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A New Games Webring, Warp Point, Launches!

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Wes Fenlon, writer for PC Gamer and Read Only Memo, launched a web portal for games blogs that I think is really neat and I think people should consider submitting their sites to it. It’s called Warp Point and I think the design is very spiffy. It has categories for different types of games blogs and people are making little 88×31 link buttons for it which is something longtime readers know I love. I need to make the time to replace some of the links on my Links page with the images. Something else I really love about the site is the webring widget everyone can include, which selects 3 random sites from the webring to display each time it loads.

The front page features recent posts from blogs too, encouraging people to check out other blogs. It’s really everything I could want in a webring page and I highly encourage folks with games blogs (which includes game dev) to submit theirs. I’m hoping this inspires folks to make their own. I’d love to see something similar to this for ttrpgs, although this may already exist and I’m just not aware.

My site is on here (very happy that I was asked to submit it) so it will be amusing if anyone who followed the blog for Video Games gets confused when I post about libraries or incredibly local stuff.

Itch.io Summer Sale 2026 Recommendations

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Steam and Itch.io are doing their regular summer sales! Plenty of other folks have done Steam sale posts online so I thought I would do one for Itch.io since I like that they take a smaller cut from sales, have a lot that isn’t on Steam, and it’s DRM-free. I’m only including games that are on sale and not really talking about Pay-What-You-Want or free stuff this time. Some of these were already mentioned in the bluesky thread I did but I’m adding more to the list as well. Apologies in advance for the lack of organization!

black and white pixel art of a woman next to a downed power line
Midnight Scenes: The Highway

I am a massive fan of the Midnight Scenes series, an anthology of short horror point-and-click adventure games that can be played in one sitting. You can start with any of them so I’ll just link to the developer’s page where you should just grab the one that sounds the most interesting to you. I reviewed the first game, The Highway, here.

LOVE is a challenging minimalist platformer that also features options to make it approachable to folks like me that aren’t so great at platformers. I like replaying the game and getting better times and love the soundtrack and simple graphics too. There’s two sequels. It comes with a Steam key

Captain Disaster in: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots is a very funny sci-fi point-and-click adventure. While it’s technically the 2nd in the series (first one is free and worth a look too), I think you can also start with this one if you want. Comes with Steam key. A 3rd game is in development and the developer’s Steam page also has short stories set in the universe.

BOSSGAME: The Final Boss is my Heart is an excellent queer arcade game about lesbians fighting monsters in dungeons and features art from so many artists I’m a fan of. It’s very challenging but has lots of options to make the game easier if you just want the story.

Indiepocalypse is a monthly zine compiling experimental indie games, art, and writing and commissions a new game each month as well. Grab the issue that sounds most interesting to you!

The Employment Collection is a compilation of games focused around work, capitalism, and the job market. The newest update also adds a solo ttrpg I worked on!

two people outside a hospital. One person is saying "This hospital is strangely silent for a medical facility."
Devil’s Hideout

I am a big fan of Cosmic Void’s adventure games and could recommend any of them but I’ll pick Devil’s Hideout, which is a horror adventure game that sorta feels like something you’d find on VHS in your local video store. Wrote a review of it here.

If you like Picross then you’ll probably also love Squekross, Picross with a cute mouse as well as some home building elements. It comes with a Steam key

I don’t think I’ve walked this stretch of road before is a short walking sim where you walk through past memories and reflect on them. I’ve even reviewed this one before.

Videoverse is a visual novel set in a WiiU-like user interface. One of my favorite VNs! Comes with a Steam key

top down view of a snake and asteroids and space ships

Snake-a-roid is a very straightforward arcade game that mashes together Asteroids and Snake. It works very well! Also comes with a Steam key

All the cool people are making websites these days! Consider making that easier with Bimbo

Grid Ranger is a shmup arcade game featuring some fantastic vector graphics

a woman standing in a bedroom and there is a man standing there too

The Crimson Diamond is an adventure game strongly inspired by the Sierra classic The Colonel’s Bequest. Some of the best EGA art I’ve seen in a game and I love that it uses a text parser

first person view of a ship shooting at a purple ship in space

Liberation is a very approachable open world space sim that happens to be funny too. I bounce off a lot of space sims because they’re too complex for me but I think this is a nice middle ground between that and arcade space sims. Inspired by the classic show Blake’s 7, which I really should watch someday. The original version of Elite was a big inspiration too.

