Wow, what a year huh? Glad it’s almost over right? Anyway, as usual, looking at little things on Itch.io and elsewhere is keeping me from losing my marbles so I will keep doing that. If you posted that people need to make weirder stuff, and you aren’t a game dev, idk, consider supporting some of the games here. Also considering buying more from Itch.io than Steam in the new year. They take a smaller cut from devs and don’t make everyone use forums that only an incredibly toxic community uses. Please let me know in the comments what you’ve been playing lately.
Dragonsweeper (Itch.io) is a free browser game that adds dungeon crawling and rpg elements to Minesweeper and it works wonderfully.
Vampire Versus Pope Army (Itch.io) is another great browser puzzle game, this one being made in PICO-8. In this game you’re a vampire and must drink blood from all the popes.
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders (Steam) is a downhill skiing game that’s just some goofy fun. It just felt really good for me to control and was really easy to get going. I played the demo and it’s good! Not a whole lot to say about this one, just a straightforward downhill racing game that is well made.
Pillbug’s Domain (Itch.io) is a fun setting made for the Tiny World TTRPG jam. The page suggests using it for a science fiction or cyberpunk campaign. It’s probably just me but the art reminds me of an early 90s shareware game, so that’s always a plus. Available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Asterism (Steam) is an interactive concept album by Claire Morwood, filled with lovely music, but the highlight for me is this stop-motion art. Everyone probably knows by now that if a game has stop-motion art I’m required to put it in here. Look at it! Incredible. It also has a demo.
I thought Red Pandamonium (Itch.io) was a neat little free roguelike FPS made in 72 hours. You’re a red panda and move from room to room, clearing all the enemies, and buy upgrades. Plus it has some good retro FPS-inspired graphics.
I’m so fucking excited for Realis (Itch.io). It’s a tabletop rpg by Austin Walker of Giant Bomb/Waypoint/Friends at the Table fame. It’s a diceless ttrpg where characters deploy powerful Sentences, which are rewritten over the course of their saga. It’s currently in development but buying it now gets you the Ashcan edition. Usually that means it’s a shortened version of the game that can still be played, but the version you get is still a pretty beefy book. I think $15 is a pretty fantastic deal for the book. Even if this was all we were getting, it would still be worth buying. You can also listen to it being played on the current season of Friends at the Table.
Horizons: The End Of Words (Itch.io/Steam) is the newest game by the PUNKCAKE Delicieux collective. In this one you explore space by making chains of words using the letters you’re given. I’m a big fan of this collective and folks, I think they made another banger.
I never played Dungeon Ruins but people seemed to enjoy it. The sequel just came out (Steam) and the Steam reviews are positive for that one too.
That’s it for this week. If you enjoy these, subscribe to the blog through the RSS feed, tell a friend, and check out these games. If you’ve got your own blog, think about talking about stuff you like! More obscure art could always use more people praising it. I also have an irc channel for indie and alt games/gamedev talk at AfterNET at #AltGames. Consider giving it a try! No registration required!
Well the world is a dumpster fire right now so I’m distracting myself with video games. Bon appétit!
Tunnels of Vextro (Itch.io) is a free chain anthology of games made using different engines and in conversation with each other.
Finalists for this year’s Independent Games Festival have been announced. This has always been a great way to discover smaller games and I’ve always been excited to ready these ever since they started posting these when I was a kid and discovered that you could make stuff like Bad Milk and Pencil Whipped.
Rob’s Spooky Tomb Of Videogames is back! They’re kinda like these roundups except they were first and are much better. I’ve discovered so many great games through Rob and I highly recommend subscribing.
There’s a new HauntedPS1 disc! I already covered it in a separate post but you should go check it out!
Radiant Lens (Itch.io) is a fun little tarot thing made in PICO-8.
Remora (Itch.io) is a demo of an upcoming visual novel by Swanchime.
Submissions are being taken for a charity bundle on Itch.io. You can read more about it on Wraithkal’s blog.
The Shadow Over Cyberspace (Steam) is a free visual novel about the Old Ones and Y2K approaching.
The Roottrees are Dead (Steam) is an expanded version of the original version created for Global Game Jam 2023. I never played the original but have heard wonderful things about this new version and I’m looking forward to playing it.
CyberCetacean (Itch.io) is a fun browser arcade game with vector graphics.
New In Town (Itch.io) is a solo TTRPG about being in a new place and reminding yourself of the possibilities. It was created for a game jam where the prompt was to be inspired by a random Nintendo DS game, with this one being based on Animal Crossing: Wild World.
