Glitchwalkers, 70s detectives, and Shrek

The rains have arrived here in Tokyo, as the temperature finally drops to that awkward level where some hours of the day you will be in shorts and a tee, and the hours surrounding that mildly pleasant block you are rugged up in tracksuit pants and oversized hoodies. My favorite time of year!

To fit in with the cozy time I have been revisiting some comfort games on the Steam Deck. Daily hunts in Monster Hunter Rise are a good way to wind down before collapsing into bed. I played quite a bit of the game on the Switch, but a recent sale, the hype of a new Monster Hunter around the corner, and the delight of playing it on my Steam Deck was just too good to pass up.

I’ve also returned to Hades. I know that the sequel is deep into an Early Access period right now, but I am waiting for 1.0 to arrive before I even consider dumping hours into what will surely be my third favorite Supergiant release (#1 is Transistor, it’s just soooo good!).

But there are some absolute bangers out this week, one of which I actually started playing thanks to our reader-supported Ko-Fi donations. A review will be incoming! Reminder that if you throw us a few dollary-doos it will help me cover some indies from time to time. You can do so here.

Anyways, let’s get into it.

What came out this week?

Astroneer: Glitchwalkers

Developer: System Era Softworks
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

The delightful Astroneer has it’s first expansion out this week, Astroneer: Glitchwalkers, and it seems like it brings some interesting changes to the game.

Glitchwalkers adds a brand new planet called Aeoluz, the largest that has ever been discovered in the game, that houses new biomes, new technology, but perhaps most interestingly, a villain?

Astroneer is a seriously delightful crafting, exploration game that has some mysteries waiting to be discovered around the edges. It looks like Glitchwalkers is upping that ante specifically, and I am totally here for it. If you have somehow missed Astroneer, I recommend watching this excellent documentary from NoClip that tells the story of this small indie that survived a truly saddening development process.

I Am Future

Developer: Mandragora
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

Are you tired of your post-apocalyptic world being so full of doom and gloom? Then I Am Future is the game for you! Putting a cozy spin on the apocalyptic survival genre, this colorful adventure has you creating a rooftop home base surrounded by an abandoned city.

You are the last survivor on Earth who has woken up after a long cryo-sleep. Supported by a small army of cute and friendly robots, you will be able to create a new home amongst the rubble, and enjoy the simple stress-free life.

The one thing that really stands out for me here is the dismantling mechanic, where you will be pulling apart old tech like microwaves and other appliances, scrounging undamaged components that can then be used to craft new gadgets. Looks like a tonne of fun.

Void Sols

Developer: Finite Reflection Studios
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

I spied this one on community member Macrobat’s wishlist, and was entranced by the light and shadows. Billed as a “top-down minimalist soulslike”, Void Sols looks to be distilling what makes a satisfying one of those work into some simple geometric shapes with really nice lighting. Think Geometry Wars meets Dark Souls I guess?

The Steam reviews are praising the tight combat and great lighting, and the sound design apparently adds a lot of atmosphere to the experience. I am totally down for this. I am getting a little tired of the 2D side-scrolling Soulslike, so perhaps we can enter the top-down period for the genre?

The Rise of the Golden Idol

Developer: Color Gray Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

Armchair detectives get ready, because your GOTY has just arrived. When The Case of the Golden Idol dropped in 2022, I was obsessed. This detective logic game set in colonial times was utterly captivating. Now the team is back with a sequel, which has immediately recaptured my obsession.

Taking place in the 1970s, The Rise of the Golden Idol continues the threads of the original game as we learn more about the mysterious cult surrounding the aforementioned idol of gold. The store description spells it out perfectly - “the world has changed dramatically - the sins of humanity have not.”

The sequel has 20 new cases for you to solve, and has a really interesting new take on the investigations themselves, which seem to have a little more freedom than the first game (at least from my sleep deprived memories). This is the game I picked up with the Ko-Fi fund, so you can expect a review coming next week if my baby will allow me!

One important thing to note here - if you have an active Netflix account, The Rise of the Golden Idol is available to you on mobile. I picked it up on Steam because I am only gaming on my Steam Deck these days, but this game would be PERFECT on a phone or tablet.

Songs of Silence

Developer: Chimera Entertainment
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page

I came across this one from an RPS Steam Next Fest roundup last year, and have been following along ever since. Songs of Silence is a beautiful auto-battler that takes inspiration from a bunch of games in the surrounding genres to create something that is pretty unique. Part turn-based strategy, part army management, part hero development, and some combat in there too.

I have not played either game, but just watching the trailers this one looks a little like a non-anime version of Unicorn Overlord on the surface. Keep in mind, I have not played either game, so I could be WAY off base there. Nevertheless, it looks pretty interesting and I hope to one day play it, probably in 2029.

Some other cool things that I saw this week

Honestly, I have had 0 time to read, write, or consume anything this week except for the few meager hours of gaming I could get done before I sleep, so here, enjoy this very cool convo from our Discord, which you should totally join btw.

As always, thank you for being here! Let me know what indies you are going to be checking out this weekend so I can add them to my wishlist. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with a friend or two. If you REALLY like the newsletter, consider leaving a few $ in the Ko-Fi cup.

See you next week!