We sat down with Nathan, alongside OI Games Studio Director Michael Patton and Lead Designer Ian Clark, to discuss balancing chaotic 150-mod weapon combos, surviving a decade-plus development cycle, and why sometimes, letting players completely break your game is exactly the right move.

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Plan of Attack PR, thanks a million Jeffrey Matulef!

14 years is an eternity in indie development! When you look back at your original concept from 2011, how much of that initial DNA actually survived into the final game launching this May?

Nathan Hiemenz: “Has it already been 14 (15) years? That’s crazy. The initial prototype was a very rough concept. The game engine was very rough, rendering the entire game at once, and no original art. We did also consider a roguelike at one point but the concept just never gelled. Really from day 1, it was a metroidvania about weapon building with a rules system. Even the early project codename – simply Ambrosia – has survived to this day.”

The press kit mentions that development “really took off” when Ian joined as a full-time designer in 2016. What exactly changed in your workflow or design philosophy when he came on board?

Nathan Hiemenz: “I never really saw myself as a content designer, although I did implement some of my own concepts in early prototypes. Plus, up until late 2025, I had a full time job that wasn’t working on Clockwork Ambrosia. So Ian coming on board, he was full-time, which was great. And his talents, he has an intuitive grasp for content – enemies, levels, sound, and so on – so he filled in for my weaknesses. And all along, having someone else to bounce gameplay or system design problems off of was really invaluable.”

With the core team solidified, they were able to tackle the game’s primary hook: an incredibly deep weapon crafting system. But immense player power often comes at the cost of curated challenge.

You’re promising over 150 weapon mods with stuff like “screen-filling shot splitters.” Metroidvanias are already notoriously tough to balance—how did you make sure players could go wild with combos without completely breaking the game’s difficulty?

Nathan Hiemenz: “I am not sure we did! This was definitely a big design puzzle. Unlike the Souls-like metroidvanias, there is more of an RPG progression to making the player character stronger. In Clockwork Ambrosia, the player gains more capability with their mods, so it’s not as simple as giving enemies more health or more attack power. That said, we had to pay a lot of attention to damage output with different mod setups to try and keep things aligned across weapons and builds during the early and mid game.

In the end, for the very final chapters of the game, we threw in several mods that let players start to break out and break things. But those final bosses are meant to be tough too, so we figured it would balance out. But as far as breaking it, it feels good to reward the player’s ingenuity so we don’t want to over correct too far in the other direction either.”

Ian: “I had to be sure I didn’t tie enemies to one particular gimmick that required one right answer to defeating them. Enemies were not meant to be mod puzzle boxes with a single solution but fun to fight with both basic equipment and advanced setups. Where I could, I included some enemy traits and quirks that gave some mods advantages if players did work them out, to reward that. But making enemies inherently fun to fight, regardless of player build, ultimately also made them fun to fight regardless of the player’s power level.”

With so much explosive power at the player’s fingertips, traditional game boundaries naturally begin to bend.

How are you handling progression with the crafting system? Are you worried about players sequence-breaking too early, or are you leaning into that kind of chaos?

Ian: “I never wanted the game to be broken in a bad or unfun way, but I like sequence breaks. I intentionally left several in the game for players to discover, while trying to smooth out ones that led to unfun situations. I embraced this as much as possible. Discovering a sequence break should feel rewarding and not lead to unexpected gameplay consequences.”

Nathan Hiemenz: “Letting players sequence break, as long as it didn’t prevent the player from continuing, wasn’t our biggest worry. The metroidvania community enjoys sequence breaking so to some extent we were ok with that happening.”

Surviving 15 years in development means watching the entire gaming landscape—and the metroidvania genre itself—shift around you.

Did playing newer titles over the years make you want to go back and rework your own mechanics, or did you purposefully try to keep blinders on?

Nathan Hiemenz: “A little of both. The game has been in development so long, metroidvania game design has really evolved and modernized. You can’t just ignore that. Our save system, for example, is a lot more retro, and pre-launch it was even more unusual with players just resetting to their save point. So we had to update to keep to the original vision, but still update it so it made more sense to players in 2026 with a limited lives system.

“The healing system was more unique too. We wanted there to be some mid-run healing option, but we didn’t want it to be as simple as health farming like in original Metroid.”

The hand-drawn art looks gorgeous. But with all those crazy weapon effects firing off, how hard was it to keep the combat visually readable so players don’t just lose Iris in the chaos?

Nathan Hiemenz: “It’s still a challenge. I’m not sure we don’t need to give players some options to tune down explosions if they are struggling to read things, for instance. But in general, we fell back to some basic design principles. Ensuring enemy projectiles are very distinct from player projectiles was a huge step, for example. Whenever you design an enemy or player weapon, you have to consider that visual language to ensure players can parse the screen in the heat of combat.”

As this massive project finally nears the finish line, the team reflected on what it takes to survive such a marathon.

Looking back at the entire journey, what’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you’d give to a new indie dev who is just starting to draft up their own massive dream game?

