#Game recs

[insertdisc5]

TIMELOOP GAMES REAL!??!??!!

hi i made a timeloop game called In Stars and Time and this is a whole post about other timeloop games you can also play.

some i liked. some i loved. some i didnt like. all are worth playing and like also listen the second friends and family heard i was making a timeloop game, i got bombarded with timeloop media recs. so here is a sampler in no particular order! NOTE: knowing some of those games are timeloop games is a spoiler. but. you are here. for timeloop games. so timeloop games you shall have

Outer Wilds

If you need to play one timeloop game, it's this one. Please play it blind. I swear to god you won't regret it. it's timeloops in space!!! it makes you think!!! there are so many "HOLY SHIT WAIT I GET IT NOW" moments!!! please just go play it please please please. some of the best environmental storytelling in a game. so many hints in plain sight. JUST PLAY IT

[way more timeloop games under the cut]

Oxenfree

I didn't actually like Oxenfree very much. But also it stayed in my mind for weeks after I finished playing it. that's how you know it's a good game. I really enjoyed the dialogue system in this, and how much the loop affected the characters. and it got so spooky!!!

Hikeback

i'm in the credits for this one because i was one of the inspirations heehee <3 i loved playing it… short little game about trust, self-sabotage, and never-ending cycles. highly recommend it

The Stanley Parable

Listen babes it absolutely counts. I replayed it a bunch while making ISAT, and I got immensely inspired by the dialogue, and how it catches you off guard sometimes? You get SO SO used to the narrator's "All of his coworkers were gone. What could it mean?" at the start of every game, and then for no reason instead it says "A soft wind blew outside and perhaps rain started, and if it did it stopped shortly after. Stanley hoped that he would one day see weather." like WHAT THE FUUUUCK IM GETTING CHILLS JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

12 minutes

ok i know we all made fun of this game when it came out because the story is batshit insane HOWEVER!!!!!!!! i REALLY REALLY LOVED how doing the same actions multiple times would have slightly different outcomes. If you battle someone, the first time you get knocked out in one hit and the loop restarts. the second time you try, you evade the first hit, but get knocked out. the third time, you last a little bit longer, and a little bit longer, until you can pretty much hold your own against your enemy. And it applies to so many things in this. Retrying different things to see how they would change was a delight.

this game is also so bad its almost good, and if you're interested you HAVE to play it with friends so you can yell about how bad it is together.

Zero Escape

it's just a good series ok. escape rooms, and also time loops! the 3rd game in particular goes deep into The Math of how timeloops would work, which i think is interesting. sometimes timeloop games just go "yeah you can timeloop dont worry about it" and others go "OK HERE'S THE HOW AND WHY IT WORKS" and both are interesting!

START AGAIN: a prologue

this game has almost everything i could wish for in a timeloop game. depression. lines repeating. dying brings you back. you get new levels and skills because you're aware of the loops but your party members don't. so you get overpowered next to them and they Notice. just. party members who dont know about the loops still noticing something is wrong. you are acting differently than yesterday. you look sad. you are acting weird. you know too much. how did you know where the keys were? how did you know this would happen? what's wrong? talk to us. and oh my god this game has a sequel? which will probably have Actually Everything i could wish for in a timeloop game? i can't wait. who made this? (its me i made this)

Ghost Trick

ok its not really time loops and more time travel and only for 4 minutes HOWEVER!!!! you should play it. you know you should play it because everyone says so. so go play it

Elsinore

im sure its a great game but ive never seen/read hamlet. so thats a failing on my part. because. you absolutely need to know hamlet to understand this game lol i did like the whole "make sure to find out which events are Important and which ones aren't so you can have The Perfect Loop"! very fun. or it would be. if i. knew. hamlet

The Forgotten City

a friend kept recommending it to me and i didn't like it. its good! just not for me. but if you like to think a lot you should play it. another "make sure to find out which events are Important and which ones aren't so you can have The Perfect Loop" game

Gnosia

Gonna be real. I didn't like the story very much, in part because the game lets you choose your gender but still acts like youre a straight dude. HOWEVER the gameplay was very inspiring to me. Every loop is pretty much just an among us meeting, and you have to find out who the imposters are or everyone dies and you loop again. and sometimes you ARE the imposter, so you need to make sure no one finds out. or you loop again. rules get added as time goes on too. i REALLY loved how quickly the loops stacked up. seeing "loop 100" was such a nice moment. ive been here so long! i tried to recreate that somewhat for my own game…

Loop Hero

Technically not a timeloop game, but a loop game. It still absolutely counts because it's about loops and memories, and what are loops and memories together if not a timeloop. You have your little guy going through a closed loop, battling enemies, getting cards, and making the world whole again by using those cards to make forests, towns, lakes come to life. I am famously a Story First Gameplay Second kinda player, but I did play this 45h for the gameplay alone. I learned a lot about battle balancing and randomness by playing this!

You and Me and Her: A Love Story

you know doki doki litterature club? this came before. and one might say. it's. better. in some parts (and i say that as someone who LOVED ddlc!) i won't say much except it's a dating sim but with timeloops. with a lot of what it implies. why are you dating this girl a second time? a third time? a fourth time? choose another one already! it was such a fascinating game to play, and is incredibly meta in the way it talks about dating sims and visual novels. had a lot of very impactful moments however, i played the hentai version. some of the worst, most cringy sex ive ever read and heard. however, one might say the sex is an integral part of the game and its deconstruction of hentai/dating sims…? no. just play the steam version which doesnt have the horrible sex scenes and you will have a great time i think (or play the hentai version. if you like. to watch. horrible sex scenes???)

