Indie Game Roundup (Jan. 12, 2024)

January 12, 2024 ~ mpklamerus ~ 2 Comments

It is the 90s and there is time for games. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email, message me on social media (see About page), or just reply to this post with a link to your thing to let me know it’s out. Or even if you didn’t make it and you just think it’s neat, let me know!

screenshot from Itch of various game covers

Solo But Not Alone 4
This is the fourth in a series of charity bundles on Itch that are made up of solo tabletop rpgs. The proceeds from these bundles go to mental health related charities and you can click on the bundle link for a description of who it’s going to this time. It’s an incredible bargain for a collection of great games and I’m proud to have my KLF-inspired game Chill Out in here.

XYZZY Awards
The winners of the 2022 XYZZY awards have been announced. If you want to see what people in the modern IF scene are up to, this is a great way to see some of the games coming from there. Since the page doesn’t link to where the winning games are available, hopefully no one minds too much if I basically copy the post but link to the games.

Best Game: According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
Best Writing: The Absence of Miriam Lane (Abigail Corfman)
Best Story: Fairest (Amanda Walker)
Best Setting: Prism (Eliot M.B. Howard)
Best Puzzles: The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
Best NPCs: Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi (E. Joyce, N. Cormier)
Best Individual Puzzle: the escape room in The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens (Ryan Veeder)
Best Individual NPC: Computerfriend in Computerfriend (Kit Riemer)
Best Individual PC: Bell Park in The Grown-Up Detective Agency (Brendan Patrick Hennessy)
Best Implementation: According to Cain (Jim Nelson)
Best Use of Innovation: The Bones of Rosalinda (Agnieszka Trzaska)
Best Technological Development: Inform 7 build 10.1.0
Best Use of Multimedia: Gent Stickman vs Evil Meat Hand (AZ / ParserCommander)

Independent Games Festival
The finalists for the 2024 IGF have also been announced. This is another great way of discovering games you may have previously missed.

New Games Everywhere
I enjoyed this video covering upcoming games that Dani Lavandula is looking forward to this year. It’s only 10 minutes long and has a lot of stuff I didn’t know about

TRAMCITY HAKODATE
This is a new game on Steam in Early Access where you are a driver for Hakodate, Hokkaido’s tram service. This cohost post does a better job explaining what the game is and the future plans for it, plus it has a link to the Steam page.

Psycutlery
Psycutlery is a platformer game that has been in development for a few years but has finally been released, and for free! It’s a beautiful looking game and I think it’s worth downloading off of Itch.

conversation between a player character and a jester

HalOPE
HalOPE is described on the Itch page as a surreal exploration/”puzzle-ish” RPGMaker game about breaking cycles and becoming whole. I haven’t played it yet but it looks lovely and is available for free.

person flipping through a horror game magazine

PC CURSED
PC CURSED is an anthology of horror games as well as a magazine, all for free. The Itch page lists all 20+ games that are included in the anthology.

Thinky Games
If you’re looking for more puzzle games to play, ThinkyGames.com has a good post covering games from two recent game jams.

DUSK
DUSK is a new sci-fi rules-lite tabletop rpg from Gila RPGs. DUSK uses the LUMEN 2.0 system, and is a diceless RPG focused on resource management rather. The core rules for the game are available for free!

Amiga Games
It also felt like a lot of new games for the Amiga were released this week, at least from looking at Indie Retro News. There was Ami-H.E.R.O, an update of Activision’s H.E.R.O., a port of the arcade version of Tetris, a news update about a top-down arcade game called Hyperborea Resurrected, and news about a dungeon crawler called Dungeonette.