Nathan Hiemenz: “Really understand what you’re getting into. Also, don’t choose an unusual camera perspective that will require niche artists to work out and understand. So basically, from the beginning, understand the toolsets and strengths you have on your team and build around that. Also, don’t make a metroidvania, haha!”

Ian: “Don’t start with your dream game. Start with smaller projects and work your way up. Games of any scope only come together through some amount of luck and fortune, and the bigger that scope, the more luck you will need to avoid a 14-year development cycle. I don’t recommend following our path. Also, if you are going to make your own engine, really understand what that means.”

Michael Patton: “Every game has a project manager, whether they know it’s their title or not. When you have a big team, or a big game, you also need a good process. And having leadership who can focus on that problem, while you focus on the game design problem, is invaluable. But understand that if your team can’t support that dedicated function, then a developer is going to be the project manager. But the same rules still apply – have a process, follow it.”

It’s clear that Clockwork Ambrosia is a labor of love, battle-tested through time, engine changes, and the ever-evolving landscape of the metroidvania genre. This gem is already out. Make sure you check it out!

The survivor roguelite genre has exploded in recent years. It has undeniably been largely defined by the single-character power trips of games like Vampire Survivors and Brotato. But what happens when you take that addictive core loop and introduce the strategic chaos of a full RPG party? That’s exactly what Luminas: Parasite Reign aims to achieve! Built by a small team of three friends, this upcoming indie darling trades the lone-wolf concept for a dynamic, three-hero party system. And it’s all adorably wrapped in a charming 3D voxel art style.

Luminas: Parasite Reign Fast Facts:

Status: Upcoming Early Access, free demo available!

Developer: SOTO Game Studio

Genre: Party-based Survivor Roguelite

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Starfall PR. Many thanks to Lyndle Montgomery and Madison Terrill!

We recently sat down with the developers to discuss the challenges of balancing synergistic chaos, their tight roadmap for Early Access, and the surprising depth hiding beneath the genre’s simple exterior.

The very first thing that stands out about Luminas is the decision to control three heroes simultaneously. It’s a bold move. It is, afterall, a genre that usually focuses on a single protagonist getting absurdly strong. SOTO Game Studio has executed the concept brilliantly. We praised the team for this intriguing departure from the norm, and they noted that disrupting the genre’s standard formula was the plan from the very beginning.

“Thank you, that means a lot to hear!” the developer shared when asked about the party mechanics. “The party system was actually the very first thing we locked in, it wasn’t something we arrived at later. From day one we knew we wanted Luminas to feel different from the rest of the genre, and the most interesting space we could see was the social one: what happens when you’re not just making one character stronger, but managing three personalities, three roles, and the relationships between them?

Once we committed to that, everything else started to make sense. The skill trees, the relics, the way runs unfold, they all exist to serve the question of ‘who’s in your party and how do they play together.’ It also gave us a creative excuse to design lots of different Luminas with their own identities, which has been one of the most fun parts of development.”

Breaking the Rules of Roguelite Permanence

That party system isn’t the only way SOTO is breaking the rules. In most roguelites, choices are permanent. If you commit to an upgrade, you live with it.

Luminas, however, allows players to swap treasures between characters on the fly mid-run. This radically shifts the focus from punishing mistakes to rewarding boundless player experimentation. Why did they decide to give players that much freedom mid-run?

“Two reasons, honestly,” they explained. “The first is replayability — we wanted players to feel free to experiment with different builds. If you’ve put a treasure on Zapurr and you suddenly realize it would actually be wild on Pyropeep, you should be able to make that move. That kind of experimentation is where a lot of the ‘oh, what if I…’ moments come from, and those moments are what bring people back.

The second reason is simpler: it’s just more fun. Locking choices in permanently is a design pattern that works in some games, but for a party-based roguelite it felt like it would punish curiosity rather than reward it. We’d rather players take risks and discover weird combos than play it safe because they’re afraid of wasting a slot.”

This freedom to experiment naturally leads to some wild synergies, which brings up the question of inspiration. While the gameplay loop tips its hat to the genre titans, the tactical depth was inspired by classic RPGs, and the visuals aim for a very specific, nostalgic tactility.

“On the gameplay side, the obvious roots are Vampire Survivors and Brotato, they basically defined the modern survivor roguelite, and you can’t make a game in this space without acknowledging that. Hades was a big influence on how we think about run structure and making each attempt feel meaningful. And Divinity: Original Sin, maybe surprisingly, shaped a lot of our thinking around party composition and how characters’ abilities should interact with each other rather than just stack.

On the look and feel side, we wanted something that felt nostalgic without being a copy of anything. The voxel direction came from wanting the chunky, toy-like charm of pixel art, but in 3D space — so each Lumina ends up feeling like a little figurine you could pick up.”

The Nightmare of Balancing

Of course, letting players combine 8 unique characters and 90 different treasures into a three-hero party sounds like a balancing nightmare. When prodded for the messy details, the developer admitted that traditional stat-tuning goes out the window when balancing interconnected parties.

