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.

Day of the Devs
Southeast Asia Games Onward
Latin American Games Showcase
Black Voices in Gaming
Women-Led Games Showcase
Wholesome Snack

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.

Playdate Advent 2024 is for the Playdate handheld console.

The Confounding Calendar is an Itch page uploading daily puzzle games.

Adventure Games

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.

Frog Detective has a free fan demake (Itch.io) made in GB Studio that you can play in the browser and it’s even approved by Frog Detective’s creator.

Arcade

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.

Well, this is a big one this week. I don’t know what happened. Due to the volume of releases this week, I tried to split things up into genre so it doesn’t get overwhelming. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. As usual, please let me know what you’ve been playing and enjoying lately, or something you or a friend has been working on! Replies here are fine but DMs and emails are welcome too! If you enjoyed this week’s post, share it with friends, buy one of these games, and tell folks about a weird obscure thing you love.

Before we jump into the games, LudoNarraCon is taking submissions right now if you are working on an interactive fiction or adventure game. Alright, here’s some recent indie games that I think are neat.

Video Games

Action

Bug Castle (Itch.io) is a slick twin stick shooter made for the TIC-80 virtual machine for the 20 Second Game Jam. Free and playable in the browser.

Cowgummi (Itch.io) is a short browser game where you are a purple cow that rolls around, knocking other cows off your meadow. The best game with purple cows that I’ve played all year. It even has merch!

Loser Lane (Site) is a game protesting Ontario removing Toronto’s bike lanes.

Adventure/Interactive Fiction

Chiaroscuro (Itch.io) is a short experimental text adventure game inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure available as Pay-What-You-Want. I like when text adventures insert small amounts of graphics or sound for immersion and thought the use of sound in this one was really good. I’d also recommend this one to people who haven’t played a text adventure before.

Great God Grove (Steam) is an adventure game about stopping the end of the world since the gods are too busy squabbling to do it.

CODENAME: ICEMAN is an adventure game designed by Jim Walls and published by Sierra in 1989. Often considered their worst adventure game, the game starts off ok enough with you spending time on a beach and eventually getting your mission details, but then you board a submarine. You spend half the game on this submarine, fighting with awful controls, little plot development, and doing incredibly tedious tasks. Eventually you leave the sub and do some puzzles that don’t make a whole lot of sense and the game ends with a frustrating mini game. There’s fan games for many games in the Sierra catalog but not this one.

Not until today.

KIDNAME:ICEBOY (Itch.io) is an incredible tribute and parody of CODENAME:ICEMAN where you play as the child version of the protagonist from the original game as he goes to the US Navy’s Submarine Camp. I won’t spoil the game because I strongly recommend it to everyone who’s vaguely familiar with the original game, but I think it does an excellent job emulating Jim Walls’ unique adventure game style and is one of the funniest adventure games I’ve seen in a while if you’re familiar with his games too.

Loco Motive (Steam/GOG/Nintendo Switch) is a new comedy point-and-click adventure where you must solve a murder on a train. I haven’t played this version yet but I loved the game jam version and this has been receiving great reviews so far.

inkjam just wrapped up! ink is a scripting language used for narrative games and this is a jam hosted every year on itch for the language. You can check out all 19 entries on Itch.io

Maybe that’s all we need (Itch.io) is a short (15 minutes) about a masochistic gay woman created for the Videotome jam. Read the CWs first since it’s a NSFW game.

Miniatures (Steam/Itch.io) is a collection of short stories, about 30-40 minutes total, each with their own unique art style. Gamers With Glasses liked it.

Monkey Island Manual Game (Itch.io) is just a nice tribute to The Secret of Monkey Island made in Bitsy where you explore the island and read snippets of the game’s manual.

I think I covered this game last week but THRESHOLD (Steam) is now out. I’ll play this game someday when I’m not being a baby about horror but it seems like reviews have been very positive and I love how it looks.

Playdate

Hausbau (Itch.io) is a free game for the Playdate where you build modernist cityscapes by placing tiles. I haven’t played it yet but I really like how it looks and the game promises jazzy tunes.