If you enjoyed this post, you can find ones from previous weeks here

Indie Game Roundup (Jan. 05, 2024)

January 5, 2024 ~ mpklamerus ~ 1 Comment

Happy new year! Even with the holidays and everything lately, a lot of great stuff came out this week. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.

gif of vanish 5 of blocks being moved around to clear the screen

DOS Games Jam
The most recent DOS Games Jam just concluded and a lot of great games have been made for it. I enjoy doing these since they’re so casual and there’s no ranking involved. I was especially excited to see that a holiday version of Stair Quest was made.

retro looking top down view of a house by the water

Hexany’s Roguelike Tiles
Hexany’s Roguelike Tiles is a really nice looking batch of tiles released under a Creative Commons license for anyone to use. I just thought they looked nice and thought it should be included.

Spheroid
Spheroid is a puzzle game for the Commodore Amiga where you move a metal sphere around a maze and get to the exit. The Amiga was my first computer so it makes me happy that Itch has an active Amiga game dev scene on there.

a glowing yellow pepper outside in a park?

Dead Drop
Dead Drop is the 19th game in the Carol Reed series, a series of first person point-and-click mystery games. I haven’t played any of these (I will fix that this year!) but I heard they’re solid games. I just enjoy that the games are exclusively available for sale from the developer’s site and nowhere else. It reminds me of the 90s/early 00s era of buying indie games.

Word Thirds
Word Thirds is a new game by John Passfield, of Halloween Harry and Flight of the Amazon Queen fame. It’s a puzzle game on the iOS app store and Itch where you make as many six letter words with letter tiles as you can within sixty seconds. I’m awful at word games but it’s a fun game.

No Escape Essay Pack
This is a bundle of writing about games that includes three issues of the No Escape magazine as well as some essays. It’s a great way to support one of the best sites out there, No Escape.

glowing white butterflies over the water

BlueSuburbia
BlueSuburbia is now on Steam. I’ve mentioned the game before but previously it was only on Itch. This demo is a first person interactive fiction where you explore poems through immersive environments. I believe it was built in the Unreal Engine but it does some really cool stuff like having playable Bitsy games inside the game.

Indie Game Roundup (Dec. 29, 2023)

December 29, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Even though we’re in that weird liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s Day, where I have lost track of time and no longer know what day it is, a lot of great games were released this last week. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.

Winter sales!
Winter sales are still going on Itch and Steam. Go buy some neat games if you want.

top down view of santa walking around a dungeon

Who Took the Books
Your mileage on this one may vary on how much you want to play a Christmas game at this time of year but Tom Hall, creator of classic games like Commander Keen, has released a new game for the PICO-8. It’s a really cute puzzle game where you play as Santa and must find all the books in the game. It plays a lot like an adventure game where finding items will let you explore new areas. It’s also just fun seeing how much Tom Hall is involved with the PICO-8 community and is always organizing new game jams or rating PICO-8 games 5 stars on Itch.

Sewer Rave
Not a new game but Sewer Rave is now available for free/Pay-What-You-Want on Steam and Itch.io. It’s a game where you explore a rat infested sewer during a giant rave.

platformer gif of a woman turning on a bridge

Baby Time!
Baby Time! is a new game by Goloso Games to celebrate becoming a parent. It’s a Lost Vikings-style platformer where each of the three playable characters has different abilities and you use them all to solve puzzles. Congrats to Goloso Games on the baby.

Saṃsāra
Saṃsāra is an interactive poem created for the Kissinger is Dead jam. It’s a good poem and I’m also just happy that there was a jam about how awful Kissinger was and celebrating his death.

Hamayumishi: Chochin Challenge
Hamayumishi is a new side-view twin-stick shooting game by Nice Gear Games that’s playable in the browser. It’s a fun arcade game with some nice art and neat slow motion gameplay mechanic!

Against the Wind
Against the Wind is a new solo/coop fantasy tabletop rpg by Cezar Capacle that is focused on wilderness exploration and creating unique heroes. The game is technically in beta but I feel like it’s already a beautiful book and solid game, and with it blowing past its goal, will only become better. If you’ve never played a solo tabletop rpg before, I think this is a good one to start with.

