There's been a lot of big, blockbuster games hitting over the last few weeks, and that can get a bit tiring. So this weekend, as I was perusing the Steam new releases, I spotted a curious-looking game called Void Stranger. I didn't know wh??at to expect, but it had some eager positive reviews and a novel i?dea.

What I got was one of the more pleasant surprises of the year. Void Stranger is a puzzling gem that I haven't been able to get out ??of m??y head.

Made by ZeroRanger studio Systems Erasure, Void Stranger is a puzzle game in the Sokoban genre; essentially, pushing and manipulating blocks. Even if you don't know the origin, you probably recognize the style from games like Baba Is You, Chip's Challenge, or (arguably) Catherine. The vast majority of? your time playing is spent in a Game Boy-stylized world, manipulating the small amount of real estate you have, thinking about how every step, direction, and manipulation can get you toward the next set of stairs.

It goes on and on like this, down flight after flight. Your protagonist is tumbling down a labyrinth, reminding me of games like Dungeon Encounters or another recent indie surprise, Demon Lord Reincarnation. But it has some surprises of its own, too.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSkOdL2zJM4

Made in abyss

As you can tell from the trailer, Void Stranger doesn't just do one look. It's got a whole wealth of gorgeous pixel art it uses to tell its story, in very vague and interpretative ways. It pulls some really clever tricks that will make fans of Inscryption or Doki Doki Literature Club sit up a bit in their seats. I'm hesitant to share any of ?them because at least the first one—involving a brief resp??ite—got several genuine laughs of appreciation out of me.

[caption id="attachment_401909" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Systems Erasure[/caption]

Even just briefly eyeing the discussions happening on the Steam forums, it's easy to tell there's a lot going on in this seemingly straightforward game. What's impressed me about Void Stranger, though, is it's fairly committed to using its medium to convey the mysteries. Within all these deeper explorations and ideas,?? manipulations of things that seem both mind-shattering and game-breaking, it's all still the same sokoban puzzler. Systems Erasure has found some really clever ways of building a deep enigma within the mechanics of its puzzles, and I really dig that.

I don't know if I'll manage to see the bottom of this labyrinth. But if you've grown weary of the AAA bombardment we've had for the last few weeks and want something decidedly offbeat and different, Void Strangers is that. You can pick it up here on Steam or through the Itch.io storefront.

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Simulate a new dwarven life in December

It's time to break earth and set up a new home. The impossibly deep simulator Dwarf Fortress has set a Steam and Itch launch date of December 6, 2022.

This infamous engine for incredible internet stories is often perceived as pretty dense. But as part of the Steam launch, Bay 12 Games is also rolling ou??t several m??ajor draws for newcomers to make dwarven life a bit easier to manage.

First off, the graphical tile set. Rather than ASCII characters moving around, Dwarf Fortress has pixel visuals you can pick up on a bit easier. Modders and community members have made these tools before, but Steam Dwarf Fortress arrives with a packed-in tile set.

Secondly, the new player experience has been updated to include tutorials. Via the Steam page, t?hese tuto??rials will guide you through the process of building your first fortress and keeping all the dwarves inside happy.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K7T5LXQPJI

Other than that, this is largely still Dwarf Fortress. It's still a massive, simulated? world of possibilities and potential?? disaster. All it needs is a few intrepid dwarves.

Building the fortress

Dwarf Fortress has been the subject of many lengthy forum posts and storytimes. Much like EVE Online, it's a game that's? endlessly fascinating to read about, but seems intimidating from the outside too.

With a Steam launch, updated graphics, and new player experience, this might be the time for me to give Dwarf Fortress an honest go of it. I've read enough stories. I'm ready to establish my own beautiful fort??ress??, then watch it fall apart to infighting and chaos.

Developers Tarn and Zach Adams have been working on this game for ages, and seem set ??to keep doing so. And maybe this version is just the right jumping-on point as they dive further into what this simulation can possibly do.

Dwarf Fortress hits Steam and Itch on December 6, 2022.

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The summer getaway just got way bigger

Today is April 1, or April Fool's Day. Many game studios are publishing jokes and fake-outs of potentially cool ideas that aren't happening, but some are actually adding neat ideas. Thankfully, that's the case for A Short Hike, which has a multiplayer mod out today.