Kitsune Tails is the perfect spiritual sequel to Super Mario Bros 3. I think it nails everything that made that game feel great but it’s also doing it’s own thing and is very queer.

co-open is a very sweet game about a kid’s first time buying groceries on their own. Really loved exploring the space and checking out all the art. Very relaxing soundtrack too. I need to replay this one with my kids.

floating bowling alley with stone heads floating too

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game that nails the N64-era of games better than Super 10 Pin. It matches the aesthetic of those games perfectly. but having a bowling game in space just feels like something you’d play on the console too.

I never mentioned the Power of Pride Bundle on here and technically it’s not part of the summer sale but it does wrap up this month. For $60 (or the $10 bundle) you can get tons of queer games.

pixel art of an old desktop computer

Second Hand Computer is a digital toy featuring lots of games you can play with in a fake retro computer through a DOS-like OS.

If you like first person dungeon crawlers, consider checking out Islands of the Caliph. It was very easy for me to pick up and start playing and I was happy to see a game based on Middle Eastern folklore.

Shutter Stroll is an incredibly chill photo taking experience. You don’t need to beat any levels or do goals, you just explore beautiful environments and take photos.

If you like Terry Cavanagh‘s games like VVVVVV, Egg, and Dicey Dungeons, check out his Other Games. This collection features so many bits that I’m happy to see packaged together like flash games and one made in Downpour. It comes with a Steam key.

Inspector Waffles is a very nice point-and-click adventure where you are a cat that is a detective. I also just like how much you rely on clues and interact with your notepad to solve mysteries, like a detective! A lot of detective adventure games don’t actually do this!

Super Video Golf is a solid golf game but more importantly, I think the artwork is a fantastic recreation of the early 3D poly look of early to mid 90s PC games. I just saw that it got DLC last year so I should pick that up. It also comes with a Steam key.

Metavaxx is a twin sticker shooter that also borrows elements from Minesweeper as you explore infected cells and try to clear them out while avoiding enemies (or intentionally shooting those blocks I guess). Comes with a Steam key.

If you’re like me and love Zelda 2, you should consider the Gunmetal Arcadia games. I think they do an excellent job recreating the combat and aesthetic of that game. These also come with Steam keys. And then go play the demo for the upcoming Enigma Heart for more Zelda 2.

Ok, that’s the end of the recommendations. I hope you found something new to check out!

Things Every Video Game Should Have

~ mpklamerus ~ 2 Comments

This is not going into the manifesto jam because it’s more of a goof but at the same time I do get excited about this stuff anytime it shows up so maybe it’s entirely serious.

A Moose – Well yeah, obviously. Playing as a moose is the best part of Wacky Wheels and Moose Life is one of the best Llamasoft games.

That song from The Incredible Machine 2 – Maybe you can’t get this exact song for licensing reasons but throw a New Age song into your game. Your players will thank you.

FMV – Doesn’t have to be a lot. You don’t need to get Malcolm McDowell in your video game. Even a tiny bit of stock footage of a train will make me happy.

Samples, possibly unlicensed – I love all the samples that show up repeatedly in Llamasoft’s games. I feel like some of them are maybe unlicensed but clearly no one has said anything yet because they keep popping up. Build up a nice little library of sound effects and other assets that you keep throwing into your games and people can recognize. Folks get annoyed about asset reuse and they’re wrong and should be pushed into a volcano.

