indie game roundup

Indie Game Roundup (August 1, 2025)

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Since I skipped doing this last week, this is going to be an entry that is both huge and also missing a lot of stuff so apologies in advance for that. I’m probably not going to talk about a lot of bigger things like the new Ninja Gaidan because I don’t even know if those things qualify, but feel free to reply with whatever things you’re excited about. If you have time, help fight against the delistings of games by calling in to payment processors. You can also play this Game Boy game on Itch for more information.

The Video Games

person in a dungeon and text saying "you feel afraid"

The Chambers Beneath is now available! I think I mentioned this one in a previous blog update but I’ll mention it here too. It’s a new roguelike for DOS that I got to beta test and I think it’s very good. The game is available as Pay-What-You-Want on Itch.io and the developer’s site. I’m not good at it (I’m always awful at roguelikes) but it was very easy for me to pick up and get going in this one.

INSERT/DATE/HERE is a short browser game about the genocide in Gaza on Itch.io and the amount of deaths that have happened so far.

Draw a Fish is a browser game where you draw a fish, see how accurate of a fish it is, and then have it swim with other fish people have drawn.

a view of an empty room with a table, dartboard, and bottles on a shelf

No Signal (Itch.io/Steam) is a first person adventure game about exploring an abandoned space station and learning about what happened to the crew.

Dead Take is a new horror adventure game on Steam. I know nothing about it other than it has FMV so it automatically goes in this post.

a little robot saying to another "I love how you can fly a little bit"

Mishina (Steam) is a digging game by the folks that made Judero and it’s filled with tons of great stop-motion animation.

Heartworm (Steam) is a horror game inspired by classic games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill with optional tank controls.

images of pirates on a 5x5 grid

Sunken Stones (Steam) is a turn based puzzle-strategy game about pirates and cursed treasure. If you want to try the game out first, there’s a demo on Itch.io.

drawing of a rabbit in a chair saying "Go away! I'm having tea! I'm British!!"

The Manhole from Memory (Glorious Trainwrecks link) is an attempt to recreate the classic Cyan game The Manhole entirely from memory inside of Decker.

Co-op Kaiju Horror Cooking (Steam) is the newest game by Strange Scaffold, folks I’m always excited to see new games by. It’s a co-op horror game you are medieval monks and must feed giant monsters, so I guess it’s what it says on the tin, as British people would say. I refuse to call this friendslop because slop is supposed to have chunks of things in it.

a fly buzzing near a guitar

Time Flies (Steam) is an adventure game where you have a limited amount of time as a fly to do a variety of goals and features some great looking 1-bit art.

The Tabletop RPGs

Playlist Dungeon is a dungeon crawling ttrpg that is designed to be quick to pick up and play for 1-4 adventurers and one DJ, with the character creation process being based on playing songs. It’s available as Pay-What-You-Want on Itch.io

Underneath (Itch.io) is a solo cave mapping game of the unexpected things you encounter underground using a map, journal, and dice. Just got this one from backing the kickstarter and I’m so excited to play it.

Indie Game Roundup (July 18, 2025)

~ mpklamerus ~ 3 Comments

This week it would mean a lot to me if you could support the GoFundMe for Roberta Vaughan. She is going through a horrific medical crisis right now and any support, no matter the size, would help her family. She’s done so much for many other folks in the adventure game community and it’s time for all of us to do what we can to help.

Well, there’s no way to really make a transition from that to games talk, but here we go. Here’s some recent games I was excited about I guess!

Video Games

This year continues to be packed with so many adventure games. Ghost Town (Steam) is a VR game (by the developers of The Room?) where you are a ghost hunter with supernatural abilities looking for her brother in London during the 80’s.

screenshot from the drifter of a man talking to another man outside of a tunnel

The Drifter (Steam) is a point-and-click adventure game that I’ve been waiting for quite a while. You play as a drifter (of course) that’s been murdered and then brought back to life. I really enjoyed Powerhoof’s games, including their games on Itch.io that use the PowerQuest plugin for Unity, a plugin for making point-and-click adventure games that is meant to work in a similar way to Adventure Game Studio.

Signs of Life (Steam) looks like a creepy and surreal mystery game available for free.