A Short Hike developer Adam Robinson-Yu shared the mod on Twitter today. Dubbed A Short Hike 99, this is a PC mod that lets players on Steam, Itch, or GOG set out on their hiking adventure with friends. ??Up to 99 of them, actually.

//twitter.com/adamgryu/status/1509900196003655708

Spurred on by a friend's recommendation that he should announce a Battle Royale version of the chill summer adventure,?? Robinso?n-Yu created the mod. There is no battling though; "just vibing."

This being April 1, I booted up my Steam version of A Short Hike and opted in through the Betas tab to make sure it was real. And sure enough, I was soon greeted by a bunch of other bird pals, flying around?? and hopping on each others' heads.

I still need to play through A Short Hike myself, but this experience may have tipped me over. There was something really enjoyable about not just vibing in the gorgeous world, completing the little quests and activities, but doing so with others. Having random encounters with other players?? and emoting wit??h each other added a little extra joy to it all.

The instructions for getting into the mod are here, and they're pretty easy to follow. While Robinson-Yu says he onl??y plans to keep his own server up for two weeks, others can host their own and even run one in the backgro?und.

He also clarifi?es it's not a beta and it's rough. Essentially, it's just a neat thing he got working and has only tested with, according to Robinson-Yu, "max 10 people." But in the spirit of the ho??liday, it's a pretty fun way to re-experience a nice game, or even see it for the first time.

Check out A Short Hike on Steam, Itch, and GOG here.

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The indie bundle has already raised over $1 million for aid in Ukraine

Indie developers are bundling their games and content together to support Ukraine. The Bundle for Ukraine? on Itch has raised over $1 million?? in aid for the region, and still has nine days to go.

The bundle, hosted by ?Necrosoft Games, has 991 pieces of content in it. These range from indie games to assets, tabletop adventures, books, zines, music, and more. The total of buying it all together would equal about $6,539. The whole Itch bundle for Ukraine is available for a minimum $10 don??ation.

//twitter.com/necrosofty?/status/1500994927378923521

All proceeds will be split between two charities: International Medical Corps, which provides medical assistance in Ukraine, and Voice of Children, a Ukrainian organization that helps children and has been providing additional aid ??like shelters.

Many of these games have never been in a big bundle before, and according to Necrosoft, some even signed up for Itch just to be in this charity bundle. A good cause is reason enough to pitch in and help out, but here's a quic??k rundown of some notable indies in the pack:

• SkateBIRD
• CrossCode
• Celeste
• Kingdom: Two Crowns
• Minit
• Lucifer Within Us
• SUPERHOT
• Sundered: Eldritch Edition
• Baba Is You
• Quadrilateral Cowboy
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!
• Moon Hunters
• TowerFall Ascension
• Long Gone Days

That's just a handful of the almost 1,000 items in the Itch Bundle for Ukraine. As I was writing this story up, the amount raised rose over $1 million, and keeps on steadily going up. Much like the Itch Black Lives Matter bundle, it's a bunch of qualit??y game??s for a really good cause.

If you want to pitch in and keep the numbers going up, you can find the Itch Bundle for Ukraine here.

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For those missing a bit of Masquerade in their life

It's been a while since we heard from the virtual side of Vampire: The Masquerade. But while another Bloodlines may still be a ways off, the Vampire Jam let other developers explore th????e world of the Masquerade.

Vampire Jam ran from Oct. 31 through Nov. 30 of last year, letting developers put together a bunch of games set in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe. Many were created, ranging from visual novels to strategy and role-playing games. You can find all of them, freely available to play here on Itch, and check out a sizzle reel below.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhM_mTodBAo

There were also some incentives for the top picks, though. The World of Darkness team has announced the winners, with first place getting to collaborate with the team to publish as a free-to-play game on Steam, alongside a monetary prize. Second and third place also received a monetary prize, and all three won digital prizes in the form of Vampire TTRPG PDFs and keys for Vampire: The Masquerade games on Steam.