Higurashi

knowing this is a timeloop game is a massive spoiler. however, this game is more than a decade old, so,,, honestly if you havent played higurashi what are you doing. i know i just spoiled you on it but i was also spoiled on it and i can GUARANTEE YOU that you will still have an amazing time. one more thing. you gotta play with the original sprites or you're a fake fan

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

starts as a visual novel/management sim/dating sim kinda thing, until you realize that every replay is a new timeline. so the main character can save people, because they remembered about them dying in a previous one. i wish the timeloop would affect the game/story more (let me find a certain character quicker once ive found them in a previous playthrough!!!), but timeloop aside, it's a very fun game to play!!!

that's it! hope you will find a nice timeloop game you like

[arimiadev]

spooky indie visual novels you've never heard of for spooky season

since it's October I thought I'd put together a list of spooky indie visual novels (horror, Halloween, creepy, dark comedy, anything in the spirit of the season goes) that you've probably never heard of but can play right now on itchio!

model employee

Model Employee is a corporate horror visual novel. Just discharged from the hospital and massively in debt for their life-saving cybernetics, the player-character must adapt to the “extreme” work-life balance of a Tethys Team Member- but they have help. Penny, the artificial personality that controls all security, waste disposal, and employee surveillance in the facility, specializes in reinforcing an especially cutthroat variety  of workplace culture- and she’s taken an interest in you.  If you want to get ahead in your career, you gotta be willing to take some risks.

model employee is such a tightly structured visual novel for being made in just one month for a game jam, making full use of everything while surprising you at every corner. every part of this game was so well planned and thought out- dystopian corporate satire isn’t my cup of tea (we’re living it) but the way they present everything in this game makes it feel so much more intense.

beary the hatchet

It’s Halloween 199X, and you killed someone during your morning shift. Honestly it’s inconvenient. This job was imperfect, sure, but you got to wear a mask with no questions asked and the pay was livable. But now you’ll have to keep the body in the backrooms till your shift is done. Bummer. “You’re… the absolutely WICKED and AWESOME Bearwater Grizzly Killer, aren’t you?!” …and now enters the dreaded true crime fan.

beary the hatchet is such a uniquely lovely game to look at, even if the subject matter is grim. I love the color palette and tones in this, I love the 2.5D graphics, I love how expressive all of the designs are. it’s a game oozing with style.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL

Anyone can kill the devil; that’s why they always make teens the vampire slayers, the magical girls. But some kids can’t even get that right; and that’s why meangirl Neptune, tomboy Jupiter, and shy shy Venus have to endure one more week of summer camp and each other, singing boring songs about jesus, doing busywork for adults, and hoping god’s radio can’t hear them. Before they can leave the summer scouts, they’ve got to spend twelve hours in the loneliest cabin in the woods and wait for the devil to come and live through the night–or not. You know.

it’s a visceral experience, something that feels foreign and familiar at the same time. I love the direction for it, the sketchy monochrome sprites against the colored photos- parts when there aren’t any characters on screen feel that much more real, like you’re watching found footage because of how tense everything is.

disconnect

Late at night, a phone call from a friend keeps disconnecting from you… On and off, on and off, constantly… …What would you do if you realized your friend wasn’t who you thought they were? And how would you react when the truth was finally revealed? (“̷̢̑W̸̨̊o̸̫͊u̷̱͝ḽ̸͛d̴͉̐ ̵̚ͅy̵̜̽o̸̥͗u̷̮̎ ̷̜̏s̶̤̄t̸̥͐i̴̻̕l̸̰͝l̸͉̓ ̷͕́ȁ̸̩c̸̡̓t̵̜̊ ̵͓̈t̶̙̄h̶̦͂e̸̩͠ ̸̩̅s̶̘̏a̷̪͛m̵̮͒e̴͖͑ ̸̭́w̷̨̚á̴̱y̵̯̑?̶͎̌"̷͈̆) Find out what happened to our scaredy-cat protagonist, Indie－a famous horror storyteller on the H-T-M (Horror, Tales, and Mystery) forum. What would she do when she unintentionally uncovered a mystery hidden deep within her own home?

I love the style of disconnect and the unorthodox way of getting to the truth of the matter. I’m not normally one to play furry VNs, but the designs are adorable and I love the presentation of the game, it has a lot of animation in it. there’s also one moment not too far in on this screen that made me scream…

curse of the juniper tree

Curse of the Juniper tree is a tale of two siblings, a cursed tree and an isolated village. It is a short kinetic visual novel featuring 2d exploration. Walk around the snowy village and talk to its inhabitants! Story is loosely based off the fairytale called The Juniper Tree by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm’s Fairy Tales in 1812.

this is a lovely and short story about two siblings living in a frozen land together. it’s a very atmospheric story with so many beautiful blues and detailed character designs. the controls were a bit hard to figure out at times but it’s worth your time.

reaplaced

Grea Perrim is a reaper of souls, and it’s her duty to bring the deceased to the other side. But in the world of reapers, death isn’t any kind of equalizer. The value of a soul is directly tied to the peculiarity of its death. Grea’s supernatural senses bring her to a Halloween house party with three costumed guests. She soon finds the most valuable kind of soul: the victim of a locked-room murder. In order to reap the soul, Grea must unravel the identity of its killer and explain its death in full. Is this the work of a human? A witch? Or something else entirely…?

reaplaced is a fun little whodunnit set on Halloween about a grim reaper out on the hunt who finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. it’s much more indepth than I was expecting and the soundtrack is wonderful—there’s a lot of small touches to it that make it great.

