Today's game is Fallout 76. I went ahead and did one of the Ally missions in the game. They're like the companions from Fallout 4, except they squat at your base 24/7. The ally i did was an astronaut lady who fell to earth after being in space when the bombs drop. She had me go to this Manor to recover some codes for something. The whole place was infested with Mothman Cultists. Luckily i was able to pick them all off with a sniper rifle without getting swarmed.

On the way there, i found this Scrapper hanging out on a cliff with a clipboard. I was confused what they were doing up there and why they looked like some health and safety inspector. They said they were checking out the landscape and pointed me to the same manor i was heading towards. Never got an answer for the weird getup, but i like to imagine they're apocalypse OSHA.

After the codes, i had to go into this mall for a Receiver of some sort, which was full of scorched (who are like feral ghouls but can use weapons). I snuck through the entire thing without being seen to avoid conflict because all my crowd control weapons were broken.

Somehow i managed to get through this Scorched infested mall without so much as being seen. The silent crossbow made it easy too, but i was able to mostly sneak in, grab the receiver, and sneak out. the most harm to me came in me catching a waterborne disease while wading through a room full of water.

To end off my night i popped home, finished up that quest, collected my water, and fished for the next 10 minutes. A nice and relaxing way to end off my day.

Thought this might be worth a share here.

The developer of Junk Store (letting you play Epic Games and GOG titles on your Steam Deck) did a podcast with G. Bryant which he's shared on YouTube.

They cover things like:

• What is JunkStore?
• What inspired JunkStore
• What sets JunkStore apart from Heroic/Lutris?
• Original vision for JunkStore
• Goals for v2 of JunkStore
• What are your next goals for JunkStore?
• Recounting the JunkStore/Steam Store thing
• The NSL drama from Eben's perspective
• Eben's interesting living situation
• What everyone needs to know about JunkStore
• Conclusion

Here is the link to the interview on YouTube, which runs at 20:38

But there is also a longer, uncut interview which runs longer on Gardiner's blog for his suppporters:

In this nearly 50-minute interview, Eben Bruyns and I discuss the history and future of JunkStore, plus we chat about his interesting living situation, our favorite video games, his perspective on the Non-Steam Launchers drama from a few months ago, and how Steam accepted (then rejected) JunkStore on Steam.

The link to that longer version, again for his paying members, is here

It doesn’t look like Borderlands 4 will make the jump in price up to $80. A visit to the Xbox Store shows that the base version of Borderlands 4 will cost $69.99.

There are other editions of the game that are more pricey, including a $99.99 Deluxe Edition and $129.99 Super Deluxe Edition.

Joysticks: Probably Still Drifty

Joy-Con joysticks use a potentiometer to read the voltage at a wiper that slides across a strip of resistive material. That material wears down over time, or plastic and dust can dirty the sensors.

Stick drift is a huge problem with other Switch models. One survey found that 40% of Switch owners had problems with their Joy-Cons drifting, and things didn’t get any better with the Lite or OLED editions. After a bunch of lawsuits, Nintendo’s president even admitted it and apologized, setting up a free repair program for customers in some parts of the world.

What if Sherlock Holmes met Resident Evil? Well, here you go:

Curse: Eye of Isis.

No, it’s not actually Sherlock Holmes battling bioweapons, but you do play as a 19th-century detective investigating the theft of an Egyptian artifact at a British museum—only to stumble onto undead monsters that want you very, very dead.

You get to choose between two detectives: Dr. Darien Dane or his assistant, Victoria Sutton. They even have different scenarios, though, let’s be honest, you’ll be hunting for keys and weapons either way. Expect plenty of zombies. And mummies. Lots of mummies.

This one’s ancient by gaming standards—2003—so you’re dealing with the classic fixed camera angles and tank controls that defined survival horror back then.

Reviews were meh when it came out, but since nobody really makes games like this anymore, I’d wager a lot of people today would actually get a kick out of it. Sure, the controls are a little wonky, but it’s easy to pick up and play.

