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 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.
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!
Wow, what a year huh? Glad it’s almost over right? Anyway, as usual, looking at little things on Itch.io and elsewhere is keeping me from losing my marbles so I will keep doing that. If you posted that people need to make weirder stuff, and you aren’t a game dev, idk, consider supporting some of the games here. Also considering buying more from Itch.io than Steam in the new year. They take a smaller cut from devs and don’t make everyone use forums that only an incredibly toxic community uses. Please let me know in the comments what you’ve been playing lately.
Dragonsweeper (Itch.io) is a free browser game that adds dungeon crawling and rpg elements to Minesweeper and it works wonderfully.
Vampire Versus Pope Army (Itch.io) is another great browser puzzle game, this one being made in PICO-8. In this game you’re a vampire and must drink blood from all the popes.
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders (Steam) is a downhill skiing game that’s just some goofy fun. It just felt really good for me to control and was really easy to get going. I played the demo and it’s good! Not a whole lot to say about this one, just a straightforward downhill racing game that is well made.
Pillbug’s Domain (Itch.io) is a fun setting made for the Tiny World TTRPG jam. The page suggests using it for a science fiction or cyberpunk campaign. It’s probably just me but the art reminds me of an early 90s shareware game, so that’s always a plus. Available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Asterism (Steam) is an interactive concept album by Claire Morwood, filled with lovely music, but the highlight for me is this stop-motion art. Everyone probably knows by now that if a game has stop-motion art I’m required to put it in here. Look at it! Incredible. It also has a demo.
I thought Red Pandamonium (Itch.io) was a neat little free roguelike FPS made in 72 hours. You’re a red panda and move from room to room, clearing all the enemies, and buy upgrades. Plus it has some good retro FPS-inspired graphics.
I’m so fucking excited for Realis (Itch.io). It’s a tabletop rpg by Austin Walker of Giant Bomb/Waypoint/Friends at the Table fame. It’s a diceless ttrpg where characters deploy powerful Sentences, which are rewritten over the course of their saga. It’s currently in development but buying it now gets you the Ashcan edition. Usually that means it’s a shortened version of the game that can still be played, but the version you get is still a pretty beefy book. I think $15 is a pretty fantastic deal for the book. Even if this was all we were getting, it would still be worth buying. You can also listen to it being played on the current season of Friends at the Table.
Horizons: The End Of Words (Itch.io/Steam) is the newest game by the PUNKCAKE Delicieux collective. In this one you explore space by making chains of words using the letters you’re given. I’m a big fan of this collective and folks, I think they made another banger.
I never played Dungeon Ruins but people seemed to enjoy it. The sequel just came out (Steam) and the Steam reviews are positive for that one too.
That’s it for this week. If you enjoy these, subscribe to the blog through the RSS feed, tell a friend, and check out these games. If you’ve got your own blog, think about talking about stuff you like! More obscure art could always use more people praising it. I also have an irc channel for indie and alt games/gamedev talk at AfterNET at #AltGames. Consider giving it a try! No registration required!
Well the world is a dumpster fire right now so I’m distracting myself with video games. Bon appétit!
Tunnels of Vextro (Itch.io) is a free chain anthology of games made using different engines and in conversation with each other.
Finalists for this year’s Independent Games Festival have been announced. This has always been a great way to discover smaller games and I’ve always been excited to ready these ever since they started posting these when I was a kid and discovered that you could make stuff like Bad Milk and Pencil Whipped.
Rob’s Spooky Tomb Of Videogames is back! They’re kinda like these roundups except they were first and are much better. I’ve discovered so many great games through Rob and I highly recommend subscribing.
There’s a new HauntedPS1 disc! I already covered it in a separate post but you should go check it out!
Radiant Lens (Itch.io) is a fun little tarot thing made in PICO-8.
Remora (Itch.io) is a demo of an upcoming visual novel by Swanchime.
Submissions are being taken for a charity bundle on Itch.io. You can read more about it on Wraithkal’s blog.
The Shadow Over Cyberspace (Steam) is a free visual novel about the Old Ones and Y2K approaching.
The Roottrees are Dead (Steam) is an expanded version of the original version created for Global Game Jam 2023. I never played the original but have heard wonderful things about this new version and I’m looking forward to playing it.
