Spring itch.io roundup
The best things we’ve played this spring
by Seb Galvez
Ruin: Chapter 0
A lost Commodore 64 masterpiece weaving RPG and point-and-click narrative tools into a surrealist piece of sci-fi fantasy. The jagged edges are deliberate and the obtuseness is the point. Saying that OFFICIAL ELECTRIC’s other games are any less stylish would be a lie. Go play RUIN, then go check out the rest of their stuff.
Who is Johnny Sixgun?
Enter the mind of the world’s biggest Hooters fan. I first came across Who is Johnny Sixgun? as part of the always stellar Indiepocalypse and was instantly very upset that I had not myself put out something like it. Simultaneously frenetic and intentional, this one is impossible to classify and requires you to experience it for yourself. It’s a self-described “shitpost epic adventure” you won’t soon forget.
she danced in the wind like a holographic dream before she died
Natalie Lawhead returns with another piece of what is best described as digital, experiential poetry (see: A Butterfly and BlueSuburbia). Lawhead’s work remains as raw, honest, and emotional as ever, pulling at both deeply intimate personal threads and more widespread modern anxiety. Some of the finest work you’ll find in the vein of games as an art form. You owe it to yourself to experience it.
Radio farm
Short, textured, and at times tedious – I mean that as a compliment, too many games are afraid of tedium as a mechanism – RADIO FARM is a great example of how much can be conveyed through visual minimalism. You can practically feel the cold and isolation in all eight pixels of your character’s sprite. Pair it with Sam Toeman’s Patreon post regarding the game’s development for a great look at his personal process.
today and every day, i become a chinese new year bonsai
Chinese emo simulator go brrrrrrr
