When the seas boil into the red giantess of our sun, one grand monument will escape the ravages of solar apocalypse. Secure in the Humanity Memorial on Titan, future civiliations will find an ancient leatherbound tome with a thousand pages. It is the Crashbook.
A new page beckons, containing twenty-four more games I have not played.
419/ Decipher The Deck
Decipher The Deck is a rule discovery puzzle game that turns traditional playing cards into interesting puzzle mechanics. Discover the secrets of cards, their abilities, and much more in 70 hand-crafted levels.
Crash notes: I’ve heard good things about this one.
Windows | Steam Link | Released Aug 2024
420/ I Am Your Beast
Hunt the military-industrial complex across stylish comic book micro-sandboxes in this fast-paced covert revenge thriller FPS from the developers of El Paso, Elsewhere.
Crash notes: I guess adding every Strange Scaffold title to Crashbook is a thing I do now.
Windows | Steam Link | Released Sep 2024
421/ Athanasia
Explore a mysterious facility and use everything you have to survive. Use an arsenal of equipment and your wits against time traveling predators from the past.
Crash notes: I’ve never been much of a fan of dinosaurs in games, but I can see that dinosaurs in a FPS with a 90s graphical aesthetic has appeal.
Windows | Steam Link | Unreleased
422/ Year Unknown
A story-based exploration game about the very far future. With the help of two Artificial Intelligences, explore a universe conquered by humanity, uncover your purpose in it, and try to stop it from falling apart.
Crash notes: Sounds like a short game.
Windows, Linux | Steam Link | Released Oct 2024
423/ REPOSE
A tense and surreal horror game where each step, shot and mistake costs precious energy, rendered entirely in black and white.
Crash notes: With graphics like these, where can you go wrong.
Windows | Steam Link | Unreleased
424/ Grunn
A gardener gets hired for maintenance work over the weekend. A simple task, but strangely some tools are missing… The owner of the garden isn’t around, and their house is off-limits. Perhaps new tools can be found in the mysterious town, or maybe some of the reserved townsfolk have seen them?
Crash notes: I’m always interested in what Tom van den Boogaart gets up to, ever since I played Bernband many aeons ago, which I featured in Into the Black. Grunn has ended up with the sacred ‘overwhelmingly positive’ status on Steam.
Windows, Mac | Steam Link | Released Oct 2024
425/ The Drifter
A Pulp Adventure Thriller – A murdered drifter awakens. Alive again, seconds before his death. Hunted and haunted, help him untangle a mad web of conspiracy in this fast-paced point ‘n click thrill-ride.
Crash notes: Another one of Powerhoof’s adventure games.
Windows, Mac, Linux | Steam Link | Unreleased
426/ Mini Mini Golf Golf
Mini Mini Golf Golf is an indie storytelling experience that goes beyond the lanes of the here and now into distant memories of a future planetary collapse. Destabilize the present and plunge into a neon psychohistory of a bizarre entity in distress. This is not a game about minigolf.
Crash notes: I don’t know how much weirdness will be an integral part of the game but it caught my attention. Due out in just a few days.
Windows, Mac, Linux | Steam Link | Unreleased
427/ PICO PARK 2
PICO PARK is back with all new levels! Play with 2-8 players locally or online in this co-op action-puzzle game!
Crash notes: Never heard of PICO PARK until recently. It might have garnered attention as it’s got that streamable Fall Guys feel to it, but not sure. One of the negative reviews on the original said, “paid $5 i get high blood pressure . didnt realize how much i hated my friends. almost pulled up on eric’s house to fight him.” So there’s that?
Windows, Mac | Steam Link | Released Sep 2024
428/ Koi Farm
A koi breeding game.
Crash notes: Extremely cheap and has a devoted fan base. Although it’s ostensibly a “breeding” game, I think the slow pace of the game pushes it into zen game territory.
Windows, Linux | Steam Link | Released Feb 2021
429/ Gravitorium
Harness the power of gravity to maneuver through challenging precision platforming and puzzle levels in this fun and kinetic 2D platformer!