Snake on a Train
Snake on a Train is a cute endless runner made in PICO-8 where you are a snake riding in a mine cart. The game was created for the Toy Box jam which was hosted by Tom Hall and is playable in the browser.

gif of an alien offering you a business opportunity

Galactic Foodtruck Simulator 2999
Galactic Foodtruck Simulator 2999 is a game created in ZZT for the DOS Game Jam, hosted by me! I’m always impressed by what you can do in ZZT and this is no exception. In this game you have 40 weeks to establish a successful food truck business in space. Playable in the browser.

Indie Tsushin: Year 1
Indie Tsushin: Year 1 is a compilation of writing found in the first year of Indie Tsushin, a zine that covers indie games and interviews game developers from Japan. Picking it up is an excellent way to support indie games coverage and make sure projects like this can continue

screenshot from a spectrum platformer game showing Daleks and the Tardis

WOOT 2023
I only found out about this a few hours ago and I don’t really follow the modern ZX Spectrum too closely so I might be screwing up the details of this but WOOT 2023 looks to be a compilation of new ZX Spectrum and apps, with a nice variety of stuff. I got excited because a dev I do follow, Sloanysoft, seems to have a Doctor Who fan game in it called Blocktor Woot in the Sloanyverse of Madness.

image of a monster exploding into pieces

FREAKHUNTER
I haven’t played this one yet but it looks like something I’ll really enjoy. FREAKHUNTER is a dungeon crawler/rail shooter hybrid and I really enjoy the low-poly aesthetic it has.

Indie Game Roundup (Dec. 22, 2023)

December 22, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

I hope that whatever you celebrate this month, it has been a pleasant time. Here are some indie games from this last week that I enjoyed looking at. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.

Winter sales!
Winter sales have started on Itch, Steam, and probably a bunch of other places too. Go pick up some neat games if you want.

screenshot from Quiller's Code showing symbols on paper and letters underneat it

Quiller’s Code
This was a really fun puzzle game created for the Thinky Game Jam where you decode messages by dragging letters onto the symbols to figure out what the message is saying. The puzzles can be tricky but the game isn’t timed and lets you experiment with the letters without being punished.

SCRAP BOOK I – The Terrors of Ice and Darkness
SCRAP BOOK I is a very short (3 minute) game by the great Quinn K about mountain climbing and the pandemic. Really looking forward to future games in this series too. Read the content warnings before playing.

The Meaties 2023
This is a free zine where the author talks about their favorite games this year. It’s a great one to check out if you’re looking for some new tabletop rpgs to play and I also just really like someone putting their GOTY choices in a zine.

Coding History
Not an indie game itself but it is by an indie game dev. The second episode of Coding History is out and it’s about making a 3D engine and how it may not be as complex as it would seem.

gif from Benevolence of lighting hitting a bunch of red people

Benevolence
Benevolence is a little sim where you use your powers as a god to wipe out people for their souls. The look and concept kinda reminded me of something Molyneux would make but in the 90s when he was making good stuff.

Welcome to Lunary Greens
This is a system-neutral supplement for your tabletop rpg of choice of a magical neighborhood. It’s part 11 of 12 in a series and if you subscribe to their newsletter you get to claim it for free on Itch. It’s ok, it’s not a Substack.

A Musical Sheepy Xmas
It’s an album of nice retro-sounding Christmas music by a game developer I’m a fan of. The Itch page also has a Bandcamp-like player in the browser so you can listen to the music without downloading anything, although the album can be downloaded for free.

top down view of a room with a chicken saying to a horse "We got you out before thew elves broke in."

Christmas Horse 4
This is part 4 in a free compilation of Christmas-themed games. In this one you play as a horse in a classic Zelda-like setup and fight elves.

There’s also three games this week that I haven’t played yet but I think look really neat.

Mobile Suit Baba
Mobile Suit Baba is a tactical puzzle game inspired by Into the Breach by the developer of Baba is You. It’s available for free until this Wednesday.