First place went to Heartless Lullaby, an isometric RPG that takes some inspiration from Disco Elysium. The story?? follows a mortal and a vamp??ire, has about an hour and a half of gameplay, and multiple endings.

Praxis took second place with a 4X strategy-RPG hy??brid. Players take control of a Coterie and try to take over Portland, spreadin??g their influence across the map as they go.

In third place was Waning Crescent, a narrative adventure with some gorgeous art about a thin-blooded vampire. It looks lik?e a solid experience for those who like narrative choices and dialogue.

There are a lot of entries,?? spanning a pretty impressive number of genres. I've onl??y taken a cursory look at the full lineup, but here are a few that jumped out at me apart from the aforementioned winners:

• Serenissima is another visual novel with some incredible art.
• If a narrative adventure with more tabletop influence is your style, Triptych of the Well looks to incorporate some classic rolling of the die.
• I'm captivated by the look of A Night at Hotel Lasombra, a pixel RPG in the Vampire world. It feels like Earthbound meets Masquerade.
• Humanity has you in the shoes of a vampire therapist. Absolutely sold. Downloading it now.
• Last Night on Earth has a similarly excellent one-line pitch: an interactive novel about cleaning up after your first kill as a vampire.
• And lastly, if you want some impostor game in your Masquerade, Leech: Amongst Us seems like a Gnosia-esque single-player traitor game.

So while Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been adrift for some time now, at least there are some neat projects using this jam to explore the Vampire world. And if that's not enough, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is set to cap off a stacked spring of games in May.

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What a wonderful night to go on a hunt

The old blood has been ported back to the old-school look. After many updates and teasers, the Bloodborne PSX fan project is now available, free of charge.

You can find the finished project here on Itch. As noted on the page, all content is property of its respective own??ers, and neither Sony nor From Software are affiliated?? with this fan project.

The Bloodborne PSX demake is a 13-month development project from developer Lilith Walther, who also released ??an extended launch trailer to celebrate its launch on Jan. 31, 2022.

//www.youtube.c?om/watch?v=9Pz_T6Kog6k&feat??ure=youtu.be

Alongside the fan game, which extends up through the first two major bosses of Bloodborne, there is also a soundtrack and special cover art available too. The latter does make me hope for someone to port this project to a disc and make a nice physical version of PSX-style Bloodborne.

There are also some cheats in the game, so you can mess around with fun settings after clearing Bloodborne the usual way. A big head, pet dog, and paintb?all mode are all in there. And I'm really curious about the "alter time with right stick" function.

After so many teasers, it's awesome to see this project publicly available. The PSX style has been growing in popularity, and Bloodborne makes a natural candidate for it. As Chris wrote a few months ago, Bloodborne already feels pretty timeless. So why not pop ??it into a time capsule and experience it all again on the classic PlayStation?

If you missed it above, here's the link again to the Bloodborne PSX Itch page. You can also find the developer and her other work through Twitter here.

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See the breadth of breaking and entering in video games

Video games have tackled certain mechanics in wildly different ways over the years. From the jump and run to archery, flight, and dialogue choices, studios all put their own spin on the world. And with the Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking, Dim Bulb Games explores the vast legacy of bre?a??king into places NPCs don't want you to be.

The Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking is essentially a virtual exhibit, housing basic simulations of different lockpicking minigames across the years. It's out on Steam today (with a launch discount). One plaque, at the beginning of the exhibit, remarks that this is intended for game developers seeking a deeper understanding of how others have tackled the lo??ckpic?king problem.

The result, though, is a fascinating look at ex??actly that: how do you make picking a lock engaging? What makes some work, and others not work as well? How can?? picking a lock feel right for your world?

It wouldn't make much sense for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to have the same lockpicking game as Mass Effect, for example. And where rolling a die works for tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, more ?action-oriented games might opt fo?r a sort-of Simon Says approach.

It's a really cool project that collects a host of approaches, along with some history and analysis of each style exhibited, all into one virtual space. And that's the added benefit: you're not just reading about these, but playing them out at your leisure. A nice, game-y inclusion is "The Door." It's a challenge that pits you against lockpicking minigames in succession, like the mountain challenge in The Witness.

If any of this sounds interesting, you can pick up Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking on Steam or Itch.

