We’re barely through the first quarter of 2024, and already, we have a runaway success in the form of the deck-building roguelike Balatro. Fresh out of its early-access phase, the debut commercial…
March 30, 2024 | 09:00 EDT
This is From Ants to Zombies, the newest release from video game literature publisher Bitmap Books, and one that aims to be a definitive hardback database of the games that define and refine the…
November 14, 2023 | 04:30 EST
Inspired by games like Mega Man X, 30XX features two wildly different characters with interesting sets of powers. One of them, Nina, can fuse different boss powers together to create more than 60…
August 8, 2023 | 12:25 EDT
Development studio Free Lives doesn't shy away from the fact that its upcoming title, Terra Nil, is a "reverse city builder." While that is an interesting concept for a game to explore, it's the…
February 23, 2023 | 11:00 EST
Stardew Valley turned the gaming community upside down when it was released in 2016, especially the farming sim community. According to the game's press page, the indie hit has sold over 20 million…
January 14, 2023 | 12:00 EST
If you're a strategy RPG fan, chances are you twiddle your thumbs and wait for the next Fire Emblem to release. Wanting to scratch that itch I deeply needed, I checked out Lost Eidolons last…
November 22, 2022 | 11:00 EST
Last weekend saw hundreds of developers and thousands of fans flock to Seattle for PAX West 2022. We had a team on-site to check out games both big and small. The best thing about these events are…
September 9, 2022 | 01:00 EDT
There are a lot of spy games out there, but Deceive Inc. brings all the action and chaos of espionage to the surface. While there is a covert element to it, the game is built in a way where both…
July 27, 2022 | 11:00 EDT
High school graduates interested in studying game design may wish to pursue a degree in the field and get hands-on experience with coding, writing, and programming games. At PAX East back in April, I…
June 21, 2022 | 12:00 EDT
Terraria is a nifty 2D survival crafter with a tremendous amount of depth. Bosses and biomes spring up at every turn and it can all feel very overwhelming at first. Still, with time, even the massive…
April 6, 2022 | 11:00 EDT
In the middle of March, indie studio Fire Hose Games revealed their latest project: Techtonica. The first-person factory builder puts players in subterranean caverns on a mysterious alien planet…
April 4, 2022 | 12:00 EDT
It's impressive how quickly an industry can change in a decade. For The Chinese Room, this is exemplified by their first commercial title: Dear Esther. New developers break into the industry quite…
February 14, 2022 | 11:00 EST
There are new games coming out every day so the struggle to be original is getting harder. We can change our heroes and the setting, but that just change adds a new aesthetic to the mechanics we…
January 28, 2022 | 12:00 EST
If there’s one great thing about this time of year, it’s that you get to be all warm and cozy inside while the temperature drops outside. Whether your chosen method is to wrap up in fluffy stuff, a…
December 23, 2021 | 11:00 EST
While it's true that you just don't see that many AAA Christmas games these days, that's really not the case when it comes to indie efforts. Just take a look at Itch.io, the site is practically…
December 22, 2021 | 11:00 EST
The release of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is such a nostalgic slice of '90s pop culture it's almost impossible not to love it. It also represents something else that has been gaining popularity as…
December 10, 2021 | 12:00 EST
A bright, beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies. Fluffy white clouds lazily floating through the air. This picturesque daytime doesn’t sound like the standard horror setting at all. There’s no…
October 29, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
The yawing of a single rope descends into thick, inky darkness. The hues of the world are black, white, and sickly yellow - as sick as the deteriorating mind of your country companion after he's…
October 11, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
It’s getting to the point where you can start making a case that there are more games about Norse Mythology than there is Norse Mythology. Ancient tales of fantasy and folklore from around the world…
September 13, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
The ongoing pandemic has proved to be a challenge for businesses around the world. Indie tabletop game developers, however, have had to deal with some unique logistical challenges that didn't affect…
September 10, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
New York-based gaming convention Play NYC 2021 has come and gone, but we're not done with this Playcrafting event just yet! It is once again time for The Best of Play NYC! Play NYC is a dedicated…
September 2, 2021 | 01:00 EDT
Virtual pets got their start in the '90s, and Tamagotchi further popularized these games. We may soon enter a new era in the genre with Tontachi, the next project from Urban Electronic Games. All …
August 27, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
There were some nice surprises in the Play NYC 2021 Graffiti Games, a special group of custom games created for Play NYC every year. I had a chance to check them all out in person at this year's show…
August 20, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
The latest in high-end simulation gaming is here, but there's a lot more beneath this game's surface than it lets on. Lawn Mowing Simulator from Skyhook Games has paraded around social media for the…
August 11, 2021 | 01:00 EDT
Play NYC 2021 has come and gone. The New York City-based gaming convention has finally returned as an in-person event, and I was fortunate enough to attend — albeit with some changes from previous…
