Crashbook #1

I have a list of games.

It is a list of games that I have not played. There is no guarantee that I will ever play these games. There is no guarantee these games are any good. But maybe someone else will play them. Maybe someone else will discover whether they are good.

This is Crashbook.

1/ The Fermi Paradox

The Fermi Paradox is a choice-driven sci-fi narrative strategy game in which your decisions in one corner of the galaxy can upend entire civilizations in another. Guide species through millennia and help them explore the vastness of space, make contact and, perhaps, create harmony.

Windows | Steam Link | Early Access Jul 2021

2/ Boomerang X

Harness the power of a mystical boomerang to fling yourself through the air. Slice, fly, and blast through arenas swarming with evil creatures. Stay agile or meet your doom.

Windows | Steam Link | Released Jul 2021

3/ Radio Viscera

Radio Viscera is a fast-paced top down shooter without bullets. Hurl enemies into brutal traps and blast your way through walls with your air cannon, in this bloody, arcade action game.

Windows | Steam Link | Released Jul 2021

4/ Raw April Day

A Victorian, Mystery Point-And-Click game set in Post-World War England, in which Jacqueline searches for her missing husband in his apartment and horrifyingly gets in and over her head.

Steam Link | Unreleased

5/ Sally Face

Delve into a dark adventure following the boy with a prosthetic face and a tragic past. Unravel the sinister mysteries of Sally’s world to find the truth that lies hidden beneath the shadows.

Windows & Mac | Steam Link | Released 2016

6/ Mars First Logistics

Mars First Logistics is a physics-based open-world simulation game, where you deliver important cargo using your own mechanical creations, solo or with friends. Earn credits, unlock new technology, and use your ingenuity to help establish a new colony on Mars!

Crash notes: New commercial game from Ian MacLarty.

Steam link | Unreleased

7/ GNOSIA

The Gnosia lie. Pretending to be human, they’ll get in close, trick and deceive, and then eliminate one victim at a time…

Crash notes: Originally released in 2019 in Japan for the PS Vita, it was published on the Switch a few months ago. A Windows version is due out later this year.

Steam link | Unreleased

8/ Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star

A visual novel about an abusive relationship, idealization, and intimacy. Live a summer of dysfunctional love through branching storylines, twists, sudden changes, and an innovative mechanic where you choose which senses to use with your boyfriend.

Windows & Mac | Steam link | Released 2020

9/ Svoboda 1945

Svoboda 1945: Liberation is a unique blend of adventure gameplay and full-motion video interviews with real actors. Discover the secret history of your own family in a captivating story about reconciliation with the dark past.

Crash notes: This looked a little different to other FMV games I’d seen. It is the second “historical interview FMV” game from the same developer. The first was Attentat 1942 released in 2017.

Windows & Mac | Steam link | Released Aug 2021

10/ Chernobylite

Chernobylite is a science-fiction survival horror RPG. Set in the hyper-realistic, 3D-scanned wasteland of Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, explore a non-linear storyline in your search to uncover the truth of your tortured past.

Crash notes: It might sound like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but is a very different game. A positive review by Rick Lane piqued my interest.

Windows | Steam link | Released Jul 2021

11/ SATORI

SATORI is a flow-inducing first-person platformer — wall-run, air-dash, grapple-swing, and rail-grind through infinitely generated open worlds and experience the freedom of meditative free-running.

Windows | Steam link | Released Aug 2021

12/ CHR$(143)

Discover the physics of a mysterious 2D tile-based universe, including ballistics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, chemical and nuclear reactions. Use automation bricks, build structures, machines, vehicles, produce power, solve puzzles, pierce the fog and defeat CHR$!

Crash notes: In the comments, zaratustra notes that this needs a full keyboard to play; a laptop won’t cut it.

Windows | Steam link | Released Aug 2021

13/ Othercide

As Humanity’s last hope, lead your army to combat in an intricate dance of spectacular actions and counters, using an original Dynamic Timeline System, and face fearsome bosses in epic battles.

Windows | Steam link | Released 2020

14/ Wizordum

Wizordum is a retro-inspired FPS with a focus on action and light puzzles. It blends the best features of classic fantasy shooters from the 90s with some modern aspects making it a unique experience. Take the role of a Cleric and fight against Chaos that roams the land – smash, burn and loot!

Unreleased | Steam link

15/ Twelve Minutes

An interactive thriller about a man trapped in a time loop. Featuring James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe.

Crash notes: This sounds like a labour of love that has been in development for maaaany years; it originally debuted at PAX East in 2015.

Windows | Steam link | Released Aug 2021

16/ NIGHTSLINK

You are the Nightslink. Traverse abandoned roads under cover of night. Deliver cassette tapes in a post-apocalyptic world. An atmospheric retro-3D horror adventure.

Crash notes: I don’t know why I’m not playing this right now. Apparently takes 20-30 minutes and “The world is silent. People hide behind closed doors. You must deliver the tapes to them.”

Windows | Steam link | Released Aug 2021

17/ Tesla vs Lovecraft

Tesla vs Lovecraft is an intense top-down twin stick arena shooter from the creators of Crimsonland and Neon Chrome. Play as the enigmatic inventor Nikola Tesla harnessing the static energy to power up Tesla-Mech and give the lovecraftian nightmares a lesson in horror!

Crash notes: Only heard about this recently but it’s apparently a good twin stick arena shooter if that’s what you’re into.

Windows & Mac | Steam link | Released 2018

18/ Frail Faces

Frail Faces is a randomized top-down game with unique game mechanics. Collect masks to become characters with various abilities and fight your way through the hordes of void creatures to defeat a cosmic horror known as Lacuna. But remember, receiving any hit will break your mask…

Crash notes: I was curious about the mechanic of “find masks to become different characters”.

Windows | Steam link | Early Access Jul 2021

19/ Into the Pit

A fast-paced retro-FPS roguelite! As a member of a family of lore-hunting mystics you are summoned to a cursed village, drawn by rumors of a demonic portal. Dark magics have overwhelmed the village, It’s up to you to rescue the survivors, grow your powers, and journey forth INTO THE PIT.

Crash notes: Tom Betts was the lead developer at Big Robot but Into the Pit is his first solo project. Due out in October.

Steam link | Unreleased