The newest and final season of Neurocracy has started! It’s a free (although they take donations) interactive fiction game where you explore a wiki set in the future and uncover mysteries, all while interacting with the rest of the community on a forum and roleplaying in character.

screenshot from super 10 pin of a floating bowling lane next to a floating stone head that has a sign saying "bowl"

Super 10 Pin (Itch.io) is a new bowling game from Modus Interactive. I played the demo and was incredibly impressed with how it captures the feel of a Nintendo 64 game. It’s not on Steam yet but buying it on Itch.io will give you a key.

Speaking of which, Steam has started removing adult games from their store because of bullying from Mastercard and Visa. Other people are already doing better writing elsewhere on why Steam should stand up to this but you know who isn’t removing them? Itch.io. EnbyKaiju put together an Itch list of some of their favorite queer adult games. Some of my favorite games, adult or not, are on there and I think it’s worth a look.

screenshot from cyclopean of a first person view looking at a monster with sharp teeth and four arms

Cyclopean: The Great Abyss (Steam/Itch.io) is a CRPG inspired by games like Ultima and Questron where you switch between two views, a top-down view for navigating an overworld and a first-person view anytime you enter a dungeon. I think the retro aesthetic looks very nice too.

Kaizen: A Factory Story (Steam) is a new puzzle automation game by the original Zachtronics team. I’m not smart enough for these games but I sure do respect them.

The Necromancer’s Tale (Steam) is an isometric rpg with tactical combat where you play as a Necromancer (of course) seeking revenge. I also appreciate that when they bring up how much they wrote for the game, they point out that they did not use generative AI at all. I suppose we’ll be seeing that a lot from now on.

screenshot from sunfluffs of someone laying on a capybara by the sea

Sunfluffs (Steam/Itch.io) is a relaxing game in Early Access focused on exploration and platforming, with no fail states and has Gamecube controller support.

Occlude (Steam) is a solitaire-like in the form of a cosmic horror narrative puzzle game.

Tabletop RPGs

This free Skyrim TTRPG on Itch.io is meant to emulate the gameplay of the video game while trying to eliminate as much of the grind as possible.

MAC Attack: Mobile Armour Colossus is a mecha miniature tabletop wargame from Bastionland Press that is currently seeking crowdfunding. It’s already complete so this would just be to fund a print run of the rules.

Glitter and Grit (Itch.io) is a Laser & Feelings and Honey Heist hack in which you are trainees in a Kpop survival show, trying to debut in a Kpop group. It is available as Pay-What-You-Want.

Indie Game Roundup (July 11, 2025)

~ mpklamerus ~ 2 Comments
top down view similar to pac man of a shark eating pellets

Lemon Shark (Itch.io) is a fun PICO-8 game that turns Pac-Man into a turn based puzzle game. There’s a little more to that but it’s a really nice twist on the formula.

The pink decker jam is still going on Itch.io and there’s already quite a few games submitted. Decker is a Hypercard-like tool and this jam is about making apps and games using a pink palette created for the jam.

As required by law, I am here to inform you that a new Indiepocalypse is out on Itch.io. This one features a brand new ttrpg by Viditya Voleti so of course it’s a great one.

decks of cards with symbols and planets above them

A Solitaire Mystery (Steam) is a collection of solitaire games by the designer of Baba is You, with some of them being more standard solitaire games and others being more experimental.

I somehow missed that INFINITE TEARS released the new walking sim The Light of Our Yearning as pay-what-you-want on Itch.io. I highly recommend this and every other game they’ve made.

GrimVaders (Itch.io) is a neat autobattler for browsers with nice pixel art.

guy with a mustache shooting at a blob

BioMenace Remastered (Steam) released a demo with a full released planned for this fall. Bio Menace was originally a 1993 shareware game that was published by Apogee, but I believe the original developer owns the rights. The developer who worked on the remasters of Duke Nukem 1 and 2 for the Evercade is leading development of the remaster.

ChipWits (Steam) is a remake of the 1984 puzzle game for the Macintosh.

a person with a star for a head playing guitar

A Chamber of Stars (Steam/Itch.io) is a surreal adventure game about the rise and fall of a rock star.