“Honestly, the hardest part has been, and still is, the fact that we’re not balancing characters in isolation. We’re balancing parties. When you’ve got three Luminas combining their abilities and treasures, the question isn’t ‘is Zapurr balanced?’, it’s ‘is Zapurr balanced when paired with these two specific Luminas and these specific treasures?’ That math (and the excel formulas) gets out of hand fast.

So our process became less about tuning individual numbers and more about playing every possible party composition we could think of, then chasing whatever felt off. Sometimes a treasure that looked totally fine on paper would turn into something completely broken (for example the critical chance stat) the moment a specific Lumina picked it up, and we’d realize the problem wasn’t the treasure, it was the interaction (for example critical chance is affected not only from treasures). Those are the hardest ones to spot, because they only appear when the right (or wrong) combination shows up.

There were definitely a few synergies that took multiple passes to land. We’re keeping the specifics under wraps — partly because we don’t want to spoil the fun for players who’ll find them, and partly because some of them are still being tuned.”

The Sprint Through Early Access

SOTO Game Studio has set an ambitious eight-month roadmap for their Early Access period. It’s a tight schedule that requires a delicate dance between planned content drops and reactive community management. They are heavily relying on the player base to discover the broken mechanics they couldn’t find themselves. We asked if they could walk us through the plan for adding new maps and Luminas while also responding to player feedback?

“It is tight! Our plan is to ship a major update every one to two months across the Early Access period, so by the end of those eight months we land at version 1.0 with substantially more content than we launched with. Concretely, we want to add five to six new maps, more synergy spells, and meaningfully expanded skill trees for every Lumina.

The trickier part is the feedback loop. We’re going into EA expecting that players will surface things we haven’t thought of — broken combos, balance issues, requests we didn’t see coming — and we want to leave room in the schedule to actually respond to those. So the roadmap isn’t fully locked; the big content beats are planned, but how we sequence smaller fixes and adjustments will depend on what the community tells us. That’s kind of the whole point of doing Early Access in the first place.”

Is there a feature or a specific Lumina that you really wanted to include for the EA launch but had to hold back for the full release? Speaking of which, what’s the most surprising combination you’ve seen between the skill trees and treasures so far? Did you come across a “broken” strategy you didn’t see coming?

“Yes — there are a few things we wanted to ship at EA that we ended up pushing back. We had hoped to include more maps right at launch, but those are still in an experimentation phase and we’d rather give them more time than ship something that doesn’t feel finished. Same goes for additional synergy spells; we want more of them in the game, and they’re coming, just not at day one.

As for broken strategies — yes, absolutely, and some of them genuinely surprised us. There are combinations in the game that we didn’t design intentionally; they just emerged once enough treasures and skill trees existed in the same space. Some of them we’ve nerfed, some we’ve decided to leave alone because they’re fun even when they’re a bit too strong. But we’re not telling you which ones! Half the joy of a roguelite is finding that thing yourself and feeling like you outsmarted the developers. We want to leave that experience intact.”

Power Spikes and Player Vision

One of the game’s major turning points is the “Evolution” state, a mid-run power spike where Luminas transform. Making sure this feels like a genuine reward without making the rest of the stage boring required scaling the world’s threats to match the player’s newfound power.

“The Evolution state is one of the moments we’re most proud of. The way it works: when a Lumina kills enough infected Luminas during a run (maybe you didn’t know this), it transforms into a more advanced version of itself, with new abilities and upgraded stats. It’s meant to be a real ‘yes!’ moment for the player.

The trick to keeping it feeling rewarding without trivializing the rest of the run is on the encounter design side. The waves and threats players face after Evolution are tuned to scale with that power spike — so the player feels stronger because they are stronger, but the world also gets meaner to match. The result, hopefully, is that you earn the power and then get to actually use it against threats that respect it. If the rest of the stage felt like a walk afterward, the moment would lose its weight, so we’ve tried to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

As SOTO braces for the influx of Early Access feedback, they are clear on where they will compromise and where they will hold the line. They are willing to tweak, but they absolutely will not sacrifice their core vision to please everyone.

“We’re genuinely open to player feedback — we’ve already had it shape the game in ways we didn’t expect, and we want that to keep happening through Early Access. The line we draw is around the core mechanics. If feedback is asking us to refine, polish, or expand on what’s already there, we’re almost always going to take it seriously and try to implement it.

If feedback is asking us to change something that would undermine the central thing the game is about — the party-based experimentation, the synergy between Luminas — that’s where we have to push back, even when it comes from people we respect. Not every game is for every player, and trying to stretch a game to please everyone usually ends up pleasing nobody. We’d rather make the version of Luminas we believe in, and trust that the right players will find it.”

Reflections on the Journey

Developing your first major game is notoriously grueling. SOTO’s parting advice to other developers—and their newfound respect for the survivor genre—serves as a poignant reminder that simplicity in game design is often a masterclass in hidden complexity.