CyberCetacean (Itch.io) is a fun browser arcade game with vector graphics.
New In Town (Itch.io) is a solo TTRPG about being in a new place and reminding yourself of the possibilities. It was created for a game jam where the prompt was to be inspired by a random Nintendo DS game, with this one being based on Animal Crossing: Wild World.
World Pole Stone Dusk: Diadem of the Pole (Itch.io) is a new action platformer by Jazz Mickle featuring very nice art and looks to be very challenging.
Fragrance Point (Steam) looks like an incredibly trippy platformer adventure game.
AirbornEmpire (Steam) is a new city builder where you create a city floating in the sky. I will always get excited about city builders that try something new and so far this one has very positive reviews, which is nice when people can be very fussy about early access games.
Cyclopean: The Great Abyss (Steam/Itch.io) is a new dungeon crawler that has just entered early access. I really like the dev’s previous games and this one seems to be influenced by very early pc rpgs where you have an overworld and then it switches to a first person view when you get to a dungeon.
SoundBath (Itch.io) is a free and relaxing tool for creating ambient music.
Hengähtänet (Itch.io) is a bilingual poetry game featuring nice artwork.
Someone made a neat little remake of the DOS classic Pharoah’s Tomb on their website
HouseCall (Itch.io) is a free point-and-click adventure that’s playable in the browser.
Buried Treasure highlighted a dungeon crawler that looks pretty nifty called Tower of Mask.
Indie Games+ has a new review of a horror game that is very retro looking and aesthetically pleasing to me. Pretend it’s not there is available as Pay-What-You-Want.
After a little bit of a break I’m writing about games again! If you enjoy these, post about a new indie game that was exciting to you on a blog or website.
Video Games
The Forgotten Holiday (Itch.io) was made for a secret santa, where you move a camera around a snowy landscape and watch tanks sponsored by various brands fight each other.
Bluejeweled (Itch.io) is a version of the classic puzzle game Bejeweled that you cannot lose.
ABI-DOS (Steam) is one of those programming puzzle games that I struggle with because I have 5 brain cells. However, this one seems to be very good from looking at the Steam reviews. It was apparently released commercially a few months ago but after sales weren’t as big as expected, the developer went ahead and just made the game available for free, which is very nice.
SNAKE Lucky Laugh (Itch.io) is a little tool with a Macintosh aesthetic where you dress up a snake.
A new Indiepocalypse (Itch.io) is out! My recommended game for this one is the retro fps BITCH HELL.
If you have an interest in interactive fiction, consider checking out the Interactive Fiction Showcase 2024 on Itch.io, where folks submitted the IF games they made last year.
Keep Warm and Go (Itch.io) is a cute tiny browser game about getting dressed to go outside in celebration of the new year. I never heard of Flickgame but it seems like a neat tool for making really small games.
Quiet Journaling (Itch.io) is a relaxing walking simulator for browsers where the game generates a new landscape to walk around each day.
A Butterfly (Itch.io) is a pay-what-you-want experimental and interactive poem. Like with their previous game Blue Suburbia, I was really impressed by how it tells a story with multiple games-inside-a-game.
Stimulation Clicker (standalone site) is a browser game that probably represents the modern web better than anything else today. I personally had a hard time playing it because it became too overwhelming for my senses at a certain point but that’s kinda the point and it’s brilliantly made.
Helihopter64 (Itch.io) is a demo where you fly around dropping packages on targets in a N64 inspired world. It took me a minute to get the hang of the controls but once I did I was really into it. I hope this gets expanded into a larger game at some point.
Unicellular 3 (Itch.io) is a pay-what-you-want arcade game where you eat little things to grow bigger. Those are always fun and this one has you getting upgrades when you complete levels and the music is catchy too.
Cryptid Detective Club (Itch.io) is a cute storybook for browsers where you use a lantern to uncover secrets on each page.
Tabletop RPGS
.DUNGEON has launched a Kickstarter for the newest edition of their game about being in a dying MMO. The original version won plenty of awards and acclaim so check it out if it sounds interesting to you.
Esther and the Queens (Itch.io) is a Purim-themed Jewish ttrpg featuring Queen Esther, carnival games, and lots of drama. The gameplay is inspired by the Firebrands frameworks and uses a collection of mini games to advance the story.
