Now Playing: VA-11 Hall-A

Glitch City 207X A.D. A city that shouldn’t exist. A tax haven where corporations and criminal empires reign supreme. In this place, all human life has been infected with nanomachines to keep them in check. The only way to make sense of it all is to…serve alcoholic drinks?

In VA-11 Hall-A (just say “Valhalla”) you play as a cyberpunk bartender. Let that just sink in for a moment. You are not some idealistic hacker. You are not an overpowered mech dude. You are a cyberpunk bartender. It is such a simple yet thrilling concept. It borrows aspects from the visual novel but you make narrative choices by mixing different drinks, all while slowly uncovering information about this dystopian world from your clients who just want to forget it all. Few ideas have made us run faster to download a game. We hope you’ll do the same. VA-11 Hall A can be found on itch.io here or on Steam here.

Now Playing: Panoramical and Islands

You are in a chilly blue space. You feel relaxed. There is a bus stop here; a bus pulls up and some eggs get out. This is perfectly normal.

This month we’re playing Panoramical and Islands: Non-Places, two interactive pieces that are relaxing, abstract and totally unlike anything we’ve looked at before.

You can buy Panoramical on itch.io here or on Steam. Check out the itch page for Islands here or the Steam page here.

Now Playing: The Curious Expedition

Have you ever thought, “I’d like to loot an African shrine!” Or “I sure would like to ride a dinosaur!” Or how about “I want to be an archaeologist, so I’ll travel the world bribing, trading, hunting and looting, burning down forests and opening reality-chasms into the endless void, driving my companions insane or killing them in the process, and maybe one day I’ll die stranded in the desert with nothing to my name but five coils of rope and a solid gold llama.”

We sure have! So this month we’re in luck: we’re playing The Curious Expedition, a quirky 19th century roguelikelike, featuring all that and more. You can play it on Steam here!

Now Playing: The Magic Circle

What if there were a game… with no violence? No swords, no guns, just… art.
Now what if there were a game… about that game?
Now what if there were another game about the development of that game, along with internal studio pressures and infighting?
Now take all of that, and add collectibles, and also the guy who voiced Garrett from the original Thief.

Yes, this month we are playing The Magic Circle and oh my goodness it is very very strange in a way I cannot even begin to articulate. I don’t know if it’s good-strange or bad-strange but it’s strange.

Grab it on Steam here!