s 30+ years old anyway and no one who worked on the game is still at ID Software.
There, those are my Doom hot takes. Still a great game though and holds up very well.
Doom is available on Steam, GOG, and basically everywhere else.
I’ve been dropping the ball a little bit on doing these on a weekly basis but I’m back to blow your minds. People still make games in the year 2025. Consider doing your own game roundup. The more people talking about weird, experimental games the better.
As required by law, I must post about the new Indiepocalypse (Itch.io) that came out today. This one has a FMV game, which is very exciting to me, and a brand new tabletop game by the great game designer tallywinkle.
Solo But Not Alone 5 (Itch.io) is a bundle of solo ttrpgs for charity. You can get 100+ games for just $10 or more.
Benign Land (Steam) is a short adventure game where you walk through dreamlike settings set in different times in Ireland. I haven’t played it yet but it sounds very interesting and the Steam reviews are positive.
TheBecoming (Itch.io) is a short, free horror visual novel about an archaeologist revisiting a cave. It’s by Oma Keeling and playable in the browser. Be sure to read the content warnings first before playing.
Stretchy Buoys Jam 2025 (Itch.io) is a collection of 5 interconnected games made during a game jam in Milwaukee, WI. I’m not familiar with the devs except for Tipsheda, who is great, but the games look fun and it’s all free.
Never Let Them See You Fart (Itch.io) is a free browser game where…..well, it basically says in the title.
Oracle (Itch.io) is a new template by Grim Baccaris for Twine for creating inspiration generators. I’ve made a few using Unity so this is really exciting to me since Twine makes a lot more sense for this kind of thing.
Growl (Itch.io) is one of the settings made for the Tiny World TTRPG Jam and folks, this is the ttrpg setting Gabriel Knight 2 fans have always been dreaming about.
Bubble Dreams 3D (Itch.io) is a free Monkey Ball-like game with a vaporwave aesthetic, available for download or playable in the browser. The Itch page and a few other folks said it’s like Marble Blast but I never played that one. But you do roll a ball around and grab stuff and it’s done very well.
Punch Nazis Story Generator (Itch.io) is a free story generator for punching Nazis. What more can you ask for.
the Devil rais’d the storm (Itch.io) is a visual novel/adventure game about locating a radar signal deep in the canyons near your remote outpost. Available for just $2.
Project Wheelie (Itch.io) is just a prototype but it’s already a fun driving puzzle game and I hope we get more of it.
We Live in a Bubble (Itch.io) is an abstract arcade game.
The Gaming Like It’s 1929 (Itch.io) game jam has ended and now there’s a lot of cool games based on things that entered the public domain this year.
Wor Games (Itch.io) is a very good Wizard of Wor clone for browsers.
Time Remover (Itch.io) is an essay that you read by playing through an arcade game, but the full text is available on the dev’s site too.
PicoMix by NuSan (Steam) is a collection of the dev’s PICO-8 games made over 8 years. PICO-8 is just very cool and I’m happy to see people make an effort to compile their games.
Broken Alliance (Steam) is a Heroes of Might and Magic-like that has entered Early Access and is already looking pretty great.
Sometimes you just want some nice icons for the ttrpg you’re working on. This is a good pack (Itch.io) for folks working on sci-fi games.
I talk a lot about the anonymous game dev collective Domino Club, but there’s also a new one called LITHOBREAKERS who are making some really interesting experimental games too. They just put out a new collection of games that you can play for free on Itch.io
Detective Bobert and the Hunt for Zweck The Ripper (Itch.io) is a free adventure game where you play as a bubble detective.
I think Eternal Strands (Steam) is an indie game? It’s certainly bigger budget than the ones I usually talk about here but is a nice rpg available for $40 and it’s just nice to see games in the AA space. It has a pretty lengthy demo too and the full game can use your save game from that if you decide to pick it up.
After being in development for quite a while, Spirit Swap (Steam) is out and it’s great! I think I saw a subtweet somewhere kinda dismissing it as just a Match 3 with some nice art but I really think there’s a lot more to it than that. I can be a grump about the Wholesome Games thing (just because of some marketing, I really like the games) but it really is a good game that I want to do a longer review on at some point because it does some really interesting stuff mechanically with the genre, the art looks fantastic in motion, and I think the writing and visual novel elements add some depth to the game as well so it’s not Just Another Match 3. I can be cynical about a lot of stuff but it really is a great game.
FlyKnight (Steam) is another one I’ve enjoyed playing this week and looks like a huge surprise for a lot of people too, based on the number of reviews it has. I know people love it when you compare games to Dark Souls so I’ll just say it’s Indie Dark Souls without elaborating and leave it at that.