Crash notes: Cute physics puzzles but I suspect rage-inducing (don’t ignore miss the ‘precision platformer’ tag).
Windows, Mac | Steam Link | Released Aug 2024
430/ Nonolith
Discover the countless secrets of the NONOLITH. Copy and paste blocks to reach new areas, and master hidden mechanics that let you do the seemingly impossible. You are very powerful, you just don’t know it yet.
Crash notes: Excited about this, looks quite wild.
Windows, Mac, Linux | Steam Link | Unreleased
431/ CORPOREAL
A paranormal mystery where you piece together a haunted family photo album. As the sole survivor of unexplained events in the 1990s, search for answers in an archive of photos rescued from the ruins of your childhood home. Manipulate the past, encounter specters & map your cursed family history.
Crash notes: Found footage game that has a Her Story / Immortality feel about it.
Windows | Steam Link | Unreleased
432/ Rogue Eclipse
A spacefighter for the new age. Master your piloting prowess in an epic sci-fi setting, take down swarms of starfighters, merciless armadas and colossal behemoths in a roguelike campaign that spans the cosmos. Easy to learn, tricky to master, and impossible to put down.
Crash notes: I saw a gameplay trailer and the dogfighting in space looks beautiful.
Windows, Linux | Steam Link | Unreleased
433/ As We Descend
The roguelike deckbuilder with the soul of a strategy game. Recruit and upgrade your forces. Deploy them to counter monstrous foes in card-slinging battles. Play your cards carefully in the treacherous city. Against all odds, will you bear the torch of humanity?
Crash notes: Another day, another deckbuilder. It’s nice looking but not sure any particular screenshot does it justice.
Windows | Steam Link | Unreleased
434/ DoubleWe
Kill your clone before you die! In this Sandbox Horror game, experience true paranoia as you Hide, Fight, and Hunt your way through the biological horrors and unravel the horrifying story of uncanny clones
Crash notes: Single player but of course this is going to have online PvP as well.
Windows, Mac, Linux | Steam Link | Unreleased
435/ Mask Quest
A platform game about running, jumping and breathing.
Crash notes: A new increpare commercial title! Developed with undef, who you might remember from a little game I streamed many years ago called Quadrant.
Windows, Mac | Steam Link | Released Oct 2024
436/ HEAVENSCAPE
HEAVENSCAPE is a 3D horror roguelike designed to invoke PC Games from the early 2000s. You play as a character named ANGEL, who is an angel, traveling home from a party at night. Find a path home, meet friends and avoid dangers. Be careful – if your phone’s battery runs out, its over…
Crash notes: You can download the 2023 demo from itch.
Windows | Steam Link / Itch Link | Unreleased
437/ TRIP
Will you unravel the mystery that hides in this train? A lot of surprises and colourful characters are waiting for you in this first person retro adventure game!
Crash notes: Love the look of this, just hope you aren’t all just travelling to the afterlife or something like that.
Windows, Mac | Steam Link | Unreleased
438/ Lorne
You are a ranger of Lorne. Explore the world to find hidden puzzles and artifacts. Gather resources and build up your stockpiles. Build your base and improve your defenses. Craft and upgrade your weapons to become even stronger.
Crash notes: Not sure those gameplay videos should be showing off a platform jumping challenge in 3D, we’re not fans of that here. Still, seems to be a lot of things going on in Lorne.
Windows | Steam Link | Unreleased
439/ The Cabin Factory
Your job at the Cabin Factory is simple: inspect the cabins and decide on whether they’re haunted or not. If you do find any anomalies, get out…immediately.
Crash notes: Now I’m not convinced that this will be anything other than stream scream fodder, with jump scares and disturbing noises, but I love the concept!
Windows | Steam Link | Unreleased
440/ Cape Hideous
Amongst the motliest of all crews, an enigmatic woman prepares the ship to enter an intense thunderstorm raging in the middle of the ocean. What otherworldly mysteries lie within?
