virtualmoose.org

@virtualmoose.org@virtualmoose.org

Random thoughts about video games and stuff in Michigan

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virtualmoose.org, to indiegames

I got grumpy about it feeling like outlets covering are only doing it for X, which is just a dying social media platform for the far right at this point, so here’s some of things that I thought looked pretty neat elsewhere. Some of the posts have multiple images, so click on the links to see more. I only got Blue Sky, Mastodon, and Cohost this week but can check out other places like Tumblr, Instagram, and Threads in future weeks.

Shadow jumping game SCHiM is looking pretty nice over on Cohost

On and off

I’m excited to see Eldritch 2 development going smoothly on Mastodon and Bluesky since I loved the original.view of a building with lit windows at nightThis fan project is looking pretty lovely on Mastodon, with a lengthy post on Cohost explaining development of the game as well.

https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/111/949/042/844/859/101/original/60c9c0e6e47bb191.png

Oidanoid is looking like a lovely twin stick shooter (Mastodon)

https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/111/949/054/396/697/055/original/8e71ece681abe575.png

I continue looking forward to The Crimson Diamond, a point-and-click adventure inspired by games like The Colonel’s Bequest. (Mastodon, Blue Sky, Steam)

gif of a man packing clothesFrenzy is pitched as a demake of Far Cry from an ecofeminist lens (Mastodon)

a woman shooting at some bad guys in a jungleI’m a huge fan of Cosmic Void’s games and will be the first in line to buy Devil’s Hideout as well. (Mastodon, Blue Sky, Steam)

https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/111/945/955/492/764/040/original/e2e547faa0e285b7.png

Inspector Waffles Early Days is turning out to be a lovely Game Boy inspired adventure game. (more images on Mastodon, Blue Sky, Steam)

https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/111/946/258/704/852/865/original/e74e547ff9779a1d.png

I enjoy Taconite’s game jam work so I’m excited to see that they’re making another FPS (Blue Sky)

Tearcell Games has a nice looking Godot tech demo for a rpg (looks much better on Mastodon)

gif of movement through a forest and then fighting a blobMushroom Musume is already fantastic and it’s continuing to get updates (look better on Mastodon, Itch.io)

visual novel gif showing photos of a forest in a low amount of colorsRetrowave ’84 has some nice colors in their FPS (Blue Sky, Steam)

a neon highway with police cars on the road in a futuristic cityhttps://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/19/screenshot-saturday-feb-19-2023/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

Hope you’re all doing well! I’m still getting over a cold that has actually been pretty mild but I’m a big baby so I’m acting like it’s the worst thing ever. For some of you it’s probably a 3 day weekend as well, so that’s a nice thing to look forward to. Despite my mild cold completely ruining my life, I still found a way to play some video games. If there’s something I missed, especially if it’s something you worked on, please reply with it in the comments or contact me (see About page) with a link to your thing.

Vaporwave Pinball

top down view of a pinball table with a statue and roman columns to its rightVaporwave Pinball is an upcoming pinball game being developed by Mixtape Games UK. I played the demo as part of Steam’s Next Fest. I thought it was really neat. It’s got some quirks that should be fixed as development continues and I didn’t get to the more abstract tables that pop up in the screenshots. I feel like if a pinball table in a video game is not a 1:1 recreation of a real table, then it needs to get really weird, which is what this seems to do in later tables and something that I feel like Pinball FX needs to do more of with their fictional tables. I’m also learning how to do Let’s Plays and did one here.

Lost in Space

a boy, a man, and a robot around a space ship consoleLost in Space is an upcoming point-and-click adventure game based on the classic science fiction tv show. I played the demo and idk, it’s fine! They picked a weird spot for the demo. From watching the trailer at the end, it sounds like they use audio from the show for some of the other characters but not the player, which is the thing I was actually most interested in and how that’s pulled off. It’s a completely average adventure game, meaning I’m kinda just fine with it but would lose my shit if they made game at this quality level of a different IP, like a Farscape adventure game. So if you like Lost in Space then I would recommend it! (YouTube Let’s Play)

Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge 2

game boy screenshot of a golfer in bed saying "Mornin Morty! I bet you're as excited for the Springfield Cup as I am!"Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge 2 is a point-and-click adventure for the Game Boy based on a joke at the end of an episode of The Simpsons back in season 7. It’s not too long or challenging, took me about 30 minutes to beat, but the jokes really worked for me and there’s a lot of hidden jokes I didn’t see but know I missed because of the achievement system. The game is also playable in the browser. (YouTube Let’s Play)

8BUTTERF.EXE

Gameplay footage of 8BUTTERF.EXE8BUTTERF.EXE is a bullet hell game made for the TIC-80 fantasy computer where time only passes when you move. I really enjoyed this game and highly recommend checking it out. Elements of it almost make it feel like a puzzle game in that you have to manage your resources and plan your movements ahead. It’s playable in the browser here.

Kobold Quest
Just a very pleasant and short Bitsy where you’re a Kobold. (Itch.io)

Gelatinous
A solo tabletop rpg where you play as a gelatinous cube and eat things. Don’t know how I can sell it better than that. (Itch.io)

Advanced Fantasy Dungeons
A tabletop rpg available as pay-what-you-want that is strongly inspired by Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition and compatible with supplements as well. Despite that era being kind of clunky, it’s what I grew up with so I have a ton of nostalgia for it. I’m interested in seeing how that type of game is redesigned to be a bit more approachable. (Itch.io)

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore

https://virtualmoose.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/ss_1a0fdd2a08b69ad23a50ce899dcf30daf1efc5ca.1920x1080.jpg?w=1024Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is a spiritual sequel to the infamous Zelda platforming games on the Philips CD-i. Weirdly enough, I do sorta have some nostalgia for those games, despite being pretty awful, since I actually played them at a CompUSA when they came out and was confused why there were non-traditional Zelda games out there and on a non-Nintendo console. I always get excited when people do a spiritual sequel to something that wasn’t good and my hope with this is that the approach was “what if we did one of these but it was good?” Because why not? We have plenty of remakes and sequels to good games. Let’s revisit things that maybe had some good idea but the execution wasn’t 100% perfect.

Ultros

https://virtualmoose.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/ss_70671bfad1c4758e122bffe1df5f9e6011213596.600x338.jpg?w=600I know nothing about this game other than it’s a metroidvania but look at this art! I think it’s lovely. (Steam)

News Tower

news tower screenshot of a side view of a towerI haven’t played this one but the concept is really interesting to me and I heard good things about the demo. It’s a game where you run your own newspaper and looks pretty great. The game is available in Early Access on Steam.

Other People Talking About Games
There’s also lots of other people talking about indie games that you should follow:

And then finally on my YouTube channel I’ve uploaded footage of games I’ve played like Super Space Club, Glypha: Vintage, and Dead Petals Bliss.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/16/indie-game-roundup-feb-16-2024/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

So a few days ago I’ve started uploading videos to my YouTube account, partially to share my experiences playing games, partially to spread awareness of indie games I enjoy, and also to document games that don’t have videos, either because they’re lost games or because they’re indie games that are just too obscure.

Since my interest is mostly in adventure games and interactive fiction, I guess my question now is: What is the ideal Let’s Play for an indie game developer’s game? The last thing I want to do is cost a sale of a game I liked because someone just watched my playthrough instead. Commentary or no? Just the first 30 minutes of a game and then I just play the rest offline? Does this differ if the game is free vs being paid? I’m guessing it’s fine to play through an entire thing if it’s a demo or free game. So what I may do is if it’s a new commercial game, I’ll play for 30-60 minutes and then do the rest offline? But I would love to know from game developers what they think in the comments or replies.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/11/starting-a-youtube-account/

virtualmoose.org, to VintageOSes

DREAMM, the Lucasfilm Games emulator created by Aaron Giles, is looking for testers for version 3.0. It adds support for the following games:

  • PHM Pegasus (1988)
  • Battlehawks 1942 (1988)
  • Strike Fleet (1989)
  • Pipe Dream/Pipe Mania (1989)
  • Their Finest Hour: Battle of Britain (1989)
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game (1989)
  • Night Shift (1990)
  • Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (1991)
  • Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: The Action Game (1992)
  • MasterBlazer (1992)
  • Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1989)
  • Super Star Wars (unreleased prototype) (1989)
  • Star Wars Chess (1993)

If you want to check it out, you can download it here.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/10/dreamm-3-0-is-looking-for-testers/

virtualmoose.org, to gaming

Here’s what I’ve been excited about this week. Let me know if you’re working on something that I missed!

two cartoon mice sitting at a tableScreenshot from Esther’sIndiepocalypse 49
The newest edition of the monthly indie games compilation zine is out and features a lovely assortment of games. I recommend Esther’s, a really cute interactive fiction game.

Threes
Threes is now available on Steam! It’s probably my most played iOS game so I hesitant to fall down that wormhole again, but it’s really a great little game.

futuristic looking platformerScreenshot from Q.P.I.D.Q.P.I.D
Digital Eclipse has released another game in their Digital Eclipse Arcade, a series of small games inspired by 80s arcade games. Digital Eclipse is much more known for rereleasing old games but these are pretty neat too and this one is free.

3 characters climbing steps in a dungeonScreenshot from StairupStairup
Stairup is the newest game from the anonymous game dev collective Domino Club. It’s a very short turn based rpg made with RPG Maker MV where you climb a series of stairs and stuff happens. It’s got some very good writing and I thought it was funny. Playable in the browser on Itch.

Canabalt
The classic endless runner has been ported to HTML 5 and the source has been posted to Github. You can play it in the browser/download it for free on Itch.io.

TTRPG Bundle for Trans Youth
A game developer is raising funds for their local trans youth group Emerge and has put together a bundle on Itch featuring tabletop rpgs from a ton of different game developers. You can buy it on Itch for $5 or more.

Cookie Cat Grandma
A local game developer has started working on a chill platformer game and I think it looks really nice! Follow them on YouTube for further updates on the game.

(Per Person) Refillable
(Per Person) Refillable (playable in browser) is a very short and lovely interactive fiction filled with nice art about ordering too many lemon ice teas.

Nesterin Trail
We got a new text adventure for the Commodore 64! Available as pay-what-you-want, it’s also playable on modern computers.

person's face in a chair saying "welcome to ur internship"Meatverse
Meatverse is a short horror adventure developed for a game jam about an office made from humans.

a pixel art cave with spiders and frogsMushroom Soup
Mushroom Soup is a new platformer for the ZX Spectrum 128. Available for free on Itch.io

man telling a woman "This hospital is strangely silent for a medical facility"Devil’s Hideout
Devil’s Hideout is an upcoming horror point-and-click adventure by Cosmic Void. I’ve enjoyed everything else by this developer so I know I’ll pick this up when it comes out too.

Mops & Mobs: A Sweeping Dungeon Novel
Mops & Mobs is a prototype of a game where you have started working in a dungeon and helping the various creatures with tasks that need to be done. It controls a lot like your traditional dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Master but is essentially the opposite of those. Instead of walking around and murdering everything you see, you’re cleaning and decorating the dungeon, and talking to the creatures that have defeated previous adventurers. It’s a really good game and I’m looking forward to future versions of the game. I actually just started a YouTube channel to get footage of various tiny indie games and you can watch my Let’s Play of the game here, although the game is only 15-20 minutes long and I highly recommend it.

Other People Talking About Games

There’s also lots of cool people talking about indie games elsewhere. The Adventure Games Podcast has put out two videos this last week. The first video is about adventure games released this month and the second video is about games that aren’t adventure games but are very narrative focused.

On startmenu Kate Robinson hightlights some of the best sleeper hits Of 2023.