Sauna of the Stone Moles & Puritanical Dwarven Temple (Itch.io) are two 12-page dungeons by Aaron King about:
weird underground creatures who decided to make a sauna out of a storage space for hazardous dwarven materials
an angry hobbit messing with ancient dwarven cleaning techniques
The dungeons are available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Everspark (Itch.io) is a new fantasy tabletop rpg by Cezar Capacle that is meant to be easy for folks new to ttrpgs to pick up, but let them go on fun fantasy adventures that you would see in the artwork for these books. I haven’t played it yet but I am a big fan of the author and I’m looking forward to seeing how this is all implemented.
Books
Light Leaks (Itch.io) is a browser zine of photos accidentally exposed to light.
Learning from the Best of Text (Itch.io) is a 300 page book on the history of interactive fiction available for free.
It’s the last one of these of the year! If you enjoyed reading these and have a blog, consider occasionally posting about games or other things you’ve enjoyed in the new year! Search engines and social media are falling apart and the only way people will know about the weird things you like is if you tell them.
The big one for me, and to get some self-promo out of the way, is that a small games anthology I organized for the local Ann Arbor District Library, featuring a point-and-click adventure by me is now out on their website. This was the game I mentioned working on in my dev logs and I’m so proud of this. I’m already seeing things I would maybe fix if I were to do it again, but I’m still happy with how it turned out and I think it’s a fun little adventure game. The anthology also features a cool puzzle game by Flyover Games and a new Game Boy game by Lilycore Games. Anthologies are neat because you get to work with people who are far more talented than you. I’m also just so proud that I got to be part of a series that so many great artists have participated in. Please check out the rest of the Ann Arbor 200 series if you can. I’ll do a larger post on this later with entries I was into and more thoughts on the anthology.
Ok, self-promo time is over. Let’s move onto great games released by other folks:
Dex Vex (Itch.io) is a free browser puzzle game made in Decker. If you’re not familiar with Decker, it is a free tool for making Hypercard-like applications for the browser. So not only is it a fun game, it’s also just impressive seeing people using a tool like this for a puzzle game.
Speaking of Decker, Count Kagura (Itch.io) is a free visual novel made in browsers by swanchime.
And here’s yet another Decker game. Wasteland Mall (Itch.io) is a surreal point-and-click adventure set in a mall. Just seeing all these games with a Macintosh aesthetic makes me want to do an adventure game that feels like it was made with Hypercard. Decker is great.
Alien Intruder (Developer’s site) is a new game for DOS where you save people from aliens and get to the exit. It’s free, really easy to pick up, and it’s always fun for me to fire up DOSBox to play a new game.
Broken Links (Itch.io) is a free puzzle game inspired by the Zelda and Adventures of Lolo series. I thought the pixel art was cute and liked the variety in puzzles too.
Cuppa Quest (Itch.io) is an interactive fiction browser game made in Twine where you’re just trying to get a cup of tea.
pastel sandfish (Itch.io) is a free game where you explore dunes on your hoverbike. I loved the psx-style graphics in this and being rewarded with interesting encounters through exploration.
Lovely Composer (Steam/Itch.io) is a music game inspired by the tool in Mario Paint. I don’t know if it has weird, fucked up baby noises like Mario Paint but it still looks very nice. The Itch page has a trial version if you want to try it out first.
How Am I Still Waiting for the Bus (Itch.io) is a browser game where you are a ghost waiting for the bus and can listen to other people’s thoughts and must also keep your ghost from floating up too high.
in Death we Love (Itch.io) is a 2D cinematic sidescrolling adventure by colorfiction available as Pay-What-You-Want. An earlier version of this appeared in the Cartomancy Anthology, which I also strongly recommend.
If you’re a Ren’Py developer, you might like this script for doing shiny cards on Itch.io.
Girls’ Day (Itch.io) is a short interactive fiction browser game by Nice Gear Games about a memory.
Funeral for an AI God (Itch.io) is a free LARP for four people about attending a funeral for an AI deity.
Assassinvisible (Steam) is a puzzle stealth game set in a student’s notebook. I really like how everything in the game looks like it was sketched on paper.
Escape From PETSCII Castle (Itch.io) is a new free FPS for the Commodore PET inspired by Wolfenstein 3D.
Warhawk (Steam) is a remake of a Commodore 64 game and looks like a pretty snazzy shmup.