World Pole Stone Dusk: Diadem of the Pole (Itch.io) is a new action platformer by Jazz Mickle featuring very nice art and looks to be very challenging.
Fragrance Point (Steam) looks like an incredibly trippy platformer adventure game.
AirbornEmpire (Steam) is a new city builder where you create a city floating in the sky. I will always get excited about city builders that try something new and so far this one has very positive reviews, which is nice when people can be very fussy about early access games.
Cyclopean: The Great Abyss (Steam/Itch.io) is a new dungeon crawler that has just entered early access. I really like the dev’s previous games and this one seems to be influenced by very early pc rpgs where you have an overworld and then it switches to a first person view when you get to a dungeon.
SoundBath (Itch.io) is a free and relaxing tool for creating ambient music.
Hengähtänet (Itch.io) is a bilingual poetry game featuring nice artwork.
Someone made a neat little remake of the DOS classic Pharoah’s Tomb on their website
HouseCall (Itch.io) is a free point-and-click adventure that’s playable in the browser.
Buried Treasure highlighted a dungeon crawler that looks pretty nifty called Tower of Mask.
Indie Games+ has a new review of a horror game that is very retro looking and aesthetically pleasing to me. Pretend it’s not there is available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Usually I put all my indie game stuff in the roundups but there was enough here that it deserved its own post.
EEK3, a virtual showcase of horror games inspired by the PSX era, just wrapped up and you can watch it all on YouTube. Overall it was good, I discovered a lot of new upcoming games from it, and we got a new HauntedPS1 demo disc that you can now download on Itch. I thought I would highlight and link to some of the ones I’m most interested just to get some extra eyes on them, but you should just watch the showcase and download the demo disc. This might be a weird list anyway because I like creepy stuff, but not games that are actually scary or have jump scares.
Angeline Era is a new bump combat game by the developer of games such as Sephonie and Anodyne 1 and 2. Bump combat is back!
Ticky’s Tower of Time just looks like a nice 3D platformer from the PSX era. Sure, I’ll play another one of those. The music in the trailer is pleasant too.
I’m not quite sure what Of Love and Eternity is, maybe an adventure game? But it looked interesting and it has a demo so I should probably go play that.
Eclipsium looks like a horror adventure game and man, I get so excited about digitized sprites.
Axyz looks like a fun puzzle game with a vaporwave theme.
The art in Juice is so fun and Colorfiction has made plenty of cool games before.
I didn’t know until now that No Players Online was getting a commercial release but I was a fan of the original free game.
Spyrit Walker looks like a fun retro FPS and has a demo too.
Children of Saturn is really exciting to me. I will always be into stories about teens trying to get by while it feels like the world is ending. It’s an interactive fiction game that doesn’t seem to be horror, and it has a demo.
Prison of Husks looks like a combination of the slower, difficult combat in Dark Souls with an aesthetic inspired by ICO.
Scissors in Hell is a first person turn-based dungeon crawler so yes, I will be playing that.
Death in Abyss looks like a Star Fox-type game but horror themed and set under the water.
Morn is another horror retro shooter and it’s got a demo so you can see if being a priest and shooting demons is for you.
Shrimp Game is a roguelike where you are a shrimp under the water. Wonderful.
It’s kind of funny seeing something with the Wholesome tag make it into the showcase but VORON does seem like a nice adventure game where you are a raven exploring the world.
MOTORSLICE is a non-horror platformer that actually reminds me of the PS2 era of games and the movement in it seems really well done.
Please Insert Disc is a horror adventure where it seems like you explore a haunted PS2-era disc? It’s by the devs of Home Safety Hotline, which I never played but people seemed to love.
Tamarindos Freaking Dinner looks like a very trippy and silly adventure game and was a nice way to mix things up with all the very serious games in the showcase.
RADIANT ELUSION seems to be a 3D platformer with a vaporwave theme.
And then finally, Soup Rooms sounds fascinating to me. I guess it is inspired by a 2007 game from Japan. It’s 100 rooms that I think you just explore and will be free. That sounds pretty great to me.
After a little bit of a break I’m writing about games again! If you enjoy these, post about a new indie game that was exciting to you on a blog or website.
Video Games
The Forgotten Holiday (Itch.io) was made for a secret santa, where you move a camera around a snowy landscape and watch tanks sponsored by various brands fight each other.
Bluejeweled (Itch.io) is a version of the classic puzzle game Bejeweled that you cannot lose.
ABI-DOS (Steam) is one of those programming puzzle games that I struggle with because I have 5 brain cells. However, this one seems to be very good from looking at the Steam reviews. It was apparently released commercially a few months ago but after sales weren’t as big as expected, the developer went ahead and just made the game available for free, which is very nice.