“Honestly, the first game is overwhelming. You’re not just making the game — you’re learning how to make games while you make a game, and there are a million problems you didn’t know existed waiting for you in every corner. The standard advice is ‘start small,’ and that advice exists for a reason — it’s true, and we’d echo it.

But the bigger thing for us has been making sure we actually enjoy the journey. We’re three friends building something we genuinely want to play, and that’s what’s kept us going through the hard parts. If you’re grinding on a project you don’t love, the difficulty stops being meaningful — it just becomes painful. Make sure the thing you’re building is the thing you want to be building.

As for the survivor genre specifically — what surprised us most is how much depth lives underneath what looks like a simple loop. From the outside, survivor games look like ‘walk around, kill things, pick upgrades.’ But the moment you start actually building one, you realize how much careful work goes into making that loop feel good — wave pacing, ability feedback, run length, how upgrades interact, when difficulty should spike. Players feel it instantly when any of that is off, even if they can’t always articulate why. We have a lot more respect for this genre now than when we started.”

Luminas: Parasite Reign aims to bring a much-needed layer of tactical depth to the bullet-heaven space. If SOTO Game Studio can stick the landing on their ambitious Early Access plans, they might just redefine what it means to survive. Meanwhile, please check the demo! We checked it out recently and really liked what we saw.

Hotta Studio, the same studio that got famous with Tower of Fantasy, has recently released a game that mixes a supernatural Grand Theft Auto style with a gacha system. It’s free-to-play, and if you decide to play it without reaching for your wallet, you will find some surprisingly fun mechanics. However, Neverness to Everness wants your money and will do its best to pull you in by giving you just enough that you feel like you have no choice but to start dancing to their tune.

The Neon-Lit Hustle

In NTE, you fight weird monsters. Then you brew yourself a nice cup of joe and drive yourself directly into jail.

If you’ve played Genshin and all the clones that have popped up over the years, then you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. The fighting is fast and uses a four-person squad that you can swap on the fly. You build up a meter by attacking, but if you land a perfect parry, that meter fills up right away.

Once it’s full, you swap characters to set off huge elemental chains. You can mix elements like Cosmos and Anima to spawn a shooting turret. You also have to break an enemy’s stagger bar before you can really hurt them. Parrying and dodging are the fastest ways to do that. It all feels very reactive but combat is just one small piece of a much bigger picture.

Welcome to the Tycoon side. The game splits your energy, and we loved how it encourages us to use a separate weekly stamina pool just for city life. In the moments where the dust has settled, we ran businesses.

We treasured those times when we actually bought ingredients, set the menu, and assigned our characters to work shifts. It adds a nice slice-of-life break between the action. But it’s not all just mindless, boring fun.

As we’ve said, the game reminded us of GTA. So, naturally, we stole a car and had the police chase us across the city. We thought we could escape easily, but we ended up in a dead end and they took us to jail.

This is where the game pleasantly surprised us. The jail is an actual playable area. Of course, you can just pay a fine to leave. Or, you can play the long game and be a good prisoner until you decide to escape à la Shawshank Redemption. For a penalty system, the devs came up with something insanely complex. Just for being there, you can farm special prison rewards. It honestly makes you want to get caught. We were having a blast exploring everything the city had to offer, until we hit that monetization wall.

Finally, we have to talk about the gacha. We hate gacha, and that’s the only reason why we aren’t going to be playing the game anymore. Gacha is a cancer and represents everything that’s wrong with monetization in gaming.

We remember a time when we drained our account pulling for wishes in Genshin. It broke us completely, both financially and psychologically. We thought we had learned our lesson, and then we did the same thing with Honkai.

Getting new characters here is like playing a board game. You roll dice to move a piece around a board, picking up upgrade materials on different tiles. One small mercy here is that there’s no 50/50 coin flip. If you hit an S-Rank on a limited banner, it is 100% guaranteed to be the featured character. You might think that takes away a lot of the usual frustration, but it’s still hard pity on the 90th pull.

Trust us when we say this: this is a game that you simply can’t enjoy unless you’re willing to spend money. A lot of it. We strongly recommend against it. Those free rewards that the devs are giving are just meant to make things worse.

Neverness to Everness is a beautiful city built on a toxic foundation

It hurts to walk away from such fun mechanics, but no amount of cool combos or virtual coffee is worth the real-life stress. It might look like a harmless anime adventure, but we promise you, it’s just not worth the cost.

ID Card:

• Developer: Hotta Studio

• Publisher: Perfect World Games

• Engine: Unreal Engine 5

• Platforms: PC, macOS, PlayStation 5, iOS, Android

• Release Date: April 29, 2026 (Global)

• Genre: Supernatural Urban Open-World RPG

We were extremely excited about Aphelion; we couldn’t wait to see how a studio celebrated for narrative storytelling would attempt to master complex action mechanics. To us, Aphelion initially felt like the love child of Jusant and Banishers, only with a sci-fi spin. The setup itself is genuinely compelling. You are intertwined in a carefully planned and executed story set in 2060, depicting a dying Earth and the frozen, uncharted frontier of Persephone. Following two separated, crash-landed astronauts is a brilliant narrative hook. It seemed like the perfect game, but actually playing it can be a wildly uneven experience.