In the free browser game Car Artist (Itch.io) you drive around inside a box and try to survive as long as you can by avoiding cars. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a nice little picture made by skidmarks.
John Calhoun, creator of Macintosh classics like Glider and Glypha, made a fun little first-person browser moon lander game called Mooncraft 2000 (website).
Garden of Fools (Itch.io) is a free game made for the Devzone Secret Santa Jam 2024. It’s a 2D roguelike but the combat is like the Mega Man Battle Network series.
Burntime Remastered (Steam) is a free remake of the strategy game of the same name from 1993. I’m not familiar with it but I think it’s really cool that the designers of the original gave the ok for a fan to remake it and put it online for free.
While Christmas may be over, maybe you’re still in the mood for a seasonal game or something to play next year. Verhex the Halls: Merry Crisis! (Itch.io) is a GM-lite tabletop rpg where everyone works together to make this year’s Christmas a successful one.
Ink Inside (Steam) is a co-op beat em up rpg. Those are usually pretty fun!
Divorce Chatroom (Itch.io) is a free visual novel where you must divorce your husband.
Sequence (Itch.io) is a new puzzle game available for the Game Boy for only $1. It’s published by Thalamus, who I feel has a very good record of publish retro and retro-feeling games.
We also got a walking simulator (the dev’s words, not mine) for the Game Boy. Curse of the Mantle (itch.io) is a retelling of the radio play of the same name and available in the browser or as pay-what-you-want.
Well that’s it for this week. If you enjoyed this, subscribe with your RSS feed reader of choice and do a roundup on your blog.
I know I just put one out a few days ago but I’m doing another because a few people have released Christmas games since then and I don’t think people are going to be too interested in Christmas games a few days after the holiday, so I’m doing a tiny one now. If I’ve missed any or you have any favorites from previous years, please post them in the comments!
The game developer Moonana is going bankrupt after 7 years of making games and are putting out one final game. Ginger’s Letter to Santa (Steam) is a RPG about trying to deliver letters to Santa’s workshop. You can read more about the developer’s goodbye in the thread here.
The latest game in the Christmas Horse saga is now available. Christmas Horse 5 (Itch.io) is a game where you take care of your own Christmas horse. The Itch page also features Christmas Horse 1-4, each a different game genre, and all of them are available for Pay-What-You-Want.
THE ICON64 CHRISTMAS DEMO 2 (Itch.io) is a Christmas themed demo to run on your Commodore 64 or emulator and available for free.
I posted it a few days ago but I think it’s worth a repost anyway. Santatron 2024 (Itch.io) is a new game for the Amiga inspired by the classic Robotron. Clear rooms of enemies and saves elves to go to the next level. It’s a really solid arcade game and fun excuse to fire up my Amiga emulator (WinUAE). Available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Also posted this one a few weeks ago but I’m doing it again. Plane Lazy (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want arcade game for the ZX Spectrum where you fly through levels as public domain Mickey Mouse and features a few festive screens.
The Blade of Cutiepants: A Very Cutie Christmas (Itch.io) is a holiday game for people who dread the holidays. I haven’t played it yet but this pay-what-you-want rpg looks very cute.
I keep banging on about this, but it’s ridiculous to have a GOTY awards show of any kind (they really shouldn’t, they’re all bad) when people are still squeaking in bangers right before the year ends, incredible! If you like these, share them with a friend and then go pick up a weird game during the Itch.io and Steam sales. If I forgot something, please let a comment or send me a message through social media or email. I love hearing about everything.
Video Games
The 2024 Showreel for Godot is highlighting a lot of interesting things made in that engine on YouTube.
Die for the Economy (Steam) is a new game inspired by the classic arcade game Berzerk, featuring psychedelic pixel art and all the robot voices you would hope for from one of these types of games. I played it a bit this morning and it’s probably the best Berzerk-inspired game I’ve ever played. I love the humor about how much capitalism sucks and the difficulty levels make this approachable for any arcade game fan.
Escape from Castle Claymount (Steam) is a free escape room-style adventure game where everything is made from clay and other physical materials and photographed. This was previously released elsewhere but it’s new to Steam and me, plus I lose my mind over claymation in video games, so I think it’s still worth a mention. The art is really cute and there’s a generous hint system if you need help when playing adventure games, like I usually do.