Silver Thread

An exorcist that doubts the existence of ghost might sound contradictory but to Alicia Wilkershire, this is the right way to get closer to the truth. Her latest job sounded like another run-of-the-mill case and she greeted her client with her usual pessimism but is it, really?

Silver Thread is a spooky and short RPGM game about a skeptical exorcist trying to help a guy with his problems. the style is lovely and if you also like this kind of style, the developer has several other RPGM games like this!

Elevator Hitch

Elevator Hitchis a short 2.5D surreal horror/escape room visual novel with point-and-click and puzzle elements following the story of two co-workers suddenly finding themselves stuck together in a "Perfectly Normal" 70s office elevator.  They must explore each liminal-looking floor and find a way to get off the elevator to their actual destinations.

like a few others on this list, Elevator Hitch was made in just a month for the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam and was my favorite game from the year it came out (2022). it's more of an adventure style game than pure visual novel, so expect puzzles and a lot of bad ends! this developer also has a lot of other similar style adventure visual novels.

The Case of the Serialized Killer

When a popular illustrator is found dead, disgraced demonologist Harold Ludicael is hired to summon her ghost. Ghosts are the one thing he can't summon, but with sharp insight, perhaps he can solve the mystery, and resurrect the most important thing: His career.

this visual novel is an absolute feast on the eyes as all of the art is done by traditionally painted watercolor artworks! the characters are all unique and the world feels very lived in. if you like murder mysteries then check it out.

Stillwater

"𝕊𝕖𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕥 𝕒 𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕖…" A woman arrives with a mysterious letter in hand addressed to her grandfather. Etched in crimson is a foreboding message, a warning—a promise made from a time forgotten. Private Investigator Hugo Laurent and his assistants must solve this bizarre case before an old family's curse befalls them all.

Stillwater is a lovely looking game - I love everything about the art direction for it. it's not overly scary but very atmospheric with several endings to find.

Who is the Red Queen?

Alice falls down the rabbit hole into a Wonderland not quite right. Meeting an eclectic collection of people, animals, and some things in between, she sets out on an adventure in this odd new place to find the missing Red Queen. Or, more specifically, to find the pieces of the dismembered queen whose body has been strewn across the land.

a familiar but new take on Alice in Wonderland, now with a lot more yuri. like a lot of the VNs I've recommended, this was originally made in just 1 month. this one in particular has a lot of dead ends, mention of gore & dismemberment, and other content warnings.

okay now that you've made it this far I'm going to promote my gay horror / Halloween visual novels

Asphodelium

Hazel is an ex-adventurer who's settled down with some of his previous guildmates after the adventure of a lifetime—taking down a doomsday cult that tried to end the world, but at the cost of killing their former guild leader who turned against them. Despite their adventure still haunting him months later, he's tried to move on. —That is until a man with the same face as their guild leader approaches him. This is a story about cults and killing and killing cults. And being in love.

Asphodelium is a melancholic dark boys love visual novel that I made solo in about 3 months. it's entirely in NVL mode (I love you NVL) and around 3 hours long and my personal favorite game I've made so far.

Dahlia

a vampire has snuck into your room while you were sleeping. the only question is - are you next on her menu? Dahlia is a very short sapphic visual novel made in under 36 hours for the Velox Formido game jam, a jam for shortform visual novels. survive being trapped with a lovely little vampire, or don't.

also NVL mode because I love NVL mode. this is a short and sweet vampire visual novel I made solo in a weekend for a game jam that has several different endings.

Witch You Want

With a rather sparkly magical paper, you find a job listing for a local witch needing an assistant with making potions before the town festival that weekend. You sign up, unsure exactly what to expect...... A pompous and questionably excellent witch runs a local apothecary in town but finds that if she wants to make enough potions before the festival that weekend to sell (and keep her ongoing potion shop afloat) she'll need some assistance. After a dubious help wanted ad, she gains you as an assistant. Will the two of you see through to the festival? Will you be able to make a single potion? Will this girlfailure capture your heart?!

this is my latest visual novel that released just a few days ago! I directed & programmed this short cutesy game for a game jam at our studio. it's pretty fluffy romcom with a potion minigame in it. please help our girlfailure make potions, she needs all the help she can get.

[stealthnoodle]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist flew under my radar until a friend recommended it to me, and now I am fully obsessed so here's me passing the recommendation on!

Do you like visual novels? Skill management? Timeloops? Deckbuilding? Gorgeous art? A whole bunch of fantastic queer characters? Staggering numbers of events and endings that respond to a staggering number of choices you make?

Then you should play this game and come scream in my ask box about it! I have said both "uh-oh" and "yesssss" out loud multiple times while watching the consequences of my actions play out. Absolutely delightful. Enjoy a little bit of screenshot propaganda:

Living my best/worst life

Exploring in the pink

Behold my self-insert

Also, you can have up to four different pets following you around and one of them is THIS cutie

[artsekey]

A Spectacular, Spooky Spectacle!

I feel like I always preface these little game recommendations with, 'I'm not a gaming blog, but...', so I'll spare you this time.

(This post is not in any way sponsored-- I just like highlighting games that really knock it out of the park!)