Indie Game Roundup (July 4, 2025)

image of wrestler Bret Hart and text saying "Bret Hart claims he woke up one morning and saw the truth: America stinks.
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It’s USA’s birthday. Hope its empire ends soon. Have some indie games.

screenshot of a stream at dusk

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.

a conversation between a hooded figure named Slendor and your character while they prepare to fight

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.

gif of blocks falling down a screen and blowing up, then the game prompting the player to choose a curse

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.

blocks in a variety of colors filling up a screen

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

top down view of someone in a bloody prison cell

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!

Indie Game Roundup (June 27, 2025)

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If you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again. This one is short. Maybe I missed a ton of big announcements or people are just holding off from releasing games during a Steam, or both. That’s fine, there’s still quite a few games that came out this week.

Video Games

Don’t Eat the Cat (Itch.io) is a free Bitsy game where you make an Important Choice in a video game.

overhead view of different dinosaurs in a square

Dino Sort (Itch.io) is a cute and free puzzle game made in PICO-8 where you sort dinosaurs into groups.

a woman talking to a giant person and saying "Oh, um, well yes, sorry I was a little distracted. You're so TALL!"

Quantum Witch (Steam) is a 2D fantasy adventure game heavily built around making decisions and multiple playthroughs to see how the game’s story changes.

soliders marching down a bridge in front of a mountain

Project Silverfish (Steam) is an open-world immersive sim with horror elements that just entered Early Access and may or may not be furry adjacent (I don’t know! I don’t know shit about anything). It looks very neat and maybe I’ll play it when I can stop being a baby.

a smiling bear creature standing in front of a town

Ruffy and the Riverside (Steam) is a 3D platformer, maybe one of those that counts as a collect-a-thon. I just really like how the 2D character art looks in a 3D world.

Tabletop RPGs

Break the Law (pdf on developer’s site) is a short uhhhhh roleplaying game that the dev linked to on their site about ways to subvert the system.

cutestpatoot had a birthday and celebrated by releasing a new game. Mixed Feelings (Itch.io) is a tabletop rpg that you play by making mix cds and playlists.

I am a big fan of Cezar Capacle’s solo ttrpgs and there’s a new one! Mausworn (Itch.io) is a ttrpg that combines the solo ttrpg mechanics with the Redwall and Mouse Guard inspired game Mausritter.

Indie Game Roundup (June 21, 2025)

~ mpklamerus ~ 3 Comments

First I’ll do some self-promo and mention that I’ve made a Steam curator page. I don’t know. It seemed like a fun thing to do. Still the same goofy website name I use here. I probably should have come up with a better site name years ago but then sometimes I think, no, websites should have goofy names like Happy Puppy. I also made a similar list of things I’ve reviewed on Itch.io except you can’t follow Itch lists! That should be something you can do IMO.

Ok, self promo over. Here’s some games. If I missed anything, feel free to mention it in the comments. Self promo is absolutely welcome too!

Video Games

Games To Get Excited About is a little festival organized by Alpha Beta Gamer on Steam. I discovered some neat stuff through there and maybe you will too!

Dreamsettler, the sequel to Hypnospace Outlaw, has been canceled and some of the developers will need work soon. You can read more about it in this post on BlueSky. Really sad to hear about this one and hoping things improve for everyone there soon.

There were a few games zines this week! ChoiceBeat (Itch.io) is a free zine about interactive fiction and visual novels while Adult Analysis Anthology (Itch.io) is a paid one about adult indie games.

a ship flying towards a red blood cell that has a giant robot on it with a human skull for a head

Cell Sword (Steam/Itch.io) is a Descent-inspired by where you fly around inside a human body and blast away at anything threatening it. I enjoyed the demo for the game from a previous fest thing and I also strongly recommend the dev’s previous game Liberation (Steam/Itch.io) if you love open world sci-fi flight sims that have an approachable learning and also love classic British science fiction tv like Blake’s 7.

Tower Wizard (Steam/Itch.io release coming soon) is a short incremental game where you help a wizard construct a giant tower.

first person view of a workshop

Korter 1996 (Steam) is a first-person point-and-click adventure where you explore apartments and solve mysteries. It’s described as an exploration of loneliness through adventure games. The Steam page has a demo too if you want to try it out.

