Puzzle platformers, desktop aquariums and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to the latest edition of our indie game roundup. We've got quite a bit on deck this week, starting with a few nuggets of news.
In case you missed it, the Steam Summer Sale is upon us, which means there are bargains galore on the storefront (we've rounded up some of the tastier deals). If you're anything like me, you'll end up buying a bunch of games that you'll never end up playing but hope to get to some day. In any case, good luck with your deal hunting!
I read an interesting story on Game Developer this week about Peak , a co-op climbing game from Aggro Crab ( Another Crab's Treasure , which I absolutely loved) and Landfall ( Content Warning ). A team of seven developers made the bulk of the game during a month-long retreat earlier this year. The two studios relied largely on their community managers — who'd done a fantastic job drumming up interest for their previous games — to hype up Peak . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
A combination of factors such as smart marketing (that title is peak), the game's ability to deliver funny moments that could go viral and a low price helped Peak to sell more than 2 million copies in 9 days. This is a cool success story for a game that cost about $200,000 to make. Here's hoping more small studios find ways to collaborate like this. As a comparison, Remedy says FBC: Firebreak hit 1 million players after eight days, and that game is on PlayStation and Xbox subscription services.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has rubber-stamped a free, fan-made Halo-themed game in the vein of Vampire Survivors . Spartan Survivors, from JuanGGZ, is out on Itch.io and it's coming to Steam and Xbox later this year. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
After debuting on PC last year and making its way to iOS in February, I Am Your Beast landed on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S this week. From the remarkably prolific Strange Scaffold ( Clickolding , TMNT: Tactical Takedown and El Paso, Elsewhere ), this stylish, stealthy first-person shooter has been widely acclaimed and now console players can check out what the fuss is all about. In addition, the studio this week updated the iOS version of I Am Your Beast with all of the game's DLC. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
Ruffy and the Riverside is a 3D puzzle platformer with charming, hand-drawn art from Zockrates Laboratories and publisher Phiphen Games. The perspective switches to 2D in some sections, in a similar fashion to Super Mario Odyssey .
What might help this game stand out is that it has a feature called SWAP, which enables you to copy the texture from one item and paste it onto another. So you might turn a waterfall into foliage so you can climb it or convert ice into lava. Ruffy and the Riverside is out now on Steam, Epic Games Store, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
Quantum Witch is an adventure platformer in which the plot is shaped by your decisions. Even the side quests have multiple endings, so it seems like there's a lot going on here. Solo developer NikkiJay has described this as a "queer emancipation story" in which main character Ren takes back agency over her life.
I'm interested in checking this one out, not least because the pretty pixel art and droll humor remind me of the Monkey Island games I loved so much as a kid. Quantum Witch is out now on Steam . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
Antro looks like it's cut from a similar cloth as Playdead's Limbo and Inside . However, this rhythm-based puzzle platformer (from Gatera Studio and publishers Selecta Play and Astrolabe Games) is set to the beats of hip-hop, drill, R&B and electronic music.
Here, you play as a courier in a city that emerges below the ruins of Barcelona following a global catastrophe. Music and freedom (among other things) are banned here, but a rebellion is rising against the tech-dominated dictatorship that's in charge. Antro is out now on Steam , Xbox Series X/S and PS5. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
Idle games that sit on your screen all day long are having a real moment. For instance, Bongo Cat is near the top of the Steam most-played charts with concurrent player numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Tiny Aquarium: Social Fishkeeping , from Lunheim Studios and publisher Future Friends Games, is one of the newest games in the genre.
This is billed as a cozy game in which you can hatch and sell fish, decorate your aquarium and (of course) go fishing. You can visit your friends' aquariums (and those of other players) too. It all seems cute and charming enough, and I don't think having it in the corner of my screen would distract me too much while I'm crafting the hottest of takes . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
There are a lot of things I love about Flock Off! already. The name, the fact it's set in my homeland of Scotland and that it's an alternate history take on the story of Dolly the Sheep — the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.