SNAKE Lucky Laugh (Itch.io) is a little tool with a Macintosh aesthetic where you dress up a snake.
A new Indiepocalypse (Itch.io) is out! My recommended game for this one is the retro fps BITCH HELL.
If you have an interest in interactive fiction, consider checking out the Interactive Fiction Showcase 2024 on Itch.io, where folks submitted the IF games they made last year.
Keep Warm and Go (Itch.io) is a cute tiny browser game about getting dressed to go outside in celebration of the new year. I never heard of Flickgame but it seems like a neat tool for making really small games.
Quiet Journaling (Itch.io) is a relaxing walking simulator for browsers where the game generates a new landscape to walk around each day.
A Butterfly (Itch.io) is a pay-what-you-want experimental and interactive poem. Like with their previous game Blue Suburbia, I was really impressed by how it tells a story with multiple games-inside-a-game.
Stimulation Clicker (standalone site) is a browser game that probably represents the modern web better than anything else today. I personally had a hard time playing it because it became too overwhelming for my senses at a certain point but that’s kinda the point and it’s brilliantly made.
Helihopter64 (Itch.io) is a demo where you fly around dropping packages on targets in a N64 inspired world. It took me a minute to get the hang of the controls but once I did I was really into it. I hope this gets expanded into a larger game at some point.
Unicellular 3 (Itch.io) is a pay-what-you-want arcade game where you eat little things to grow bigger. Those are always fun and this one has you getting upgrades when you complete levels and the music is catchy too.
Cryptid Detective Club (Itch.io) is a cute storybook for browsers where you use a lantern to uncover secrets on each page.
Tabletop RPGS
.DUNGEON has launched a Kickstarter for the newest edition of their game about being in a dying MMO. The original version won plenty of awards and acclaim so check it out if it sounds interesting to you.
Esther and the Queens (Itch.io) is a Purim-themed Jewish ttrpg featuring Queen Esther, carnival games, and lots of drama. The gameplay is inspired by the Firebrands frameworks and uses a collection of mini games to advance the story.
Sauna of the Stone Moles & Puritanical Dwarven Temple (Itch.io) are two 12-page dungeons by Aaron King about:
weird underground creatures who decided to make a sauna out of a storage space for hazardous dwarven materials
an angry hobbit messing with ancient dwarven cleaning techniques
The dungeons are available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Everspark (Itch.io) is a new fantasy tabletop rpg by Cezar Capacle that is meant to be easy for folks new to ttrpgs to pick up, but let them go on fun fantasy adventures that you would see in the artwork for these books. I haven’t played it yet but I am a big fan of the author and I’m looking forward to seeing how this is all implemented.
Books
Light Leaks (Itch.io) is a browser zine of photos accidentally exposed to light.
Learning from the Best of Text (Itch.io) is a 300 page book on the history of interactive fiction available for free.
It’s the last one of these of the year! If you enjoyed reading these and have a blog, consider occasionally posting about games or other things you’ve enjoyed in the new year! Search engines and social media are falling apart and the only way people will know about the weird things you like is if you tell them.
The big one for me, and to get some self-promo out of the way, is that a small games anthology I organized for the local Ann Arbor District Library, featuring a point-and-click adventure by me is now out on their website. This was the game I mentioned working on in my dev logs and I’m so proud of this. I’m already seeing things I would maybe fix if I were to do it again, but I’m still happy with how it turned out and I think it’s a fun little adventure game. The anthology also features a cool puzzle game by Flyover Games and a new Game Boy game by Lilycore Games. Anthologies are neat because you get to work with people who are far more talented than you. I’m also just so proud that I got to be part of a series that so many great artists have participated in. Please check out the rest of the Ann Arbor 200 series if you can. I’ll do a larger post on this later with entries I was into and more thoughts on the anthology.
Ok, self-promo time is over. Let’s move onto great games released by other folks:
Dex Vex (Itch.io) is a free browser puzzle game made in Decker. If you’re not familiar with Decker, it is a free tool for making Hypercard-like applications for the browser. So not only is it a fun game, it’s also just impressive seeing people using a tool like this for a puzzle game.
Speaking of Decker, Count Kagura (Itch.io) is a free visual novel made in browsers by swanchime.
And here’s yet another Decker game. Wasteland Mall (Itch.io) is a surreal point-and-click adventure set in a mall. Just seeing all these games with a Macintosh aesthetic makes me want to do an adventure game that feels like it was made with Hypercard. Decker is great.