Parallel Experiment (Steam) is a two player cooperative adventure game where each player is a detective that must communicate with the other player to solve puzzles.

view of a horse thing and text saying "After a period of time, you catch movement in the distance, and see it: an equine beast of a dozen legs, skin protuding in heavy metal plates, covering it like barding, and glinting in the sun"

Mushroom Musume has been on Itch.io for a while but it just got a Steam release! This is a game where you raise a mushroom spore into a woman and make import decisions that affect her. There’s a demo on the Steam and Itch.io pages.

top down view of someone hitting a tennis ball back at monsters

10S Forever is another game that has been on Itch.io for a while but now has a Steam release. It’s an arcade game described as a Tennis Hell.

person in a mask saying "may I incline my heart to speak with you Penry?"

the Devil rais’d the storm is the third game this week that was on Itch.io but just got a release on Steam. It’s also ok to just buy games on Itch, where they get a bigger cut from sales. This one is a point-and-click adventure/visual novel where you are at an outpost on a remote planet.

a person fishing in a lake in the woods at sunset or sunrise. Their dog is sitting in the boat

Cast n Chill (Steam) is a cozy fishing game featuring beautiful pixel art where you just relax and fish. No secret horror elements or twists here. You just fish!

Bone Fire Effigy (Itch.io) is a short first-person horror game set in the woods with art inspired by the PS1 aesthetic.

someone fighting a monster with a sword

Espirito Delusion (Steam) is a short rpg containing a dungeon full of puzzles and bosses and inspired by Brazilian culture. The Steam page has a demo.

Devil’s Liminal (Steam/Itch.io) is a visual novel in Early Access about a woman that is being hunted by a hungry ghost and two mysterious girls that have shown up claiming they can help her. As you would hope for a game like this, the price for the game is $6.66.

top down view of a space ship shooting at other space ships

No Way Home (Steam) just looks like a very nice twin-stick shooter that just got a port from mobile platforms. It’s by the folks that made Moving Out 1 and 2.

The River (Steam) is a short point-and-click visual novel about the afterlife featuring some very nice black-and-white art. I discovered this one through a post on Buried Treasure.

woman looking at herself in the mirror

Leaving Home (Steam/Itch.io) is a first-person point-and-click adventure where you navigate a series of rooms in an apartment and do puzzles. I recommend watching the trailer because I think it looks very nice in motion.

I would also like to thank Lucas for recommending the recently released games Squeakross: Home Squeak Home (A Picross-like with a mouse), The Explorator (first-person shooter with very nice 2D animated art), Bioysque (horror action rpg), and Autopeli (free driving arcade game in the browser). Always feel free to recommend games by others or your own in the comments!

TTRPGs

Today is Free RPG Day. Check out your local tabletop game store to see what deals and giveaways they’re doing. I also see a lot of folks on social media giving away their games. All of the ttrpgs on my Itch page should have free community copies anyone is welcome to take.

Break Time (Itch.io) is a solo ttrpg based on the show Severance.

The Invisible Labyrinth (Itch.io) is a game for 2-5 players about branching timelines, uncertain futures, and escaping what seems inevitable. It’s a hack of Microscope and I’m Sorry, Did You Say Street Magic. I’m a big fan of Morgan’s games and you should check the rest out on their Itch page like Memoirs of a Barbarian.

Crowdfunding

Take Us North (Kickstarter) is an adventure/survival game by Anima Interactive that follows the journeys of migrants and asylum seekers on their way to cross the US-Mexico border

Indie Game Roundup (June 13, 2025)

~ mpklamerus ~ 4 Comments

Hey it’s another one of these things that I do every week. This one is a bit shorter. I doubt that there were less games this week, I think I was just too busy to notice them all, but feel free to let me know if I missed something that you or a friend worked on so I can include it next week. Even with it being a little shorter, it’s still plenty to keep you busy for a while.

two bears sitting by a fire, talking, and one saying how the moment they like most is the quiet time before bed

Fireside Feelings (Steam) is an online game where you sit around a fire with other people to tell stories and share your feelings. The idea reminds me a lot of Kind Words and it looks like they did some cross promotion with each other.

top down view of robots flying around a screen

Robo Attack (iOS app store) is a top down shooter game for iPad, iPhone, and iWatch. I thought this one was interesting since it’s by the developer of classic computer games like Halloween Harry and Flight of the Amazon Queen.

lots of little circles inside a big circle

Circlet (Itch.io) is a free arcade game where you have balls bouncing around and you try to avoid them with the line or circles you are controlling. It makes more sense in motion. Very fun little arcade game and the music kinda has a goth chiptune vibe to it.