In this first-person action title from Bunkhouse Games, you and up to three allies will have to use whatever's at your disposal to fend off zombie sheep. Just about anything can be used as a weapon, including a baguette, leek, traffic cone, your friends and a lawnmower that you wield in the fashion of Dead Alive . Flock Off! is coming to Steam later this year, but it's already alive in my heart. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
Several years ago, we interviewed musician Sam Battle (aka Look Mum No Computer) about his wild DIY synth projects. Battle has since teamed up with developer The Bitfather and publisher Headup to make a twin-stick shooter in which you can make your own music.
In this game, also called Look Mum No Computer , you'll craft and upgrade synth modules. These also function as your weapons that you'll use to battle rogue components to fix electronics. It's such a cool concept and it now has a release date. Look Mum No Computer is bound for Steam, Epic Games Store and GOG on July 24. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.
I have to admit, though I've been aware of Firefighting Simulator: Ignite for a while, it wasn't really grabbing my attention. But the release date trailer included a very important piece of information. Those who pre-order this game — from Construction Simulator studio weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH and publisher astragon Entertainment GmbH — will get a pack that includes a cool vintage helmet and an absolutely adorable Dalmatian called Simi for their firehouse.
Firefighting Simulator: Ignite is a co-op firefighting game with more than 35 missions. It's coming to PC , PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 9.
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Gizmodo
2 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Meta's Xbox-Branded Quest 3S Just Sold Out for All the Wrong Reasons
Everyone loves limited-edition stuff. There's Sony's 30th anniversary PS5, or Analogue's many limited edition Pocket handhelds, or— I don't know—the Shamrock f***ing Shake. But there's one type of person who loves limited-edition stuff more than your average consumer, and it's a scalper. For proof of that, see Meta's recently released Xbox-branded Quest 3S. See Meta Quest Xbox Edition at Best Buy In case you missed it, Meta's new limited-edition Quest 3S bundle just recently sold out, which on the surface sounds like a great thing for VR and XR. You may be tempted to say, 'Oh, wow! People really like XR headsets, huh?' But before you do that, it may also be worth taking a short gander at eBay, because the resale market over there paints a slightly more cynical picture. It's full of Xbox-branded Quest 3S bundles, folks—and they ain't just giving them away. This bundle, for reference, retails at $399, and the average price I'm seeing on eBay is about $600, though sometimes a little more or a little less. Here is the sad state of affairs on eBay as of the time of typing these words: The list goes on and on, unfortunately, which tells me one thing: the scalpers had a field day with this thing. And that's just kind of sad. It's not sad that someone would want to make money from reselling a limited-edition gadget—as annoying as scalpers are, I can't blame anyone for having a side hustle in this economy. But it is sad that Meta seemingly didn't do much to preserve its limited-edition Quest 3S for XR nerds who unequivocally deserve first dibs. It's also maybe a little sad—as someone who borders on said XR nerd identity—that the race to being out of stock may not actually be driven by real demand. XR headsets, while not the most crucial gadget in the world, are pretty cool and deserve more shine than they get, in my humble opinion. It would have been nice to see them really break through with a little help from an Xbox marketing gimmick. But as always, the almighty aftermarket prevails. To be fair, I'm sure not all of the sales were scalpers trying to make a buck off the XR headset's rarity. Some people, I presume, bought it because it's a pretty good deal for getting into XR—you get a sleek black headset with Xbox green details, Meta's Elite Strap for your head, and a limited-edition Xbox controller to top it off. Based on the retail price of all of that, this bundle saves you somewhere in the ballpark of $95. Some people bought this bundle because of Xbox, too. Here's one instance in which someone seems to have pulled the trigger on this bundle just for the controller. Honestly… respect. That's much more pure than trying to spin the whole thing around for $200. The idea that someone buys the new Quest colorway just to nab the limited edition Xbox Controller and sell the rest is really comical.. — SadlyItsDadley (@SadlyItsBradley) June 27, 2025Listen, scalpers are an inevitable fact of life nowadays when you're buying any gadget that's even slightly in demand. Like it or not, that's just the world we live in—one colored by bots and dropshipping. But I'd be lying if I said that it wouldn't have been nice to see a little effort on Meta's part to prevent that. It can be done! Just look at the Switch 2 launch. People have been resorting to cartoonish levels of robbery to get their hands on it—that's how in-demand this thing is—but Nintendo, with a little bit of forethought, has kept the scourge of scalpers to a dull roar. I guess Meta probably doesn't care that much either way, though. A sale is a sale, whether it ends up on eBay or on your dorky XR- and Xbox-loving head. Sadly, if you're in the latter camp, it looks like the aftermarket is your only option right now. Thanks, Zuckerberg. Just because you look like a dropshipper doesn't mean you have to act like one. See Meta Quest Xbox Edition at Best Buy