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And for the low, low price of free

The fall season is quickly approaching, and with it, lots of time for cozying up with a warm drink and something to read. And if it's something in the virtual realm you're looking for, If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers just hit Steam, and completely for free at that.

If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers launched on Itch.io earlier this year, and today, the narrative point-and-click adventure arrived on Steam. The pixelated story was a pay-what-you-want on Itch, and so on Steam, it's completely free, with an optional "Supporter Pack" for $3.99 that contains a PDF art book and?? the original score.

//youtu.be/jbttl6_Yd1Y

The story of If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers follows four different characters in the late 1920s. All four are participating in a masked ball aboard a train, and each has their own story to dive into, with eerie atmo?sphere and horror elements abound.

Four Travelers has been on my backlog for a while now, both because of its overt reference to another literary work and its gorgeous art. The way the world shifts and changes, with little pixels morphing into eerie settings and backdrops, reminds me of other indies like The Charnel House Trilogy.

Maybe that's best suited to October for some frights, but I'm really fascina??ted to see what this point-and-click adventure has going on, and the themes it explores across these four travelers' tales. And for free, and at a runtime that the developers estimate to be about two to three hours, that's not a bad way to spend an evening.

Find If On a Winter's Night, Four Travelers on Steam here.

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Lo-fi realms to quest through

Some games have style that imitates life, some adopt animation techniques and cartoon aesthetics, and then some have a look that just knocks you down flat. Dread Delusion looks like the latter.

Dread Delusion is an upcoming open-world RPG developed by Lovely Hellplace and published by Dread XP, the label behind the Dread X Collection lo-fi horror anthologies. The game itself looks like an expanded version of the one found on th??e "Haunted PS1 Demo Disc," and yeah, it looks like something a haunted PlayStation would create.

//twitter.com/LovelyHellplace/status/1421209819848060??937

Dread Delusion has started making the rounds on social media again, likely because a few folks (myself included) have been discovering it now. And later is better than never, because wow, Dread Delusion is really something to behold. It's got all the eerie, retro-horror vibes that have made games like Cruelty Squad stick out.

It feels like the closest parallel to draw to Dread Delusion would be something like The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. In the Steam description, developer Lovely Hellplace says it's an open-world RPG focused on player choice, w??ith either a central quest to follow or optional content to uncover through exploration. Of c?ourse, those areas that lie off the beaten path probably have some creepy monsters, so, adventurer be warned.

A visual aesthetic can get me in the door, but the more I've read about how Dread Delusion is? looking to have some RPG systems like magic, trading, and speaking with the local townsfolk, the more I think this might be one to keep an eye on. There are plenty of fantasy journeys to go on, but I'm digging ones that look as unique and intriguing as this.

Dread Delusion is aiming to launch on PC, though no date's been set yet. Keep an eye on it through Steam or Itch, and check out the free demo here.

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See your deliveries through and possibly destroy the moon, too

There are plenty of games about the mechs that do battle in war, but what about the ones moving supplies behind the lines? Can Androids Survive is a new short-form game about carrying out deliveries as a battlefield ??courier, and it's out right now on Itch.

As a walking supply truck of a mech, Can Androids Survive has the player navigate around various obstacles and hazards while dealing with their fuel gauge. While you undertake your mission to deliver supplies on the war-??torn Moon, you might also learn a bit about yourself, and what your existence really is. And, apparently, you blow up the Moon at some point.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP8e70Tresg

Can Androids Survive is written by Can Androids Pray writer Xalavier Nelson Jr., who also wrote this year's An Airport For Aliens Currently Run by Dogs. It's developed ?by aPriori Digital??, with music by Priscilla Snow and sound design from Audiac Audio.

This mech-delivery sim is available now on the Itch.io storefront for $14.99, though plans are in place for a conso?le release in early 2022.

Now, I do love some good giant robot combat. But I'm pretty intereste??d in this take on mechanized warfare as well. Seeing a version of war that shows the logistics behind the front?lines, while letting you view the carnage from a different point of view, sounds pretty intriguing.

If you're into the idea of Death Stranding with a lunar, mechanized twist, this might be up you?r alley.

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