PUNKCAKE Délicieux somehow released TWO games this week! Tummy Bonbons: The Sweet Monster (Steam/Itch.io) is an excellent free arcade game where you are a monster chasing children for candy while dodging crows. Features many color palettes but default is the ALWAYS GOOD cga colors.
The other is Hot Wax (Steam/Itch.io), a Tetris clone that introduces the mechanic of you placing candle blocks and then lighting them so they will melt and set off chain reactions. Currently it’s only on Itch.io but will be released on Steam eventually.
DraculaFlowSimulator (Itch.io) is a browser game made in GB Studio where Dracula drops bars.
WOLFCLAW (Itch.io) is a free game created by Heather Flowers and Noé Charron for the 7Day FPS 2024 jam. You are a werewolf ghost and must claw and eat enemies and possess enemies when the health in your current body is too low. Keep playing until you die and try to get a high score
Santatron 2024 (Itch.io) is a new game for the Amiga inspired by the classic Robotron. Clear rooms of enemies and saves elves to go to the next level. It’s a really solid arcade game and fun excuse to fire up my Amiga emulator (WinUAE). Available as Pay-What-You-Want.
BROK the InvestiGator – Natal Tail, A New Christmas (Steam/Itch.io) is a visual novel set in the BROK the Investigator universe. I didn’t play this yet because I thought I had to play the original adventure game first, but the page description says this is a prequel and it’s not required to play that one at all. The game is free but the devs are accepting donations since it took quite a bit of work to make.
Mini Mini Golf Golf (Steam) is described as “an indie storytelling experience that goes beyond the lanes of the here and now into distant memories of a future planetary collapse. Destabilize the present and plunge into a neon psychohistory of a bizarre entity in distress. This is not a game about minigolf.” I haven’t played it yet but that sounds very cool, I love how it looks, and it has positive reviews so I thought I would share it here.
Creeper World IXE (Steam) is the newest entry in the Creeper World series. It’s sorta like a RTS where you push back against a growing blob using turrets and guns. The last one I played was 3 but I am a fan of the series and didn’t realize it has changed so much over multiple entries.
HURTINGZONE (Itch.io) is a new commercial ZX Spectrum game where you are a nurse delivering to the mutated and it looks like it has a neat horror theme.
Interactive fiction game Ord. is now free on Steam for its 5th anniversary.
TheCabinFactory (Steam) is a first-person horror game where you inspect cabins and decide if they are haunted or not. Available for $2.99 but on sale for its launch.
TTRPG
There truly is a tabletop for everything and the two I’m highlighting this week both come from the Shitpost TTRPG Jam, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad or low effort games. Jersey Devils Don’t Pump Gas (Itch.io) is about the Jersey Devil and how folks in New Jersey don’t pump their own gas.
SO YOU HAVE A BAROMETRIC PRESSURE MIGRAINE (Itch.io) accurately depicts what it’s like to have a migraine.
Don’t have anything snarky to say about anything this week. Not even about The Game Awards! I’m all snarked out! This is going to be another larger post so I’ll try to organize it into more manageable bits, with non-genre specific stuff first and then everything after that divided into categories. I’ll have a game to promote in this next week, which will be nice. If you enjoy playing a game in one of these, tell folks about it online so they can play it too. As usual, if I forgot your game or you have something coming up next week, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email or message on social media.
There were a bunch of games showcases this week as part of The Game Awards. I have a hard time watching that many videos but it feels like the Steam pages have done a decent job rounding up everything, so here’s some of those.
The Yuri Game Jam 2024 (Itch.io) has wrapped up with 110 entries! I’ve only played a couple but would recommend slime feet and Purple, where all the art was made in one of the oldest commercially available art programs: PC Paintbrush 2.x (DOS).
Games for Blind Gamers 4 (Itch.io) starts in a month and has links to previous jams and resources if you are looking to make a game for blind gamers.
Indiepocalypse #59 (Itch.io) is out. I mention these every time an issue comes out and will continue to do so because I’m a giant fan. It’s a monthly anthology containing experimental games and a zine.
Indie Tsushin: 2024 Autumn Issue (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want zine collecting articles from the Indie Tsushin blog, a site that covers indie games from Japan and also features interviews with developers.