The Pixel Prophet has a regular newsletter that highlights indie games and other folks talking about indie games.

Adventure Game Hotspot has done a massive roundup of demos for adventure games in the Steam Next Fest.

The Museum of Screens regularly highlights browser games you should play as well as preserving browser games of the past.

Indie Hell Zone highlighted some demos from the Steam Next Fest.

Bobbins’ Olde Tomb of Videogames continues to do an excellent job highlighting new arcade games.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/09/indie-game-roundup-feb-9-2024/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

When the use of cd-roms for games became mainstream in the 90s, there was a massive explosion of people taking advantage of all that extra space by adding full motion video to their games. A lot of great games were released during this time but it became a short lived trend since there were also a lot of bad games released. Having grown up playing a lot of these games, I’m now (mostly unironically) a fan of FMV in games and love seeing what new games are using it on Steam and Itch. While FMV can limit what kind of games can be made, I think it also has advantages. Video of real people or things can possibly help players connect to the story being told and even low budget or bad FMV can be charming. While it sounds intimidating to record something for a game, it doesn’t mean it must be a big production and there are a lot of tools to easily add video to your game.

Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio is a free and open source game engine for making point-and-click adventure games. While most games made with the engine are 3rd person adventure games, the engine can be used in a variety of ways. This excellent tutorial by Space Quest Historian shows how someone who has never used AGS before can make a first-person game that uses FMV. Even if you have no interest in using AGS, there’s some good advice in here.

  • Anyone can record video for a game as long as you have a smartphone. Making FMV doesn’t mean you need to have massive camera, people doing makeup and lighting, and a cast of actors. I’ll talk about it later but last year I made a game with my cat and an iPhone.
  • Plan all the video you’re shooting in advance – Make sure you know everything you’ll have to film before you start shooting your game. It will be a massive headache to go back and get more video once you’re halfway through coding the game and realize that you forgot to film something.
  • Organize your videos – Make sure you have a good folder structure and naming scheme for your videos. If you have a lot of little video clips, it can quickly become overwhelming to figure out what videos are used for what.

Charles Engine for Unity
If you are more interested in doing a Choose Your Own Adventure/branching narrative game, I can recommend the Charles Engine plugin for Unity as an option. The Charles Engine was made by Charles Games, developer of games like Attentat 1942 and Svoboda 1945. I made a very tiny FMV game using this plugin with my cat last year and while I would maybe recommend having an actor less difficult to direct than a cat, making a game with the plugin was very easy and the engine provides an easy to use tool to plot out all the nodes and branching that your interactive story will use. But the plugin can do more than just interactive movies and the tutorial that comes with the plugin has you eventually creating a game set on a fake computer desktop, kind of like making your own version of Her Story.

a picture of my cat and asking if she stole my chicken nuggetsA screenshot of the game I made with Charles EngineNarrat
Narrat is a lovely tool for making interactive fiction games, with a layout that seems to be inspired by RPGs like Disco Elysium. But that’s not all it can do. The creator of the engine also made A Walk Through the Forest, a short interactive fiction game where you walk on a trail through a forest while the narrator talks about their personal thoughts. Parts of the game can have you looking at video of parts of the trail. Narrat also has integration with Godot if you prefer to work in that engine. Hopefully one of the takeaways from this post is that your game doesn’t even need to have people in it, it can just be video of nature or animals.

screenshot from a walk through the forest showing a trail in a forestA screenshot from A Walk Through the ForestTwine
Even Twine can be used to play full motion video. Issue 36 of Wireframe magazine (RIP) has a tutorial on how you can do this. The article’s author also has two demos of this on their Itch page. One demo uses footage from the film Plan 9 from Outer Space while the other one recreates the dialog system from one of my favorite games The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery.

plan 9 from outer space playing inside of TwineTwine can play video like this clip from Plan Nine From Outer SpaceI hope this post was useful and you’ll consider putting video in your next game, whether it’s a personal story or a total schlock fest. If there’s other tools that you use for this type of thing, please let me know in the comments!

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/04/anyone-can-make-a-game-with-fmv/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

Happy Groundhog Day. The groundhog has risen and said there will be 6 more weeks of video games. Does the weird Groundhog Day VR adventure game sequel from a few years ago count as an indie game? Anyway, if you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email, message me on social media (see About page), or just reply to this post with a link to your thing to let me know it’s out.

photo of two people tinted blue and someone saying "Come on over, let's head in"Full o’ Beans
Full o’ Beans is a short visual novel on Itch where you help two researchers explore the world of humor by telling jokes. I really enjoyed the writing and music in this game and I will always get excited about photos of people being used in video games.

Zine Month
It’s zine month in the world of tabletop rpgs, meaning tons of people are launching crowdfunding campaigns on a variety of platforms. I’ll probably do a post later listing some of the campaigns I’m interested in but take a look around and see what people are looking to fund, or see what ttrpg folks are talking about on social media.

gif of someone on an alien beach with a floating fishTwilight Oracle
Twilight Oracle is a new point-and-click adventure by the creator of other fun adventure games like The Corruption Within and Blood Nova. I’ve only played the demo but it’s really good and I’m looking forward to playing through the whole game now that I got my key from backing the Kickstarter. The game is available on Itch.io and Steam.

top down view of boats on waterWaterworld: a New Expansion for Barren Planet
Barren Planet was a new turn based strategy game for DOS that was released for free last year which I really enjoyed, so it’s nice to see that it’s receiving big updated as well. You can download the game for free on the developer’s site but it’s also on Itch.

3D view of Celeste and floating platformsCeleste 64
Celeste 64 is a free 3D platformer take on Celeste by (I think?) the developers of the original. It’s in the style of early 3D platformers and it’s great. I’m awful at it, as I always have been with 3D platformers, but it’s a very good version of one of these.

toes being tickled by a featherTeddy Typtoes Tickle Tower
Teddy Typtoes Tickle Tower is a new typing game playable in the browser where you type and tickle someone’s toes. I don’t know what else to say about this one other than it’s a GOTY contender.

gif of a space person peeking from a wallUnder a Star Long Cold
Under a Star Long Cold is a new stealth action game with perma death where you have 30 minutes to loot a place before the planet is destroyed. I haven’t played this one yet but I’ve enjoyed previous games by Merlino Games like The Chameleon and Luckily, My Arm is a Shotgun.

The Forever Labyrinth
The Forever Labyrinth is a new browser game created by Inkle in collaboration with Google. I actually know nothing about the game since I haven’t played it yet but it’s an Inkle game so I’ll probably enjoy playing it. The YouTube trailer (which also has a link to the game) was interesting. I don’t know how Inkle keeps secretly dropping games like this.

Other People Talking About Video Games

There’s also other people who are much cooler than I am who are talking about all the cool things coming out. You should follow these folks

Bobbins’ Olde Tomb of Videogames has a weekly post rounding up various games that have come out in the last week, with more of a focus on arcade games and remakes of retro games. The same person used to run a site called Retro Remakes 20 years ago and holy cow, I used to spend so much time on there playing remakes of old video games. It was the best. So it’s great that I’m still finding about remakes of old video games from him.

LotusLovesLotus has a very nice video on YouTube of 24 indie PC games that she’s looking forward to. I didn’t even know of most of the games in the video.

Indie Tsushin is still regularly streaming indie games from Japan on their YouTube channel. They also post about all the games they streamed, with links to the games, if you want to check them out yourself.

Nathalie Lawhead has a great post on their blog about liminal spaces and indie horror games.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/02/02/indie-game-roundup-feb-2-2024/

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virtualmoose.org, to random

Found a couple of ads from the 80s for a computer store near me that used to exist called Micro Station in Southfield, Michigan. Never went to it but thought they were still fun to look at.

From a 1983 issue of the Westland Observor (link opens a PDF)

ad for Micro Station saying "Software Solutions for Business Problems" and listing all their types of software for businessesFrom the 02/14/83 issue of the Livonia Observer

ad for Micro Station of a cartoon person happily sighing, text saying "Software Made Simple" and the ad listing all their product typeshttps://virtualmoose.org/2024/01/27/computer-store-photo-dump-micro-station/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

Despite losing my power one day this week and my internet going in and out over the weekend, I still had time to play video games. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email, message me on social media (see About page), or just reply to this post with a link to your thing to let me know it’s out. Or even if you didn’t make it and you just think it’s neat, let me know!

little person on a platformerSylvie Miniature
Sylvie Miniature is a short challenging platformer that is playable in the browser. The source code is available too if you wanted to see how it was made.

Pinochio inside a castleThe New Secret of Pinocchio
For the 30th anniversary of the Russian ZX Spectrum game “The Adventures of Buratino” its creator released a Windows remake of it and extended it with new material. It’s available for free on Itch.

Music Maker 95
Music Maker 95 is a little synth playable in the browser on Itch where you play with some retro sounds in an interface resembling a program from the 90s.

robocop flying and shooting at the PredatorRobocop Vs Predator
Robocop Vs Predator is a free game inspired by Game Boy games that were weird crossovers like Robocop Vs Terminator or Iron Man And X-O Manowar. It’s a very silly and challenging action platformer.

view outside of clouds and a giant towerSlave Zero X: Episode Enyo
Slave Zero X: Episode Enyo is a free prequel to Slave Zero X, which was a recent 2D action game which itself was a prequel to Slave Zero, a 3rd person action game from 1999. I have played neither of those games but I’m excited about people making free Quake episodes to promote their game, which is what this is. It’s a lot of effort too. The 6 level episode features new guns, enemies, and soundtrack.

Boyfriend Dungeon: Life On the Edge
Boyfriend Dungeon: Life On the Edge is an official tabletop rpg based off Boyfriend Dungeon. I was a fan of the original game and also have a fascination with official tabletop rpg adaptations so I hope to play this soon. I’m also relieved that it’s not another 5E reskin and it’s a unique system based on Rhapsody of Blood and Powered By the Apocalypse.

cartoonish person in a kitchenDay of the Sandwich
Day of the Sandwich is a cute little adventure game about making a sandwich, inspired by Day of the Tentacle and made in Adventure Game Studio and playable in the browser. I didn’t even know AGS games could be playable in the browser so that alone was exciting to me. It was made for a 14 day game jam and you can watch them develop it on their Twitch stream. If you would like to make a point-and-click adventure in the free and open source engine Adventure Game Studio, I highly recommend this tutorial by Julia Minamata, who is currently developing The Crimson Diamond.

Rise to the Commander of the Wolf Triad
Rise to the Commander of the Wolf Triad is a browser game made in PICO-8 where you climb a tower and throw bombs at Commander Keen? It’s a late entry to the Toy Box Jam, which is hosted by Tom Hall (Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom) every year on Itch where developers must make a game using the collection of assets that are provided to them.

Gex Jam 2024
Do you miss 90’s platformer mascot Gex? Well there’s a jam coming up in a month where you can make anything featuring the guy.