Alien Intruder (Developer’s site) is a new game for DOS where you save people from aliens and get to the exit. It’s free, really easy to pick up, and it’s always fun for me to fire up DOSBox to play a new game.
Broken Links (Itch.io) is a free puzzle game inspired by the Zelda and Adventures of Lolo series. I thought the pixel art was cute and liked the variety in puzzles too.
Cuppa Quest (Itch.io) is an interactive fiction browser game made in Twine where you’re just trying to get a cup of tea.
pastel sandfish (Itch.io) is a free game where you explore dunes on your hoverbike. I loved the psx-style graphics in this and being rewarded with interesting encounters through exploration.
Lovely Composer (Steam/Itch.io) is a music game inspired by the tool in Mario Paint. I don’t know if it has weird, fucked up baby noises like Mario Paint but it still looks very nice. The Itch page has a trial version if you want to try it out first.
How Am I Still Waiting for the Bus (Itch.io) is a browser game where you are a ghost waiting for the bus and can listen to other people’s thoughts and must also keep your ghost from floating up too high.
in Death we Love (Itch.io) is a 2D cinematic sidescrolling adventure by colorfiction available as Pay-What-You-Want. An earlier version of this appeared in the Cartomancy Anthology, which I also strongly recommend.
If you’re a Ren’Py developer, you might like this script for doing shiny cards on Itch.io.
Girls’ Day (Itch.io) is a short interactive fiction browser game by Nice Gear Games about a memory.
Funeral for an AI God (Itch.io) is a free LARP for four people about attending a funeral for an AI deity.
Assassinvisible (Steam) is a puzzle stealth game set in a student’s notebook. I really like how everything in the game looks like it was sketched on paper.
Escape From PETSCII Castle (Itch.io) is a new free FPS for the Commodore PET inspired by Wolfenstein 3D.
Warhawk (Steam) is a remake of a Commodore 64 game and looks like a pretty snazzy shmup.
In the free browser game Car Artist (Itch.io) you drive around inside a box and try to survive as long as you can by avoiding cars. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a nice little picture made by skidmarks.
John Calhoun, creator of Macintosh classics like Glider and Glypha, made a fun little first-person browser moon lander game called Mooncraft 2000 (website).
Garden of Fools (Itch.io) is a free game made for the Devzone Secret Santa Jam 2024. It’s a 2D roguelike but the combat is like the Mega Man Battle Network series.
Burntime Remastered (Steam) is a free remake of the strategy game of the same name from 1993. I’m not familiar with it but I think it’s really cool that the designers of the original gave the ok for a fan to remake it and put it online for free.
While Christmas may be over, maybe you’re still in the mood for a seasonal game or something to play next year. Verhex the Halls: Merry Crisis! (Itch.io) is a GM-lite tabletop rpg where everyone works together to make this year’s Christmas a successful one.
Ink Inside (Steam) is a co-op beat em up rpg. Those are usually pretty fun!
Divorce Chatroom (Itch.io) is a free visual novel where you must divorce your husband.
Sequence (Itch.io) is a new puzzle game available for the Game Boy for only $1. It’s published by Thalamus, who I feel has a very good record of publish retro and retro-feeling games.
We also got a walking simulator (the dev’s words, not mine) for the Game Boy. Curse of the Mantle (itch.io) is a retelling of the radio play of the same name and available in the browser or as pay-what-you-want.
Well that’s it for this week. If you enjoyed this, subscribe with your RSS feed reader of choice and do a roundup on your blog.
This post is just a compilation of the games I mentioned in my recommendation thread on Bluesky. A lot of folks were doing Steam recommendation threads and thought Itch deserved a mention too. Like the title says, it’s rushed and half-assed since the posts were written right before my baby was waking up. But there’s good stuff in here and I think it’s worth checking out. If you read the indie game roundups then you’ve already seen a few of these but dang it, you should buy these anyway.
I bounce off a lot of space sims because I’m incredibly fussy and like open world stuff but a lot of them are too difficult for me to pick up. Liberation is inspired by 70s British sci-fi and has lots of personality and is easy for me to play
Every month a new issue of the Indiepocalypse games anthology arrives, collecting 10 games, often experimental. It’s an incredible source of games curation and I’ve discovered so many of my favorite game designers through it
Roguecraft screenshot
One of my favorite publishers that’s putting out new games for old platforms is Thalamus. Just earlier this year they published a new roguelike for the Amiga. But there’s plenty of great arcade games for modern platforms like Death Ray Manta and Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon.