Beacon Pines is a well-paced choose-your-own-adventure game with a compelling narrative that delivers at every turn. You step into the shoes of 12 year old Luka only a few months after his mother goes missing. Armed with nothing but the help of his good friend Rolo, the sly wit of his newest neighbor Beck, and the power of Charms, it's up to him to unearth the truth behind their quaint town... and save it from catastrophic ruin.

Without spoiling anything, Beacon Pines is gameplay light. Instead, it takes it's cues from the visual novel genre... with a twist. The story unfolds as a narrator guides you through the various chapters, and through your journey you'll encounter branches where one word makes all the difference. That's where you come in! Using the collection of terms you pick up by exploring the world, you can radically alter the course of fate. You'll rarely get everything right on your first try, but don't worry-- even failure is rewarded with new clues, new threads of the mystery, and new hooks that will draw you further into the story.

Sitting at a runtime of 5-7 hours, Beacon Pines is short but satisfying. The art is bright, fun, and well-rendered. The characters are all well written, and the music perfectly encapsulates whatever mood the story demands-- whether it's the comfort of a slow morning or a warning of danger in the dark.

However, the thing that really sets Beacon Pines apart from other visual novels is the writing! The mystery is a fun romp that keeps you guessing, the "multiple paths" mechanic is executed so well that you never really feel like you've made a bad choice, and best of all, the characters and their interactions feel sincere. I found myself smiling, laughing, sometimes stunned silent, sometimes teary-eyed... Though the game is short, the world is just deep enough for the story and it's characters to swim.

Beacon Pines is really just... sweet and genuine. I think that's the best way to describe it. If you need something to whittle away a few hours and get away from it all and like story-driven games, give Beacon Pines a go! It was recently on sale for $4.00, but it usually retails for $20.00.

For reference, other games I love that I'd put in a similar category (note, not the same-- I'm mostly looking at high-quality narrative games here! I'm providing this so you can decide if my taste aligns with yours!):

Firewatch

Oxenfree

Disco Elysium

TellTale Games (Tales of Monkey Island, Tales from the Borderlands, etc)

Inside

Night in the Woods

Slay the Princess

[kaiasky]

oh btw. so Heat Signature (you are on a spaceship with a wrench. slowly disassemble security patrols without raising the alarm. Then, when everything goes south, you have 30ish seconds to achieve your mission and jump through a window into hard vacuum or you'll get captured) is one of my fav games of all time.

the devs have released the free demo of their new xcom/into the breach inspired wizard tacticool tactics game. which i, personally, am very excited about

[homeofhousechickens]

If you live in corn country you would like this game

[sang-the-sun-in-flight]

In Stars And Time is really really good. same weight class as Undertale, as far as "indie RPGs that permanently rewrite a part of your brain" go. go play it. $20. 30+ hours of gameplay, depending on how neurotic and meticulous you are. this game is gnawing on my brain like soft pine.

[nonbinary-octopus]

hi if you like G/t and point and click puzzle escape room games then you should check this one out

I haven't finished it yet but I've played two other games by the same devs and absolutely loved them, and I am super charmed by the gt vibes in this one. You are a little clay person trapped in a tiny building, and all the stuff around you is made of various full-size items. Your desk is corrugated cardboard. Your pillow is an eraser. The plant pot is a thimble. There's tape holding stuff together. It is absolutely adorable and I am loving it

The game is called Escape from Castle Claymount, and it's on CoolMathGames as well as probably other places. Very fabulous, very wonderful

[frogsbeesandmushrooms]

Hey yall, what (preferably cheap) games should I get off steam. I really enjoy horror story games (Slay the princess, Omori, Mouthwashing) and cute cozy games (Little Witch in the Woods, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing)

Give me suggestions please!

Also the thing about horror story games is that I really like there to be actions you can do, side quests, fighting like Omori, so if anyone knows simpler games that have a decent fan base that would be amazing!

[greetings-inferiors]

So I'm 20 games through UFO 50, only completed like 5, slowly making my way through the collection at my own pace. It's pretty good. But I just want to say one thing:

Mooncat is quite literally one of the most magical experiences I've played in my life. There's nothing like it. The controls make you feel like a newborn taking their first steps. The music is ethereal and intoxicatingly beautiful. The mystery of what you are, who the mooncat at the beginning is, why they were walking through the first level of the game, what is the connection to barbuta... I've only beaten one ending, but I want to come back for more. Replaying it, I've found some cool tech. Double tapping a movement button does a dash, and inputting a jump while ground dashing will always net you a jump at the end of the dash, even while airborne, thus letting you get insane horizontal distance, especially since you have an air dash. The game's just so cool. I'm really sad that campanella is the game that got a trilogy since I think it's just okay, compared to barbuta and mooncat that have become two of my favourite gaming experiences. I mean, maybe there's a third one, but it's harder to tell since the only way I know that mooncat's connected to barbuta is that it says so in the description (and a spoiler, go play the game).

Anyway my other favourites have been bug hunter, Bushido blade (although Yamada can suck my nuts) and velgress (although I've hardly gotten past level 1, it's just really fun)

I'm really looking forward to the jrpg because, y'know, big jrpg fan.