Posts About Puzzle Games
There were two recent posts about indie puzzle games that I really liked. Thinky Third Thursday is a monthly roundup of puzzle games by the designer of puzzle games like A Monster’s Expedition, Cosmic Express, and A Good Snowman is Hard to Build. There was also this post on Cohost highlighting A TON of puzzle games.

top down view of a knight fighting monsters in a dungeonRogue Declan
After posting about Amiga games last week, someone mentioned this very nice looking Amiga game that was released last year. It looks like its got a boxed copy available for pre-order too.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/01/19/indie-game-roundup-jan-19-2024/

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virtualmoose.org, to retrogaming

Happy new year! Even with the holidays and everything lately, a lot of great stuff came out this week. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.

gif of vanish 5 of blocks being moved around to clear the screenfake installer screen for DOStop down screen of train tracks being builta giant stair case with ice on itfirst person view of a dungeonan island made in ZZTa river rendered in voxelsgif of an asteroids game for DOSlow poly car in a cityDOS Games Jam
The most recent DOS Games Jam just concluded and a lot of great games have been made for it. I enjoy doing these since they’re so casual and there’s no ranking involved. I was especially excited to see that a holiday version of Stair Quest was made.

retro looking top down view of a house by the waterHexany’s Roguelike Tiles
Hexany’s Roguelike Tiles is a really nice looking batch of tiles released under a Creative Commons license for anyone to use. I just thought they looked nice and thought it should be included.

a metal sphere navigating a mazeSpheroid
Spheroid is a puzzle game for the Commodore Amiga where you move a metal sphere around a maze and get to the exit. The Amiga was my first computer so it makes me happy that Itch has an active Amiga game dev scene on there.

a glowing yellow pepper outside in a park?Dead Drop
Dead Drop is the 19th game in the Carol Reed series, a series of first person point-and-click mystery games. I haven’t played any of these (I will fix that this year!) but I heard they’re solid games. I just enjoy that the games are exclusively available for sale from the developer’s site and nowhere else. It reminds me of the 90s/early 00s era of buying indie games.

Word Thirds
Word Thirds is a new game by John Passfield, of Halloween Harry and Flight of the Amazon Queen fame. It’s a puzzle game on the iOS app store and Itch where you make as many six letter words with letter tiles as you can within sixty seconds. I’m awful at word games but it’s a fun game.

No Escape Essay Pack
This is a bundle of writing about games that includes three issues of the No Escape magazine as well as some essays. It’s a great way to support one of the best sites out there, No Escape.

glowing white butterflies over the waterBlueSuburbia
BlueSuburbia is now on Steam. I’ve mentioned the game before but previously it was only on Itch. This demo is a first person interactive fiction where you explore poems through immersive environments. I believe it was built in the Unreal Engine but it does some really cool stuff like having playable Bitsy games inside the game.

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/01/05/indie-game-roundup-jan-05-2024/

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virtualmoose.org, to random

Come check out the 80s MMO Habitat, developed by Lucasfilm Games, this Friday through the NeoHabitat client. Streamer BogusMeatFactory will be hosting a meetup so people can play the game at the same time and experience the game the way it was meant to be played. See the article here for more details
https://renoproject.org/the-gathering-of-the-avatars/

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/01/03/try-classic-mmo-habitat-this-friday/

virtualmoose.org, to gaming

Last year I wrote a list of the game I’m looking forward to in 2023 and had a lot of fun so I’m doing it again. If you don’t see your game on here, don’t be weird about it! It’s just a blog where someone that is still waking up is trying to remember games they’re looking forward to. It is not a serious games site. I once posted a recipe by the guy from Ernest Scared Stupid. Come on. Some of these are repeats of last year’s list, because it turns out making games is hard and it’s a miracle anything gets released. If you think any of these games look cool, consider adding them to your wishlist so you can help with whatever algorithms are used to get.

If there’s a game you’re excited for that isn’t on here, let me know about it! This can include stuff you’re working on.

The Crimson Diamond

screenshot of a wooden cabin and two women insideThe Crimson Diamond is a point-and-click adventure game strongly influenced by Sierra’s 1989 adventure game The Colonel’s Bequest. I’ve been following the development of the game for a while now through the developer’s weekly dev streams and the demo on the game’s Steam page and everything indicates this should be a great mystery to solve. This was on last year’s list but from watching the dev streams, it looks like development is getting close to the end and I’m confident it will come out this year.

Exophobia

first person view of a gun shooting at large bugsExophobia is a Metroidvania FPS inspired by FPS from the 90s. I enjoyed my time with the demo when it came out. I don’t know if the Blake Stone series was an inspiration for this game but it reminds me of that era of FPS instead of most of the retro FPS revival shooters that seem to be inspired by ID Software and Build-engine games. This was also on last year’s last but the release date lists 2024 so I’m hopeful that I’ll get to play it soonish.

Princess Peach: Showtime!

princess peach holding a swordNot an indie game but I’m mostly excited for this one because my kids are excited. Princess Peach is their favorite character and it’s nice that we’re getting a game focused on her. I generally enjoy Nintendo’s games so I’ll probably have a good time with it.

She Dreams Elsewhere

a combat screen showing a variety of strange looking foesShe Dreams Elsewhere is a surreal RPG with a stunning art style. The art and creature design look wild and I’m looking forward to exploring this world when the game comes out.

Super Cucumber

aardvark with a cape shooting a fireball at a platformSuper Cucumber is a 2D platformer where you play as an aardvark superhero. I liked the dev’s previous game Down the Drain and have had fun playing the beta of this too.

Twilight Oracle

guy standing outside of a cave entranceTwilight Oracle is a fantasy comedy point-and-click adventure by the developer of games like Blood Nova and The Corruption Within. I’ve enjoyed playing all the other games by this dev and the demo for this was solid too. It comes out at the end of the month so I won’t have to wait very long to play the final version of this game.

Kitsune Tails

an enemy being kicked into other enemiesKitsune Tails is a 2D platformer that looks like is inspired by Super Mario Bros. 3. I really like the previous platformers by the studio and I think this one looks really cute!

The Last Exterminator

first person view of a gun pointing at an alien who also has a gunThe Last Exterminator is a FPS inspired by games from the 90s like Duke Nukem 3D and Blood where you fight alien cockroaches. Sure, I’ll play another one of these. There’s a demo I should probably try first but I do like that it looks like the 90s Duke Nukem Forever that we never got so assuming that demo is fun, I’ll probably pick this up too.

Harold Halibut

man satanding inside of a storage room filled with boxesHarold Halibut is an adventure game life on a city-sized spaceship submerged in an alien ocean. I really love the stop motion aesthetics the game has.

Tactical Breach Wizards

a wizard shooting lightning at two peopleTactical Breach Wizards is the newest game by Tom Francis, designer of Gunpoint and Heat Signature. It looks to be a fun tactics game with a fantasy influence and the screenshots showing off dialog indicate that it has the same humor his earlier games had.

Acronia

person shooting a rocket to the upper right while on a platformAcronia is a queer DOS game inspired by Apogee-era shareware games such as Duke Nukem 1 and BioMenace. It’s been fun following the studio on social media and seeing the game come together and get a soundtrack. I loved the alpha version of the game that is available on their Itch page and hope that we see a full version released this year.

Gobliins 6

the logo for Gobliins 6Last year’s Gobliiins 5 was a surprisingly good revival of the series and it’s exciting that a new one has already been announced and is currently in development. There’s not much that we know about it other than what I covered in my post here but it makes me happy that the series is back.

Wonky Works

a little blue guy shooting fireballs at green guys in cloaksWonky Works is the newest game in development by ondydev. I don’t know much about it but I’m a fan of the developer’s previous games like Tres-Bashers and Binky’s Trash Service.

Captain Disaster and The Two Worlds of Riskara

guy in spaceship with slug people in cellsThis year we should see the third game in the Captain Disaster series. The first two games were fun sci-fi adventures and I’m really impressed by the improvement in art style in the screenshots that have been posted so far.

Sam & Max Season 3 Remaster

It’s not really a new game but I’ve enjoyed the remasters of Telltale’s Sam & Max games by Skunkape. They make the games look like how I remember the game looking and not how they actually looked, and are generally hands off with the content of the game, only making small changes to parts where the humor has not and other small enhancements. The Sam & Max series got better with each season so I’m looking forward to revisiting the best one Telltale made. It sounds like this one has taken longer to do due to all the technical changes Telltale was making to the engine at the time but it will be worth the wait since this was also the best entry in the series.

The Drifter

a group of homeless people in a tunnelThe Drifter is a point-and-click adventure by Powerhoof, developers of games like Crawl. This is their first commercial adventure game but they’ve done a few short, free adventure games that I’ve enjoyed. It’s developed with their Unity plugin PowerQuest and it’s nice seeing another tool pop up for adventure game developers as well.

Rosewater

3 people standing outside a large building in the old westRosewater is the next point-and-click adventure by developer Grundislav Games. It’s a western set in the same universe as their previous game, Lamplight City. I’m excited for the diverse cast of characters, focus on multiple solutions, and love the rotoscoped animations.

Neyyah

view of a very tall metallic building surrounded by waterNeyyah is a first-person point-and-click adventure inspired by Myst and Riven. The game looks absolutely amazing to me and it will be fun playing one of these types of games that isn’t by Cyan.

Nivalis

view of a very tall cyberpunk city with flying carsNivalis looks to be a business simulator set in a cyberpunk city, but looks to have some narrative elements as well. It’s by the developers of Cloudpunk, which I really enjoyed, so this is one I’m looking forward to.

Ghost Bike

two people riding bikes in a cityGhost Bike has you riding around in a semi-open world on a bicycle so yeah, of course I’ll be interested in that. I think it looks nice and the music should be good too, even if the record label advertised in the trailer turned out to be a bunch of buttholes when news came out that Chromatics broke up. Plus it’s by the developers of Nidhogg, so that’s neat.

Fiend’s Isle

sword pointing at a low poly skeletonThere’s not really a whole lot known about Fiend’s Isle but it’s a dungeon crawler inspired by 90s game which is absolutely a thing just for me.

Agent 64

shootout on a staircaseAgent 64 is a new FPS inspired by Rare’s classic N64 games Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. I think it emulates the style of those games perfectly and the demo, which is available on the Steam page, was a lot of fun.

Still Ridge – A Supernatural Adventure Game

a man standing inside an office in a low poly environmentStill Ridge is a point-and-click adventure game with a retro-aesthetic set in a West Virginia town. You play as a dream traveling therapist investigating a murder he witnessed in his dreams. The developer of this one previous did some stuff in the HauntedPS1 community and from the little bit I’ve followed of this game, it seems to be made with a lot of love for older adventure games.

Loco Motive

people talking on a trainI loved the original version of this game that appeared in the 2020 AdventureX game jam and this looks like a nice remake of that game with improved graphics. I’m interested in seeing how they expand the story as well.

Riven

view of a bridge inside a mountainHell yes, cannot wait for this one. I don’t even know if it’s coming out this year but it still deserves a mention. Their remake of Myst in 2021 was very good so I’m excited to see what they do with this. It sounds like they’re expanding and reworking parts of the game too so it’s not a straightforward 3D remake like their Myst remake was. Even if the remake was just a 3D version of the game it would be a massive project, so I’m not going to be surprised if it takes another year to come out. I’ll miss the great FMV in the original game but the few screenshots they have look great.

Zid Journey

cartoon drawing of two dinosaurs on a trailZid Journey is the sequel to Zniw Adventure, a wonderful cartoon adventure game inspired by classic Humongous Entertainment adventure games. Since this looks like more of that, I will be happy to play this as well.

Dream Settler

view of a website called Settler's ParkI will play absolutely everything in the Hypnospace Outlaw universe. Loved that game and loved Slayers X, so I will be buying Dreamsettler on day 1.

Duppy Detective Tashia

a woman asking "Why is this boy intent on trying my patience? How may I help you today?"Duppy Detective Tashia is a choice-driven adventure based on Caribbean folklore. I think the artwork looks very nice and I liked the puzzle game that spritewrench released last year, On the Peril of Parrots.

Phoenix Springs

two people in front of projection screensPhoenix Springs is a point-and-click adventure where you are searching for your missing brother. I think the artwork in this looks beautiful, especially when it’s in motion.