Did you know you can buy the classic adventure game Day of the Tentacle on Itch? Plenty of smarter people have explained why it’s one of the best adventure games. I just think it’s neat that it’s on here.
cybeRRRevolution has a better pitch than I can do so I’ll just copy it. It’s described as “an action-adventure game about talking with monsters, piloting godly mechas, and taking down bandits to secure a prosperous future for a nation in a post-war reality.” Also consider checking out the dev’s interactive fiction game Don’t Wake the Night.
It’s the year of the anthology! Anthology of the Killer is another one that’s worth your time! It’s not on sale but you should still buy it.
No indie dev is doing stealth action inspired by Metal Gear Solid better than Merlino Games. Can’t go wrong with any of these.
Videoverse is a visual novel where you explore friendship and love through a WiiU like interface. Itch purchase comes with a Steam key too.
Screenshot from Midnight Scenes 1
Midnight Scenes is one of my favorite modern adventure game series. Short horror games that can be played in one sitting and feature incredible pixel art. They can be played in any order so just get the one that you vibe with the most.
Looking for a game like Thief but in a cyberpunk setting? Check out NEON STRUCT. But I’m a big fan of everything by Minor Key Games.
If you’ve never played a solo tabletop rpg before, give it a shot! There’s plenty of free and pay-what-you-want ones, but Cezar Capacle has made a lot of great ones too like Against the Wind.
You should also consider playing a GM-less ttrpg. An Altogether Different River is a nice one! In a single session 2-4 players build a town and create the characters who live in it and explore their relationships with it.
There’s so many great point-and-click adventures and I’ll plug away at recommending them in this thread when I can, but one I’m a fan of is Cosmic Void. There’s a game for everything. Classic graphic parser adventures, horror, sci-fi, comedy, cyberpunk.
Kitsune Games made the excellent Super Mario Bros 3 spiritual sequel Kitsune Tails. The difficulty levels make it approachable for everyone too.
That’s it for the recommendations! I hope you find something cool to pick up from Itch.io!
I keep banging on about this, but it’s ridiculous to have a GOTY awards show of any kind (they really shouldn’t, they’re all bad) when people are still squeaking in bangers right before the year ends, incredible! If you like these, share them with a friend and then go pick up a weird game during the Itch.io and Steam sales. If I forgot something, please let a comment or send me a message through social media or email. I love hearing about everything.
Video Games
The 2024 Showreel for Godot is highlighting a lot of interesting things made in that engine on YouTube.
Die for the Economy (Steam) is a new game inspired by the classic arcade game Berzerk, featuring psychedelic pixel art and all the robot voices you would hope for from one of these types of games. I played it a bit this morning and it’s probably the best Berzerk-inspired game I’ve ever played. I love the humor about how much capitalism sucks and the difficulty levels make this approachable for any arcade game fan.
Escape from Castle Claymount (Steam) is a free escape room-style adventure game where everything is made from clay and other physical materials and photographed. This was previously released elsewhere but it’s new to Steam and me, plus I lose my mind over claymation in video games, so I think it’s still worth a mention. The art is really cute and there’s a generous hint system if you need help when playing adventure games, like I usually do.
PUNKCAKE Délicieux somehow released TWO games this week! Tummy Bonbons: The Sweet Monster (Steam/Itch.io) is an excellent free arcade game where you are a monster chasing children for candy while dodging crows. Features many color palettes but default is the ALWAYS GOOD cga colors.
The other is Hot Wax (Steam/Itch.io), a Tetris clone that introduces the mechanic of you placing candle blocks and then lighting them so they will melt and set off chain reactions. Currently it’s only on Itch.io but will be released on Steam eventually.
DraculaFlowSimulator (Itch.io) is a browser game made in GB Studio where Dracula drops bars.
WOLFCLAW (Itch.io) is a free game created by Heather Flowers and Noé Charron for the 7Day FPS 2024 jam. You are a werewolf ghost and must claw and eat enemies and possess enemies when the health in your current body is too low. Keep playing until you die and try to get a high score
Santatron 2024 (Itch.io) is a new game for the Amiga inspired by the classic Robotron. Clear rooms of enemies and saves elves to go to the next level. It’s a really solid arcade game and fun excuse to fire up my Amiga emulator (WinUAE). Available as Pay-What-You-Want.
BROK the InvestiGator – Natal Tail, A New Christmas (Steam/Itch.io) is a visual novel set in the BROK the Investigator universe. I didn’t play this yet because I thought I had to play the original adventure game first, but the page description says this is a prequel and it’s not required to play that one at all. The game is free but the devs are accepting donations since it took quite a bit of work to make.