One-Armed Space Bandit (Itch.io) is a remake of the slot machine game from Space Quest 1. Unlike that version, this has multiple difficulty levels if you want to die less or more times than you would playing the game. It kinda reminds me of the Macintosh version of Space Quest because of the art. Anyway, it’s a great port and the crank is used well in this game. If you like this, check out their King’s Quest 1 Redux project.

Puzzle

Domino Grove (Itch.io) is a wonderful and free browser game where you domino blocks with trees on them and get points by placing similar dominos next to it until you fill up the screen. I thought this was a fun mechanic for the puzzle game, and thought the art direction and sounds made this a very relaxing puzzle game.

Influx Redux (Steam) is a remake of a 2013 game where you roll a ball through a variety of different environments and puzzles.

Meal Plan (Itch.io) is a free puzzle game where you find the common element in two 7-item sets. It was created for the Win32 jam so it has some glorious windows in it.

Robot Detour (Steam/Itch.io) is a very cute puzzle game where you play as a little robot delivering batteries to robot friends. I’ve only played the demo so far but the puzzles felt fair but gradually increased in challenge with unique mechanics being introduced to keep it from feeling stale, and the art and music made the game a relaxing experience.

Racing

Thalamus has become a favorite publisher of mine by publishing a variety of games for retro consoles and computers, and games inspired by classic 80s games. Their latest release, Nitro (Itch.io), is a racing game for Game Boy Color. You can play it in the browser or buy it for $1.

RPG

Cybil (Site) is a free 20ish hour long rpg inspired by Might & Magic 3. It was made with megazeux, a game engine from the 90s that I believe is a sequel to ZZT?

Dungeon Clawler (Steam) is a roguelike deckbuilder that uses a claw machine to get items. I haven’t played it because claw machines make me angry but Indie Games+ liked it.

Strategy

Rogue Command (Steam) is a RTS with roguelike elements that has just entered early access. I haven’t played it yet but I thought it would be worth mentioning since it feels like RTS are fairly rare these days and so far it has positive reviews on Steam.

Visual Novel

INTERSTATE 35 (Steam) is a visual novel that follows a young woman returning to her hometown in Texas after a nuclear disaster.

Pinup (NSFW! Itch.io) is an adult M/M fairy bondage visual novel. I liked their previous game Off the Cuff and this one is Pay-What-You-Want and playable in the browser.

Stellifier (Steam) is an idol drama game about an older group making a comeback from retirement, featuring a GxB/BxB/non-binary romance. I haven’t played this one yet but I really liked their game Sifting Thyme. It’s also exciting to me that this studio continues to make VNs since they’re local to me.

Tabletop Games

Bloodsuckers (Itch.io) is a new-ish tabletop rpg available as Pay-What-You-Want where you play as a vampire. It just got a one-shot that starts in a bodega (Itch.io). Since we all know these do not exist outside of Brooklyn, we can finally roleplay the fantasy of being in a bodega.

Crux (Itch.io) is a solo tabletop rpg about overcoming challenges and climbing a mountain. The Itch.io page also links to where you can get a print version of the game.

The Deep Water Jam (Itch.io) is a currently running game jam about making tabletop rpgs about water.

Folklore Jam 2024 (Itch.io) was a game jam where people would write an analogue game that incorporates elements from a folklore or a place where they belong. The jam has ended and you can check out all 39 entries on Itch.io.

MeatCastle GameWare Annual #2 (Itch.io) is a zine collecting TTRPGs, articles, Mothership 1e add-ons, and more published in the second year of Missives from the MeatCastle. The digital version is available as Pay-What-You-Want but there is also a print version available for pre-order.

Polymath (Itch.io) is a new font for dice. It looks nice, it’s free, and has a really nice license.

Solovember (Itch.io) is a currently running game jam where people create solo tabletop rpgs. There’s 8 days left but it already has a lot of entries.

Wicked Tales (Itch.io) is a solo tabletop rpg available as pay-what-you-want where you play as a villain and hopefully not be stopped by the heroes.

Writing

None of these are games, but they’re all on Itch and I thought they were beautiful so I’m including them anyway.

Andromeda Zine (NSFW? Itch.io) is about Andromeda from Greek mythology and how they’re sometimes portrayed with a penis in medieval art. It’s available for Pay-What-You-Want.