August 10, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
Stories about what would happen after the apocalypse continues to thrive in the gaming community. Many of them focus on bands of survivors attempting to make a living in the harsh wastelands of the…
July 5, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
Pride is an event that is celebrated around the world and has become a symbol of love and acceptance. While this is how it’s viewed now, many don’t realize that Pride was sparked as a form of…
June 25, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
This Week in Valheim, we explore some extra handy mods, a group of surprisingly deadly bees, and a touching tribute to Berserk author Kentaro Miura. Let's dive in! As usual, there's no Valheim news…
June 19, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
One of the forces that drive gamers to play is curiosity. We want to explore every single part of a game to answer any questions we may have about it. Roguelike and roguelite games take a different…
June 17, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
Great games are overlooked all throughout the year, but it is no more prevalent than during the week (weeks now?) of E3. Many people know E3 for the big press conferences from the big companies like…
June 16, 2021 | 01:37 EDT
Simulation may seem like an odd genre of gaming. Many may wonder why a person would spend time playing a game about a real-life activity rather than pursue it. Well, depending on your circumstances…
June 16, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
Video games have had the ability to save your progress for decades with various systems. There are all sorts of ways to save a player's data, but Going Medieval's save system might be the best…
June 9, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
After the success of last year’s fundraising bundle for Black Lives Matter, Itch.io is again the location of another fundraising bundle, this time for aid for Palestine in light of the ongoing crisis…
June 8, 2021 | 01:00 EDT
It's time for This Week in Valheim once again! This week, we have a bunch of cool builds, a real-world recipe for Tasty Mead, the epic conclusion to a months-long fanart project, and more! This…
May 29, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
Looking for some Valheim building ideas? There's a lot of freedom to make what you want, but sometimes you need a little inspiration. That's why we've put together five Valheim buildings that are all…
May 19, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
This week in Valheim, a Redditor has recreated an iconic location from Spirited Away, we learn why going AFK can be a bad idea, and some modders might have lost their minds. This Week in Valheim …
May 15, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
There are countless images of Valheim buildings out there in the world, but there are also many useful structures that are overlooked—and some are as essential to your survival as a good home.…
May 15, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
This week in Valheim, we check out some pretty big player builds, a cool new mod that adds a drawbridge, a shout-out to the happiest bees, and so much more! Once again, there isn't much in the way…
May 8, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
There’s an issue with puzzle games in that things can go very wrong very fast. You pick one up thinking you’ll test your mental mettle and enjoy a few successes to boost your confidence. Then it…
May 6, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
This week in Valheim, we explore a better way to build your base, a furious charge of angry Fulings, and what may be the worst storage system design we've ever seen. There's no big Valheim news this…
May 1, 2021 | 11:30 EDT
We're back with This Week in Valheim, our periodic roundup of all the cool things happening in Iron Gate's Viking survival game. There's a lot of cool happenings on the horizon—let's dive right in…
April 24, 2021 | 11:30 EDT
If you’ve been living under a rock or without the Internet, you may not have heard of the indie rhythm game known as Friday Night Funkin’. That’s okay. After only five days on Kickstarter, it has…
April 24, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
Music is an incredibly important part of the way we see games. It can add levity to a tense situation or creativity to a normal one. It has the power to engross you or the ability to gross you out. A…
April 22, 2021 | 01:00 EDT
It's hard to understate just how important language is. It's used to express love, confusion, anger, and sometimes even used to prove a point. Imagine how hard this sentence would be to read fi ti…
April 19, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
As the topic of accessibility in games has been brought to the forefront in the last few years, I've noticed that there isn't much innovation going on in terms of designing games for disabled people…
April 16, 2021 | 11:00 EDT
It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that it's time once again for another Dread X Collection. The famous anthology series from the titular publisher has been a great success the past few times…
April 15, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
Lately, I can't go a week on Twitter or Reddit without someone loudly sighing and proclaiming "video games stagnated 10 years ago," or something to that effect. Each time I, in turn, sigh loudly and…
April 6, 2021 | 12:00 EDT
First designed for Ludum Dare 47, Friday Night Funkin’ has grown beyond its humble origins. Though it did not win any particular categories in that game jam, the homage to Flash games has become a…
April 2, 2021 | 11:00 EDT