Mini Mini Golf Golf (Steam) is described as “an indie storytelling experience that goes beyond the lanes of the here and now into distant memories of a future planetary collapse. Destabilize the present and plunge into a neon psychohistory of a bizarre entity in distress. This is not a game about minigolf.” I haven’t played it yet but that sounds very cool, I love how it looks, and it has positive reviews so I thought I would share it here.
Creeper World IXE (Steam) is the newest entry in the Creeper World series. It’s sorta like a RTS where you push back against a growing blob using turrets and guns. The last one I played was 3 but I am a fan of the series and didn’t realize it has changed so much over multiple entries.
HURTINGZONE (Itch.io) is a new commercial ZX Spectrum game where you are a nurse delivering to the mutated and it looks like it has a neat horror theme.
Interactive fiction game Ord. is now free on Steam for its 5th anniversary.
TheCabinFactory (Steam) is a first-person horror game where you inspect cabins and decide if they are haunted or not. Available for $2.99 but on sale for its launch.
TTRPG
There truly is a tabletop for everything and the two I’m highlighting this week both come from the Shitpost TTRPG Jam, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad or low effort games. Jersey Devils Don’t Pump Gas (Itch.io) is about the Jersey Devil and how folks in New Jersey don’t pump their own gas.
SO YOU HAVE A BAROMETRIC PRESSURE MIGRAINE (Itch.io) accurately depicts what it’s like to have a migraine.
Don’t have anything snarky to say about anything this week. Not even about The Game Awards! I’m all snarked out! This is going to be another larger post so I’ll try to organize it into more manageable bits, with non-genre specific stuff first and then everything after that divided into categories. I’ll have a game to promote in this next week, which will be nice. If you enjoy playing a game in one of these, tell folks about it online so they can play it too. As usual, if I forgot your game or you have something coming up next week, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email or message on social media.
There were a bunch of games showcases this week as part of The Game Awards. I have a hard time watching that many videos but it feels like the Steam pages have done a decent job rounding up everything, so here’s some of those.
The Yuri Game Jam 2024 (Itch.io) has wrapped up with 110 entries! I’ve only played a couple but would recommend slime feet and Purple, where all the art was made in one of the oldest commercially available art programs: PC Paintbrush 2.x (DOS).
Games for Blind Gamers 4 (Itch.io) starts in a month and has links to previous jams and resources if you are looking to make a game for blind gamers.
Indiepocalypse #59 (Itch.io) is out. I mention these every time an issue comes out and will continue to do so because I’m a giant fan. It’s a monthly anthology containing experimental games and a zine.
Indie Tsushin: 2024 Autumn Issue (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want zine collecting articles from the Indie Tsushin blog, a site that covers indie games from Japan and also features interviews with developers.
The student showcase for Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan is here. I am required to post this because it’s my local community, but luckily the games are good too. Nice work!
Advent Calendars
I don’t know if Advent Calendar is really a genre and they also don’t hit the same when it’s the middle of the month, but here are a few that you can go through and check out.
In this section I would first like to highlight two games seeking crowdfunding, both using methods that aren’t Kickstarter.
Dreams on a Pillow is currently seeking crowdfunding. It’s a stealth adventure game inspired by a historical Palestinian folk tale set during the ethnic cleansing that was the 1948 Nakba. It’s halfway funded with about 30 days to go. The art in this looks incredible.
Neon Hearts City is the latest from adventure game developer Cosmic Void. They are currently crowdfunding to get the budget for voice acting in the game. I’ve been a big fan of their previous games and I’m sure I’ll like this too. There’s a demo on Steam and Itch if you would like to try it first.
The Mansion (Itch.io) is a browser point-and-click adventure created for the Bara Jam where you rescue a friend in a mansion. It features multiple playable characters going into a mansion so does that make this a Maniac Mansion-like? Nice pixel art too!
NoseBound (Steam) is a horror noir point-and-click adventure. I don’t know much about it but Steam reviews so far seem positive and it kinda has a stop motion animation look.
Short Trip (Steam) is a relaxing game where you drive a trolley and transport folks around. I guess this is an enhanced edition of a game I had played a while ago. I really enjoyed that version so I imagine this new one that adds a new gameplay mode with points and stuff is nice too. Even if you’re like me and don’t have an interest in that version, it’s still worth supporting because the original mode is good too. The art looks incredible in motion.
MAVEION (Itch.io) is a free browser game featuring Macintosh inspired art and reminds me a lot of multimedia cd-roms and Hypercard stacks. I have no idea how to solve it but I had fun playing in the space.
Cold (Itch.io) is a survival horror adventure game playable in the browser and made with the classic ZZT!