Stunt Derby

cars driving over a track while a tower of blocks is fallingStunt Derby is Noclip’s first video game. It’s just a very goofy multiplayer game where you drive around on tracks and have fun with the physics. The demo was a lot of fun and I think it’s supposed to be a lower cost game too. It reminded me a little of the DOS game stunts in how simplistic it is, but in a good way.

Hauntii

black and white art of someone walking through the woods on a trailHauntii is a twin-stick shooter/adventure game. I don’t know a whole lot about the game but I think it looks really nice and it’s supposed to come out in Q2 2024.

Tachyon Dreams Anthology

person walking outside and text saying "pick berry"Tachyon Dreams Anthology is a collection of three games that were previously released on Itch but with some minor tweaks and new content added. They’re all inspired by Sierra’s 80s parser graphic adventures. I really enjoyed those games so I’ll happily play them again.

Enoch: Children of Fate

woman standing outside of a building in a cyberpunk worldEnoch: Children of Fate is a cyberpunk point-and-click adventure. I don’t know a whole lot about it or the developer but I think it has some nice pixel art so it’s going on my wishlist.

Dome-King Cabbage

hand modeled creature wanting to thank youDome-King Cabbage is a visual novel set in the world of a monster collecting rpg. Man, look at that art.

Midnight Margo

cartoon people sitting inside a barMidnight Margo is a new adventure game by the developers of Whispers of a Machine. I really enjoyed that one and I know the art style for this game is divisive but I’m really into it.

Ashbury Pines

a man talking to you while showing a grid of people in a tableAshbury Pines is an idle game where you solve a murder in a small town. I haven’t played that many idle games but I’m so curious how a Twin Peaks-inspired murder mystery game works in the format.

Roman Sands RE:Build

view of a dark night clubRoman Sands is a surreal mystery game by the developers of Paratopic. Really enjoyed that game and I’m into the Y2K aesthetic this one has.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story

screenshot of a spaceship shooting lightning at ships in an arcade gameLlamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is the one that will probably end up being my game of the year in 2024. I really love what Digital Eclipse has done with their previous releases like Atari 50 and the Making of Karateka, and now they’re doing a compilation on one of my favorite game designers. I don’t know how they’ll ever be able to top this.

The Legend of Skye

woman in a cloak outside of a villageThe Legend of Skye is a fantasy point-and-click adventure game inspired by games from the 90s. Sometimes I just want a cozy adventure game and that looks like a well made version one of those.

Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure

isometric view of a man outside a houseTwinsen’s Little Big Adventure is a remake of the game from the 90s. I was really impressed with the beta version I tried. Having controls that aren’t frustrating definitely changes the game, but I think the spirit of the original is still there. The new art is a nice update of the original’s too.

The Ape Painting

isometric view of a room with a painting crushing a manIn The Ape Painting, your date’s hideous painting has fallen off the wall and killed him, leaving you trapped in an apartment of nightmares. I really liked Cain’s previous interactive fiction game WASTE EATER and I’m looking forward to playing something bigger.

Heir of the Dog

a man in an 1800s laboratoryHeir of the Dog is a new point-and-click adventure by the developer of Lucy Dreaming. Really like what I played of that one so once I finish that, I’ll have this to look forward to.

Vaporwave Pinball

a pinball table with a vaporwave aesthetic outside of itI enjoyed the demo I played for Vaporwave Pinball so as long as the full game is more of that then I’ll be happy.

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged

a man digging through garbage outside of an exploded building in ParisI like that first Broken Sword, although probably not as much as most adventure game fans seem to, so any excuse to revisit it is fine with me. The updated visuals look nice and it seems to remove the stuff that was added in the “Director’s Cut” of the game that kinda ruined the pacing, so this will probably be the version I end up recommending to other people.

Broken Sword – Parzival’s Stone

a man walking through the streets of ParisWe’re getting two Broken Sword games this year! It sure looks like another Broken Sword so sure, ok, I’ll play this one as well.

BlueSuburbia

white butterflies in the sky at night over a streamBlueSuburbia is a first-person interactive fiction game that is currently available for free but in Early Access form. I really like what I’ve played and I’m looking forward to seeing how this game continues to grow.

Dread Delusion

sword pointing at a weird blue monsterDread Delusion is another game currently in Early Access. It’s a fantasy rpg heavily inspired by Morrowind. I haven’t actually picked this one up yet but I will sometime this year and I get to look forward to it growing and having more weird things added to it.

SKALD: Against the Black Priory

top-down view of people outside a castleSKALD is a party-based rpg inspired by 80s CRPGs. I haven’t played the demo yet but I really like how it looks, I’m interested in the setting they’ve been showing off so far, and as a fan of the era of games that inspired it, I’m looking forward to seeing how they modernize that style of game.

Old Skies

two people sitting in a futuristic cafeOld Skies is the newest game developed by point-and-click adventure game studio Wadjet Eye Games. While they’ve produced other adventure games in recent years like The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, this will be the first they’ve developed since Unavowed. The time travel premise sounds like a lot of fun and it features great art by Ben Chandler.

Nighthawks

https://virtualmoose.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/ss_c764792949fd6ed9ff76fc362dbd80798c5f8934.1920x1080-1.jpg?w=656Nighthawks is a RPG written and designed by Richard Cobbett (Sunless Sea/Sunless Skies) with art by Ben Chandler (Technobabylon, PISS), and produced by Wadjet Eye Games. From following the Kickstarter updates, the worldbuilding seems like a lot of fun and it should be a pretty lengthy game.

Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends

two people riding a bed with long legsLittle Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends is a 2D platformer based on the Little Nemo comic series. I think the art is fantastic and as a fan of the character ever since I played the NES game many years ago, it’s nice to see another video game being made starring the character.

Alone in the Dark

man in an old, empty houseBeing a fan of Alone in the Dark is the video game equivalent of being a Weezer fan. There hasn’t been a good entry in the series since the first game and even that one gets harder to recommend to people because of the gameplay mechanics aging poorly over time. However, this one is a remake of the first game, set in the early 1900s, and has two playable characters again so could this finally be another good Alone in the Dark game? Maybe?

Are there any games you’re looking forward to that haven’t been mentioned here? Please let me know! It can also include games that you are working on. I want to know about everything!

https://virtualmoose.org/2024/01/01/games-im-looking-forward-to-in-2024/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

A new version of ScummVM is out and this one is a big release to me. The biggest part of the release for me is that it supports more games made with Director, which are a massive headache to play today. So now I can easily play games like The Dark Eye, Gadget, and Classical Cats, which has a very good post about getting it to work in ScummVM.

Here are the new games that it supports:

  • Adibou 1
  • The Dark Eye
  • Dark Side
  • Escape From Hell
  • Gadget: Invention Travel and Adventure
  • Gobliiins 5
  • The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
  • Kingdom: The Far Reaches
  • Might and Magic Book One
  • Muppet Treasure Island
  • Nancy Drew: The Final Scene
  • Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion
  • Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill
  • Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger
  • Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower
  • Primordia
  • Reah: Face the Unknown
  • Schizm: Mysterious Journey
  • Shardlight
  • Strangeland
  • Syberia and Syberia II (macOS versions only)
  • Technobabylon
  • The Vampire Diaries
  • Whispers of a Machine
  • Wrath of the Gods and four other Director titles.
  • 14 AGS titles by Stranga and Cloak and Dagger

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/30/scummvm-2-8-0-is-out/

virtualmoose.org, to indiegames

Even though we’re in that weird liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s Day, where I have lost track of time and no longer know what day it is, a lot of great games were released this last week. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.

Winter sales!
Winter sales are still going on Itch and Steam. Go buy some neat games if you want.

top down view of santa walking around a dungeonWho Took the Books
Your mileage on this one may vary on how much you want to play a Christmas game at this time of year but Tom Hall, creator of classic games like Commander Keen, has released a new game for the PICO-8. It’s a really cute puzzle game where you play as Santa and must find all the books in the game. It plays a lot like an adventure game where finding items will let you explore new areas. It’s also just fun seeing how much Tom Hall is involved with the PICO-8 community and is always organizing new game jams or rating PICO-8 games 5 stars on Itch.

Sewer Rave
Not a new game but Sewer Rave is now available for free/Pay-What-You-Want on Steam and Itch.io. It’s a game where you explore a rat infested sewer during a giant rave.

platformer gif of a woman turning on a bridgeBaby Time!
Baby Time! is a new game by Goloso Games to celebrate becoming a parent. It’s a Lost Vikings-style platformer where each of the three playable characters has different abilities and you use them all to solve puzzles. Congrats to Goloso Games on the baby.

Saṃsāra
Saṃsāra is an interactive poem created for the Kissinger is Dead jam. It’s a good poem and I’m also just happy that there was a jam about how awful Kissinger was and celebrating his death.

Hamayumishi: Chochin Challenge
Hamayumishi is a new side-view twin-stick shooting game by Nice Gear Games that’s playable in the browser. It’s a fun arcade game with some nice art and neat slow motion gameplay mechanic!

Against the Wind
Against the Wind is a new solo/coop fantasy tabletop rpg by Cezar Capacle that is focused on wilderness exploration and creating unique heroes. The game is technically in beta but I feel like it’s already a beautiful book and solid game, and with it blowing past its goal, will only become better. If you’ve never played a solo tabletop rpg before, I think this is a good one to start with.

gif of a snake in a mine cartSnake on a Train
Snake on a Train is a cute endless runner made in PICO-8 where you are a snake riding in a mine cart. The game was created for the Toy Box jam which was hosted by Tom Hall and is playable in the browser.

gif of an alien offering you a business opportunityGalactic Foodtruck Simulator 2999
Galactic Foodtruck Simulator 2999 is a game created in ZZT for the DOS Game Jam, hosted by me! I’m always impressed by what you can do in ZZT and this is no exception. In this game you have 40 weeks to establish a successful food truck business in space. Playable in the browser.

Indie Tsushin: Year 1
Indie Tsushin: Year 1 is a compilation of writing found in the first year of Indie Tsushin, a zine that covers indie games and interviews game developers from Japan. Picking it up is an excellent way to support indie games coverage and make sure projects like this can continue

screenshot from a spectrum platformer game showing Daleks and the TardisWOOT 2023
I only found out about this a few hours ago and I don’t really follow the modern ZX Spectrum too closely so I might be screwing up the details of this but WOOT 2023 looks to be a compilation of new ZX Spectrum and apps, with a nice variety of stuff. I got excited because a dev I do follow, Sloanysoft, seems to have a Doctor Who fan game in it called Blocktor Woot in the Sloanyverse of Madness.

image of a monster exploding into piecesFREAKHUNTER
I haven’t played this one yet but it looks like something I’ll really enjoy. FREAKHUNTER is a dungeon crawler/rail shooter hybrid and I really enjoy the low-poly aesthetic it has.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/29/indie-game-roundup-dec-29-2023/

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virtualmoose.org, to DnD

Here is a list for games that have official tabletop rpg adaptations, and unofficial ones that cite the game as the inspiration. I’m fascinated by adaptations of video games to ttrpgs and video games based on ttrpgs and wanted to see what was out there.

The title of each game links to a page where you can read more about the game or buy it. Eventually I’ll add games that would be a good fit for doing the tabletop version of the game and maybe also games that were based off tabletop rpgs. For time saving reasons, most of the descriptions just come from the Itch page they’re on. For the most part I’m not including D&D supplements on here aside from official ones just because I’m hoping this page will encourage people to check out new games. Also not including more broad inspirations and not that many supplements just because I have to have a cutoff somewhere, maybe in the future? If you’re just looking for the officially licensed rpgs, I don’t really have a good way to only show those in here. Just search for the word “Official” I guess, because I did mention it whenever those come up. For what it’s worth, I think a lot of the unofficial games are better than the officially licensed games so consider checking those out too.