[hymnism]

release the list

i feel like i should mention these are all games ive personally played so if any of these make you go "why isn't [GAME] on here it's probably cuz i personally haven't played it. anyway

(obligatory mention to hades/disco elysium/omori since they're some of my favorite indie games but im sure everyone already knows about them. they are lovely games and you should play them 👍)

also ill use 🔸️ to indicate games that are still in early access so be warned that these games will probably be incomplete/buggy (but still worth playing imo)

darkest dungeon ($25) - turn based roguelike where you recruit mercenaries and send them on dungeon explorations and make sure they don't die of stress or starvation alongside the regular monster attacks. notoriously difficult. imagine bloodborne but turn based

ftl: faster than light ($10)- real time roguelike where you control a small crew and pilot a spaceship on the run from a rebel fleet. manage power and weapons on your own ship while targeting critical systems on the enemy

loop hero ($15)- a roguelike where your character will automatically walk in a loop while you use cards to add terrain with different effects such as spawning monsters to give you loot or increasing your healing. very unique with a beautiful pixel artstyle and banger soundtrack

moonlighter ($20)- a roguelike rpg where you go dungeon diving and try to bring back as much loot as you can so that you can sell it in your shop

🔸️shadows of doubt ($20)- a first person sandbox detective simulator where each case is procedurally generated. randomly generates a town with npcs that all have names and addresses and relationships. put together clues from a crime scene and try to catch a killer before they strike again. work odd jobs between cases to keep yourself fed and housed

ultrakill ($25) fast paced first person shooter with a style system ala devil may cry. you play as a robot fighting through the layers of hell. mankind is dead. blood is fuel. hell is full

crypt of the necrodancer ($15)- a rhythm based roguelike dungeon crawler where you and your enemies are only allowed to move on beat. banger soundtrack goes without saying

everhood ($10)- a rhythm based rpg where you play as a red doll who had their arm stolen and is trying to get it back. battles involve moving between 5 lanes to avoid enemy attacks. if you like undertale you'll like this

spiritfarer ($30)- management and adventure game where you play as a spiritfarer who needs to care for spirits on her boat before leading them into the afterlife. incredibly charming and touching game. you will cry

let's school ($20)- management sim where you build and manage a school and help students graduate by setting up different courses. addicting and has a very cute artstyle

let's build a zoo ($20)- management sim where you. well where you build a zoo. a very silly game that includes a morality system where you can choose to be eco friendly and help repopulate endangered species or you can exploit your animals for their meat and produce. also has an animal splicing mechanic. haven't you ever wanted to make a giraffe with a duck head

🔸️the wandering village ($25)- a city builder with the twist that you live on the back of a giant wandering beast named onbu. you help care for onbu as he wanders though different biomes that force you to adjust your resource production as some things become unavailable (such as water in a desert)

frostpunk ($30) a survival city builder where you build around a central core and try to prevent everyone from freezing to death in progressively colder temperatures

monster sanctuary ($20)- a metroidvania style creature collector with a unique combo meter that will continue to build and increase your damage based on the number of "hits" you can perform (healing buffs and shields also count as hits) and each monster has different skill trees that you can upgrade and customize

coral island ($30)- farming life sim with a unique underwater area where you can live and farm and raise aquatic plants and animals. you work to help restore the island after and oil spill ruined the surrounding ocean. i should mention that although this game is technically not in early access it is still unfinished and missing large chunks of gameplay/interactions/story. however there is still a healthy amount of content and is still a fun game as it is

apico ($20)- a beekeeping sim where you keep bees to make and sell honey while also breeding and releasing them to help restore their numbers in the wild

spirittea ($20)- a management and life sim where you manage a bathhouse for ghosts and help the townsfolk who think they're haunted (they're right). basically a cross between stardew valley and spirited away

🔸️cloud meadow ($20)- this is a porn game ⚠️ a farming sim where instead of regular animals you have anthro characters and you can breed them yourself or with each other and have them help in combat or on your farm. very cute artstyle and amazing animation work

[arimiadev]

recommendations of visual novels on sale for the steam winter sale 2024

steam's winter sale just started and will run for the next two weeks, so if you're looking for a new visual novel to try (or want to get into them), here's a lot that I've played that are on sale on steam.

umineko when they cry

the ushiromiya family returns to the family head's home on an isolated island for their annual conference with the intention of settling how his vast amount of wealth is divided. instead, though, a letter is left from someone claiming to be a "witch". with the ushiromiyas dropping dead left and right, the mystery behind everything remains to be solved by you, the reader.

I can't make a recommendation list without mentioning umineko. it's life changing. it might even trans your gender. it's hard to describe umineko, but just know that it's absolutely deserving of the "cult classic" tag.

notes:

kinetic/linear - no choices

VERY long, 120+ hours (over all 8 episodes)

divided into two games on steam - Questions Arcs is the first 4 episodes and Answers Arcs is the last 4 episodes (8 episodes in total, play Questions Arcs first)

created by Ryukishi07, creator of Higurashi

fantasy vs mystery

ace attorney

follow phoenix wright as he embarks on his career as a lawyer to help people. meet a variety of clients and prove their innocence by collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and exposing lies in court.

ace attorney is a classic mystery visual novels, being a blend of point-and-click elements via investigations and visual novel storytelling. the steam port is a massive collection, combining the first 3 games (the original phoenix wright trilogy) as 1 game.

notes:

investigative gameplay segments, a good chunk of the story is point-and-click parts

pretty long for the whole trilogy- each game is around 20 hours long and the steam edition is 3 games

modern mystery with supernatural elements

ai: the somnium files

play as detective kaname date as he hunts down a serial killer using a cutting-edge technology which allows him to "psync" with a person, diving into the memories of others to solve crimes in a limited amount of time with the help of his AI assistant/eyeball Aiba.