Grizzly Man (Steam) is the newest from LCB Game Studio. I haven’t played this yet but all their previous games where good, campy horror with some very nice pixel art.
Escape Wizard (Itch.io) is a free browser game that combines survivors games, like Vampire survivors, and shmups. It’s also just an interesting experiment with the survivors format.
3D Don’t Die Mr Robot (Steam) is an arcade game where you avoid all the enemies flying through the level and pick up fruit to cause chains of explosions. I don’t know how I missed talking about this one last week. I was playing a lot of it and trying to get all the achievements for it too and just…..forgot? Anyway, it’s great. Please go play it. There’s a demo too that contains the game’s arcade mode.
Derbis (Itch.io) is a Missile Command-like arcade game made in PICO-8 by Adam Saltzman from Finji. I will always be terrible at Missile Command but it’s a good game.
Weights and Crates Deluxe (Itch.io) is an updated version of a previously release Commodore 64 game, but still available for free. It’s an arcade game where you run on a platform and jump over moving crates. Some temporarily knock you out and others kill you instantly. It’s just a fun and simple arcade game featuring great C64 music and there’s no fussing with an emulator required because it’s playable in the browser.
I will replay Jetpac anytime someone remakes it and someone has done just that in PICO-8 (Itch.io).
Frozen Islands (Itch.io) is an impressive 3D platformer created in PICO-8 for the Christmas season.
Plane Lazy (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want arcade game for the ZX Spectrum where you fly through levels as public domain Mickey Mouse.
Pig in Hell (Itch.io) is a browser game where you’re a pig and must survive for 20 seconds. I really like the paper craft-like artwork.
Reavers of New Rome (Steam/Itch.io) is the newest from Renegade Sector Games. I haven’t played this one yet but all their previous games have the same incredible look and sound that remind me of 80s arcade games but with 90s art I guess?
BALLIONAIRE (Steam) is a game that seems to combine roguelikes with pachinko and features energetic 2D animation. I’ll admit that from watching a stream it seems to be too energetic to me since I’m 90,000 years old, but everyone else seems to really like it so maybe give it a look.
FPS
The 2024 Cacowards have been announced. This is a series of awards for the year’s best Doom WADs. It’s incredible that Doom is over three decades old and the community for it is still making great stuff. Incoming Doom hot take: None of the original developers are at ID anymore and the game should be public domain since Bethesda is just putting dodgy mod browsers in the game that let anyone upload a mod and say they made it.
The Light at the End (Itch.io) is a free fanzine celebrating the now closed Arkane Austin studio and the games Dishonored (2012), Prey (2017), and Redfall (2023)
Interactive Fiction
Hand in the Crusher (Itch.io) is a short erotic sci-fi (horror?) visual novel playable in the browser by Oma Keeling. Fantastic stuff as usual but read the content warnings first if you don’t like gore.
Fledgling Manor (Steam/Itch.io) is visual novel where vampires compete to save their eternal unlives in a high-stakes reality show. Haven’t played it yet but it sounds fun.
Wraithkal writes about the upcoming ShuffleComp interactive fiction game jam. Consider joining!
Puzzle
LOK Digital (Steam) is a new puzzle game where you decipher a cryptic language. I haven’t played a demo yet but it looks nice and has a demo so you can try it yourself.
Dubio (Steam) is a puzzle platformer game where you control a ball moving through ramps and platformers simply by making it jump. It all works very well, is easy to pick up and start playing, and the animation and music was very pleasant to me. It has some very good “juice” as professors teaching game design like to say. The game even has a demo if you want to give it a shot.
RPG
Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated (Steam) is a remake of the game for X-Box Live Indie Games thing for the 360, which they really should bring back. I don’t have an opinion on this game since I haven’t played it yet but I remember liking the original at the time? Other people probably have more interesting takes on this than I do, go look at those.
The Exile Princes (Steam) is described as “a story focused, procedural RPG designed for short playthroughs in which you as a knight gather companions and fighters to bring your house to victory throughout the unique fantasy setting of the Exile Realms”. It just came out an hour ago so I haven’t played it but I will since it’s free!
Tabletop RPGs
Minimalist TTRPG Jam 3 (Itch.io) has wrapped up with 94 entries. The jam is focused on making games with no pictures or much effort spent on layout so the developer can just make games with killer rulesets and to encourage new developers to make stuff.
Stroll & Hike (Itch.io) is a cozy tabletop game available as Pay-What-You-Want where 1+ players create a forest and hiking path. It’s about 40 minutes long.