Each chapter ending with the player hanging out in a homoerotic hunt club – Maybe some explanation for this one. We all love the Hunt Club in Gabriel Knight 2 but I understand if you don’t want your player character needing to talk to any hunting enthusiasts or shitty libertarians, but I do really like when games have the player coming back to the same place to hang out with other characters so more of that please. It should also be gay.

Someone that taunts you – Your game should have some kind of asshole that keeps taunting you like Rudy in Funhouse or Sinistar.

Someone that hangs out – There should also be someone that’s just hanging out near the beginning of your game but doesn’t do a whole lot. Maybe they give advice if the player is stuck. You probably can’t license Peter Gabriel for your person that hangs out but they should probably be listening to music or reading.

Things It Should Not Have

AI usage – Even code. You’re still wasting massive amounts of energy and polluting communities if you use AI for coding. Fuck you, I won’t play your game.

The Manifesto Jam

~ mpklamerus ~ 2 Comments

The Manifesto Jam, where folks write manifestos on game design, is about to wrap up in two days and there’s already a lot of great stuff submitted. I don’t have a manifesto in me but I’ve been enjoying reading the entries. Some I agree with, some I don’t, but that’s kinda the fun of going through them all. I’m surprised none of the sickos (complimentary) in the adventure games community have made a manifesto. It’s a little fascinating seeing a couple people who don’t make games get mad at the jam when it’s not a thing that impacts them at all, unless people start taking these manifestos very seriously. Throw it in the pile of all the other stuff on Itch that Aftermath will continue to ignore I guess.

Maybe I should have posted about this earlier so that anyone who sees this can write their own manifesto but there’s still two days left, you can do it!

A Lost Man adventure game demo explores life during World War 1

~ mpklamerus ~ 1 Comment
a soldier in an old church

Maybe I should play more adventure game demos. I almost never do because I figure that if an adventure game looks interesting to me and people like it then I’ll probably get it at some point and playing a demo would just spoil a chunk. But that seems a bit silly now after trying a few recently such as A Lost Man, a point-and-click adventure where you are a lost soldier during World War 1. The demo (available on Steam) gives a very brief look at the game and one or two puzzles but it made me far more interested in the game. I felt the game does an excellent job of conveying a place that is close to the front lines but isn’t quite pulled in yet. There is some dry humor but it’s not a silly game and everything felt tonally like it should. I wasn’t sure how I would have felt about the art but it looks really good in motion. My only real complaint about that is that I think it needs a run animation instead of making the player walk fast, but it’s a unique style I haven’t seen in other adventure games.

I’m curious about the stuff I see in the trailer that wasn’t in the demo. Everything I played felt very grounded, so I’m not sure how the more puzzle-like parts will work but I’m guessing that it feels more natural when it’s all spread out over an entire game and not in a very short trailer.

Anyway, the demo is very short (about 15 minutes) so consider giving it a shot if it sounds interesting to you. Maybe I’ll try to do some demo roundups on here during the next Steam demo event.

Enigma Heart Demo Bring Back Zelda 2 Style Adventuring

~ mpklamerus ~ 3 Comments
a woman in a temple by a pool

I have always loved Zelda 2. I realize it’s a flawed oddball in the series. It’s nothing like the rest of the games, other than the CD-i games (a post for another day), and it’s a bit too obtuse and difficult for its own good, but I always loved that it combines rpg elements with 2D platforming and weirdness of the boss design. So I was very happy to see that the Zelda 2-like Enigma Heart now has a demo. This isn’t really a review since I’ve only played for a little bit so far (and liked it), but since this style of game is so rare, with the only other Zelda 2-likes I can think of being the Gunmetal Arcadia series (Steam/Itch), I thought I would let people know about it. It’s very gay as well. You can get the demo on Steam and Itch.io.

On a related note, I also started poking at a Zelda 2 romhack called Zelda 2 Redux. It makes a lot of little tweaks like improved translations and adjusting the difficulty a little and it’s amazing how much these small changes can improve the game. If you bounced off the original game, maybe give this one a shot. If the changes in that are too drastic, there’s this one that just improves the translation.