It’s very likely I’ve missed a lot so please leave a comment if there’s a game you worked on or played that should be included.. Corrections are welcome too. If you see a game you made in here and think “It’s actually more like ____” then let me know!

Anthem
AEGIS is a love-letter to looter-shooters like Anthem built with the LUMEN system

Armored Core
Apocalypse Frame is a game built with the LUMEN rpg system. You are an Ace – a highly skilled pilot referred from a Division in The Collective and assigned a humanoid combat vehicle known as a Frame. You and your Strike Team of fellow Aces must take on The Collective’s greatest threats, ensure its survival, and carve a path for its continued success.

cover for Apocalypse Frame, showing a B&W image of a mechGUNBARE! is a power fantasy military-scifi TTRPG designed for 3-5 players. Inspired by the premise of Azure Lane, Armored Core, and the works of Tsutomu Nihei, play as a Fleetgirl, a living weapon onboard a generation ship currently running from a hostile alien empire.

Arx Fatalis
Arx ObsKura is a LUMEN game inspired by Arkane Studios’ 2002 rpg Arx Fatalis and old-school adventure tabletop roleplaying games. Using six-sided dice and Tarot cards, you and your friends will plumb the deep places between cities, braving Eclipse cultists, ratfolk, Ylsian Knights, and more as you find your way in the dark.

Assassin’s Creed
The Assassin is a solo game using the Wretched & Alone system where you are playing an assassin’s last mission

Atlas Reactor
Cyberrats was inspired by games like Atlas Reactor, XCOM, Shadowrun, and Band of Blades. Players will control two Operatives who have been genetically engineered, and/or a giant rat. Operatives go on missions, fighting the military, the invading aliens, or members of other megacorps.

Bloodborne
Beneath a Cursed Moon is a Gothic fantasy game that uses a system based on the Apocalypse World engine. Take the role of monster hunters and slay vampires, werewolves, mermen, and more in a game inspired by Castlevania and Bloodborne.

Borderlands
GUNFUCKS is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by games such as Borderlands and Bulletstorm that is built on the LUMEN system.

Boyfriend Dungeon
It’s not out yet but Boyfriend Dungeon is receiving an official tabletop rpg.

Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
While it’s based off the book license and not directly from the game, Callahan’s did receive a GURPS supplement.

Captain Blood
BABY?! is a game where your soul has been scattered across an alien planet and you must retrieve the fragments with the help of a universal translator. The game is focused on exploration and players using images to communicate with each other.

Castlevania
A Castle Outside Time is a one page rpg has players exploring a dungeon and is inspired by Castlevania style exploration and has a Dark Souls style resting mechanic

Curse of Vengeance is a journaling roleplay game about monster revenge.

Escape from Demon Castle Dracula is a solo dungeon-crawling RPG designed for a dark and stormy night.

Huntervania is a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) tabletop role playing game that explores the lives of vampire and monster hunters in a gothic setting.

Let’s Kill Dracula is a 2 player rpg about being trapped in Dracula’s castle and needing to destroy him.

Rhapsody of Blood is about generations of a bloodline fighting evil in an immortal castle. Rhapsody of Blood also received a solo game for generating metroidvania castles.

Caves of Qud
ASCII Delve is a solo game exploring and traveling through dungeons using ASCII symbols and using custom dice.

photo showing the ASCII Delve dice, which feature letters on each sideCitizen Sleeper
It’s not out yet but an official Citizen Sleeper ttrpg is currently in development.

City of Heroes
While it never got a full book, there was an official Quick Play ruleset for the game

Crypt of the Necrodancer
I Have Enough Training is a narrative adventure journaling game and a hack of “The Adventurer” by James Chip. It was inspired by Crypt of the Necrodancer

Necrocarta is a solo Carta game where players explore a mysterious dungeon on a quest to find the Heart of the Crypt.

Darkest Dungeon
Blades in the Darkest Dungeon is a hack of Blades in the Dark for Darkest Dungeon style games**.**

FUTILE LAMENTATIONS: DARK EXISTENCE is a pamphlet ttrpg inspired by Darkest Dungeon where you must face the horrors that afflict The Village, continue your Campaign knowing that you can die or fall into madness at any moment.

Dark Souls
There are actually two official Dark Souls rpgs. One that was released in Japan by Group SNE and one that is in English by Steamforged. The Group SNE game has unofficial English translations floating around online that I won’t link to here but are pretty easy to find.

Unfortunately the English version seems to be a 5E reskin.

There’s also lots of ttrpgs inspired by Dark Souls.

Bleak Spirit is a storytelling game where you and your friends create a brooding, cryptic tale about a stranger in a strange land.

Bonfire & Blade is a rules-lite tabletop RPG inspired by the setting and themes of Dark Souls, with a system based on the pamphlet RPG Vampires & Claymores. It can be run by one person facilitating the game as the Fire Keeper, with one or more players exploring the world, and a handful of 6-sided dice in two colors.

Dice Souls is a zero prep Souls-like dungeon exploration game for one or two players.

Exhumed is a pamphlet dungeon inspired by Dark Souls tutorial levels: short and somewhat linear, but meant to set the stage, give opportunities to learn the style of play, and offer hints of interesting things to come.

Fever is a tabletop roleplaying game for a Game Master and players where you play as Chosen struggling against a cruel world as you hope to rebuild the broken Sun.

Grave is a toolkit for soulslike fantasy TTRPG play built on the rules for Knave.

Death Stranding
The Death Stranding Solo-RPG is a one player ttrpg where players control a Porter and explore outside of their starting City in search of Preppers, Distribution Centers, Cities, and the resources to connect them to each other.

Deep Rock Galactic
Bedrock Mining LLC is a push your luck mining game inspired by Deep Rock Galactic

Desert Bus
Bus of the Desert is a solo game based on Desert Bus, an intentionally boring mini game created for an unreleased Penn and Teller game

Desert Golfing
While it works with any form of Golf, the GOLF system was originally designed for play with Desert Golfing

Destiny
LIGHT is an homage to Destiny. “LIGHT is a rules-lite, power fantasy tabletop RPG designed using an early version of the LUMEN system. It’s all about creating powerful characters, called Beacons, and feeling incredible badass as you take on dangerous missions and collect valuable loot.“

Diablo
“ANGELSPAWN is a high-action combat game about humans with angelic lineage fighting an unending war against the tides of evil. It is a love letter to one of my all-time favorite games—Diablo—and is powered by the LUMEN system, created by Spencer Campbell. The game focuses on frenetic combat, waves and waves on enemies, randomized loot, and slowly improving your character towards a perfect killing machine.”

Diablo 2
Diablo 2 received a variety of supplements for AD&D 2nd edition

Dishonored
Received an official TTRPG from Modiphius that included involvement from the folks who worked on the video games.

paKtbound is a streamlined tabletop role-playing game built with the LUMEN system and inspired by Arkane Studio’s Dishonored series. Take on the role of the Paktbound, poor wretches who have pledged themselves to the service of the Stranger, as they tackle heists and hits in the rotten city of light and mirrors.

Dogs Throwing Swords 2
Received an officially approved ttrpg adaptation in Spanish

Doom
MOURN is a fast paced rpg that has you using a variety of weapons to fight warriors from another planet

See You in Hell is a rules light game where players must stop an invasion from Hell.

Dragon Age
Received an official TTRPG from Green Ronin using the AGE system

Dungeon Keeper
RISE: A Game of Spreading Evil is a map drawing game that puts you in control of a monstrous dungeon as you seek to reach the surface and take over their puny kingdoms.

Dwarf Fortress
DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game is a map drawing game that puts you in control of a dwarven hold as you discover the horrors that lurk below.

Elden Ring
RUNE is a solo tabletop RPG inspired by the soulslike genre of video games, including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. In RUNE, you are a wanderer of the lands of Obron. The world is dangerous, but full of power if you are willing to reach out and take it.

The Elder Scrolls
UESRPG is a free unofficial game based on the Elder Scrolls series of games.

Elite: Dangerous
There was an official tabletop rpg created using a d10 system.

There is also After\Burner, a tabletop roleplaying game focused on fast and positional starfighter combat and military sci-fi drama that was made with the LUMEN system.

Emperor of the Fading Suns
The official ttrpg was developed internally at the same time as the computer game

Encarta
MindExplorer is a single-player tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the MindMaze game in Encarta and the aesthetics of educational materials from the 1990’s. You will explore a building constructed from your imagination during a dream you have one night and meet the characters that live inside it.

Cover for MindExplorer showing a collage of objects flying in front of a bright blue skyEve Online
Strongly inspired by the MMORPG Eve Online, Heavens of Khepri features characters that spend most of their time piloting space ships, but this time you’re playing as the NPCs in the MMO.

Everquest
Received an official adaptation in 2002 using a d20 system from Sword and Sorcery Studios

Extreme Meatpunks Forever
Received an official Powered by the Apocalypse game in 2023 from Sinister Beard Games

Fallout
Modiphius created an official 2D20 game

There is also After the Bomb, a free game inspired by the series that is focused on being more streamlined.

Wastoid is a post-apocalyptic rpg built on the Knave ruleset

There was also this fan game that was hosted on the No Mutants Allowed forums in the 00’s before Fallout 3 was released

Fatal Frame
GHOST-SHOT BOKE is a single-page mini tabletop role-playing game about ghost hunting inspired by Fatal Frame

F.E.A.R.
FIST is a tabletop roleplaying game about paranormal mercenaries doing the tough jobs no one else can.

FIFA
Striker’s Story is a solo ttrpg inspired by the career mode in FIFA games

Final Fantasy
MEGALOS is a game for telling stories about adventures in the clouds, fighting evil empires, and dueling ancient gods.

Unofficial Final Fantasy Roleplaying System is what it says in the title and available for free.

FFRPG is another free rpg that’s been built by fans and has been ongoing since the 90s.

Final Fantasy VII
Into the Glacier is a solo journaling game inspired by the glacier sequence in FF7.

Final Fantasy XIV Online
An official ttrpg is currently in development

In the LUMEN system game Crystalline, players are Heritors, the bearers of Soul Stones- mnemocite gems which record the deeds and powers of the great heroes who once bore them. Players embark on adventures to topple the Empire, face the Shadows, and extinguish the fires of war which threaten to burn all to ash.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Arma Fantasia Tactics is fantasy adventure roleplaying with an emphasis on character & loadout customization and tactical action.

FTL: Faster Than Light
Faster Than Light is a solo Wretched & Alone game inspired by the video game FTL, a solo journaling game about perseverance and about being the AI that controls a spaceship warping through the galaxy in order to save humanity.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Accomplice is inspired by the Gabriel Knight series. You play as a research assistant for someone like Gabriel Knight as they investigate supernatural cases.

Game Genie
I suppose technically it’s not a video game and more of a cheat device for them, but there’s a couple of adaptations of the Game Genie for TTRPGs. Game Genie Apocalypse is a set of 23 moves for PBTA games inspired by video games.

https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/rpgenieis a method of integrating cheat codes and game alterations to tabletop gaming by sharing your favorite ephemera with your friends.

art for the RPGENIE hearder, showing two NES systems and a green explosionHades
LOOM is a game that tries to emulate the frenetic feel and player-driven advancement of the video game Hades and is made with the LUMEN system.

Heroes of Hammerwatch
GRIT is a rogue-like inspired dungeon crawler inspired by Heroes of Hammerwatch where the aim of the game is to send in waves of ’20-minute’ mercenaries to loot gold, gain glory, and vanquish enemies.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
Champions of Power and Dread is a dark fantasy strategic roleplaying game where you command legions of fell beasts.