Definitely worth a spin!

Today's game is some more Starfield. I continued on with the main story and met up with another member of the main faction (Constellation). Before going to talk to the guy i went rummaging around for stuff i was allowed to swipe to use for crafting. I ended up stopping in one of these tunnels and seeing a gorgeous view of the neighboring planet. I ended up just kind of stopping for a bit and enjoying the view (while eating dinner). Almost makes me wish for a VR version of this game, but also with No Man's Sky that might be a bit redundant.

The main story took me to this cavern to get another relic like the one from the beginning of the game. I had to fight my way through a cave of Spacers though (like Space Raiders). The whole cave system had a massive drop at the end which gave me Dunwhich Bores vibes from Fallout 4. Part of me wonders now if this game has any Lovecraft references like Fallout does. It would be a missed opportunity with the whole space thing.

After collecting the Artifact, i decided to step away from the main story and chase after this side quest i got from a slate. It took me to this hide out taken over by Spacers, and it turned out to be owned by this vigilante called the mantis. To get through i had to do this letter puzzle like in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was really cool seeing something like this done in a Sci-fi game.

The quest gave me a spacesuit that i was going to share an image of, but it turned out to be nearly 20 mb in size no matter how i compressed it and lemmy wont upload something like that for me, and pixelfed limits everything over 15 mb. It was this sleek white armor though. It looks neat, not to my personal taste though.

The quest also gives you a cool spaceship to go along with it called the Razorlead. I think i'm still going to keep the abomination i made as my home ship, but having this to use is nice. There were some armor stands in the upper area where i dropped off the armor set since i wasn't going to use it. Figured it deserved at least a proper home. No stand for the suit itself unfortunately, just the helmet and the backpack.

Following up on this comment since I haven't seen a thread about it: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/14639216

I'm talking about games that you still like but you had no idea were criticized so much.

The perfect example for me is Sonic Unleashed.

I admit that the game has its bad things, but I would have never imagined that it was so hated at the time... Although, that could be extended to the entire Sonic franchise, since for many years I was not aware at all of that "Sonic was never good", "Sonic had a rough transition to 3D" nonsense.

Introduction

I was inspired by Perfect Dark's Steam Deck / Gaming News series and wanted to create a similar blog-post type series highlighting recently released lesser known traditional and experimental indie games.

Since this is my first post, I'm extending the definition of recently released to anything released in 2025 and I will primarily be focusing on games released on itch.io in 2025 that may have been overlooked.

I'm a big supporter of itch.io as a store front since they offer larger cuts to developers compared with other digital stores and all the games are DRM-Free. Many of the games are available for free or Pay What You Want and can be played in the browser without an account.

They also regularly have large 100+ game charity bundles, so it's quite easy to amass a large library of games there. There is currently a Bundle for Ukrainian Hospitals that is live, but that is primarily TTRPGs. If you have purchased multiple of these charity bundles in the past Random Bundle Game is a good resource for sorting through your collection.

One of the negatives of itch.io, however, is that the store is very difficult to navigate. If you go to the main page it will be mostly be filled with short horror games and visual novels (and depending on your settings, adult games). One might be mistaken for thinking that's all there is on the store, but with this post I hope to highlight games from a wider variety of genres.

If you're new to itch.io and experimental games and interested in reading more, I highly recommend this recent post by Nathalie Lawhead on A crash course introduction into experimental indie games: Arthouse Games as a force for good & the activism of video games as a primer.

Now without further ado, on to the games:

A Selection of Games Released on itch.io in 2025

Dragonsweeper | Jan. 15, 2025 (Free)

A roguelike minesweeper adventure

This one was a lot of fun. Like with regular Minesweeper, winning does seem to rely on luck, but there is still some strategy.

Type Help | Jan. 25, 2025 (Free)

A puzzle-mystery game inspired by Return of the Obra Dinn, Her Story, Unheard and The Roottrees are Dead.