In Aphelion, we jump between two characters, and the game plays quite differently depending on who we’re controlling. Ariane’s chapters are meant to be adrenaline-pumping, featuring sections where we use grappling hooks, slide across ice, and hide from or outrun menacing aliens. The devs have done a good job, but, sadly, not a great one. In practice, the movement feels remarkably stiff. It clearly wants to emulate the flow of an Uncharted game, but it lacks that crucial fluidity.

Missing a jump usually means instant death and a frustrating hike back from an unforgiving checkpoint. And the QTEs—oh lord, the quick-time events. Almost every time we jumped, we had to press a button to avoid slipping and falling to our death. It happens way too often; it’s not fun, just tiring. It feels like every time we jump, there’s an 80% chance for a QTE to be triggered. The stealth is similarly punishing, demanding a level of pixel-perfect precision that quickly drains the terror out of the encounters, leaving only irritation behind.

Between missions with Ariane, we switch to Thomas. Not only is he injured, but he is also tied to a limited oxygen supply, causing his sections to sometimes slow to a crawl. This isn’t necessarily a flaw; rather, it’s a drastic change of pace that allows us to breathe and focus on solving environmental puzzles. While undeniably simplistic, we welcomed each of these segments. The actors did a wonderful job of making us care for the characters—after just the first hour, we truly wanted to be with them, to see them succeed, and to finally witness their reunion.

Aphelion is deeply compelling. It’s a moody sci-fi mystery set in a unique world, elevated by stellar voice acting and a haunting score by Amine Bouhafa. While there are some technical hurdles—specifically with stuttering and optimization—they aren’t quite deal-breakers. The QTE climbing can be bothersome and the stealth sections could have been more refined, but the story, the acting, and the beautifully designed world ultimately melted our frustrations away.

This is clearly another labor of love. It is an ambitious project that perhaps lacked the resources to fully realize its grand vision. If you loved DON’T NOD’s previous titles, we highly recommend giving this one a try. Their creative DNA is present throughout and, with a little patience, you will likely find yourself enjoying this surreal journey.

ID Card

• Developer: Don’tNod

• Publisher: Don’tNod

• Engine: Unreal Engine 5

• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

• Release Date: April 28, 2026

• Genre: Narrative Adventure / Sci-Fi Survival

Welcome to the PC Game Pass Suggestions series. Every two weeks, we look through the huge Game Pass library to find the most interesting hidden gems and big new games that are truly worth your time.

If you are new here, what is Game Pass? Think of it as “Netflix for video games.” It is a service that gives you unlimited access to hundreds of great games for one monthly fee. It’s a great way to try new types of games and find unexpected favorites without spending extra money.

Hades II: The Heavy Burden of Family

You play as Melinoë, the Princess of the Underworld and sister to Zagreus (Remember him, the dude from the first game?). Chronos, the Titan of Time, escaped his prison and captured Melinoë’s family. Your goal is to have her fight her way into the Underworld and up to the surface. Will you be able to save her family? We don’t know. What we do know is you will have hell-of-a-time trying.

Hades II, much like it’s predecesor, is a fast, challenging action game where you explore dungeons. You dash from room to room. You deal with enemies by using an arsenal of weapons while also using magic to launch huge, charged attacks. Along the way, you collect powers from the Greek gods to create wild combat combos. Between your fights, you spend collected items to brew permanent upgrades. You do this to make the dying as less frequent as possible. The more you play, the stronger and smarter you become. You learn enemies paterns and you adjust your strategies properly. It’s a grind for sure, but it’s a grind worth doing.

The game looks beautiful. It mixes hand-painted Greek mythology backgrounds with dark witchcraft themes. The sound is just as good and it features amazing music and wonderful voice acting. There’s always some pleasant surprise to discover between the runs. Hades II is everything the first game was, and more.

Vampire Crawlers: The Thrill of Breaking the Rules

If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you’ve heard of Vampire Survivors, the game that launched a thousand clones. This new title from the same devs drops the familiar heroes into a dark, multi-floor dungeon. It keeps the original spooky feel but motivates you to push deeper into the dark to collect weird treasures. Yup, you need that power—otherwise, you won’t survive the endless onslaught of monsters for long.

Also, this is a very fast card game. You don’t shoot here automatically. Nope. You use cards to play slowly and carefully, or to rush through your turns at top speed. Whatever you decide, triggering huge attacks that clear the whole screen is immensely satisfying.

It perfectly captures the classic, pixel-art look, sound and design of the original game, so if you were a fan of that game you’ll feel right at home here.

Kiln: The Joy of Making and Breaking

Kiln lets you play as a competitive little spirit in a bright world made entirely of clay. Your spirit lives inside clay pots, vases, and jugs. But just existing isn’t enough. So you try to make something beautiful with your friends. What’s better than that you ask? Well, you can then immediately take it into an arena to smash it to pieces.