Terminal
Terminal is a surreal cyberpunk tabletop rpg for 3-7 players inspired by The Matrix. The art and layout look pretty great and the preview of it in Dicebreaker back in July was very positive.

gif of a first person view of a dungeon being navigated

Path of the Abyss
Path of the Abyss is a single-player, grid-based dungeon exploration RPG with real time combat that was just released in early access. The art in this looks pretty nice and the Steam reviews are positive so far. The reviews do give a heads up that the translation from Japanese to English was done with a machine and not a human translator. They said it’s not noticeable but still probably something worth noting.

Indie Game Roundup (Dec. 15, 2023)

December 15, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Well, it’s Friday so here’s a bunch of recent games and games-related events that I thought were pretty cool. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.

The Queer Games Festival
The Queer Games Festival just announced its shortlist for the year, meaning you can check out a great collection of games right here.

screenshot from Heal Slime of a bunch of slime blobs grouped together — A screenshot from Heal Slime

Vextro Slime Wave
A Vextro game jam just ended. I think it’s a games collective, maybe? Anyway, here’s a bunch of games about slime on Itch.

DEAD END Holiday Demo
I really like holiday themed versions of video games and AERIFORM just released a Christmas version of their top-down Metal Gear-inspired stealth game DEAD END.

screenshot from pareidolia of the angel dressup screen — Screenshot from pareidolia in █▄██▄▄

pareidolia in █▄██▄▄
Created for Yuri Game Jam 2023, it’s a game where you design and dressup an angel and walk around a city. Really cool art style and it sounds like it will continue to get updates too.

Holiday Bundles
A couple of indie game bundles have recently launched. For the price of a AAA game you could get almost two hundred instead through the Christmas Indie Game Bundle and the Holiday Indie Super Bundle.

New Games from Michigan Tech University Students
Husky Game Development, the game making club at Michigan Tech University, released their games for the semester. You can play games like Iridos, Monstrous, and more on their Itch page.

black cars driving down a road — Bahnsen Knights

Bahnsen Knights
LCB Game Studio just launched their latest visual novel on Steam. All of their games have an incredibly cool art style and something creepy going on, this one being about a religious cult. So consider checking that out if that’s your thing.

Videotome ADV: Modded
Videotome:ADV is a really nice engine for interactive fiction and it looks like it just got its first commercial game on Steam as well as the developer of that game releasing a modded version of the engine.

Polygon’s Favorite TTRPGs of 2023
Polygon just put out their list of the best ttrpgs they played this year and there’s some really nice stuff. If you’re looking to try something that isn’t D&D or just want to find out what you possibly missed, check the list out. It features a nice variety of tabletop rpgs.

Indie Game Roundup (Dec. 8, 2023)

December 8, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Finally, the awards that people have been looking forward, the most interesting indie games releases and news this week, at least to me.

Wigglypaint
This delightful tool made in Decker, a Hypercard-inspired designer, lets you create drawings that remind me of the squigglevision in shows like Home Movies and Dr. Katz. I absolutely cannot draw but it’s so much for anyway that I don’t care.

my attempt at drawing Jim Walls, the designer of the Police Quest series

Indiepocalypse 47
A new Indiepocalypse is out, which means I am required by law to post about it. This issue is another great collection of games and I recommend the one commissioned for the issue, Touhou Lonely Lovely Bonfire by Lily Valeen, the designer of BOSSGAME.

Rosewater
Technically it came out last week but I forgot to post about it. A new trailer for Rosewater is out. It’s a western point-and-click adventure game coming out next year that I’ve been waiting for since last year and I think it looks great

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
Digital Eclipse announced that the next game in their retrospective series will be focused on Jeff Minter and his games. I was a massive fan of their Karateka one and I love Jeff Minter games so this will probably end up being my 2024 game of the year. I absolutely cannot wait.

The University of Michigan/Eastern Michigan University Student Game Showcase
This is a bit more local but every semester the students in the game development programs at both schools do a showcase of their games. Yesterday was their latest and there’s another great batch of games to play so go check them out.

Indie Game Roundup (Dec. 1, 2023)

December 1, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Screenshot from Markus Ritter of two women talking in a hospital and dialog options below for a report about a murdered couple

It’s the first of December and this year is coming to an end. Hope it’s been going well for you all. There was some really exciting stuff this week.