The student showcase for Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan is here. I am required to post this because it’s my local community, but luckily the games are good too. Nice work!
Advent Calendars
I don’t know if Advent Calendar is really a genre and they also don’t hit the same when it’s the middle of the month, but here are a few that you can go through and check out.
In this section I would first like to highlight two games seeking crowdfunding, both using methods that aren’t Kickstarter.
Dreams on a Pillow is currently seeking crowdfunding. It’s a stealth adventure game inspired by a historical Palestinian folk tale set during the ethnic cleansing that was the 1948 Nakba. It’s halfway funded with about 30 days to go. The art in this looks incredible.
Neon Hearts City is the latest from adventure game developer Cosmic Void. They are currently crowdfunding to get the budget for voice acting in the game. I’ve been a big fan of their previous games and I’m sure I’ll like this too. There’s a demo on Steam and Itch if you would like to try it first.
The Mansion (Itch.io) is a browser point-and-click adventure created for the Bara Jam where you rescue a friend in a mansion. It features multiple playable characters going into a mansion so does that make this a Maniac Mansion-like? Nice pixel art too!
NoseBound (Steam) is a horror noir point-and-click adventure. I don’t know much about it but Steam reviews so far seem positive and it kinda has a stop motion animation look.
Short Trip (Steam) is a relaxing game where you drive a trolley and transport folks around. I guess this is an enhanced edition of a game I had played a while ago. I really enjoyed that version so I imagine this new one that adds a new gameplay mode with points and stuff is nice too. Even if you’re like me and don’t have an interest in that version, it’s still worth supporting because the original mode is good too. The art looks incredible in motion.
MAVEION (Itch.io) is a free browser game featuring Macintosh inspired art and reminds me a lot of multimedia cd-roms and Hypercard stacks. I have no idea how to solve it but I had fun playing in the space.
Cold (Itch.io) is a survival horror adventure game playable in the browser and made with the classic ZZT!
Grizzly Man (Steam) is the newest from LCB Game Studio. I haven’t played this yet but all their previous games where good, campy horror with some very nice pixel art.
Escape Wizard (Itch.io) is a free browser game that combines survivors games, like Vampire survivors, and shmups. It’s also just an interesting experiment with the survivors format.
3D Don’t Die Mr Robot (Steam) is an arcade game where you avoid all the enemies flying through the level and pick up fruit to cause chains of explosions. I don’t know how I missed talking about this one last week. I was playing a lot of it and trying to get all the achievements for it too and just…..forgot? Anyway, it’s great. Please go play it. There’s a demo too that contains the game’s arcade mode.
Derbis (Itch.io) is a Missile Command-like arcade game made in PICO-8 by Adam Saltzman from Finji. I will always be terrible at Missile Command but it’s a good game.
Weights and Crates Deluxe (Itch.io) is an updated version of a previously release Commodore 64 game, but still available for free. It’s an arcade game where you run on a platform and jump over moving crates. Some temporarily knock you out and others kill you instantly. It’s just a fun and simple arcade game featuring great C64 music and there’s no fussing with an emulator required because it’s playable in the browser.
I will replay Jetpac anytime someone remakes it and someone has done just that in PICO-8 (Itch.io).
Frozen Islands (Itch.io) is an impressive 3D platformer created in PICO-8 for the Christmas season.
Plane Lazy (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want arcade game for the ZX Spectrum where you fly through levels as public domain Mickey Mouse.
Pig in Hell (Itch.io) is a browser game where you’re a pig and must survive for 20 seconds. I really like the paper craft-like artwork.
Reavers of New Rome (Steam/Itch.io) is the newest from Renegade Sector Games. I haven’t played this one yet but all their previous games have the same incredible look and sound that remind me of 80s arcade games but with 90s art I guess?
BALLIONAIRE (Steam) is a game that seems to combine roguelikes with pachinko and features energetic 2D animation. I’ll admit that from watching a stream it seems to be too energetic to me since I’m 90,000 years old, but everyone else seems to really like it so maybe give it a look.
FPS
The 2024 Cacowards have been announced. This is a series of awards for the year’s best Doom WADs. It’s incredible that Doom is over three decades old and the community for it is still making great stuff. Incoming Doom hot take: None of the original developers are at ID anymore and the game should be public domain since Bethesda is just putting dodgy mod browsers in the game that let anyone upload a mod and say they made it.