Investigate the files on an old computer that once belonged to a mysterious outside agent.

The files detail the gruesome story of Galley House, a case that was said to be unsolvable.

What really happened at Galley House? And what did the agent find out that lead to their death?

Delve through deeper and deeper layers of mystery as you piece together the grand puzzle.

And remember... There are no ghosts in Galley House!

I started playing this one, but haven't finished it yet. For an interactive fiction game I think it's pretty beginner friendly.

Wednesdays | March 26, 2025

Part video game, part graphic novel, Wednesdays seeks to raise awareness about child sexual abuse through a surprisingly hope-filled story.

It tells the story of Timothée who has been abused as a kid and is going through his memories by replaying a video game from his childhood.

The game does not include any graphic representation of sexual abuse, and even if its topic might sound grim, Wednesdays is above all about trust, hope and healing.

You can find a list of the content warnings on ARTE's website.

Wednesdays is created by Pierrec (Haven, Road 96: Prologue, Bury Me, My Love), Exaheva (Still Heroes), Christophe Galati (Save Me Mr Tako), Virginia B. Fernson (Lorsque Les Volcans Dorment), Nico Nowak (There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension), Diane Landais (A Normal Lost Phone, Alt Frequencies) and Florent Maurin (Bury Me My Love, Inua, The Wreck)

I'm not really in the right place for tackling a game with this serious of a theme, but from the list of creators, I trust that it is handled well.

The Beekeeper's Picnic | March 29, 2025

It is the 1920s, and in a sleepy Sussex village, beekeeper and former world's greatest detective Sherlock Holmes is trying to arrange a pleasant clifftop picnic for his lifelong companion Dr Watson. The only problem is that a series of mysteries keep getting in the way!

With games like Old Skies and Rosewater, we've been spoiled this year with high quality point and click adventure games made in Adventure Game Studio. I haven't gotten a chance to try this one yet, but it looks very charming.

DOMINO: DECLASSIFIED (March 1 - April 6, 2025)

DOMINO CLUB is a loose collective of digital artists coming together to participate in anonymous game jams, inspired by BELIEVEINTHE.NET'S 1JAM.

DOMINO CLUB is interested in: small tools, web tools, low-tech tools, ditherpunk, low-poly, sustainability, narrative-heavy experiences, digital spaces, dark matter, web 1.0, DIY, piracy, remix, being gay & doing crimes, goofing off, zines, skeletons, glitches, little guys, hole

This one is the latest collection of short games released by DOMINO CLUB. I haven't played any of this set of games yet, but there were some gems in some of their previous game jams. A warning that many of their games feature adult content.

Stealth Crossword | April 20, 2025 (Free)

The forced stealth mission in a game that really shouldn't have one

This one is silly but surprisingly enjoyable.

Cattle Crisis | May 2, 2025

Cattle Crisis is an arcade shoot 'em up game (Shmup). Pilot your fighter jet to defeat evil aliens and save our precious cows! Cattle Crisis is a short game and currently features one level.

Over the past year, I've become a big fan of PICO-8, which is a fantasy 8-bit video game console. Probably the most well-known game made in this engine is the original Celeste. I'm not that good at Shmups, but I enjoyed this one.

Make Ten Deluxe | May 11, 2025

Make Ten Deluxe is an expansion pack that builds on the original Make Ten, featuring 35+ variant modes. Some modes modify the rules slightly in ways that significantly change the flavor of the game, some modes are particularly puzzley situations for you to solve, and some modes are too strange and specific to describe.

Another PICO-8 game. I played the prototype game that came out last year and it was surprisingly addictive for how simple it is. I'm glad it was expanded to a larger game with more modes.

Dominoid | June 1, 2025 (Free)

DOMINOID is an arcade-styled puzzle game about stacking dominids! CLEAR pieces by forming RINGS with matching tiles. Create huge COMBOS by stacking dominids effectively. Collect BADGES for major accomplishments. Earn EXP by clearing dominids to go towards a LEVEL UP. Can you get all the way to LEVEL 10?

