Aspire: Ina's Tale Review
The proliferation of “story-rich” as a game descriptor should be welcome news to folks who love narrative-driven games, but...
The Indie Game Website
Featured Writers
Jay Castello
Also an author, game narrative writer, podcast host, video essayist, TTRPG designer, museum tour guide, trained archaeologist, qualified ecologist… and constant seeker of novelty. If you’d like to collaborate on …
View Portfolio
Kris Henges
I'm a video game journalist and e-commerce writer who has written for IGN, The Washington Post, and more.
View Portfolio
Cartridge
Media critic, restaurant enthusiast, local neighborhood friend, DJ, and image artist. I am fascinated by the ways artists express themselves through images, and in particular video game design. Note: Cartridge …
View Portfolio
George Yang
George is a freelance writer specializing in video games and other entertainment.
View Portfolio
Latest Articles
Bloodshore Review
It’s a rare bird that makes a mark on a largely forgettable genre that’s often associated with camp.
Where Cards Fall Review
These puzzles are the bite-sized, whimsical charm that propel Where Cards Fall, but it could still do with cutting the fat off its mind-boggling puzzles.
Midnight Protocol Review
Partaking in the thrill of this seemingly illicit activity, testing and breaking the boundaries of every network, and breaching the multiple cybersecurity defences that are being put up against your incursion—these are just some of the ridiculous stunts that only movie hackers can pull off.
Impostor Factory Review
The game challenges players to consider difficult moral questions, even beyond what previous Freebird games have asked about the nature of memories and the integrity of the mind.
The Good Life Review
Going into The Good Life, I knew little to nothing about the game save that it came from the mind of Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro (Deadly Premonition, D4, The Last Blade).
Mobilising The Cult of Blaseball
Video games and sports always had a complicated relationship. Year after year, franchises like FIFA and Madden are among the best-selling titles on the market, but they are regularly written off as niche offerings, or worse: cash grabs. There are many reasons for this, one of which is almost certainly …
Dap Review
With their debut title Dap, Melting Parrot has given me a neurotic new pastime: trying to stay cool in the midst of intense, sinister weirdness.
In Sound Mind Review
There is an inordinate number of telephones in In Sound Mind—along dingy, winding corridors, in abandoned shopping malls, and within dilapidated offices.
Eastward Review
By now, you’ve probably heard that Eastward, the new action-adventure from Pixpil Studio in Shanghai, follows in the hallowed steps of The Legend of Zelda and cult game EarthBound (aka Mother 2).
Dream Cycle (Early Access) Review
Dream Cycle verges on the earlier, lofty promises of the much maligned space survival game No Man’s Sky; it boasts of an infinite adventure, stating that “new realms will become available” with regular updates, along with “new biomes, additional story chapters, weapons, enemies, skills and powers”.
Garden Story Review
Picogram’s top-down adventure Garden Story has a bit of an identity crisis, and how you feel about that will likely decide how much you enjoy the game.
Hoa Review
One of the most anticipated indies from the 2021 Wholesome Direct stream, Hoa is a pastoral vision of tranquil forest scenery and sweet anthropomorphic animals.
Death Trash Review (Early Access)
Death Trash shows us that our insatiable hunger makes us the biggest threat, even as the world is in the throes of death.
June: Tales from Cyberspace is a story set in a fictional metaverse
Children of Cyberspace are having a baby—a precocious young being named June—and they’d very much like you to raise her.
The Ascent Review
The Ascent is mostly a mindless, violent jaunt through a meticulously rendered cyberpunk city; what little portrayal of the themes of depravity and inequality are merely set-dressing for the game.
Critters for Sale Review
Sonoshee’s 1-bit romp through existential hell is a grainy feast of monochromatic weirdness.
Overboard! Review
Before the debut of TV’s The Good Place, you might have argued that moral philosophy didn’t have a place in popular culture. But now, many more of us have had a de facto sitcom moral education—one that’s pleasurably stretched by Inkle’s surprise release, the stylish and looping youdunit Overboard.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale Review
Chicory isn’t about convincing us that we are all virtuosos underneath our layers of self-doubt. Instead, it prefers to impart the more audacious claim: that we—and whatever we’ve crafted—ultimately matter, even if we feel immeasurably incompetent or broken.
An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs Review
For a game that’s predominantly moulded in the surreal humor of the internet, I wasn’t expecting to be swept away by all these feels.
The Indie Game Website May Newsletter - The Indie Game Website
May brings us another three indie games to delve into—and the final installment of this indie games newsletter. Coincidentally, it’s also the best one yet. Find out what our columnists are playing this month: In my own experience as a trans woman, there is a recurring oblivion that appears in …
Strangeland Review
Before Strangeland, Wormwood Studios had one full-fledged game under its belt: the excellent Primordia.
Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield Review
Never Yield’s strength is in replicating the rhythmic flow of funk. It’s one that pulsates intently throughout the experience, and is a beautifully composed choreography of movement and music.
The Indie Game Website April Newsletter - The Indie Game Website
An oddball film noir game. A chill coffee break experience. And the agony of forgetting. Take a look at some of the most notable indie games this month, as covered by our talented cast of columnists: Call it morbid, but murder mysteries are one of my favorite genres. Rather than …
Emily Is Away
As the clock hits 6 PM, my computer screen is almost entirely filled with the whitest of white lights that burns my eyes. Two-fifths of the centre screen is filled with a small, almost static news feed. Blue names list their new relationship status, or what they are planning to …
Don’t Forget Me Review
The ambiguity of these operations—as well as the complex, unknowable conundrums of free will and morality—is the pulsating heart of Don't Forget Me. It isn’t here to draw lines on the spectrum of morality, but illustrate the importance of asking the right questions, which is just as crucial as seeking …
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in The Dark Review
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in The Dark Review When I was a kid of no more than eight years old, my mom recommended that I read Agatha Christie’s “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées”. It was a collection of short stories that, while didn’t …