A new Indiepocalypse is out, filled with experimental indie games.

I think it’s nice we still get games made with ZZT. BombPT (Itch.io) is a puzzle game made for a recent jam and is playable in the browser.

view of a cemetery statue at sunset, probably in the fall

Seasonala Cemetery (Steam/Itch.io) is a free game where you explore a cemetery as it changes with the seasons.

Thank you to Josh for recommending Tametsi on Steam. It’s a Minesweeper game from 2017 that uses odd level shapes and is just $3. I love Minesweeper-likes so this was a nice one to hear about. Always feel free to recommend games to me, even if they aren’t brand new.

That’s it for this week!

Indie Game Roundup (June 5, 2025)

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I could argue that instead of buying a Nintendo Switch 2 game, you could buy all the games here, but these are two very different things and I may as well argue that you should buy $80 worth of books or Doctor Who audio dramas or prosciutto. Do you know how much prosciutto you can get for $80? Not that much if you buy the good stuff! Maybe I’m just bitter that I don’t have a Nintendo Switch 2 and can’t join the rest of you in taste testing the cartridges.

There’s also been a bunch of summer games fests happening this week. I have not followed these at all. Don’t care! I will let other people do the work in figuring out what I should be looking at.

This week’s shoutout is for Graceless Games. I’m a huge fan and think you should pick up some of their games on Itch.io

Anyway, here’s the games. As usual, if you worked on something that you’d like included, just let me know. I miss plenty of stuff.

I think everyone knows Deltrarune is out. It’s not for me but I’m happy for everyone else.

HardAF (Steam) is a Meatboy-like but the entire level is dark and you use the blood from your previous deaths to figure out where the obstacles are at. It’s good stuff. There’s a demo that I think people should check out.

As a child of the 90s that played a lot of multimedia cd-roms made by musicians, I get very excited about musicians making video games. We got two of them this week! Aesop Rock’s Black Hole Superette Experience (Steam) has you listening to his music while exploring a convenience store and The New Flesh (Steam) is a game where you explore a surreal space in a city while listening to upcoming songs by Red Vox. I haven’t played either so I can’t tell you if they’re as good as Peter Gabriel’s Eve, but both are free.

The Lego RPG Jam is a game jam where you write ttrpg systems inspired by your favorite Lego sets.

image of a sink in a green filter and text saying "I might get that familiar, frustrating sense while I'm just washing my hands..."

astoryinpieces keeps making great experimental and adult games for the Game Boy and she has another! Four of a Kind (Itch.io) is a horror anthology featuring 4 short stories.

side view of a pterodactyl shooting fireballs at a helicoptor

Gaurodan (dev site) is a shmup inspired by 80s arcade games where you fly around as a dinosaur and blow shit up. It’s free but the dev does take donations. This is an old game but it got an update and it’s new to me

stacks of dominos with text describing a combo

DOMINOID (Itch.io) is a pay-what-you-want puzzle game where you stack dominids and create combos.

a girl in a swamp on a boat with a net looking for bugs

Kabuto Park (Steam) looks like a very cute bug catching game and has a demo.

A weirdly specific thing I get excited about is using a yo-yo to fight enemies in video games. Don’t know why, just is. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (Steam/Switch) is a top-down action game where you get to do that and even has a demo.

Name Change Simulator (Itch.io) is a free visual novel all about getting rid of your deadname.

Anyway, that’s it for this week. Hope you found something nice to play!

Indie Game Roundup (May 30, 2025)

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Things have been tough lately and I’ll probably get into that in a later post, but writing about games has been a nice distraction so I will keep plugging away at indie games posts because I think they’re nice and maybe they help you too. If you enjoy these posts, consider commissioning some art from Rose. You could get a vTuber model or a nice little character pop for $30.

