Last year’s Duck Detective: The Secret Salami was one of my highlights of the year. A wonderfully slim yet totally fulfilling 2-3 hour noir satire, the game offered just the right balance between quality humour, puzzles that were both puzzling and made you feel good about yourself, and the all-important quack button. Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping is more…
Get ready to tidy, tinker, and play with your food in Umami, the debut game from indie developer Mimmox. Each stage in a large, 15-course meal contains a handcrafted and hand-painted diorama to which you affix wooden blocks to the 3D board. Rotate, tinker, and test each block’s placement. The…
In a world that is as toxic, complex, and fundamentally unpleasant as…
I’ve written about psychological escape room game Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo before when…
Last year’s Duck Detective: The Secret Salami was one of my highlights of the year. A wonderfully slim yet totally fulfilling 2-3 hour noir satire, the game offered just the right balance between quality humour, puzzles that were both puzzling and made you feel good about yourself, and the all-important…
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Get ready to tidy, tinker, and play with your food in Umami, the debut game from indie developer Mimmox. Each stage in a large, 15-course meal contains a handcrafted and hand-painted diorama to which you affix wooden blocks to the 3D board. Rotate, tinker, and test each block’s placement. The…
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In a world that is as toxic, complex, and fundamentally unpleasant as the one we now live, whimsical, wholesome little things like Tempopo are the escapism we need. It’s a simple puzzle game in many ways, but the sweet, buoyant presentation, and the brilliant way it integrates music into the…
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I’ve written about psychological escape room game Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo before when a demo launched last November. The game promises to blend classic escape rooms with a deeply emotional story. New details about the game have emerged and the first official trailer was revealed during Indie Live Expo. In Type-NOISE:…
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My first glimpse at Woodo was during the Women-Led Games 2024 Summer Showcase. In my recap of the event, I waxed nostalgic about how it instantly transported me back to my childhood, my grandfather’s woodworking shop, and the amazing puzzles he would make us. The cozy 3D puzzle adventure features…
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Developer Choice Provisions is best known for the BIT.TRIP series of games, and it is about to enter the classic realm of another beloved B-titled game: Breakout! Breakout Beyond is a neon-drenched take on the classic 1976 arcade game. Players must break through each puzzle by clearing each block until…
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Every new Wholesome Direct results in my game wishlist overflowing with cute and cozy games. Hovering around the top slots from the showcase’s 2024 edition is Squeakross: Home Squeak Home. (It helps that I love pet rats, having had two pairs in the past: Cow, Pig, Leigh, and Zoe.) The…
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Tetris Forever is, in one sense, not really a collection of games for Tetris fans. The game library includes multiple different versions of Tetris, which is more like a Tetris spin-off than actual Tetris. There are also three different versions of Hatris, which is categorically not Tetris at all. There’s…
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When Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo was announced at Indie Live Expo 2024, it was one among many titles that caught my eye. Unfortunately, the news didn’t make it into my catch-up about the event, but I want to rectify that! Today, a demo for the mind-bending graphic novel adventure RPG about…
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Solo developer Andre Gareis and publisher Dear Villagers have partnered together to launch narrative, non-linear detective game Mindcop. Set to launch later this year for PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, Mindcop puts you in the shoes of the titular detective, trying to determine which of a camp’s inhabitants is a…
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