It feels dumb writing about video games on my blog after this week but I have to take my mind off things so here we are. This is a bigger one than usual too since it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve done one of these because of….y’know, everything. Maybe something in here will bring you some joy too. If you recently released a game, tell me! I like hearing about this stuff. If you enjoyed this post, pass it on and tell your friends about what indie games you’re excited about, whether it’s through your own blog or social media.

Video Games

There’s a few hours left for the Click-Or-Treat bundle (Itch.io), where you can get a bunch of Halloween games for $9.

AdventureX (Steam) is doing a free online convention and sale. Go check out talks about adventure games and maybe pick up a game.

Clarissa the Dogcow lost her job and is looking for additional backing on Patreon to help her finish some of her really cool games. Go check out her post on Mastodon for more details. The world needs more Zelda 2-inspired games.

Indie Tsushin (Site) has announced their Study Buddy jam, where folks learn a new engine or genre or whatever for making a game.

Adam Saltsman released two PICO-8 games for the browser, the rpg Rat Dreams (Itch.io) and the puzzle game Kuiper Cargo (Itch.io).

We got a new issue of the Interactive Fiction and Visual Novel zine ChoiceBeat (Site/Itch.io). Every issue is free and has reviews, previews, and interviews.

Barry Bonds enters the World of MYST (2004) is an interactive story made by Jon Bois, originally published on the comedy website progressiveboink.com. Cecile Richard has remade the game and put it on Itch.io for a new generation of Myst fans to enjoy.

It’s the beginning of the month so we have a new Indiepocalypse (Itch.io).

Airdorf made the very cute browser game Skeleton Game (Itch.io) with their 4 year old daughter. More people should make games with their kids.

ECTOCOMP (Itch.io) has ended and people are voting on the submissions now. Go check out a bunch of interactive fiction games celebrating Halloween.

PROCJAM (Itch.io) also just ended. This one is a jam focused on procedural generation. So like, the kind of AI that isn’t focused on stealing art.

Tallywinkle released her first parser interactive fiction. It’s called Thanksgiving Dinner (Itch.io), a free browser game about Thanksgiving Day.

We got a really snazzy looking Monkey Island game called The Booze of Monkey Island (Itch.io).

Johnson. A Plane Man (Downpour) is a found imagery game made from the Ryanair Boeing 737-8200 safety instructions. The game was created by Hyphinett using the neat game making tool Downpour. Free and playable in the browser and the Downpour app.

BITCH HELL (Itch.io) is a FPS that feels a lot like something made in the Quake era. I don’t really know the engine used (FTEWQ) well enough to tell if it was connected to the Quake engine but it rules. Available for $6.66.

Andrew Plotkin has released two games. Advent Door (Itch.io) is a free browser text parser Advent Calendar game game and The Beyond (Steam/Itch.io) is an interactive comic.

3D Workers Island (Itch.io) is a short horror story in the browser about a screensaver.

Slayaway Camp 2 (Steam) is a puzzle game where you’re a Jason Vorhees-like monster trying to wipe out all the people at a camp. Haven’t played this one yet but I liked the first game.

Apples Busy Day (Steam/Itch.io) is a short and cozy game about exploring and helping your neighbors. It looks like a really cute and comforting game if that’s what you need right now.

VERY NOT SAFE FOR WORK PAGE but HARDCODED (Itch.io/Steam) is out. It’s a very queer open world dating sim set in a cyberpunk world. I think it’s great and features some incredible pixel art but AGAIN, THE GAME PAGE IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Robert’s Spooktacular Ghost Train (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want game where you build a little ghost themed ride at a fairground.

TETRACHROMA (Steam) is a Tetris-like that also block color changing mechanic.

Hesitation (Itch.io) is a short visual novel playable in the browser where you piece together a story by interacting with the items in a small room. Make sure you read the content warnings first. Also check out the developer’s tabletop rpgs on Itch.io.

ROGUE FLIGHT (Steam/Switch/Xbox/PS5) looks like a fun arcade space sim. It has a demo too!

Moida Mansion (Itch.io) is a new Lucas Pope (Obra Dinn designer) adventure game that’s playable in the browser and resembles one of those LCD handheld game things.

Stardust Demon (Steam/Itch.io) is a Metroidvania featuring some really impressive pixel art and 3D CGI FMV cutscenes. I’m a big fan of resnijars’ other games so this probably rules too. There’s a demo as well if you want to try it first.

Danielle Riendeau made a graveyard building strategy game called Tower of the Dead (Itch.io) for Cosmic Horrors Jam III

Tabletop Games

Escape from Wonderland (Kickstarter) is a tabletop rpg being designed by Turtlebun about trying to escape an amusement park. They’re great. Go check out the Kickstarter or some of their other games on Itch.io.

In The World We Left Behind (Itch.io), play as astronauts trekking across an alien planet. It’s a GMless game for 1-5 players. I think it’s fascinating that it was originally commissioned by a ballet collective?