I’m just kidding. That’s going to be the thing people compare it to, but it’s because the game does have a slower and more methodical combat system where you can get wrecked if you aren’t carefully planning your moves, and the game has you resting at campfires. Because I’m a parent with three kids, I haven’t really played much of those games except for some Demons Souls on the PS3, back before they were born, so I don’t know what this game has that is inspired by those, but I think that the game only being a few hours long makes it a great game to play over a week. I did some co-op, since it supports up to 4 players, and had a blast. It’s only $6 too!
Citizen Sleeper 2 (Steam) is out. I think everyone reading this already knows that but I’m including it anyway since it’s a new release. Absolutely loved the original and just haven’t gotten around to this one yet. I will someday, hopefully soon, and I’m sure I’ll love it.
The Stone of Madness (Steam) is a real-time tactical stealth game set in an 18th-century Spanish Monastery. I don’t know a whole lot about this game and just copied the description from the Steam store, but I saw a few people raving about it and what a rare setting for a video game. That art looks incredible too! If you’re interested, there’s a demo on the Steam page.
I’ve also seen a lot of folks praise Keep Driving (Steam), which is a rpg about doing a roadtrip in the early 00s.
That’s it for this week. Feel free to comment with what you’ve been enjoying lately!
I actually thought about doing one final roundup but then someone said they liked these so I’m being pulled back in. I might do them on a regular basis but have smaller posts so it feels less like a job and more like I’m just posting again, which is why I like having a blog.
As usual, if you enjoy these then add the site to your RSS feed reader. Social media networks come and go but RSS will never die! I use Inoreader and that is easy and free to use, and syncs across all your devices. If it ever gets bought by a billionaire I can just export all my feeds to something else. If you have a blog, do your own roundups. Search engines suck now from all the AI slop and people do look at these roundups if you want to help people discover interesting writing.
Aura wrote a guide to submitting your games to MobyGames. Consider doing this if you aren’t already. I’ll admit to being vain enough that I like seeing my name pop up under more titles. But I think it’s also good for games preservation to have all these little indie games documented. I think there’s a bigger post in me about why I think you should do this over IGDB, which is used for Twitch and Backloggd, but it mostly comes down to: If you’re concerned that people are going to review bomb your experimental, queer indie game, no one uses the rating functionality anymore on MobyGames. Everyone that still looks at MobyGames is old now, which includes myself, and no longer has the energy to care. Still seems to be a thing on Backloggd though, which is a site that can fall into the ocean.
Misty De Méo wrote an article for Indie Tsushin way back in December that I don’t think I ever mentioned. This one is about 1994 Mac stray dog survival game Rodem the Wild.
Dungeonsweeper has been one of my favorite games lately and Josh Grams has a fun post breaking down the thought process that goes into playing a round of the game.
Issue 2 of the Spooky Tomb Of Videogames is here. Highly recommended if you like my indie game roundups, because I basically copied the original form of those and did a worse job. If you want to know how much talking about small indie games matters, I originally found out about the game 3D Don’t Die Mr. Robot from Rob. Fell in love with the game and started talking about how great it was, which then led to my friend Ben picking up the game, getting really into it, and talking about it on his adventure games podcast Quest Quest (where else would you talk about an arcade game?). It’s like a little chain reaction, much like the ones you set off in 3D Don’t Die Mr. Robot.
After Yochai was basically harassed off Bluesky for pointless ttrpg discourse, he made a post about how it’s time to bring back forums. I think everyone who knows me is not surprised at all that I endorse this post. But like I said earlier, social media networks come and go and can get bought by shitty billionaires, and I think forums are a tiny bit safer. Or at least, having a lot of little sites is probably better for a healthy internet than 3 big websites, and I don’t trust Bluesky at all, sorry.
Amiga Boing Boing is ending its blog by the end of the year and is looking for a new person to run it. Are you an Amiga nerd with lots of time? Maybe you should consider taking over.
Chuck Jordan posted a recipe for vegetarian chili that looks very nice. I like when game developers post recipes because then I can say I’m a fan of their work on Curse of Monkey Island, Sam & Max season 3, and vegetarian chili recipe. I don’t think I have any recipes on me that I made up but if you do, consider sharing it.
Well, that does it for this week. I suppose that wasn’t so bad. I guess don’t have to do a big organized thing every week like Critical Distance does. Unless people started giving me as much money as their patreon pulls in. Man, that would be nice.
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.
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.
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.