As an online multiplayer fighting game, Kiln is split into two parts. As we’ve said above, first you sit at a realistic pottery wheel and you shape and paint your own clay pot. It matters whether you make it tall, wide, or tiny. Those parameters change your health, speed, and attacks. Once your pot is baked and ready, you enter team arenas to fight. The goal here usually is to break enemy pots, collect the water they drop, and put out the other team’s fire to win. The digital clay actually seems heavy and wet on the wheel. It’s a fun game and you’ll be missing out if you don’t check it out with your friends.

Thanks for reading!

Game development is usually about chasing a childhood dream. But for Mary Hermes, Director at Grassroots Indigenous Multimedia, it’s about keeping a language alive for the next generation. After a brutal five-year dev cycle, Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining is finally out—and it’s way more than just a game. It’s a lifeline for the Ojibwe language (Ojibwemowin).

Leveling Up a Language

Talking to Hermes, you quickly realize Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining isn’t your standard, dry “edutainment” title. The team didn’t just throw darts at a board to pick a genre; the classic, 90s-style point-and-click mechanics were the direct result of on-the-ground community testing.

“We landed on a point-and-click adventure after a year of game development camps in the LCO Ojibwe community,” Hermes explains. “It was the most appropriate technology – and Anang (our dev) is an old-fashioned lover of Freddie’s Fish.”

That Freddie’s Fish nostalgia is just the wrapper, though. Hermes has been in the language revitalization trenches for over 25 years. We wanted to know how that background actually translated into Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining‘s narrative.

“It was everything to me (Mary) – seeing the need for a fun, joyful place to play in the Ojibwe language, getting stories like this full of hope into the youth’s hands, countering the depressing news messages about us… and making a breakthrough for young people into this market. We need a place to show everyone that our language movement is ALIVE and how relevant our languages are.”

Language revitalization needs modern, joyful spaces—and video games are proving to be the perfect medium to show youth that their culture is alive and kicking.

Getting that tone right meant getting out of the studio and into the community. The team ran design workshops with the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) band, which turned into a massive, hands-on intergenerational effort.

“This is referenced above, with the Youtube channel,” she notes, reflecting on the community’s involvement. “They were mostly done in the Ojibwe language (which is amazing in itself) and there were about 5-6 different families – grandparents through grandchildren – who came out. We went on forest walks, we talked through design ideas/principles, and eventually ended up creating our puzzle dependency chart from those ideas.”

Turning real-world forest walks into digital puzzles comes with serious cultural baggage, though.

Anishinaabe oral traditions are sacred, and often tied to specific seasons. Baking that folklore into game mechanics without crossing a line is tough.

“This was a question we thought about a lot,” Hermes admits when asked about the spirits and puzzles in the game. “We have Oral traditions – winter-time stories – that are sacred, and we did not want to violate that in any way. So we simply made it a reference, a clue from the blue jays or from Boozhii, to give insiders a lift! and to make other people curious. We did not even use any “real” names of spirits, because we did not want to call them up or offend them. Our Elder, Niib (David Abid), was very good at instructing us in riding this fine line.”

Authentic cultural representation sometimes means knowing what not to show. Working directly with Elders helps devs walk the fine line between honoring traditions and exploiting them.

Lore aside, they still had to dodge the biggest trap in “educational” gaming: making something kids actually want to play. When I asked Hermes how they balanced teaching Ojibwemowin with engaging game design, her answer was brilliantly straightforward.

“Fun, fun – won every time. No didactic teaching methods for us! Play it, enjoy it, be left with a sense of wonder and curiosity, after all, none of us knows everything…”

Prioritizing fun didn’t magically make the work easy, of course. A five-year dev cycle is tough on any indie team. Doing it fully voiced in an endangered language? That brings a whole different level of stress.

“You could ask Anang this, she would say the bugs,” Hermes laughs. “I would say 1500 individual lines recorded with individual line id’s, 12 different actors, across two nations, the elders not fluent in our dialect, whew. That was a long process! And there are still some corrections we’d like to fix up.”

Indigenous dev teams face logistical nightmares most indie studios never think about—like wrangling non-fluent voice actors across different dialects and nations.

Hermes is pretty realistic about what it takes to pull something like this off. When asked what advice she’d give to other Indigenous creators wanting to build games in their native languages, she offered a sobering mix of caution and encouragement.

Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining proves there’s a better way to make games. When we asked if she had any parting thoughts for other indie devs wanting to try community-based design, she brought it right back to the land.

Top News: Love at First Flight in Central London

Ever wanted to fly over a 1:1 scale recreation of London to find your feathered soulmate? Pigeon: A Love Story just dropped a demo, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. There’s no combat or timers—just you, maybe a friend in co-op, and hundreds of thousands of autonomous birds. It sounds like a bizarre joke, but scanning the flock is actually a brilliantly relaxing, low-stress escape from modern gaming.