Cartomancy Anthology was an incredibly influential games anthology for me from two years ago so it makes me happy to see that they just released an art book (Itch.io) for it that I can nerd over.

Sonia Sulaiman has two zines about Palestinian folklore and folk religion in the Paranormal Palestine series. Both are available on her Itch.io page and available as Pay-What-You-Want.

WORLD IS A FUCK (Itch.io) is a zine by Oma Keeling featuring adult sci-fi short fiction and illustrations.

Crowdfunding

There’s also a lot of games currently crowdfunding that I think are worth a look.

Michael Brough is crowdfunding a new game! 868-BACK is currently crowdfunding on Backerkit and it will probably be pretty great, as all his games are.

Legends of Castile (Kickstarter) is a point-and-click adventure set in 19th century Spain, about a village girl who investigates folk legends in order to become a nun.

The Time We Have (Backerkit) is a two-player storytelling card game about brothers in the zombie apocalypse and the final days before one of them turns.

I mentioned Nochi earlier in this post and they’re also crowdfunding their next game. This one is a port of their game Somnium Eleven (Kickstarter) from mobile to PC.

Demos and Upcoming Games

Car Pack Capital (Steam) looks like a fascinating sim game to me. You try to wipe out a city and make it as unwalkable as possible to sell more cars and parking spaces. So basically the most evil sim game since Dungeon Keeper. It’s a really interesting concept but may be too depressing for me to play.

Cart Life is back? Maybe? It has an Itch page where you can download a demo anyway.

According to the dev on Bluesky, horror visual novel Grizzly Man (Steam) should be arriving sometime by the end of the year.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker 2 (Steam) is an upcoming FMV game by D’Avekki. There isn’t much to see yet but I liked the first game. I can’t tell if this one drops the text parser, but the first game used one in really interesting ways.

Kathy Rain (Steam) returns in a new point-and-click adventure. I liked the first game and the art in this looks great. The Steam page also has a demo for folks to check out.

I am a big fan of Cosmic Void’s point-and-click adventure games and I’m happy to see them making a cyberpunk game with Neon Hearts City (Steam/Itch.io). The page also has a demo.

It’s only been a week since I’ve done one of these and I already have a ton of games to talk about. I’m not going to act like the Spiderweb Software guy and tell ya’ll to stop making games and become doctors instead, or whatever the hell he was talking about, but I do wish I have more time in the day to play stuff. Just an endless supply of great art being made every week. Nice work. If you enjoy these posts, I would really appreciate if you could give a couple of dollars to SWANCHIME’s Ko-Fi. Their games have been featured in here a few times and they could really use the support. Also consider making your own indie game roundup! The more people doing these sorts of things and spreading the joy of independent art the better.

If I missed something you or a friend made, please tell me! Social media, email, or here as a comment, all are good. I just love knowing what people are making.

Video Games

The Zium Exposition (Itch.io) is described as a “Museum Exploration Game filled with artwork and installations from artists around the world, working in various mediums and styles”. It’s just an incredible space to explore and look at the beautiful art. The vibes are very good and it’s free. I loved it very much.

L.E.V.E. (Itch.io) is an arcade puzzle game by shrunken studios, which I think is a small collective of game developers, where you control little organisms eating stuff and the complexity increases with each level. Lots of fun, it’s free, and available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Death of the Reprobate (Steam) is the third in a trilogy of silly point-and-click adventures by Joe Richardson that use Renaissance paintings as the source for all the artwork in the game. I haven’t played this one yet but I’m a fan of his previous adventures.

Upcoming horror game THRESHOLD has a demo on Steam. I’m a baby so I don’t know if I’ll play it but it looks very cool.

PROXIMATE (Steam/Itch.io) is a short interactive fiction game about trying a new AI visor. I really love how you navigate the world in this game using its map, and the writing and voice acting are great too. The game strongly recommends using a controller to play but the mouse and keyboard controls felt good to me.

Star Dodger (Itch.io) is an arcade game created during the 0 hr game jam 2024 between 1:00 AM November 3, 2024 – 1:00 AM November 3, 2024, during the daylight savings switch.