Video Games

AriaCoffee (dev site) is a free arcade browser game where you have become a demon girl and must drink coffee to survive in hell.

pixel art of girl scouts at a camp ground

City of Voices (Steam) is an upcoming Golden Idol-like that just launched a free demo.

Decade (Steam) is an interactive fiction game where you send children back into the past to change the future.

Kerplunk (Itch.io) is a 4-player Pong-like playable for free in the browser, but I think developers will be interested in looking at the Godot source code and tutorial if they are just getting started in the engine.

one creature saying to another "I can't believe it's almost time again for our towns Biannual Great Veggieganza! I'm sure you'll have the biggest tominos again, Faeya."

Mythic Mire (Steam) is the latest game from resnijars. It’s a surreal rpg inspired by 90s console rpgs. I’ve always loved the 90s aesthetic this developer’s games have, whether it’s an arcade or adventure game.

Near-Mage (Steam/GOG) is a 2D point-and-click adventure where you find out you come from a long line of witches and enter a magic school. I already mentioned this one a few days ago about how many adventure games have come out this year but yeah, it’s a wild time to be a fan of the genre.

Nowhere Belonging (Itch.io) is a free 15-minute long browser game about the feeling of not belonging. Great game but please read the content warnings before playing.

PaperKlay (Steam) looks like a really cute 3D platformer where the world looks like it is all crafted from household materials.

Pity This Busy Monster (Steam/Itch.io) is a physics-based narrative game where you carefully deliver donuts.

a tiny clown in tall grass next to a home made out of garbage

Poco (Steam) is a free point-and-click adventure where you are the world’s smallest clown and solve puzzles to return to the circus. Thank you Mike for telling me about it!

Project Warlock 2 (Steam/GOG/Epic) is now out of Early Access. It’s a fast-paced FPS inspired by early games in the genre like Wolf3D and Doom. I haven’t played it yet but I loved the first game and this looks like more of that.

Happy new PUNKCAKE Délicieux game day to those who celebrate. This month’s game is a 10 year anniversary edition of their arcade game Serpentes. It’s available on Itch.io and is getting a Steam release later on.

to a T (Steam) is a new adventure game from the creator of Katamari Damacy where everyone is stuck in a T-pose. I always feel a little bit about putting Annapurna stuff in here but whatever. It’s an adventure game so I’m excited about it.

Where’s That Clown?! (Steam) is a free arcade game where you are a clown keeping kids entertained at a party.

Windowpane (Itch.io) is a free, new tool for creating sequential art by Bagenzo. Maybe YOU can create the next great multimedia project that I will never shut up about.

Without a Dawn (Steam) is a horror visual novel with some really cool ASCII art.

Wizard Garden (dev site) is a free platformer in a bookmarklet by the creator of Bitsy.

Playdate

Fineliner (Itch.io) is a daily drawing game available for Pay-What-You-Want

Playdate Season 2 (dev site) has launched. Every week you get two new games.

TTRPGs

Liberate Property (Itch.io) is a free supplement to introduce liberation into your ttrpg of choice.

Infinite Seas Under the Same Stars (Itch.io) is a pay-what-you-want collaborative storytelling game for 2-4 players about souls fatefully linked over multiple realities and lifetimes.

Crowdfunding

top down view of a maze filled with slime and a person

UrbX Warriors (Kickstarter) is a new game for Spectrum Next and PC by Tony Warriner (Broken Sword, Beneath a Steel Sky) and Stoo Cambridge (Cannon Fodder, Sensible World of Soccer). It’s a top-down action game and has a demo on Itch.io

That’s it for this week! This one was a little half-assed because of real life and it just being such a massive list of games. It’s only been a week since the last one! How are there so many games? I always appreciate comments. Let me know if there’s anything you’ve played lately that I’ve left out or you’ve just really enjoyed.

Indie Game Roundup (May 23, 2025)

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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

guy jumping while another guy is attempting to cast a spell at him

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.

pixel art of a man and a woman standing outside of a closed pawn shop at night

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.

top down view of a blue guy hitting monsters with a sword

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.

first person view of a boat floating down a marsh at night

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.