aitsf is a lot. it's probably the raunchiest non-eroge game I've ever played and despite my low tolerance for dirty jokes I found most of it to be laughable and a fun experience, though I did play this with friends. if it's a miss for you, it's gonna miss you by a wide margin, but if it's a hit for you, you're going to be recommending it nonstop. either way you'll want to hit kaname date with a car.

notes:

long, around 25-35 hours

this game heavily relies on going back to prior choices via their branching menu to try other options in order to get the full story (and true ending). there are several endings to this game but you're meant to play through them all, not just one or two.

a lot of gameplay and interactive segments

sci-fi mystery

english voice acting

witch on the holy night

aoko aozaki is a highschooler who has to balance her class president, perfect grades life with her secret afterschool life of being a mage—a secret she has to keep at the risk of death. keeping this balance already isn’t easy but one day she gets a wrench thrown into it with the introduction of a transfer student, soujuurou shizuki, a country boy so out of touch that he’s never seen electricity before.

I love witch on the holy night so, so much. it's one of the most beautifully directed visual novels ever made with so much love and care put into each frame. the cast is wonderful (touko my beloved) and it's a must-read for anyone who likes modern-ish fantasy.

notes:

kinetic / linear - no choices

long, around 25-30 hours

originally written by kinoko nasu, one of the co-founders of type-moon and creators of fate/stay night. has some relation to tsukihime and garden of sinners but you don't need any knowledge of those going in

modern-ish (1980s) fantasy with lots of talking about magic

ghostpia

a snowy town filled with "ghosts" is where the young woman sayako finds herself trapped, feeling like she doesn't belong and wants to leave this town where no one dies.

it's hard to describe ghostpia. it's a surreal-ish story about "ghosts" where every character is quirkier than the last but every part is made with so much heart behind it. you never really know where the story is going, but unfortunately only 1 season is currently out on steam.

notes:

medium length, around 10 hours

very innovative and unique use of visuals and paneling

surreal-ish (sometimes violent) fantasy

please be happy

as a shapeshifting fox called a "gumiho", miho has traveled the world in search for a traveler who showed her kindness many years ago. afraid of sticking around in one place for too long, miho has never stayed anywhere for more than a few nights- but all of that changes when she arrives in wellington, new zealand and meets the barista/writer aspen and the vampire archivist juliet.

okay I did work on this one but hear me out. please be happy was a labor of love for our team that took over 3 years to make and is a slice of life story about love, trust, and what it means to be human. and you get to play as a gay fox girl voiced by dottovu.

notes:

medium to long, about 20 hours

2 romanceable ladies, aspen and juliet, and a plethora of side characters to meet via a map system

modern slice-of-life fantasy

english voice acting

WE KNOW THE DEVIL

find yourself back at summer camp with all the queer religious horror of it.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL is a short, atmospheric and slightly surreal story about 3 teens at a religious summer camp waiting for the devil. if you want something that feels familiar and otherworldly at the same time, this is right up your alley.

notes:

very short, about 2 hours

3 endings and 1 true ending

isolation, psychological horror

fate/stay night

seven mages known as masters summon heroic and fictional characters from the pantheon of history to fight it out over the ultimate magical item - the holy grail.

fate/stay night is one of the most well-known visual novel properties out there and it's finally not only available in english officially but on steam! this remaster is a treat and done with a lot of care put into it, it's a great way to get into the fateverse if you've never tried it before.

notes:

pretty long, 70+ hours

3 routes / heroines to be with with lots of bad endings

modern fantasy, battle royale

mamiya

the end of the world is near. what will you do in the final months? and who is this "MAMIYA" who proclaims their love for you?

MAMIYA is a dark mystery visual novel about a group of guys who meet during the funeral for a friend, a stranger, a passerby, and become entangled in the web of an entity known as "MAMIYA". the presentation and style feels fresh.

notes:

check out the content warnings before reading

medium length, but is segmented into a lot of chapters that make it easy to pick back up

dark modern mystery with supernatural elements

a date with death

the grim reaper contacts you saying he wants your soul. naturally, you respond...with flirting??

a date with death is a free game but it does have paid DLC so I'm including it here because I want to. it's a comfy chatsim romance visual novel about, well, courting the grim reaper.

notes:

short, around 8 hours for the base game

customizable protag

1 male love interest

cute modern supernatural romance

twofold

Olive has 1 last chance to graduate college - pass a filler class. when their situation comes to light, 2 club presidents agree to help them but end up dragging them in the middle of their feud...

I also worked on this one. the writing and art is truly charming and heartfelt. it's a story about romance but also relationships in general - friendships, platonic relationships, familial bonds, etc. this visual novel took several years to be completed and the final result is one made with a lot of love.

notes:

medium, around 15-20+ hours for both routes

nonbinary protagonist, 2 female love interests

modern slice-of-life, college setting

english voice acting

slay the princess

you're tasked with a simple goal - slay the princess, or else she'll destroy the world.

talk about taking a simple premise and running with it. slay the princess is a mind-bending psychological horror about love and repeating things a lot of times. after all, all you have to do is slay the princess, right?

notes:

short to medium, around 10 hours for a full run

lots and lots and lots of branching paths

psychological horror, does contain gore

english voice acting

canvas menagerie

Niko is a trans man and lifelong actor who's been down on his luck until he gets the lead role in a major TV show. there, he starts to fall for his annoying celebrity costar.

well I wrote and drew and programmed this one by myself so I can't really give an indepth recommendation for it but I think it came out pretty nice. it's a comfy gay romance about actors.

notes:

medium length, around 10-12 hours

boys love romance

modern slice-of-life, adult cast

------------

note that all of the indie visual novels listed are also available on itchio as DRM-free versions. there's a ton of VNs on sale over there right now as well.