TOWNSQUEER Zine And Games Bundle Available for Limited Time

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two columns of text describing pressure inside someone's head
PARA//LAX

TOWNSQUEER, a bundle containing games and a zine put together by the folks at gamedev.lgbt, is now available on Itch.io for $20. It made me happy to see this community put together a bundle of wonderful games and immediately picked it up when it went on sale last night. I’ve played a few of the games before so it was nice to support those, as well as have a whole new batch of games to play. I wrote about PARA//LAX before, but I also really enjoyed other games in this bundle like the fmv documentary To All the Rocks That Bear Me, platformer Nice Disc, and the first person interactive fiction Breathe. Not only is it an excellent collection of games but I was impressed with the production of the zine as well. A great amount of effort was put into the layout and it contains a lot of writing from the bundle contributors about game development and other topics. I really can’t recommend the bundle enough. It’s good to support queer art of course, but I also just think it’s a very good deal for the amount of high quality games you’re getting and I think it coming with a few Steam keys is a nice little bonus too. Go check it out! It runs until June 15.

I hope the bundle is very successful and we see more volumes of this, even though the organizers have run into some headaches with Itch. I also hope it inspires other communities to do something similar. I know some Discords have organized bundles before but it feels extra special to me when a community that hosts their own site, whether it’s a mastodon instance like this or a forum, has their own projects like this.

first person view of someone riding a bike
To All the Rocks That Bear Me

What Bands Have Played Myst?

~ mpklamerus ~ 5 Comments

This Sunday morning I am thinking about multimedia cd-roms by musicians in the 90s and thinking: “did they play Myst?” I do not care about if any musician was actually a gamer, but because I am a huge dork I keep thinking about the band Queenscryche, in their stage gear, crowded around a desktop computer and trying to figure out the marker switches on Myst island. Because I have nothing better to do, here are my thoughts on various musicians with computer games and if they’ve played Myst. Many of these games are abandonware and playable on modern Windows thanks to The Collection Chamber.

Peter Gabriel, star of Xplora and Eve: Yes, absolutely. He seemed to be very interested in the cd-rom format since he started a games company that produced his two games as well as Ceremony of Innocence. He also contributed music to URU: Ages Beyond Myst and acted in Myst 4

Laurie Anderson, Puppet Motel: I think it’s likely she tried it for a few minutes to see what it was like since she’s stated she has an interest in new technologies and using them when no one really knows what to do with them. She has also done VR installations when VR was becoming a thing again in the mid 2010’s. But according to this interview last year about Puppet Motel, she doesn’t really enjoy games and winning/losing states so I assume she moved on once she “got it.” People should play Puppet Motel.

Aerosmith, 9: The Last Resort, Revolution X, Quest for Fame: Why did people keep going to Aerosmith to ask them to be in their computer game? Only one of these is an adventure game (produced by Robert Deniro) and they just act in it so they barely qualify for this list, but I think they’re aware of what a cd-rom is and that’s it. They’ve probably played some pinball. This is the most I want to think about Aerosmith.

Dan Ackroyd, The Blues Brothers: We know he actually played The Blues Brothers video games but I do not think he played Myst or else we would have seen some sort of cd-rom. Since John Goodman was in the Blues Brothers in the sequel, this is also where I can say that I do not think John played Pyst.

The Beach Boys, Surf City: Absolutely not. Mike Love cashed the paycheck and that was the end of that. If I had to pick the Beach Boy most likely to have played a computer game, I think it’s Al Jardine.

Earth, Wind, & Fire, Isis: Today I learned they had a computer game! I don’t think it’s likely they played them but now I want to play this.

Herbie Hancock, Virtual Nightclub, Living Jazz: He must have at least tried Myst, right? He seems too curious about technology to not have. Anyway, Herbie Hancock rules.

Devo, Adventures of the Smart Patrol: I think Mark and Gerry at least tried it and saw games as the future of the band. This did not happen since the game wasn’t very good and flopped, but the promotional video has that energy. They poked at smartphone apps a few times so new technology is something they have an interest in but I don’t think they ever dug too deep.