Not indie game related, unless you count indie game soundtracks, but today is Bandcamp Friday so consider buying some music. Spotify really doesn’t pay anything and buying music (or at least use a streaming service that pays better royalties) is the only way they can really keep doing this for a living.

Going to the Store for Baby Formula at 6AM on Black Friday
Going to the Store for Baby Formula at 6AM on Black Friday is a good and very relatable Bitsy game for any parent.

The Lawnmower Man
In the early 90s it felt like the film adaptation of The Lawnmower Man had a video game on every single platform so it makes me happy that there is now one for PICO-8.

Annie May – Pixcrew
Rose has made a ton of great character creators and the newest one is worth your time too.

Markus Ritter – Ghosts of the Past
Markus Ritter – Ghosts of the Past is a FMV point-and-click adventure game described by the developers on the Steam page as “queer cheesy trash” and that is a 100% accurate description. Fortunately I am a goblin for FMV trash, especially ones inspired by Gabriel Knight 2, so this is absolutely for me. That said, it is EXTREMELY cheesy and might be too much for some people, so I would maybe recommend playing the free prequel game first to see if it’s your thing.

Madvent Calendar 4 – End of the Line
Since it’s December, we also have a new Madvent calendar from the HauntedPS1 community. Every year they release a free anthology of small horror games with a Playstation 1 aesthetic, with a new one unlocked each day. They’re really nice collections and it’s impressive that they manage to put together one of these every year and for free.

Indie Game Roundup ( Nov. 24, 2023)

November 24, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

screenshot from In Stars and Time showing the game's first person combat mode

It’s Itch.io’s Creators Day, where they aren’t taking a cut from sales today. I’ve put all my paid games in a little bundle you can pick up if you want some solo TTRPGs.

Shannon McMaster has a cool and free system-neutral guide to hex crawling in time dimensions for your tabletop rpg.

Misty has a great post on Cohost about all the games she enjoyed playing while judging for the Independent Games Festival.

Hand Eye Society’s Super FESTival is still going on. Check out all the great talks and indie games going on.

Goose has made a very good demake for the Game Boy of a game they previously made a decade before for a game jam.

James Chip has a new solo journaling game set in space. It’s based off their previous game The Adventurer and seems very cool.

The results of this year’s IFComp were just announced and as usual, it’s another great batch of interactive fiction games that are worth your time.

In Stars and Time looks like a very nice time loop rpg that’s now available on Steam.

There’s a new Indie Tsushin, highlighting indie games from Japan.

Tristam Island is now open source and released under a Creative Commons license. It seems like a great reference if you’re looking to build a text adventure game in PunyInform for retro platforms.

Indie Game Roundup (Nov. 17, 2023)

November 17, 2023October 12, 2024 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

This week was bananas so this is a rushed collection of stuff in indie games that I really liked. This week it’s mostly focused on adventure games, since that’s a genre I’m really into in general, but also just a lot of stuff happened this week.

screenshot from The Will of Arthur Flabbington where a man is telling a psychic "and that's why I need to contact my uncle." — Screenshot from The Will of Arthur Flabbington

The Will of Arthur Flabbington is now out! This is a point-and-click adventure that originally started as a jam game for the AdventureX jam. It got a Kickstarter funded to help turn it into a full game with voice acting and from the little I played of it, seems really neat!

Lake got some Christmas DLC. I really enjoyed playing Lake two years ago and found it was exactly what I needed during a very stressful time in my life. I know a Christmas themed DLC is not going to be for everyone but I’m looking forward to revisiting the game and I think I even have some nostalgia for holiday themed games and DLC just because of the time I spent playing stuff like Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare and Xmas Lemmings.

DOS Game Club just released an episode where they interview the nice folks over at Hadrosaurus Software. I really enjoyed their game The Aching and it’s nice seeing people making new DOS games getting some coverage.