Homeworld
Modiphius has created an official ttrpg using a 2D20 system

Hyper Light Drifter
An official ttrpg is currently in development. Quick start rules are available for free

Hypnospace Outlaw
Alone in Cyberspace is a solo tabletop game about exploring the archive of a defunct network of webpages from decades ago.

In Other Waters
In Other Waters: Tidebreak is a supplement for the horror ttrpg Mothership that is set in the In Other Waters universe. The supplement is playable in either as a group or solo and designed to be less stressful than the typical Mothership adventure.

screenshot from the In Other Waters book showing various fictional sea creaturesIncremental Adventures
You Cannot Kill Me in a Way That Matters is a solo ttrpg where you fight monsters in the forest, deal quick card layouts for yourself and the forest, resolve the round, and do it again.

Jet Set Radio
Disposable Heroes is a fast paced tabletop RPG set in a near-future fantasy world city named Neo-Francisco. You play as package delivery people with incredible abilities, doing their best to survive and get that 5 Star rating that means they can eat that week.

Underground Broadcast is a micro-RPG about nimble graffiti punks kicking off the rebellion against a tyrannical organization.

The Journeyman Project
Project Hypaethrus: Windows To Time has players create create unique Travelers to explore the past. Time-Travelers need to hide their existence to the temporal locals, so they take on new Personas while in the past. However, relying too much on their Past Persona can Bleed into their own identity.

Kingdom Hearts
Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined is a tabletop RPG about our connections with other people, the power we draw from those connections, and traveling to different worlds. It runs on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine. The game is built to allow players to combine characters from various properties.

Knockout City
Received a free official ttrpg in 2023 by Adira Slattery & Eric Feurstein

The Legend of Dragoon
Chain Attacks is a system-agnostic combat mechanic for emulating Additions from “Legend of Dragoon”

The Legend of Zelda
Courage is a solo RPG using the Carta System to create a dungeon-crawling experience inspired by games from “The Legend Of Zelda” series. You’ll play as the recently awoken Hero of Courage, exploring Dungeons and gathering power for your final confrontation against evil incarnate.

The Nostalgia for Norull is a fantasy adventure game for 1-4 players, based on the Push SRD.

Forgotten Ballad is a minimalist Adventure Game – TTRPG, if you prefer – heavily inspired by The Legend Of Zelda series and the OSR movement.

Loom
Loom is a fan fiction game based off the classic Lucasarts adventure game of the same name. It’s a solo journaling game where you explore the game’s world using the mechanics described in the book and write about what happens.

Magicka
The Wizards of Many Hats is a game of swords and sorcery where players can cast spells by evoking the eight fundamental elements: Water, Life, Barrier, Cold, Electricity, Arcane, Earth & Fire.

Mega Man X
METALUMAN is a ttrpg built with the LUMEN system as its engine and foundation for fast-paced action inspired by Capcom’s MegaMan X series.

Monster Hunter
There are a lot of indie ttrpgs inspired by the Monster Hunter series. Monster Guts is a game using the LUMEN system.

Apex Predator is a single-player game inspired by Monster Hunter, in which you explore an ancient forest, tracking down and fighting titanic monsters. Along the way, you’ll face peril and find that the natural world may just be on your side.

After the Great Beast is a monster hunting game using the Breathless system

Monster Rancher
In Raising Hell, a solo TTRPG based on Monster Rancher, you’ll help your Devil grow from a baby into an adult, training it all the while so it can be a proper Devil and win one of the numerous Tournaments available in the underworld!

Moonlighter
Shopkeeper Showdown is inspired by Moonlighter and has you running a shop and looting dungeons

Mortal Shell
Beast Souls is a tabletop role-playing game for 2 players set in a dreamlike / virtual / metaphorical / alternative world (for the most accustomed to the world of anime, an “isekai”) where the hero is the spirit of whoever has put their body at stakes to get something special from a world other than their own.

Myst
With Myst being one of the best-selling games ever, it’s not surprising that it has inspired a few tabletop rpgs. Unwritten: Adventures in the Ages of MYST and Beyond is a game that uses the Myst license and uses the FATE core system for the foundation of its rules. The game is strongly influenced by Uru/Myst Online and has players exploring modern or historical D’ni and the ages connected to it. The game has received a few smaller supplements as well as a larger sourcebook that was recently Kickstarted and focused on the reconstruction of D’ni

There’s fan games too. Bring the Page With You is a free one-page ttrpg where there is no GM/DM and is focused on players collaborating together to create Myst ages.

Myth: The Fallen Lords
Received an official GURPS supplement in 1999

cover for the Myth book, showing a monster attacking a man on a hillNieR: Automata is a tabletop RPG made with the LUMEN system for two or more players. You play as Answer units, specialized androids tasked with reclaiming the planet from an alien threat.

Outer Wilds
Pale Dot is a collaborative storytelling game for 2-5 players about a crew of non-human cosmonauts leaving their planet to explore a strange solar system, finding threads to unravel the unknown along the way.

cover for Pale Dot, showing an alien in an astronaut suitOvercooked!
Test Kitchen is a co-op time management party RPG for 3 to 5 players inspired by the Overcooked! series

Paper Mario is a TTRPG with a 2d platforming battle grid inspired by Paper Mario and Bug Fables

Path of Exile
Path of the Tainted is a LUMEN game is inspired by “Path of Exile”, players will slay hordes of monsters to acquire powerful loot and abilities. But most importantly they will be able to create their own Powers by combining them with upgrades.

Persona
Inspired by the Persona series, Voidheart Symphony is a tabletop roleplaying game about mundane people diving into a demon-filled labyrinth to save the ones they love.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Ace Attorneys is a TTRPG built with LUMEN for 3 players. It heavily relies on improvisation for all three players and is meant to be played for 30 – 60 minutes.

Justicar is a game inspired by the Ace Attorney series. Players each embody a unique key Role as they collaboratively tell the story of a crime and its mysteries.

In the unofficial Phoenix Wright ttrpg, players are divided into prosecution and defense parties, and then each performs its own DM led investigation of a crime scene.

photo showing a stack of Justicar booksPicross
Beauty in the Grid is a ttrpg where the main mechanic involves creating pictures in a grid

Pillars of Eternity
An in-development version of the game by Pillars of Eternity designer Josh Sawyer is available for free

Pokémon
ForeverDex is a game played by mail where you generate new magical creatures through another players zip code

Pokemon Dungeon Crawler is an unofficial Pokémon dungeon crawler. You play as a Pokémon in a world after humans. You get a dungeon delving class (cleric, fighter, magic-user), you get a backpack, a weapon, and you head out on an adventure.

Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
This is kind of an odd one to include since it’s a D&D computer game, which is not really something I want to delve into too much but I thought it was interesting that this game launched with a D&D 3rd edition tie in

Project Zomboid
Superesse Mortuus is a d100 system game about surviving in a world full of zombies

Quake
GRIM is a fast paced rpg where you fight eldritch horrors

Resident Evil
The Mansion Incident is a solo dungeon-crawling RPG and a hack of Escape from Demon Castle Dracula by Rob Hebert. In The Mansion Incident you take on the role of a member of the Investigation and Rescue Implementation Service (I.R.I.S.) – an elite group of detectives tasked with finding, and in some cases liberating, missing persons in the sprawling mountains of the Midwestern United States – as you recover your team from a sinister, labyrinthian mansion that hides secrets and danger behind every door.

Biocalypse is a minimalist, Resident Evil-inspired adventure game for 2—6 players.

Resident Evil 2
Escape: Outbreak is an escape room-style ttrpg inspired by Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil: Village
It turns out there are a bunch of games inspired by the tall vampire lady. Tall Vampire Ladies is a one page hack of Lasers and Feelings about trying to get a guy out of your castle

So You Want The Tall Vampire Lady To Catch You is a solo game about wanting her to catch you

Tall Lady Castle Game is an 8 page single player (or small group) TTRPG about being an ancient monster that’s really bad at expressing its feelings.

The designer of that also made a companion game called Oh Do Not Find Me In This Castle Please, a solo game where you are the intruder wanting to get caught

Rimworld
UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers is a map drawing game that puts you in control of a sci-fi colony as you struggle against starvation, the void, and the many threats that will assail you from above and below.

Rocket Jockey
raptor 2057 is a fast-paced racing RPG inspired by the wip3out series, the hectic F-Zero series, the classic romp Rocket Jockey (1996), and John Harper’s Wildlings (2015).

Sable
Of That Colossal Wreck is an open-world exploration TTRPG set in a post-apocalyptic setting for 1 to 4 players. Using a deck of cards, players will explore a wasteland, and build card house Ruins to explore.

Samorost
Pocket Full of Stars is a cozy two-player ttrpg inspired by Samorost where the players have the roles of an Astronomer and the Storyteller and work together to tell a story about a giant jumping from planet to planet and meeting people.

Sea of Thieves
Received an official ttrpg from Moongoose Publishing

The Secret of Monkey Island
Blood Mountain Resort & Spa is a free download for fantasy ttrpgs. Inspired by the Monkey Island series, players explore a pirate themed resort. The NPCs are statted for DURF but the rest of the supplement is built to be system neutral.

screenshot from the Blood Mountain Resort & Spa book showing a skeleton pirate having a nice drinkShadow of the Beast
The Shadow & the Beast is a two-player roleplaying game inspired by the classic video game Shadow of the Beast. One player controls the Beast as it fights its way toward the Shadow, the evil overlord that stole its life and forced it to carry out terrible acts of violence. The other player serves as the Gamemaster (GM), controlling the Beast’s adversaries and any other characters while also setting scenes for the action.

Shadow of the Colossus
On the Shoulders of Colossus includes rules for running colossal games as well as stat blocks for every colossus from the game

Shin Megami Tensei
An official ttrpg has been released in Japan and will be released here soon

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri received an official GURPS supplement

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Honor Among Thieves is a tribute micro TTRPG (for 3+ players) about the thievish activities of a group of honorable master thieves who seek to only steal from other criminals.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Radical Spin is a micro-RPG about melodramatic action animals for 2-5 players.

Rainbow Runaways is a Sonic-inspired TTRPG based on the Caltrop Core system, and is played with D4s and a deck of cards.

Soul Sacrifice
Sacrifice arcane objects, blood, and limbs to cast spells in Soul Sacrifice, a TTRPG based on the PSVITA exclusive. Requires a tarot deck.

Space Quest
24XX Unlikely Heroes – Space Questing is a rules-lite sci-fi RPG hack of the 2400 system. Inspired by the old-school Sierra adventure series “Space Quest”, and its bumbling space janitor hero Roger Wilco, UHSQ can be used to run a no-prep sci-fi game that is more on the humorous, light-hearted side.

Star Control
Capax Astra is a vaporwave space opera RPG inspired by Star Control, about exploring sectors full of strange alien people. It uses the Fate RPG system.

Starcraft
Wizards published an official game based on the Alternity rule set in 2000.

There is also this free unofficial supplement created by fans for playing in the StarCraft setting with the Genesys ruleset and another one that uses a d20 system.

cover for the official Starcraft ttrpg with text saying "Tabletop RPG: No Computer Required"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
An official campaign book for the d20 Modern System was published in 2008

Street Fighter II
White Wolf created an official game using their ttrpg storytelling framework in 1994

Streets of Rage
Justice Sworn is a solo ttrpg by Sandy Pug Games that is inspired by brawlers like Streets of Rage and Final Fight

Subnautica
Water Landing is a Carta-powered scenario for the Cast Away RPG. To play, you need the Cast Away rules

Sundered
PHOTON is a tabletop roleplaying game for 2 players about fighting back an all consuming singularity, based on the LUMEN system by Spencer Campbell. Inspired by games like Hyper Light Drifter and Sundered, it aims to bring eerie exploration and lightning fast battles to tabletop.