[Read more]

Review Spotlight: Blood Reaver

Early Access games are always a gamble. Blood Reaver definitely shows its rough edges right now with a clunky UI, a single map, and brutal difficulty spikes. But honestly? The core loop is violently fun. It mashes Doom‘s punchy gunplay with the tension of Call of Duty Zombies, tossing in a wildly chaotic magic system for good measure. It’s starving for content right now, but Hell Byte Studios has built a hell of a foundation.

[Read more]

Interview of the Day

We sat down with the team at Hell Byte Studios to discuss the grueling reality of indie multiplayer netcode, balancing deep magic systems, and how they plan to survive in such a competitive market.

“The biggest consideration as an indie developer is finding your niche. Don’t try to compete with an oversaturated genre, look to find the players that are underserved within that genre. Those players are your community, and they’re the ones you’ll want to listen to when making decisions.”

[Read the full interview]

That’s all for today! I’m honestly still deciding whether I want to spend my Friday night getting absolutely swarmed by demons or just aimlessly floating over Big Ben looking for a digital date. Let me know which one you’d pick in the comments below. Have a fantastic weekend, play something fun, and I’ll catch you in the next one!

Cheers,

Her Journey in Project Management: Janette Lipinski on Leadership and Growth at Gameforge

Efficiency and precision are paramount in gaming project management, where deadlines often loom large. Janette shared her adaptable approach to methodologies:

“Nowadays, we have various methodologies to choose from. I can choose a more classic approach for projects with clear requirements and known technology, work with agile methods when it comes to innovative projects, or even mix and do hybrid Project Management. To come up with the best possible approach, I always check on the project and team’s needs and preferences, as well as the environment I work in.“

Beyond selecting the right framework, proactive management is key.

“It is important to me not just to spend time on an initial plan but also to monitor progress, manage risks and stakeholders, and report and adjust planning if necessary as early as possible.” To facilitate this, Gameforge leverages specific tools. “For tools, we decided to use Jira for overall task tracking and managing agile-approach projects while working on initial plans or more classic-driven projects in MS Project. As we created a production-wide project process, we adjusted Jira to match the process and used additional add-ins for MS Project to connect both tools.” However, Janette underscores the human element. “But soft skills should not be underestimated either. Communication is key when it comes to anticipating risks and potential delays and managing expectations. That’s why I also focus on this in my day-to-day work.”

Navigating the complexities of coordinating between different departments and stakeholders, especially when priorities clash or project scopes shift, requires a well-defined process. Janette explained Gameforge’s approach:

“Over time, we developed a good process, including steps for changes to project scope, budget, or schedule. We always check a project’s priority and how we can align all projects in terms of shared resources and the benefits they bring to the company.” Clear guidelines are essential for effective decision-making. “We have clear prioritization rules, which provide us with a framework for navigating our projects within the portfolio.” To maintain a comprehensive overview, a dedicated role exists. “Furthermore, we have one dedicated person managing the big picture of our portfolio projects in terms of the overall planning roadmap and all resources working on them. Having a conflicting priority, they are the people to go to look for solutions.”

For those aspiring to excel in gaming project management, Janette offered crucial guidance, emphasizing the need for flexibility and clear communication.

“One of the main skills a project manager needs is the ability to adapt and communicate effectively. Changes to your project can happen every day, either through a sudden absence of key resources, changing market situations, or higher prioritization of other projects or daily business. Never look for culprits but solve the problem that arises and find out if you could have foreseen it.” Proactive problem-solving and transparency are paramount. “As Project Managers, it is our responsibility to foresee changes and their impact as early as possible, offer solutions, create transparency, and manage expectations. Effective communication is mandatory for this.” The traditional, rigid approach to planning is no longer viable in the agile gaming environment. “The days of making a plan that had to be adhered to at all costs and that did not allow for any adjustments are over. Otherwise, community feedback and necessary adjustments to systems to address bugs would not be possible, decreasing the overall quality and value of the project’s output.”

Recognizing the often high-stress nature of project management, Janette shared valuable advice specifically for women navigating this environment and aiming for career advancement.

“Most people think Project Management is just creating a plan. But there is a lot more which is part of our daily work. We are the glue that keeps the collaboration going in the team, helping others to see the big picture they are working on and to keep them focused.” She emphasized the importance of resilience and self-care. “Keeping an overview, reacting to changes, and managing them—sometimes for multiple projects at the same time—can be very stressful. Therefore, I’d recommend working on your resilience and communication skills. Invest time in finding your own strategies for dealing with stress. These might include reading something, doing sports, meeting with friends, or doing breathing exercises. With training on your own resilience, you also learn a lot to teach your project teams how to deal with stress, so the whole project team benefits.” Viewing mistakes as learning opportunities is also crucial. “Making mistakes is part of the learning process; we want to avoid making them twice. My advice: Reflect on stressful situations or mistakes, don’t take them by heart but use your experience to learn and become better.” Ultimately, passion fuels success. “Finally: Enjoy your work. Everything is easier if you do it with joy.”