Unspeakable Gate (Itch.io) is a solo TTRPG in which you take on the role of an artist building a mysterious Gate and becoming more and more absorbed in the reality that lies on its other side. Peach Garden Games has made so many good solo ttrpgs, check them out!

I think this one came out a while ago because I got the Kickstarter reward months ago, so I think this is just new to Itch.io, but The Coven of P.S. 13 (Itch.io) is a GM-less game for 2-6 people inspired by The Craft where you and your coven are planning for a big event occurring on the night of the full moon.

Well I said last week that things were calming down and lol, oops. No. Haven’t really been posting much here or on social media because of everything going on. Well, anyway, games.

I don’t think I posted about IF Comp at all? A pretty huge mistake on my part if I haven’t. The results and just been announced and you can check out all the games and winners here.

The Campsite (Itch.io) is an hour long point-and-click adventure game available for Pay-What-You-Want. It’s about an hour long and I feel like it’s appropriate for people less experience with the genre.

Mohrta (Itch.io) is a demo for an upcoming game made in GZDoom and I’m really impressed with what it does in the engine. I know it’s not the same engine that ID Software used to make Doom but you know what? Still really cool. Comparing games to Dark Souls is overdone but I’m going to do it anyway. The game has a slower pace than what you would find in a Doom engine game, with combat encounters usually just involving a couple enemies at a time at the most. I really enjoyed the world design too.

Water Level/b.l.u.e. EXPLORATION (Itch.io) felt like playing a PSX game in a dream.

second fall 24 (Itch.io) is a fun musical toy playable in the browser. It kind of reminds me of little mini-games you would find on multimedia cd-roms. Maybe I’ve been playing too many Peter Gabriel cd-roms lately.

The Solar Server has its first game! This is a server that is powered entirely by solar power, meaning you can only play the games on the server during a limited window. The site has more info on how the server was setup too.

Vladimere’s Lore (Steam) is an anthology of 14 games created by the developer over 10 years. I’ve played some of these games through HauntedPS1 releases and had a good time. Worth checking out if you’re into horror games with a retro 3D aesthetic.

PRIM (Steam) looks like a lovely point-and-click adventure if you’re looking for a creepy but also sorta cute game to play at this time of year.

Wilmot Works It Out (Steam) is the newest game in the Wilmot puzzle series. I loved Wilmot’s Warehouse when that came out, so I’ll probably really like this too when I get around to it.

I’ll have a longer review of it soon, but The Protagonish (Steam/Itch.io) is a short interactive story where you basically control everyone in a story outside of the protagonist himself. The story only takes a few minutes to play through and you make different decisions through all the side characters for different outcomes. I think it’s pretty neat. I really liked the art and was amused by how the protagonist is very much like your traditional adventure game protagonist, but not in a good way, and takes everything around him and doesn’t really care about the people around him, with all the characters you control around being kind of tired of him.

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. 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!

This blog was pretty quiet this week because it’s been a hell week but things have calmed down now. Oh well, these things happen I guess. How was your week? What have you been playing lately? Let me know in the comments.

The Videotome Jam (Itch.io) has started! Videotome is a series of small IF/VN engines and you can find all four on the jam page.

The Steam Next Fest is also happening right now. I haven’t really dug into the demos yet but there’s a lot of them. Maybe you’ll find something neat.

Collage Advertisement : Propaganda (Itch.io) is a short, political VN made in the hypercard-inspired tool Decker. Please read the content warning/disclaimer first!

Mourningstar (Itch.io) is a “satanic” “biblepunk” dark science fantasy tabletop rpg about resistance, rebellion, othering, theology, individuality, misfits, colonialism, divine politics, infernal magic, & exploring the stars as swashbuckling devils. The game is inspired by the Forged in the Dark framework. The game was created by super talented game designer and musician Devin Nelson.

Indie Games+ has a nice review of a new game called Snow Flow. The game is playable for free on Itch.io and the art reminds me a lot of 80s Macintosh games.

Lorenzo Pilia created a manifesto On Small Games (Itch.io).

Johnson. A Plane Man is a game created in Downpour (Link) by Hyphinett. Downpour is a really fun tool for making very small games.

Not new but still cool, Karambola (Steam/Itch.io) is a free point-and-click adventure that reminds me of games like Samorost. There’s an art book for sale (Steam/Itch.io) if you would like to support the dev.

The Ghost and the Golem (Steam) is an interactive historical fantasy story published by Choice of Games about if your magic amulet save your Jewish village from destruction.

It’s not indie but I think it’s really interesting that Backyard Baseball ’97 (Steam) was just rereleased on Steam with compatibility on modern OS and achievements.

NovaMundi (Steam) is an open world tactical game where you must unite the people of nearby towns to fight off Spanish invaders.

The Urge (Itch.io) is a short erotic story created in Twine by Oma Keeling about operating a machine.

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. I’ve also started an irc channel for indie and alt games/gamedev talk at AfterNET at #AltGames. Consider giving it a try! No registration required!