This one is much more local, but the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University are doing a showcase of their student games on December 6 at 7pm in Ann Arbor. There’s always an incredible batch of games that come from both schools every semester so if you’re local, consider checking it out!

Excuse Me Sir is a demo for an upcoming horror game made by a bunch of cool folks. I really liked the 90s adventure game vibes it has and it’s really short and not frustrating at all, which was surprising since it’s very heavy on ways to die.

screenshot from Excuse Me Sir showing a surprised woman and her saying "Hey, who are you?" with the response options being "Can I use your phone?" and "Have you seen my brother? (Show flyer)"

Aura has a very good post on Cohost about all the games she enjoyed during the IGF judging process.

Inspector Waffles Early Days is a game on Kickstarter looking for funding to develop a physical version of a Game Boy game. I never played the original game, a point-and-click adventure for the PC, but I heard it’s very good and liked the Playdate game the developer made, which also got a physical release. I just think it’s fun seeing the Game Boy have a revival because of GB Studio and Analogue.

Midnight Margo is a new adventure game by some of the folks that worked on Whispers of a Machine, a point-and-click adventure that I really enjoyed. From the reactions I saw, the art style seems to be very divisive but I think it’s really neat. The game also seems to have some RPG elements and I think that will be a nice way to make the game stand out from others in the genre.

screenshot of Midnight Margo of a woman standing in a bar with other people — Screenshot from Midnight Margo

A demo was just released for Heir of the Dog. I believe it was originally a jam game or freeware? Anyway, I really liked the dev’s previous game Lucy Dreaming and it’s nice to see that we’ll be getting more games from them.

The Blathering Keep looks like a really fun free game by Danielle Riendeau. I haven’t played it yet but the art is really cute. I like the concept of a dungeon crawler where you’re attacked by corporate jargon, and I really like her writing elsewhere so I bet it’s a very funny game.

swanchime has a new Interactive Fiction game that looks beautiful. I haven’t played it yet but they’ve made a lot of fantastic games and zines so I’ll have to set aside some time for this one too.

Finally, earlier this week it was announced that Uppercut Crit will be going on hiatus. I was really sad to hear this because I thought it was a great place for games crit and lots of great indie game coverage. It sounds like the podcast Indie Mixtape will still be going on so be sure to follow that and consider supporting other outlets of independent games crit like No Escape, Kritiqal, Into the Spine, and all the other cool places I have listed in my Cool Site Zone.

Indie Game Roundup (Nov. 10, 2023)

November 10, 2023 ~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Screenshot from Roman Sands RE:Build showing people hanging out in a bar and the design having a Y2K aesthetic

Here’s some various bits of indie game news and releases that I found exciting this week.

A new version of Risk of Rain is out! I loved the original game and put so many hours into it. The sequel was well designed but wasn’t for me so it’s exciting to see this version revisited.

A new Indiepocalypse was also released. I will continue posting about this every time they’re released since every issue has cool games.

The Playdate is a very cool little thing and it’s nice we’re still getting regular updates showing off new games and other neat things.

Celestial Bodies is a new TTRPG looking for additional funding to make improvements and it looks like a nice space game.

Spritewrench has released a demo for Sunken Stones, a pirate-themed puzzle survivor-like with roguelike elements. I was a big fan of their previous game On the Peril of Parrots and think this is worth a look too.

As an occasional TTRPG designer, I’ll get a lot of ideas for games that I want to make but just don’t have the time for or ever figure out a way to make it, so it’s always really nice when someone make a game about something you’re thinking about, and probably much better than whatever I would have designed. Record Shop is a solo ttrpg about one of my favorite things, digging through the stacks of records at a record shop.

Gobliins 6 has been announced and I’m very excited.

A demo for Roman Sands RE:Build has been released and it looks incredible. I haven’t played it yet but I was a big Paratopic fan so I’ll have to make time for it soon.

Thirsty Suitors is out! This is one of the games I was most excited for this year and I will be buying it as soon as I can afford to. The reviews have been positive and I hope it does very well.

Virtual Moose

indie game roundup