Queensrÿche, Promised Land: As much as I want to imagine the band playing Myst, I do not think they have. However, I am fascinated by the MobyGames credits for this game. The brother of one of them is all over the place on this and all the band members are listed as co-designers of their worlds. I don’t buy it.

The Residents, Freak Show, Bad Day on the Midway: Yes, but the band were all in costume when they did. From reading the Laurie Anderson video, it sounds like Voyager and Inscape were the ones reaching out to the bands to make something and not the other way, but I do think the fingerprints of The Residents are all over these and their involvement was more than just cashing a paycheck.

Motörhead, Motörhead: This predates Myst and Lemmy absolutely did not play computer games, but lets all imagine him playing Myst anyway. EDIT: I’m wrong about this one. Lemmy did play arcade games. See the comments below.

Prince, Prince Interactive: I have no idea how much he was actually involved with his game but I think it’s very likely he tried Myst. He was too interested in computers and the internet not to have. He was also probably one of the first people ever to have played The Oregon Trail.

David Bowie, Jump: The David Bowie Interactive CD-Rom, Omikron: He was too interested in technology not to have, since he also had his own multimedia cd-rom (that he wasn’t a fan of since it wasn’t ambitious enough) and Omikron. I think Duncan Jones is over answering questions about his dad since he has his own career and art to talk about, but maybe he would still be up for answering “What computer games did you play with your dad?” since I think most folks like to talk about that.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Frankie Goes to Hollywood: They broke up before Myst and I don’t think they were involved with their game either but this Making Of article about the game is good.

Rolling Stones, Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge: Absolutely not, but I think their producer Don Was has.

Rednex, Inbred with Rednex: Well they know what a computer is because they keep taking down videos on YouTube of people playing their game but I think that’s as far as that goes.

Well that’s all I have to say about all of that. Feel free to comment with your thoughts about other musicians and if they’ve played Myst.

Books I Enjoyed Winter/Spring 2026

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I haven’t done one of these in a while! Here are some books I’ve read so far this year that I enjoyed. I don’t think I have especially wild or interesting taste in books and mostly read science fiction and fantasy, but maybe you’ll discover something new to read at your local library or indie bookstore. Links usually go to Bookshop.org, which directs a little bit of revenue to your local bookstore of choice and not Amazon. Sorry this is so long, I’ll do these on a more quarterly basis in the future. You can always see what else I’ve read on Storygraph.

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett – I had started this one in December of course but didn’t finish it until the beginning of the year. I have to imagine that everyone reading this knows about Discworld and folks know if they like it or not but I’ll be another person recommending it. I keep meaning to read the entire series.

The Skull by Jon Klassen – I’m going to include some kids books in this post as well. I have been a fan of Jon Klassen’s for a while and this is a good one. It’s a bit longer than your typical picture book and has lots of lovely art. It’s also fun reading something to the kids that feels a little darker and creepier but really isn’t actually dark. This one is about a little girl and a talking skull getting in and out of trouble and my kids liked it too.

To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth – The second novella in the Curse Bearer series. Veronica Roth is most known for the Divergent series, which I’ve never read, but I liked the two novellas in this series. They’re pretty dark fantasy stories based on Slavic folklore but set in the modern day and queer. I suspect the Divergent books are maybe not really in my age range but if she writes more in this series I’ll read them.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Reread this one after I originally read it 20 years ago and I still like it. I think I’ve heard the sequel isn’t great so I probably won’t bother with that one.

A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo – The 6th novella in the Singing Hills cycle about a wandering cleric. I’ve been a fan of all of these and this latest one was great too. The novellas are written so they can be read in any order so you can just grab whatever one you see first at the library.