The remake of Little Big Adventure (Steam) is now available. I’ve always been a fan of the series and I’m looking forward to a version of the game with better controls. I enjoyed the playtest they did for the game a while ago, but you don’t have to take my word for it, a demo is also available.

My life at the Caterwauling Corporation (Downpour link) is a short game by Graceless Games using the game making tool Downpour.

Inspector Waffles Early Days (Steam/Itch/GOG) is a top-down adventure game prequel to the point-and-click adventure game Inspector Waffles. You can even buy the game for the Game Boy.

Sorry We’re Closed (Steam) is a horror game inspired by 90s classics like Resident Evil, with an aesthetic inspired by them too. Again, I’m a big baby so I don’t know if I’ll play it but Rock, Paper, Shotgun liked it and there’s a demo for it as well.

I WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN (Itch.io) is a short horror interactive fiction by SWANCHIME about being a girl in love with a girl who is dead, and then not being a girl any longer.

SCAVENGER (Itch.io) is a short erotic visual novel by Oma Keeling about the birth of a machine god.

Oktrollberfest is a game jam about creating trollgames. You can check them out on Itch.io. Many (all?) of them were made with ZZT.

Grid Ranger (Steam/Itch.io) is a shmup with 80’s inspired vector graphics. I played the demo a while back and thought it was a very challenging but fun arcade game.

The Playdate community at Uncrank’d have a bundle of games and an upcoming showcase. You can find the links on Mastodon.

Mister Jack (Itch.io) is a retro-looking point-and-click adventure about Jack the Ripper that was made for Scream Jam 2024. Free and playable in the browser.

Dust Settlers (Itch.io) is a browser game made in PICO-8 where you arrange Tetris blocks to restore a planet.

Remember desktop pets? Doguru (Itch.io) is a modern one of those featuring really cute artwork and it’s free!

Dungeons of Blood and Dream (Steam) is a roguelike dungeon crawler. I haven’t played it yet but I love dungeon crawlers and aesthetically it looks like it’s just for me! Gamers with Glasses seemed to like it.

Bullet Runner (Steam) is an arcade bullet hell game about fighting a clone army that a friend helped with and in my opinion I think it looks pretty neat!

Tricky Madness (Steam) is a snowboarding game inspired by the beloved SSX Tricky and that sounds like a really lovely thing I could use right now. It has just entered early access.

At a couple points this year I took a break from doing the indie game roundups because I had more important things to focus on like my baby, but I still maintained a list of things I played and other games that just looked cool to me. Here’s some of those games:

Frontiers of the Mind (Itch.io) is a free horror game resembling a multimedia cd-rom that is about a fictional tv show from the 90s called Maze Masters. There is nothing more laser targeted towards my interests than this so of course I loved it. I highly recommend just looking up hints once you get through everything you find, so you can find all the hidden material too.

Pantsmo’s Pantaloon Adventure (Itch.io) is a mod of the classic shareware game Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure but adds pants to Cosmo. That’s it! It’s great. A classic game has finally been fixed.

Seeking Stardust (Itch.io) is a free browser puzzle game where you try to last out in space as long as you can, with the game generating a new level every day.

tramstertram (Itch.io) is a free minimalist Amsterdam-inspired town builder with trams playable in the browser. It’s an incredibly chill game and the low poly graphics are very nice too.

Tabletop RPGs

Fast Food (Itch.io) is a free LARP for 4-10 players about ordering food before your board game night.

dan qui dam published a history of solo tabletop rpgs on Itch. Holy shit yes, this rules.

Speaking of solo ttrpgs, Jude’s World (Itch.io) is a solo journaling game about reconnecting with your estranged parents, inspired by 90s tv shows like The Fresh Prince and Clarissa Explains It All.

Poetry and Other Art

The last few weeks have kinda been nightmare fuel and some folks have made art as a response to it all.

I Love Being Trans (Itch.io) is a beautiful stack made in the Hypercard-like tool Decker by erysden, creator of the previously covered fps BITCH HELL.

Eat Shit and Die, Fascists (Itch.io) is a collection of poetry in response to the recent election.

We Will Get Through This (Itch.io) is a vent by ToulouTouMou that was also created right after the election.

Street Lamp Lover (Itch.io) is an interactive poem playable in the browser with a unique presentation and nice music.

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!