I haven't had much of a chance to get into this one yet, but I'm always open to new action-puzzle games.

W.C.A.T. - The Wing Commander AllTinker Overhaul Mod | June 12, 2025

This is a new mod for Wing Commander to make it easier to play on modern computers. I've been using Wing Loader, which I got running on Steam Deck, but haven't managed to find a good control scheme yet, so I might give this one a try.

Choice Beat, Issue 14 | June 14, 2025 (Free)

ChoiceBeat is the world's MOST POWERFUL zine dedicated to visual novels, interactive fiction, narrative games, and other forms of choice-heavy, text-heavy digital games. This issue features 30+ pages of news, articles, reviews, previews, and interviews including:

If you are a fan of visual novels and interactive fiction, I highly recommend checking out this zine series. There's a lot of great articles and I've been introduced to a lot of interesting games.

Thanks for Reading

If you've read this far, I hope you've found something interesting to try. Please feel free to shout out other itch.io games you've been enjoying in the comments that I missed.

Holy shit, how long has it been? Everybody assumed the devs ran with the money, they silently disappeared and stopped updating the game despite being in early access.

After visiting the Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo, I keep asking myself the same question:

What’s the purpose of it all?

Sure, part of it’s just fun. But mostly, it comes down to whether I can actually share something I love—or not. Let me explain.

I’m just as into music. I listen to vinyl every day with my daughter. Easy to share: put on a record, and people get it.

Same with photography. Snap a picture, share it. Instant enjoyment.

Video games? Not so much. The barrier to entry is just so damn high.

First, you need the hardware—not just any hardware, but often something specific.

Then you need the software. Sometimes you can stream it, but streaming usually sucks. I’ve tried—multiple times. Even with 2Gbps at home, the latency ruins it. So you’re left with physical media or downloading everything locally.

And even if you’ve got all that, there’s still a dilemma. On consoles, the game might be optimized, but unless it’s exclusive, it’s rarely the “definitive” experience. On PC, you can get the definitive version, but you’re always tweaking, chasing that ideal.

And what even is “definitive”? Is it keyboard and mouse on a monitor? Gamepad on a TV? Handheld in bed? Everyone’s experience is different, and unless you find someone with the exact same setup, yours is unique. As a PC gamer, finding that overlap is rare.

I’d love for gaming to be more social, but because of who I am, I mostly play solo campaigns—except with family, who’ve been good sports about it.

I’ve tried dragging friends into gaming. I’ve even gifted games and hardware. Never works. I get it.

Online, I talk about games I love, review hidden gems, try to explain why certain things matter to me. But my taste has veered so far from the mainstream—not because I’m a contrarian. I’ve never played StarCraft, WoW, or Dota. Not because I think they suck. I’ll probably love them when I do get around to it. Like how I finally tried Oblivion this year and loved it, despite hating the older Elder Scrolls games.

But I have a whole library of games I wish got more attention—not because I want them canonized, but just because I want to talk about what makes me happy.

And honestly, the sad thing is, if something never enters the “canon,” it’ll probably die in obscurity.

Which brings me to something sort of related: the older I get, the more things I love disappear. The diner I used to visit? Gone. My elementary school? Demolished.

As a kid, I loved those candy cigarettes that puffed out powdered “smoke.” They don’t exist anymore—nobody wants to encourage kids to smoke, and that’s fine, but I remember them. They were a core part of my childhood.

All these things—I can’t share them anymore.

But I can still talk about old video games. I can’t play arcade games in a convenience store with Slurpee cups and magazines everywhere. I don’t own a 386 with a ball mouse. But I can still play those games, talk about them, and build new memories—ones I’ll remember with my grandkids someday.

Eventually, all of it will go away. That’s life. It’s impermanent.

But there’s still purpose in all of it. We’re social by nature. And there’s something magical about transmitting meaning from one person to another.

Even if it’s just about a damn video game.