Aaron King has released two ttrpgs for free. I think these may have been zines before but they have put them on Itch.io for anyone to download. Spice World (Itch.io) is a game based on the Dune book series, not the Spice Girls film of the same name, and is built on the original Traveler ttrpg and Apocalypse World. Since Dark Sun is not getting a revival anytime soon, they also uploaded a supplement for Troika called Troika! Dark! Sun! (Itch.io) that allows you to play in that space. Aaron makes lots of great games. Go check out the rest of the stuff on their Itch page.
I Hope This Email Finds You (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want corporate horror game for two players that’s played entirely through email.
Starfreighter (Itch.io) is a ttrpg in development that just released a free ashcan version. It’s a solo game inspired by Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer, so it’s a game made just for me.
Tools
Impart (Itch.io) is a free, open-source, offline gallery organization tool.
If you’re an adventure game developer, here’s an 8-frame walk template (Itch.io) in PNG and Aseprite format.
Toys
There’s probably a better way to categorize these, but here’s some little games that have no win conditions and you can just play around with them and chill.
There’s a house in the sky (Itch.io) is a cozy browser toy where you build a landscape featuring trees and houses, with no win condition.
No one has better character creators than Rose and FlickSkeleton (Itch.io) is her latest one. You just make cool skeletons in your browser. It’s the best.
Unwrapped (Itch.io) is a parody of Spotify Wrapped by Mike Cook.
Not New But Still Cool
Sometimes I play something that’s older and doesn’t fit into the above, or just want to reshare a game because it’s good and I want more eyes on it. It’s ok to talk about something even if it’s a couple months old.
Did you know that Tom Hall of Commander Keen, Doom, and Anachronox fame is very active in the PICO-8 community? Consider checking out his Christmas games like MYRRH’S EDGE, WHO STOLE THE COAL?, and WHO TOOK THE BOOKS?
A Very Bold Character (Itch.io) is a short and free browser platformer with an art style that kinda reminds me of a game that feels like it could be played on a terminal.
Laura Takes a Stroll (Itch.io) is also a free browser poetic game featuring some nice animation. Use all four arrow keys to navigate the space.
Developer: Jonny Hopkins Publisher: Johnny Hopkins Year: 2020 Genre: Puzzle
In the decades since Tetris was released, there have been hundreds of games inspired by it. Not just clones involving falling blocks but also games that use the famous Tetris block pieces for other types of gameplay. Chesstris 2000 is a recent favorite of mine that does just that. The game combines elements of Tetris and Chess to create something new. Players clear levels by navigating a chess piece attached to a Tetris block though a maze of blocks to an exit square on the board. The Tetris inspiration also comes through in the line clearing mechanic where having a row of 8 squares clears that line. Sometimes you’ll need to clear lines to create room on the board but must also be careful to not eliminate your chess piece. I felt that the levels were well designed and slowly ramp up in difficulty.
I also love how the game sounds and looks. The Itch page cites inspirations like Tetris for Philips CD-i, Tetrisphere, Myst, and educational software, which all contribute to the game’s combination of the vaporwave and utopian scholastic aesthetics that really works for me. If you haven’t seen Tetris for the Philips CD-i before, I highly recommend watching a video of it on YouTube. We’ve had so many rereleases of Tetris games but I’m still waiting for this one. The soundtrack is by Stevia Sphere, using vaporwave music under the Creative Commons license, and fits perfectly with the aesthetic the game is going for.
I really can’t recommend Chesstris 2000 enough if you’re looking for a puzzle game. It’s available as Pay-What-You-Want on Itch and available as both a browser game and download so anyone can play it.
Last week there was some annoying discourse on social media about how no one makes innovative or experimental indie games anymore, but there’s actually a lot of greats folks pointing you to those games so I made a list of some.
This is going to be a very flawed list. I’m probably forgetting a bunch, unaware of others, I can only read English, and this is focusing on places and not specific people at places like PC Gamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun who are doing great work and can be followed on social media, so I want to apologize to you all in advance since it’s incredibly frustrating to see people lament that “(type of game) isn’t being made anymore” when you’re yelling about them every week. I just needed to cut the list off at some point. Hopefully someone smarter sees this list and puts together an even better one on their own site. But I hope this will give you some cool things to add to your RSS feed reader of choice and maybe some new podcasts to listen to.
I’ll also add that since I am an adventure game nerd, this list is going to be leaning more on that genre. Some of these folks cover experimental games than others, but I think they’re all worth a look anyway. I also couldn’t be bothered to separate TTRPGs and video games but you know what, maybe consider giving something other than D&D a try. You deserve better.
Like I said earlier, I know I missed a ton. Please leave comments with links to who you follow!
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