[ashersbraincell]

SPECIAL game reccomendation!

Just play the game. Just do it(if you can deal with the content warnings ofc). Trust me, it is a deeply personal experience that tackles a whole RANGE of themes where there is atleast one that you are bound to relate to in some aspect, probably more! I really cannot do it justice by my word alone, no matter how hard I tried. All I can say is that I would wholeheartedly reccomend it to anyone in their late teens/early adulthood, as it is really a transformative experience; it's like a coming of age story, but executed perfectly for that age demographic instead. It is so extremely cinematic in both the sheer amount of deeply emotive cutscenes and the ost that backs the game so immensely(seriously, cheers to the people behind orchestrating original music and cheers to Carrot for picking pre-existing pieces that match the game's moments so well!). Truly, one of the most memorable experience I have had with a game. What else can I say...oh! It's extremely aspec friendly! Not to spoil anything but if you're aspec I think this game would resonate with you even deeper than with me. Lot's of other representation, too, and not just the LGBTQ+ type. 

[honourablejester]

Heart: The City Beneath

For reasons, I’m assuming because I’ve been watching actual plays of various ttrpgs lately (Legends of Avantris playing D&D 5e, Nobody Wake the Bugbear playing Mothership, several others), I was recommended a video on a game called Heart: The City Beneath. Just a basic overview video, themes, tone, talking the game up a bit. But it sounded interesting, so I went to look up what the 9 playable classes were, just to see what kind of ideas we’re working with, you know?

And. Just from that online write-up. There was one particular class that caught my eye enough to go buy the actual game. Now, having read in more detail, there are several other classes that also sound really cool, but I still want to talk about the thing that caught my eye.

The Vermissian Knight.

Now. I would not ordinarily go for a very martial class when magical-type classes are an option. It’s just not usually how I roll. But the classes in Heart are all very, very setting-related, and all very, very weird, and the thing with the Vermissian Knight …

Okay. The setting for this game is Heart. The, well, City Beneath. There is a mile high surface city called the Spire, and then there is a vast living beating realm of something beneath it, called Heart. It is alive. It may be an extradimensional benevolent parasite. It might be a god-cocoon. It might be a seed of terraforming fuel. It might be a lot of things. But it’s definitely alive and weird and warps reality the further down into it you go.

The city above it, Spire, was run for ages by arrogant elves. And at some point, those elves decided that the city needed a mass transit system. A railway network, called the Vermissian. Right? But it wasn’t working, it was a lot of infrastructure, and funding was complicated, and power supply was an issue, and they wanted a way to hook the whole thing together and power it mystically. Right? So, what did they do? What does any arrogant race sitting on top of a magical weirdness bomb do when they suddenly need power? Yeah. They decided to core down into the Heart Itself, this mystical, weird-as-shit, possible god parked under their city, and they decided to hook their mass transit passenger network right the fuck into it.

It went, as you might imagine, horribly wrong. The reality-breaking weirdness of the Heart smashed up through the transit network of the Vermissian and nearly corrupted all of Spire above, save that the warding glyphs on the transit tunnels kept it confined. Within the system, time and space and reality got smashed and thrown about higgledy piggledy, and batshit monsters crept about the tunnels. The entire network was cut off, the stations abandoned, and Spire did its best to pretend there was never an attempted transit project to begin with. Just shove the whole mistake behind some condemned signs and pretend it never happened, boyos!

But the network is still there. The tunnels, the trains, the monsters. It’s hidden in Spire, but down in the Heart, the stations stand unguarded. Stuff leaking out. And people venturing in.

And the Vermissian Knight, as a character class, is someone who seeks to understand and patrol that network, to explore it and protect people from it. The class is built around armour, armour built from scavenged parts of eldritch trains. And the class builds …

Okay. In Heart, all characters are doomed. It’s a whole thing. This is not a long-form campaign sort of game. You will not last. Your character will die. So levelling is … you’re not building towards power, you’re building towards a climax. You’re building towards a spectacular end. Not necessarily death, but something that will take your character very dramatically off the board. And the Knights. Their Zenith Abilities, their capstone, dramatic ends, should they survive long enough to reach them. They can either bind themselves to a landmark, potentially a station on the line, or they can become a techno-organic titan, a biological perpetual motion machine that stalks the Heart and can be summoned by your surviving party as a deus ex machine, OR …

Or they can cast a death rite that summons the last surviving Vermissian train to tear its way through to them and crush them under its wheels, while also wiping out anything else in its path. Like. Your last, taking-you-with-me stand as a Vermissian knight is summoning a hell engine from a warped extra-dimensional transit network to plough through your enemies.

That. That is just so cool? Just. That whole concept. It’s so cool.