Super Smash Bros is a one page hack of John Harper’s Lasers and Feelings for having two unrelated characters fight each other.

Suspended
ERROR is a Play Out Loud text adventure where you control a robot that must fix a city’s mainframe and references Infocom designer Michael Berlyn

Tetris
Scraps is a feel-good game about sharing, about harmony with nature, about bewilderment and curiosity. Inspired by Minecraft and Tetris, it uses polyominoes as part of the crafting aspect of it.

Thief: The Dark Project
Blades in the Dark is an incredibly influential tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. The book cites Dishonored and Thief: The Dark Project as influences. It’s maybe a stretch to say it’s based on those games but whatever, I’m putting it here.

Tomb Raider
The Temple of Karthis is a solo dungeon crawling game using cards and dice and inspired by Tomb Raider.

Untitled Goose Game
Sneak Honk is a hack of Honey Heist inspired by Untitled Goose Game

Warframe
Frame is a ttrpg using the LUMEN system that was an homage to Warframe. The Warframe community got really weird and harassed the creator of the game so it was briefly made free and then changed to $5000.

The Witcher
Technically it was a book first but all of these are based on the video game series. R Talsonian created an official ttrpg using the game’s license from CD Projekt

The Path Of The Wolves is a simple hack of Charge to play within the Witcher universe.

On The Path is a hack of Honey Heist by Grant Howitt, where players take on the roles of Monster Slayers investigating a mystery after receiving a strange letter.

The World Ends With You
Heartbeats in Perfect Sync is a tabletop RPG inspired by the shounen battle aesthetic in games like The World Ends With You, Kingdom Hearts and Under Night In-Birth. Play as a group of ordinary people who fight monsters with ridiculously over-the-top weapons.

Vibe Check is an illuminated by LUMEN tabletop role-playing game for 3-6 players inspired by The World Ends With You.

World of Warcraft
An official ttrpg was released in 2005 using a d20 system

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
INTRUDER: EARTHLY ENTITY is an action rpg Illuminated by LUMEN. Inspired by the XCOM series, players are the last survivors of an Earth taken over by extraterrestrial forces and must Establish contact with other resistance cells, Free nations from the control of the ALIEN ENTITY, and rescue Earth.

T-DEF is a GMless game that comes in two 8-page mini zines: the Tactical Handbook that contains the rules for character creation and taking actions; and the Operations Manual, that contains everything you need to create missions for your troopers. T-DEF also has a sequel game.

cover for T-DEF showing two separate plain booksYakuza
BAKA MITAI is a city pop, Yakuza-inspired playset for the PARAGON system from the AGON roleplaying game.

Zork
Parsely is a collection of games where a group of players control one character by telling one player, known as the Parser, what they would like to do in the form of text adventure commands and the Parser describes what happens next. The collection even features a trilogy of Zork-like games known as Action Castle. The creator of Parsely has a few games in the series on their Itch page.

They’re not the only one to develop group text adventures. Goldfinch Games has developed a couple Out-Loud Text Adventures as well, with one in an abandoned amusement park and one at an abandoned spaceship.

Uresia: Grave of Heaven is a system-neutral setting book by S. John Ross that is strongly inspired by the Zork series, with there even being a section explaining how it influenced the book and why they love the series so much. The book is now available for free here. Check it out and then consider hiring him for book or map design if you’re a ttrpg designer. The author also wrote a Z-Machine text adventure game that ranks as Polite on Andrew Plotkin’s cruelty scale. This game is also available for free.

cover of the Parsely book, showing an 80s computer and boxes of computer gameshttps://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/19/tabletop-rpgs-based-on-or-inspired-by-video-games/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

If you’re looking for Christmas themed games to play this month, there’s quite a few point-and-click adventures that are a good fit.

screenshot from Watch Over Christmas of the player in an office looking at a book on a deskWatch Over Christmas
I already mentioned this one in my winter games post but Watch Over Christmas is a nice one to check out if you’re looking for a family friend adventure game. It’s a longer game but not too difficult, features nice 2D art, and has quality of life features like hotspot highlighting.

Last Christmas
Last Christmas is a darker, short adventure game where you are playing Frankie and have to prepare Christmas for his girlfriend at a cabin and features multiple endings. The original version of the game was created for Adventure Jam 2022 but has been expanded into a full game. Make sure to read the content warnings on the Steam page before picking it up.

Azazel’s Christmas Fable
Azazel’s Christmas Fable is a comedic game inspired by 90’s adventures. You play as Azazel, an imp, and must track down the “source of joy” originating from the North Pole and destroy it.

screenshot from Lake of a mail carrier walking through a snowy townLake – Season’s Greetings is a DLC prequel to the game Lake. You play as a mail carrier that explores a town set in the 80s and talks to various people living there while delivering the mail. I was a big fan of Lake and its relaxed pace and looking forward to revisiting the game in this DLC.

Parsely: Kringle Krisis
If you’re looking for something a little different, this Christmas version of the Parsely series has players going through a text adventure in tabletop rpg form by having one player be the parser and give responses to the commands the other players are giving.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/14/christmas-adventure-games/

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virtualmoose.org, to DOOM

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the release of Doom, one of my favorite games. A lot of neat Doom related events happened.

There was a reunion of John Carmack and John Romero where they reflected on the game. You can watch that on Twitch.

John Romero’s megawad SIGIL got a sequel. You can download both for free here but there’s also an option to purchase a version with new music as well.

screenshot of Evilternity 2 of some sort of temple at duskScreenshot from Eviternity II of the map Quetzalcoatl by DragonflyThe megawad Evilternity also got a surprise sequel that contains 36 maps. As the page states, DSDA Doom and GZDoom are both good ways to play these new maps.

If you’re looking for more Doom to play even after all that, there’s the 2023 Cacowards, which highlight great maps and mods that came out this year.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/11/happy-30th-birthday-to-doom/

virtualmoose.org, to indiegames

Finally, the awards that people have been looking forward, the most interesting indie games releases and news this week, at least to me.

Wigglypaint
This delightful tool made in Decker, a Hypercard-inspired designer, lets you create drawings that remind me of the squigglevision in shows like Home Movies and Dr. Katz. I absolutely cannot draw but it’s so much for anyway that I don’t care.

my attempt at drawing Jim Walls, the designer of the Police Quest seriesIndiepocalypse 47
A new Indiepocalypse is out, which means I am required by law to post about it. This issue is another great collection of games and I recommend the one commissioned for the issue, Touhou Lonely Lovely Bonfire by Lily Valeen, the designer of BOSSGAME.

Rosewater
Technically it came out last week but I forgot to post about it. A new trailer for Rosewater is out. It’s a western point-and-click adventure game coming out next year that I’ve been waiting for since last year and I think it looks great

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
Digital Eclipse announced that the next game in their retrospective series will be focused on Jeff Minter and his games. I was a massive fan of their Karateka one and I love Jeff Minter games so this will probably end up being my 2024 game of the year. I absolutely cannot wait.

The University of Michigan/Eastern Michigan University Student Game Showcase
This is a bit more local but every semester the students in the game development programs at both schools do a showcase of their games. Yesterday was their latest and there’s another great batch of games to play so go check them out.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/08/indie-game-roundup-dec-8-2023/

virtualmoose.org, to gaming

I was going to write a post recommending adventure games to play during winter but it looks like the Adventure Games Podcast has done a series of episodes doing just that and doing a much better job than I ever could have. I highly recommend the series, which is still going on, that recommends games based on regions. I’ll link to each episode below. Each page has a link to the podcast audio but also lists all the games mentioned and links to their pages.

Winter Odyssey: Journeys Through the Cold Part One – Arctic and Alaska

Winter Odyssey: Journeys Through the Cold Part Two – Canada

Winter Odyssey: Journeys Through the Cold Part Three – Scandinavia & Nordic Countries

Winter Odyssey: Journeys Through the Cold Part Four – Eastern Europe

Winter Odyssey: Journeys Through the Cold Part Five – USA

There’s only a couple of games I’d like to add to this list. It’s possible they’ll come up on the podcast too since the series isn’t done yet but I think they’re worth a mention.

Heroine’s Quest is an adventure rpg inspired by the Quest for Glory series and my favorite of all the ones that have come out since that series ended. Like Quest for Glory, you choose between one of three classes, with each class giving you different solutions to puzzles. The game also adds some survival mechanics since you are in a snowy climate, but these can be turned off with the difficulty slider. It’s a really nice game and best of all, it’s free. I’m glad that the Steam page basically has tip jar DLC though because it’s a really impressive and long game and I felt like I should give them some money while playing it.

https://virtualmoose.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/ss_35d759eef821ac29161ac872b3901b5297b73e7c.1920x1080.jpg?w=960Watch Over Christmas is a nice one to check out if you’re looking for something with a Christmas theme. It’s just a solid adventure game that’s family friendly and never felt too frustrating since it had some nice features like hotspot highlighting and the puzzles weren’t too difficult.

The Puzzle Agent series is a great one to check out if you’re looking for something focused entirely on puzzles, without the exploration elements. The games feature fantastic artwork by Graham Annable and a wide variety of puzzles that always felt fair to me. It’s unfortunate there aren’t more games in the series but at least Graham is still creating a lot of great art on social media and through his shop.

If you have a friend to play adventure games with, the We Were Here series is a nice choice. You and a friend must talk through walkie talkies as you work together to explore a frozen castle and solve puzzles. The first game is free and short so it’s a nice way to try this style of game out before buying more.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/06/adventure-games-for-winter/

virtualmoose.org, to gaming

cover art for Parsely, showing a variety of icons in pixel artIt’s not surprising that there’s a lot of tabletop rpgs based on video games. They often have an interesting universe to base a tabletop game on and many already have rpg mechanics, where while it’s not a 1:1 conversion to a tabletop game it does give designers a place to start. What I was surprised by was the number of tabletop rpgs that are based on or directly inspired by adventure games. I knew a lot of ttrpg creators grew up playing them but there’s quite a few that mention specific games or license the IP. Here are the ones I could think of but please let me know if the comments if I left anything out.

Myst

With Myst being one of the best-selling games ever, it’s not surprising that it has inspired a few tabletop rpgs. Unwritten: Adventures in the Ages of MYST and Beyond is a game that uses the Myst license and uses the FATE core system for the foundation of its rules. The game is strongly influenced by Uru/Myst Online and has players exploring modern or historical D’ni and the ages connected to it. The game has received a few smaller supplements as well as a larger sourcebook that was recently Kickstarted and focused on the reconstruction of D’ni

There’s lots of fan games too. Bring the Page With You is a free one-page ttrpg where there is no GM/DM and is focused on players collaborating together to create Myst ages.

Text Adventures

There’s also a few games inspired by the Infocom-era of text adventures. Parsely is a collection of games where a group of players control one character by telling one player, known as the Parser, what they would like to do in the form of text adventure commands and the Parser describes what happens next. The collection even features a trilogy of Zork-like games known as Action Castle. The creator of Parsely has a few games in the series on their Itch page.

They’re not the only one to develop group text adventures. Goldfinch Games has developed a couple Out-Loud Text Adventures as well, with one in an abandoned amusement park and one at an abandoned spaceship.

Uresia: Grave of Heaven is a system-neutral setting book by S. John Ross that is strongly inspired by the Zork series, with there even being a section explaining how it influenced the book and why they love the series so much. The book is now available for free here. Check it out and then consider hiring him for book or map design if you’re a ttrpg designer. The author also wrote a Z-Machine text adventure game that ranks as Polite on Andrew Plotkin’s cruelty scale. This game is also available for free.