Crash notes: The trailer was all sorts of curious, very unique art style.
Windows | Steam Link | Released Oct 2024
441/ Devilated
Devilated is an ultraviolent RPG old-school shooter where you brutalize and cannibalize your demonic foes in equal measure. Eat their face before they eat yours.
Crash notes: Unusual story here because the developer is “currently experiencing a very serious health issue, and is unable to work on the game and will not be able to continue development or interact for the foreseeable future” but, with the blessing of the dev’s family, the release has gone ahead.
Windows | Steam Link | Released Oct 2024
442/ Hyperslice
Fast paced action arena roguelike where you defeat waves of enemies using your dash. Slice through enemies or push them to survive. Upgrade and buy abilities throughout your run to turn your ship into a killing machine.
Crash notes: From the developer of Dashpong which made me cry on Side by Side.
Windows, Linux | Steam Link | Unreleased
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“Play as ANGEL, an angel, ” – I’m sold!
This was a very good Crashbook, multiple new wishlists for me, thank you.
I see a whole new genre, in this game you play a robot called Robot
Oh dang, I was just going to write a first impressions of Stray where I said “I would have liked to see kitty Bernband.” And then one of the top reviews says “one of the closest experiences to Outer Wilds there is” but I can experience this one!
HOLY CRAP NEW INCREPARE GAME. Looks timing-y! I have been trying to do rhythm stuff so I’m going to buy Quadrant now.
uuurrrrgggggh why am I trying to do rhythm stuff
got me E rank and in the meantime was rage-inspired to add 20 seconds to my best in Super Hexagon
“I’m going to buy Quadrant now” -> “uuurrrrgggggh” sounded like the fastest self-own we’ve seen in the Electron Dance comments.
Did you say that someone wrote… Stray is like Outer Wilds?
They said Grunn is like Outer Wilds! I transitioned from Stray to Grunn through Bernband without, er, actually mentioning Grunn. Trying to say that Grunn is a must-buy!
So Quadrant is a rhythm game far more than Super Hexagon but it kind of seems like it’s a focus-your-attention game? It’s not about picking up on patterns AFAICT except insofar as you’re doing everything on the beat, but the one time I got through it I was like “the one thing that matters is where the little square is, focus on that exclusively.” As opposed to the Bit.Trips which are often syncopated and can be learned. Though in Quadrant I often feel like I’m not getting feedback, like I’m often not sure whether I hit the wrong key or did it at the wrong time, and sometimes it seems like I go straight to game over without losing the medium square and I’m not sure why, then eventually there was this blink effect but I wasn’t clear whether it was me missing the beat or just the game being mean?
Quadrant is harsh. It will penalize you if you’re a little bit off the beat and is extremely hostile if you predict badly. But you’re right – it’s not a muscle memory game, it’s about reactions.
was super hexagoning and the cat decided to sniff at my fingers and then STOOD ON THE KEYBOARD (I wasn’t that far in though)
I played through Grunn a month or so ago and while I loved it initially, the more I played it, the more tedious I found it. I was glad for it be over by the end! Contrast that with Outer Wilds… To be honest, ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ has been taking a beating for me lately! Dredge, Grunn, Mouthwashing, Crow Country, Anger Foot, Thronefall…
It’s why I appreciate the Leap Years and Xenospheres! 😀 I’d love to play more Utopia Must Fall but that’s Early Access so it’s against the rules.
I’m kind of amazed at Powerhoof’s adventure game output!
Hah! REPOSE. Yes, I insta-wishlisted that the moment I saw it.
Ooo, Rick Lane put me on to DoubleWe with his excellent Demo Disc newsletters. I’m super intrigued by it and… have yet to try the demo 🙂
My brother showed me the Cabin Factory trailer and I just said ‘It’s a no from me. They’re all haunted, fuck it.’
Haha, and yes the ‘precision platformer’ tag always gives me pause too!