There are other classes in this game, and they are also pretty cool, don’t get me wrong. The Deadwalker, a person who died and came back haunted by the personification of their own death, able to potentially slip into the afterlife while living and bring people along for the ride. The Deep Apiarist, a person so determined to fight against the living chaos of the Heart that they have allowed themselves to become colonised by a megaconsciousness of order-inducing bees, in the most body-horror way possible (the bees go in through your nose and convert at least one of your organs to wax and paper to inhabit your body)(the Sunless Sea vibes are so strong with this one). The Hound, a group of mercenaries aided (and potentially possessed) by the spirits of the cursed survivors of a massacred army once sent to invade the Heart. The Junk Mage, magic addicts that eat scraps of power and make bargains with eldritch entities. There are a lot of cool classes in this game.

But the train knights. Just. The train knights. The image just enchants me. A cursed railway network, a twisted tangle of tunnels and weirdness, and the armoured paladins who seek to explore, understand, and protect those who encounter it.

I love it so much. I’m not fully sure why, what it is about that concept, that image, that so bowls me over, but …

I wanna play a train knight. A gnoll train knight, seeking enlightenment. Answers. I’m down here, in this strange, twisted place, because I want to know. What is it down here, in the Heart, that could do that to our network? What actually did happen to the network? I want to explore and I want to know.

(The Calling system is what you’re down in Heart looking for. Your class is what you are, your calling is what you want. There are five options: Adventure, Enlightenment, Forced, Heartsong, Penitent. You came for adventure, you came for answers, you came because you were forced to, you came because the Heart itself called you, or you came because you fucked up very badly and this is the only way to make up for it. Each calling gives you story beats that you can choose from along your quest for a suitable climax, and they’re really cool, and many of them encourage you to act, shall we say, incautiously. You’re not going to survive this, honey. Nobody comes down here who’s sane or sensible and likely to live long. So do something mad and dangerous and interesting with your time here. I actually really like that part of the system a lot).

Yeah. A Vermissian Knight, seeking Enlightenment. I would totally play that.

This is a boss-ass game, you know that? The setting is really cool.

[otomegamesandme]

Otome/Amare Games for Pride 2024 Edition

Hey hey, I'm back with more pride rec games in the realm of otome/amare/dating sims! I haven't done a rec list in a hot minute, and I'm glad I finally have time to make another one! I have two other lists similar in theme, which I'll link in a reblog! With that said, here's some more recommendations!

Heart Fragment

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: Book one is free, Book two is 2.99 USD

I know I posted this in my 'otome/amare games where you can get the girl' post, but I want to shout it out again because I love it a lot. This is a soft sci-fi/mystery/paranormal genre blend where you follow Xani (renamable and gender selectable) as they learn about themselves, their strange powers, and the mystery around their mother. I love this game so much, mostly because of how much I related to the main character as well as the love interests. It's a solid game, and one I replay often.

Obscura the Dark Descent Chapter 1

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: Chapter 1 is free

This is still in development and pretty popular in the indie space, but I thought I'd shout it out just in case. I love the atmosphere of this game, and I like the concept of it. You're dying so you go into the mountain where everyone wears masks, searching for a cure. The feeling of it is so oppressive and all the love interests feel really unique. I also love the MC in this, they're so funny to me.

Pitstop in Purgatory

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: 4.99 USD

A weirdly comforting game about death. You play as a young woman named Astrid who died, but has no memories of it. As you interact with those also stuck in purgatory, those memories start coming back to her. I think the art style in this really helps with the feeling of this, and it's one of those games to kickback to over the weekend.

Titan Arum

Platform: PC [Itch.io]

Price: Free

I was so obsessed with this when it first came out. You're a failed writing whose back in your childhood home trying to finish a manuscript. However, weird things keep happening, and you're sanity might just be slipping. The art, the atmosphere, the references to the King in Yellow? 10/10. The fact this was made in ten days just makes it all the more impressive and I highly recommend it.

Breathless Winds

Platform: PC [Steam and Itch.io]

Price: 12.00 USD

Poppy is a closeted trans woman who has just recovered from a boating accident. As she readjusts to life again, she has to find a way to save her home, and discover who she is and who she wants to be. The full game just came out a few days ago from posting this, so I've only played the demo but I loved it so much and I'm so excited to play the full game the second I get a chance. This is one of the only games where the main protagonist is a canon trans woman (if you know more dating sims like this please let me know lol), and the demo was lovely as well.

We're Women, After All

Platform: PC [Itch.io]

Price: Free

I'm cheating with this one because it's not in the realm of dating sims but shhh. I loved this game so much I had to shout it out. This is a sapphic horror game about a woman wanting to escape from an oppressive family and her conversation with the mermaid she loves. It's short, so I don't want to spoil it, but it was such a great experience. I enjoyed the characters and writing, and the art was stunning.

[tinygameroom]

I will try to make a more in depth post about this when I have the brains to do so but for people enjoying Slay The Princess who haven't played these before and/or are looking for more visual novels I highly highly recommend We Know The Devil and HIKEBACK.

These are both much shorter experiences than Slay The Princess but they're both also very important to me. WKTD is about three kids at an uncanny Christian summer camp where the Devil quite literally comes to mess with the attendants and someone has to sit watch with a radio to keep the Devil out. You play as all three characters, sometimes splitting off into groups of two. It's about religious trauma and queerness and self-discovery and trauma and coming of age and it can get very heavy but so very very beautiful. And weird.

HIKEBACK is the Scorpion and the Frog as a driver and a hitchhiker. With time loops.

WKTD is by worstgirlsgames and you can play it on itchio and steam, and HIKEBACK is by CLOWN and you can play it on itchio.