Point-And-Click Adventures

I found a few games on Itch.io inspired by point-and-click adventure games. Pocket Full of Stars is a cozy two-player ttrpg inspired by Samarost where the players have the roles of an Astronomer and the Storyteller and work together to tell a story about a giant jumping from planet to planet and meeting people.

Loom is a fan fiction game based off the classic Lucasarts adventure game of the same name. It’s a solo journaling game where you explore the game’s world using the mechanics described in the book and write about what happens. Both games are available as Pay-What-You-Want.

Citizen Sleeper

With it being so strongly inspired by indie tabletop rpgs like Blades in the Dark, it would make sense that Citizen Sleeper has its own tabletop rpg. It’s not actually out yet so I can’t say much about it but it is available for pre-order here.

TTRPG Supplements

Instead of developing their own systems, many designers have created supplements for existed games. Blood Mountain Resort & Spa is a free download for fantasy ttrpgs. Inspired by the Monkey Island series, players explore a pirate themed resort. The NPCs are statted for DURF but the rest of the supplement is built to be system neutral.

In Other Waters: Tidebreak is a supplement for the horror ttrpg Mothership that is set in the In Other Waters universe. The supplement is playable in either as a group or solo and designed to be less stressful than the typical Mothership adventure.

Let me know if I’ve left anything out. I would love to know what else exists out there. If you enjoyed this article you can play any of my tabletop rpgs inspired by adventure games like Accomplice, my Gabriel Knight inspired solo game, Alone in Cyberspace, inspired by Hypnospace Outlaw, Friendship Quest, my two-player map drawing game, and ERROR, a play out loud text adventure. The first two games are paid but just take a free community copy if you’re interested.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/03/tabletop-rpgs-inspired-by-adventure-games/

virtualmoose.org, to gaming

Screenshot from Markus Ritter of two women talking in a hospital and dialog options below for a report about a murdered coupleIt’s the first of December and this year is coming to an end. Hope it’s been going well for you all. There was some really exciting stuff this week.

Not indie game related, unless you count indie game soundtracks, but today is Bandcamp Friday so consider buying some music. Spotify really doesn’t pay anything and buying music (or at least use a streaming service that pays better royalties) is the only way they can really keep doing this for a living.

Going to the Store for Baby Formula at 6AM on Black Friday
Going to the Store for Baby Formula at 6AM on Black Friday is a good and very relatable Bitsy game for any parent.

The Lawnmower Man
In the early 90s it felt like the film adaptation of The Lawnmower Man had a video game on every single platform so it makes me happy that there is now one for PICO-8.

Annie May – Pixcrew
Rose has made a ton of great character creators and the newest one is worth your time too.

Markus Ritter – Ghosts of the Past
Markus Ritter – Ghosts of the Past is a FMV point-and-click adventure game described by the developers on the Steam page as “queer cheesy trash” and that is a 100% accurate description. Fortunately I am a goblin for FMV trash, especially ones inspired by Gabriel Knight 2, so this is absolutely for me. That said, it is EXTREMELY cheesy and might be too much for some people, so I would maybe recommend playing the free prequel game first to see if it’s your thing.

Madvent Calendar 4 – End of the Line
Since it’s December, we also have a new Madvent calendar from the HauntedPS1 community. Every year they release a free anthology of small horror games with a Playstation 1 aesthetic, with a new one unlocked each day. They’re really nice collections and it’s impressive that they manage to put together one of these every year and for free.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/12/01/indie-game-roundup-dec-1-2023/

virtualmoose.org, to indiegames

screenshot from In Stars and Time showing the game's first person combat modeIt’s Itch.io’s Creators Day, where they aren’t taking a cut from sales today. I’ve put all my paid games in a little bundle you can pick up if you want some solo TTRPGs.

Shannon McMaster has a cool and free system-neutral guide to hex crawling in time dimensions for your tabletop rpg.

Misty has a great post on Cohost about all the games she enjoyed playing while judging for the Independent Games Festival.

Hand Eye Society’s Super FESTival is still going on. Check out all the great talks and indie games going on.

Goose has made a very good demake for the Game Boy of a game they previously made a decade before for a game jam.

James Chip has a new solo journaling game set in space. It’s based off their previous game The Adventurer and seems very cool.

The results of this year’s IFComp were just announced and as usual, it’s another great batch of interactive fiction games that are worth your time.

In Stars and Time looks like a very nice time loop rpg that’s now available on Steam.

There’s a new Indie Tsushin, highlighting indie games from Japan.

Tristam Island is now open source and released under a Creative Commons license. It seems like a great reference if you’re looking to build a text adventure game in PunyInform for retro platforms.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/11/24/indie-game-roundup-nov-24-2023/

virtualmoose.org, to retrogaming

screenshot from father world showing a man in some kind of computer room with a large screenThe DOS game Father World has received an English patch on Itch.io. The game was originally released in South Korea in 1994 but doesn’t seem to have been officially released anywhere outside of the country since then. It is an action adventure platformer game similar to games like Another World, and is more focused on telling a story and exploration than action setpieces. If you want to see what the game is like, pixel_turkey streamed the game on her Twitch channel.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/11/18/father-world-receives-english-translation/

virtualmoose.org, to gaming

This week was bananas so this is a rushed collection of stuff in indie games that I really liked. This week it’s mostly focused on adventure games, since that’s a genre I’m really into in general, but also just a lot of stuff happened this week.

screenshot from The Will of Arthur Flabbington where a man is telling a psychic "and that's why I need to contact my uncle."Screenshot from The Will of Arthur FlabbingtonThe Will of Arthur Flabbington is now out! This is a point-and-click adventure that originally started as a jam game for the AdventureX jam. It got a Kickstarter funded to help turn it into a full game with voice acting and from the little I played of it, seems really neat!

Lake got some Christmas DLC. I really enjoyed playing Lake two years ago and found it was exactly what I needed during a very stressful time in my life. I know a Christmas themed DLC is not going to be for everyone but I’m looking forward to revisiting the game and I think I even have some nostalgia for holiday themed games and DLC just because of the time I spent playing stuff like Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare and Xmas Lemmings.

DOS Game Club just released an episode where they interview the nice folks over at Hadrosaurus Software. I really enjoyed their game The Aching and it’s nice seeing people making new DOS games getting some coverage.

This one is much more local, but the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University are doing a showcase of their student games on December 6 at 7pm in Ann Arbor. There’s always an incredible batch of games that come from both schools every semester so if you’re local, consider checking it out!

Excuse Me Sir is a demo for an upcoming horror game made by a bunch of cool folks. I really liked the 90s adventure game vibes it has and it’s really short and not frustrating at all, which was surprising since it’s very heavy on ways to die.

screenshot from Excuse Me Sir showing a surprised woman and her saying "Hey, who are you?" with the response options being "Can I use your phone?" and "Have you seen my brother? (Show flyer)"Screenshot from Excuse Me SirAura has a very good post on Cohost about all the games she enjoyed during the IGF judging process.

Inspector Waffles Early Days is a game on Kickstarter looking for funding to develop a physical version of a Game Boy game. I never played the original game, a point-and-click adventure for the PC, but I heard it’s very good and liked the Playdate game the developer made, which also got a physical release. I just think it’s fun seeing the Game Boy have a revival because of GB Studio and Analogue.

Midnight Margo is a new adventure game by some of the folks that worked on Whispers of a Machine, a point-and-click adventure that I really enjoyed. From the reactions I saw, the art style seems to be very divisive but I think it’s really neat. The game also seems to have some RPG elements and I think that will be a nice way to make the game stand out from others in the genre.

screenshot of Midnight Margo of a woman standing in a bar with other peopleScreenshot from Midnight MargoA demo was just released for Heir of the Dog. I believe it was originally a jam game or freeware? Anyway, I really liked the dev’s previous game Lucy Dreaming and it’s nice to see that we’ll be getting more games from them.

The Blathering Keep looks like a really fun free game by Danielle Riendeau. I haven’t played it yet but the art is really cute. I like the concept of a dungeon crawler where you’re attacked by corporate jargon, and I really like her writing elsewhere so I bet it’s a very funny game.

swanchime has a new Interactive Fiction game that looks beautiful. I haven’t played it yet but they’ve made a lot of fantastic games and zines so I’ll have to set aside some time for this one too.

Finally, earlier this week it was announced that Uppercut Crit will be going on hiatus. I was really sad to hear this because I thought it was a great place for games crit and lots of great indie game coverage. It sounds like the podcast Indie Mixtape will still be going on so be sure to follow that and consider supporting other outlets of independent games crit like No Escape, Kritiqal, Into the Spine, and all the other cool places I have listed in my Cool Site Zone.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/11/17/indie-game-roundup-nov-17-2023/

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virtualmoose.org, to gaming

I don’t watch streamers too often but when I do, it’s usually of adventure games. It’s my favorite genre of game and I like watching people figure out puzzles or talk about why one doesn’t work when they come across a bad one. Luckily there’s a ton of great folks streaming adventure games and this list only covers a very small amount of them. Generally I find all these streamers to be relaxing and I’m not into streams where people are yelling a lot.

Emmxyzzy – Streamer from Australia that plays MS-DOS games, which includes a lot of adventure games. They translated the first commercial Czech MS-DOS game to English, The Secret of Donkey Island.

sonneveld – Another streamer from Australia that plays a variety of adventure games, with a focus on older games. They also helped translate The Secret of Donkey Island into English.

Secret of Donkey Island screenshot showing someone looking like Guybrush Threepwood standing on some rocksSummerB76 – Very chill streamer with a focus on adventure games but there’s also plenty of other fun streams like the ones for wine making simulator Hundred Days with her brother who makes wine in real life. Also a speedrunner of the new Colossal Cave remake by Ken and Roberta Williams.

pixel_turkey – Streamer focused on retro games, which includes a lot of adventure games. Also a great pixel artist

The Genesis Temple – Games historian that streams a ton of obscure games as well as games in other languages and live translating them as they are played.

robotspacer – Streams a variety of adventure games and has also been building an adventure game for the Macintosh using World Builder

Julia Minamata – Developer of The Crimson Diamond that streams development of the game every Tuesday night along with playing some retro games.

LotusLovesLotus – Indie game streamer that includes a lot of new adventure games and single player story-driven games.

PS_Garak – Every Tuesday night Ben, Sarah, and Grayson do a comedy stream where they play adventure games (both new and old) and go on fun tangents.

BogusMeatFactory – Variety streamer that includes playing a lot of adventure games and text adventures.

decafjedi – Streams a variety of games but plays retro adventure games every Wednesday night. Also created Stair Quest and the first Space Quest fan site.

The Obscuritory – Video Game History Foundation member and owner of The Obscuritory website Phil Salvador streams incredibly obscure games on Wednesday nights.

Grundislav – Francisco González, the developer of the Ben Jordan series, A Golden Wake, Shardlight, and Lamplight City has been streaming development of his newest game Rosewater!

ivydupler – Video game voice actress for games like Whispers of a Machine and Unavowed streams a variety of games, with a focus on adventure games and the Nancy Drew series.

Conversations with Curtis – The lead actor of the FMV game Phantasmagoria 2 started doing interviews with the cast of the game at the beginning of the pandemic, which has evolved into doing streams of the game he was in as well as other adventure games, both old and new. Highlights include his streams with the lead actress of Phantasmagoria 1 and co-host Daniel doing a ton of interviews with classic adventure game developers. It’s also just been fun watching someone who is new to games developing opinions on the genre and correct takes like new adventure games being just as good, if not better, than classic adventure games.

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/11/13/my-favorite-adventure-game-streamers/

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