Engadget
4 hours ago
- Engadget
Puzzle platformers, desktop aquariums and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to the latest edition of our indie game roundup. We've got quite a bit on deck this week, starting with a few nuggets of news. In case you missed it, the Steam Summer Sale is upon us, which means there are bargains galore on the storefront (we've rounded up some of the tastier deals). If you're anything like me, you'll end up buying a bunch of games that you'll never end up playing but hope to get to some day. In any case, good luck with your deal hunting! I read an interesting story on Game Developer this week about Peak , a co-op climbing game from Aggro Crab ( Another Crab's Treasure , which I absolutely loved) and Landfall ( Content Warning ). A team of seven developers made the bulk of the game during a month-long retreat earlier this year. The two studios relied largely on their community managers — who'd done a fantastic job drumming up interest for their previous games — to hype up Peak . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. A combination of factors such as smart marketing (that title is peak), the game's ability to deliver funny moments that could go viral and a low price helped Peak to sell more than 2 million copies in 9 days. This is a cool success story for a game that cost about $200,000 to make. Here's hoping more small studios find ways to collaborate like this. As a comparison, Remedy says FBC: Firebreak hit 1 million players after eight days, and that game is on PlayStation and Xbox subscription services. Meanwhile, Microsoft has rubber-stamped a free, fan-made Halo-themed game in the vein of Vampire Survivors . Spartan Survivors, from JuanGGZ, is out on and it's coming to Steam and Xbox later this year. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. After debuting on PC last year and making its way to iOS in February, I Am Your Beast landed on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S this week. From the remarkably prolific Strange Scaffold ( Clickolding , TMNT: Tactical Takedown and El Paso, Elsewhere ), this stylish, stealthy first-person shooter has been widely acclaimed and now console players can check out what the fuss is all about. In addition, the studio this week updated the iOS version of I Am Your Beast with all of the game's DLC. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Ruffy and the Riverside is a 3D puzzle platformer with charming, hand-drawn art from Zockrates Laboratories and publisher Phiphen Games. The perspective switches to 2D in some sections, in a similar fashion to Super Mario Odyssey . What might help this game stand out is that it has a feature called SWAP, which enables you to copy the texture from one item and paste it onto another. So you might turn a waterfall into foliage so you can climb it or convert ice into lava. Ruffy and the Riverside is out now on Steam, Epic Games Store, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Quantum Witch is an adventure platformer in which the plot is shaped by your decisions. Even the side quests have multiple endings, so it seems like there's a lot going on here. Solo developer NikkiJay has described this as a "queer emancipation story" in which main character Ren takes back agency over her life. I'm interested in checking this one out, not least because the pretty pixel art and droll humor remind me of the Monkey Island games I loved so much as a kid. Quantum Witch is out now on Steam . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Antro looks like it's cut from a similar cloth as Playdead's Limbo and Inside . However, this rhythm-based puzzle platformer (from Gatera Studio and publishers Selecta Play and Astrolabe Games) is set to the beats of hip-hop, drill, R&B and electronic music. Here, you play as a courier in a city that emerges below the ruins of Barcelona following a global catastrophe. Music and freedom (among other things) are banned here, but a rebellion is rising against the tech-dominated dictatorship that's in charge. Antro is out now on Steam , Xbox Series X/S and PS5. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Idle games that sit on your screen all day long are having a real moment. For instance, Bongo Cat is near the top of the Steam most-played charts with concurrent player numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Tiny Aquarium: Social Fishkeeping , from Lunheim Studios and publisher Future Friends Games, is one of the newest games in the genre. This is billed as a cozy game in which you can hatch and sell fish, decorate your aquarium and (of course) go fishing. You can visit your friends' aquariums (and those of other players) too. It all seems cute and charming enough, and I don't think having it in the corner of my screen would distract me too much while I'm crafting the hottest of takes . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. There are a lot of things I love about Flock Off! already. The name, the fact it's set in my homeland of Scotland and that it's an alternate history take on the story of Dolly the Sheep — the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. In this first-person action title from Bunkhouse Games, you and up to three allies will have to use whatever's at your disposal to fend off zombie sheep. Just about anything can be used as a weapon, including a baguette, leek, traffic cone, your friends and a lawnmower that you wield in the fashion of Dead Alive . Flock Off! is coming to Steam later this year, but it's already alive in my heart. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Several years ago, we interviewed musician Sam Battle (aka Look Mum No Computer) about his wild DIY synth projects. Battle has since teamed up with developer The Bitfather and publisher Headup to make a twin-stick shooter in which you can make your own music. In this game, also called Look Mum No Computer , you'll craft and upgrade synth modules. These also function as your weapons that you'll use to battle rogue components to fix electronics. It's such a cool concept and it now has a release date. Look Mum No Computer is bound for Steam, Epic Games Store and GOG on July 24. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. I have to admit, though I've been aware of Firefighting Simulator: Ignite for a while, it wasn't really grabbing my attention. But the release date trailer included a very important piece of information. Those who pre-order this game — from Construction Simulator studio weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH and publisher astragon Entertainment GmbH — will get a pack that includes a cool vintage helmet and an absolutely adorable Dalmatian called Simi for their firehouse. Firefighting Simulator: Ignite is a co-op firefighting game with more than 35 missions. It's coming to PC , PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 9.
Newsweek
a day ago
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Last Year's Best RPG Just Got a Massive Discount on Steam
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Last year, publisher Sega and developer Atlus gave the world one of the best turn-based RPGs in recent history — Metaphor: ReFantazio. Now, the award-winning gameis discounted to its lowest price ever, along with a host of other Sega and Atlus games. Sega has revealed its slate of Steam Summer Sale discounts, and among them are discounts for most of Atlus' games. Metaphor: ReFantazio, of course, is the big draw card here, with a massive 40% discount on Steam worldwide, bringing it down to just $41.99. The game's Atlus 35th Digital Anniversary Edition – which comes with eight additional DLC costume sets that are normally paid when bought separately – also got a 40% discount, bringing it down to $59.99. Villain Louis Guiabern sitting atop a throne in a cutscene from Metaphor: ReFantazio. Villain Louis Guiabern sitting atop a throne in a cutscene from Metaphor: ReFantazio. Sega RGG Studio's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – another turn-based RPG from Sega that won plenty of awards last year – is also seeing a deep discount, with all editions of the game receiving a 60% discount. That's in addition to the latest game in the series, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which is 30% off for the first time. Here's the full list of highlighted Sega games getting discounts on Steam during the Summer Sale: Alien Isolation – 75% off Football Manager 2024 – 75% off Hatsune Miku MegaMix+ – 60% off Yakuza: Like a Dragon – 50% off Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name – 65% off Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – 60% off Like a Dragon: Ishin – 75% off Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii – 30% off Lost Judgment – 70% off Metaphor: ReFantazio – 40% off Persona 3 Reload – 55% off Persona 4 Golden – 50% off Persona 5 Royal – 60% off Persona 5 Strikers – 70% off Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance – 50% off Sonic Frontiers – 70% off Sonic Superstars – 65% off Sonic x Shadow Generations – 40% off Total War: Rome 2 Emperor Edition – 75% off Total War: Three Kingdoms – 75% off Total War: Warhammer 2 – 75% off Total War: Warhammer 3 – 66% off Total War: Warhammer – 75% off Two Point Campus – 75% off Two Point Hospital – 75% off Two Point Museum – 20% off Virtua Fighter 5: REVO – 30% off You can pick up all of these games and more on the Sega Steam Summer Sale page, or visit the Steam frontpage to see all the games available during the sale. Steam's Summer Sale lasts until July 10, 2025.