Doctor Who: Scratchman by Tom Baker and James Goss – Yeah that’s right, a Doctor Who novel. This one is an adaptation of a Doctor Who movie script that Tom Baker wrote in the 70s and never got produced. It’s just a fun Doctor Who story with the 4th Doctor, nothing mind blowing or any weird lore stuff getting made up here. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Tom Baker and from reading the Storygraph reviews and Doctor Who wiki, he ad-libbed a line or two, continuing the theory that he really just is The Doctor in real life.

Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong – This is a collection of essays from folks writing about their experiences being disabled and living in the United States. Can’t recommend this one enough to people (like me) who need to see the world from the perspective of folks living with disabilities.

Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: The Guide to Beat-Em-Ups Volume 1, edited by Kurt Kalata – Do you like games such as Double Dragon and River City Rampage? Good news, this is a book about a ton of those types of games. I got a DRM-free copy of this through an eBook bundle that isn’t available.

She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor – Africanfuturist novella coming of age story about a teenage girl. I guess this one is set in a previously established universe but I didn’t know that before reading this and I enjoyed it.

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older – Basically if Holmes and Watson were lesbians in space solving mysteries. It’s the third novella in the series and my favorite so far. In fact, I want to reread the first two now because while I did like those, I enjoyed this one much more and I don’t know if I was just in a bad mood reading those or what.

John Candy: A Life in Comedy by Paul Myers – Recommended if you’re interested in actor John Candy or SCTV. It dives deeply into that comedy scene and even with it being about an actor that everyone seemed to love working with it still had a lot of interesting things to explore. This was written by the brother of actor Mike Myers, who also wrote a good book about The Kids in the Hall.

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler – Turns out that beloved author Octavia E. Butler was also very good at writing short stories.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon – Novella about mermaid descendants of African slave women. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Daveed Diggs and music by Clipping and felt that it elevated an already great story.

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith – Just a really nice slice of life graphic novel about four women that was on the recommendation shelf at my local library.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers – a novella about a crew in space looking for habitable worlds. I think this is only the second or third thing I’ve read by Becky but I loved it.

Fresh Start by Gale Galligan – Lovely graphic novel for kids about a kid who has moved to a new area and is starting over at a new school. I think a lot of kids (or I did anyway) will relate to being kind of a dork trying to fit in somewhere new. There’s so many great graphic novels for kids being made these days.

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi – Poetry collection by an author I’ve been a longtime fan of, with most of the poems being focused on the ends of worlds and apocalypses. I actually did the audiobook for this one and I would recommend it if you’re someone who wants to read more poetry but maybe struggles with how to read them.

Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw – Well written and lots of good info. I thought some sections like the history were more interesting than others. It being on the shorter side prevents it from delving deeper into other topics and a lot won’t be new info to bi/pan folks but I think it’s still nice to read and validating

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie – The second Poirot book. I actually read the first book in the series this year as well and liked it but I think this is when the series starts to figure out the form more and really takes off. We all love a man with a funny mustache who solves mysteries. This one is actually public domain now.

Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems by June Jordan – She’s so good. I don’t think you should really just sit down and read a collection of a poet’s works in the order of release like I did but occasionally reading a poem here in there by someone this good is lovely.

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – You’d think I would have read this by now given how much I love the film Stalker and wrote a ttrpg inspired by it but no. Of course I loved it! I listened to an audiobook narrated by Robert Forster and he had the perfect voice for this story too.

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk – Just a very good supernatural noir novella with lesbians.

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa – Saw it in a list of reads a book club in a discord I’m in is doing and holy shit. I feel like I should be over Orwellian novels at this point but this had such a dreamlike logic to it that I found it to be very compelling. Will be thinking about it for a while.

Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite – Second book in the Dorothy Gentlemen series, a sci-fi mystery series of novellas. It’s just a nice, breezy mystery about a baby that is suddenly found on a ship and the series does some interesting stuff in its sci-fi setting.

Well, that’s all for this post. I realize that’s a ton of books but when you account for it being half a year of reads and so many of these being novellas, I don’t think it’s as bonkers as it looks. I hope you find something good to read!