features: The big ones
The bread and butter
The weight of carrying both
Fiction has always been humanity’s most honest mirror, reflecting back the wars we wage within ourselves long before we have the capacity to understand them.
Following in this ancient tradition, Kuro Games’ latest character release, Cartethyia, the wandering knight of Wuthering Waves (2024), emerges as an avatar of our most fundamental conflict: the courage required…
Getting down with Gerbert Croski
Guerrilla journalist Warren Hernandez tracked down the enigmatic developer behind the SICK’s pack-in title, Down with the Sickness. Driving to Toronto to interview him, Hernandez provides a rare look into the mind of an elusive ’90s video game pioneer.
GOMIBAKO NO DENSETSU is still lost media despite team’s best efforts
The team at Kohococoa Design Works is proud to restore a critical piece of the history of the Chicago-built SICK. This was made possible thanks to a friend and SICK fan based out of Odawara, Japan.
Brushing Cobwebs off blades of Exile
One day when I was a kid, my dad heard about this game called Geneforge. He set my brother and me up with the free demo of Geneforge 3 (Spiderweb Software, 2005) on the Mac Mini we shared. My brother got the first turn playing it and I watched.
It blew my f@#$ing fourth grader mind.
Ain’t about how fast you get there
For me to enjoy a review, I need the author to be screaming into the void about their most obscure, nerdy interests.
I don’t care if you mean to entertain me. I want the road you’re leading me down to be one you’re unabashedly interested in.
So today I’ll take cues from a little polygonal bird…
Now Playing: Reviews from the back alley
games we love, games we hate, everything in-between
Fallout 4’s settlement builder is so bad it’s fantastic
Sometimes I enjoy things that are bad.
Zelda CD-i cutscenes. The Johnny Depp remake of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Fallout 4 base building.
Zelda CD-i cutscenes. The Johnny Depp remake of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Fallout 4 base building.
Towerbolt
*SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE*
Towerbolt manages to successfully pull off a piece of advice often thrown at indie projects: do one thing and do it really fucking well. To be clear, the thing in question is jumping, which is pretty much all you’re going to be…
Towerbolt manages to successfully pull off a piece of advice often thrown at indie projects: do one thing and do it really fucking well. To be clear, the thing in question is jumping, which is pretty much all you’re going to be…
From Terra to Leo
Amnesiac protagonists may be an overdone trope, but Fantasian: Neo Dimension pulls it off.
The Talented Mr. Kondo
Few albums can withstand the test of time; but Super Mario 64’s soundtrack is an exception, truly defining a generation of video game music.
You fry eggs
Arctic Eggs is a game where you fry eggs.
Editorials: Columns and critiques
From our intrepid editors and erstwhile friends
Fighting fascism through play
You don’t need me to tell you that things are bad, but many players have stepped up in the last few months to do what they can to fight against fascism and support our communities, and they have been doing it all through the thing they know how to do best: play.
Halfway between Pokémon and Shin Megami Tensei
As loyal readers might expect, Jesse’s GOTY pick is a little unorthodox.
Fuck Spotify, I’ll wrap it myself
I’ve conned you all into reading another column about music.
So, because Spotify lies – I’ve become convinced of this, both because of their links to weapons manufacturing and the fact I obsessively track my own listening stats – I’ll wrap it myself.
So, because Spotify lies – I’ve become convinced of this, both because of their links to weapons manufacturing and the fact I obsessively track my own listening stats – I’ll wrap it myself.
University of Chicago kicks off its Year of Games
The University of Chicago has declared the 2025-26 academic year the “Year of Games.” Jonah White covers its opening symposium.
From Silent Hill to Soma & back again: how horror got here
Horror games are having a renaissance right now. For a while, they were stale, same-y, and uncreative, and Jesse Boruff thinks he knows why they became that way.
Dev Logs: Interviews and Developer notes
From developers of in-progress or completed indie projects
Uncle Henry Isn’t Home: Baby’s first video game
Uncle Henry Isn’t Home is the very first video game I’ve ever worked on. If you’re familiar with my other works, you know I usually make TTRPG systems. Short fiction is often a part of those books, but it’s been a while since I did some real, meaty character writing instead of just improv. And…
Uncle Henry Isn’t Home: Creating a full audio experience for a jam game
Dani Orizaba outlines their process for making all things sound for Chicaghoul standout Uncle Henry Isn’t Home.
Uncle Henry Isn’t Home: Postmortem
Uncle Henry Isn’t Home was one of the standouts of Chicaghoul 2025, a real deal point-and-click adventure game presented in an arcade cabinet and capturing the existential, lonely horror of both games like Myst and H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos.
Raysing!
In Raysing!, you’re a car. Your friends are cars, too. There are no humans on this island. Have fun exploring.
Ghoul Kazool
Ghoul Kazool is an alt-control experiment where players use either their keyboard or the custom “kazool” controller to make sounds and rack up “Ghoul Power” in an endless rave throughout looping days and nights. Something in the experience may be lost when it’s played in-browser, but we think it’s still worth a look for the…
Archive: Icg Zine (2024)
Writing and event coverage from the ICG Zine
Interviews: AllStars 2024
Seb Galvez interviews the developers behind winning games from Indie City Games AllStars 2024.
Now Playing: August 2024
The ICG board members detail what they were playing in August 2024.
Now Playing: Deepest Chamber Resurrection
Seb Galvez reviews a roguelite deck builder with the appropriate amount of skeleton armies.
Buddy Simulator 1984 Interview
Buddy Simulator 1984 is a game where you play games with an AI buddy. Former ICG Board member Kailey Phan Mitchell interviewed all four of its developers.
Pop Pup Interview
Pop Pup is a one-button skateboarding game where the goal is to get as high a combo as possible. Think Tony Hawk meets the Sonic comics.
Amazing Grace interview
Amazing Grace is a pixel platformer where you dive down into hell to rescue your child.
Hello again interview
Hello Again is a time-looping adventure game set on an island filled with ancient ruins. Explore abandoned structures, solve clockwork puzzles, and befriend quirky characters to uncover the island’s secrets and break the loop.
The following interview is with Dwight, the game’s developer.