The Light at the End (Itch.io) is a free fanzine celebrating the now closed Arkane Austin studio and the games Dishonored (2012), Prey (2017), and Redfall (2023)
Interactive Fiction
Hand in the Crusher (Itch.io) is a short erotic sci-fi (horror?) visual novel playable in the browser by Oma Keeling. Fantastic stuff as usual but read the content warnings first if you don’t like gore.
Fledgling Manor (Steam/Itch.io) is visual novel where vampires compete to save their eternal unlives in a high-stakes reality show. Haven’t played it yet but it sounds fun.
Wraithkal writes about the upcoming ShuffleComp interactive fiction game jam. Consider joining!
Puzzle
LOK Digital (Steam) is a new puzzle game where you decipher a cryptic language. I haven’t played a demo yet but it looks nice and has a demo so you can try it yourself.
Dubio (Steam) is a puzzle platformer game where you control a ball moving through ramps and platformers simply by making it jump. It all works very well, is easy to pick up and start playing, and the animation and music was very pleasant to me. It has some very good “juice” as professors teaching game design like to say. The game even has a demo if you want to give it a shot.
RPG
Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated (Steam) is a remake of the game for X-Box Live Indie Games thing for the 360, which they really should bring back. I don’t have an opinion on this game since I haven’t played it yet but I remember liking the original at the time? Other people probably have more interesting takes on this than I do, go look at those.
The Exile Princes (Steam) is described as “a story focused, procedural RPG designed for short playthroughs in which you as a knight gather companions and fighters to bring your house to victory throughout the unique fantasy setting of the Exile Realms”. It just came out an hour ago so I haven’t played it but I will since it’s free!
Tabletop RPGs
Minimalist TTRPG Jam 3 (Itch.io) has wrapped up with 94 entries. The jam is focused on making games with no pictures or much effort spent on layout so the developer can just make games with killer rulesets and to encourage new developers to make stuff.
Stroll & Hike (Itch.io) is a cozy tabletop game available as Pay-What-You-Want where 1+ players create a forest and hiking path. It’s about 40 minutes long.
Aaron King has released two ttrpgs for free. I think these may have been zines before but they have put them on Itch.io for anyone to download. Spice World (Itch.io) is a game based on the Dune book series, not the Spice Girls film of the same name, and is built on the original Traveler ttrpg and Apocalypse World. Since Dark Sun is not getting a revival anytime soon, they also uploaded a supplement for Troika called Troika! Dark! Sun! (Itch.io) that allows you to play in that space. Aaron makes lots of great games. Go check out the rest of the stuff on their Itch page.
I Hope This Email Finds You (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want corporate horror game for two players that’s played entirely through email.
Starfreighter (Itch.io) is a ttrpg in development that just released a free ashcan version. It’s a solo game inspired by Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer, so it’s a game made just for me.
Tools
Impart (Itch.io) is a free, open-source, offline gallery organization tool.
If you’re an adventure game developer, here’s an 8-frame walk template (Itch.io) in PNG and Aseprite format.
Toys
There’s probably a better way to categorize these, but here’s some little games that have no win conditions and you can just play around with them and chill.
There’s a house in the sky (Itch.io) is a cozy browser toy where you build a landscape featuring trees and houses, with no win condition.
No one has better character creators than Rose and FlickSkeleton (Itch.io) is her latest one. You just make cool skeletons in your browser. It’s the best.
Unwrapped (Itch.io) is a parody of Spotify Wrapped by Mike Cook.
Not New But Still Cool
Sometimes I play something that’s older and doesn’t fit into the above, or just want to reshare a game because it’s good and I want more eyes on it. It’s ok to talk about something even if it’s a couple months old.
Did you know that Tom Hall of Commander Keen, Doom, and Anachronox fame is very active in the PICO-8 community? Consider checking out his Christmas games like MYRRH’S EDGE, WHO STOLE THE COAL?, and WHO TOOK THE BOOKS?
A Very Bold Character (Itch.io) is a short and free browser platformer with an art style that kinda reminds me of a game that feels like it could be played on a terminal.
Laura Takes a Stroll (Itch.io) is also a free browser poetic game featuring some nice animation. Use all four arrow keys to navigate the space.