Janette Lipinski’s insights provide a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted role of a project management leader in the gaming industry. Her emphasis on adaptability, communication, resilience, and the importance of enjoying one’s work offers valuable guidance for anyone navigating this demanding yet rewarding field, particularly for women striving for success.

Top News

Grid-Free and Ruthless: Annulus is Shaking Up Tactical RPGs

The highly anticipated dark fantasy tactical RPG Annulus has finally dropped on PC and mobile, and it is aggressively throwing out the traditional rulebook. Instead of letting you hide behind static defenses, the game forces you into a constantly shifting, gridless battlefield where adaptability is your only lifeline.

You’ll need to master chaining complex hero abilities together to survive bosses that actively alter the terrain mid-fight just to ruin your carefully laid plans. If the developers can keep the free-to-play mechanics balanced, this punishing title might just become a permanent fixture for hardcore strategy veterans.
[Read more]

Review Spotlights

The Occultist
The Occultist takes the tired “missing dad” paranormal trope, drags it to a gloomy 1950s British island cult compound, and actually makes it terrifying. You play as a seasoned professional armed only with a mystical pendulum used to manipulate the environment and solve tactile puzzles.

There is absolutely zero combat here, meaning you will spend your time holding your breath and tracking ghost patrols in pure, hide-and-seek survival horror vulnerability.

The art direction from Spanish indie studio DALOAR is breathtakingly gorgeous, utilizing Unreal Engine 5 to build a suffocating, macabre atmosphere. Plus, having Doug Cockle—the iconic voice of Geralt of Rivia—grumbling his way through the chilling narrative totally elevates the experience.

It’s a polarizing, tense thriller that fully commits to its defenseless core, making it an absolute must-play for fans of old-school horror.
[Read the full review]

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel – Conan DLC
If you prefer breaking skulls over hiding in the shadows, the bizarre but brilliant Conan DLC for the Norse roguelite Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is exactly what you need.

Tossing the legendary Cimmerian barbarian into a Diablo-esque auto-shooter sounds chaotic on paper, but the heavy, momentum-based execution is deeply satisfying. Conan actually feels weighty, forcing you to actively bulldoze through massive swarms using a brutal new Ram ability rather than just waiting for cooldowns. The quirky addition of a mid-carnage slot machine “Fate system” breaks the pacing slightly, but rolling the perfect buff right before a boss fight feels undeniably awesome.

It doesn’t rewrite the core game, but it injects a violent, heavy-metal shot of adrenaline into an already fantastic indie title. This is a wonderfully unhinged crossover that proves sometimes the best strategy is just swinging a massive sword.
[Read the full review]

Interview of the Day - Inside Snowcastle Games’ Bold New World in Lysward

Surviving the indie game industry often requires the exact same gritty resilience needed to navigate a deadly, sun-scorched wasteland.

We sat down with the minds at Snowcastle Games to discuss their upcoming harsh survival title, Lysward, where players must avoid the lethal rays of a perpetual sun while exploring philosophical themes of amnesia and identity.

Beyond the fascinating mechanics of their new game, the team offered a refreshingly blunt look at what it takes to keep an independent studio afloat for over 16 years amid constant industry turbulence. When asked about their secret to longevity, the team confessed:

“It is a combination of the early goal of building an IP world, a story world of Earthlock, and just pure stubbornness. There have been several times in the past 16 years when any rational and sensible person would have given up.”

[Read the full interview]

That’s all for this week, folks! I’m going to spend the rest of my weekend trying not to get caught by 1950s ghosts—though let’s be real, I’ll probably just end up playing the Conan DLC so I can smash skeletons without thinking too hard. What are you playing this weekend? Hit reply and let me know, I genuinely read every single message.

Catch you next week!

Cheers,

Her Code, Her Impact: Yuka Chen on Development and Diversity at Gameforge

One of the core responsibilities of a software developer in the gaming sector is ensuring a smooth and secure user experience. Yuka shed light on a significant hurdle her team faced: the persistent threat of botting. “We faced botting issues where automated scripts were exploiting our platform’s registration and account creation processes,” she explained. “One of the biggest challenges was balancing security with user experience.”

The approach to this complex problem was multi-faceted.

“To tackle this, we identified patterns of unusual behavior and implemented measures such as CAPTCHA and two-factor authentication (2FA), along with more sophisticated systems designed to distinguish human users from bots,” Yuka elaborated. The team’s proactive stance didn’t stop there. “Additionally, I introduced rate-limiting and throttling on specific APIs that bots were targeting. We had to constantly stay ahead of evolving bot techniques, which required continuous research and adaptation. Ultimately, these efforts had a positive impact, significantly reducing bot activity while ensuring an optimal experience for legitimate users.“

This anecdote underscores the constant vigilance and innovative thinking required to maintain the integrity of online gaming platforms.

Beyond the technical intricacies, the interview also touched upon the crucial aspect of diversity and inclusion within development teams. As a female developer, Yuka shared her positive experience at Gameforge.

“As a female developer, I’ve always felt welcomed and valued from the first day I joined, and it’s inspiring to see the number of female developers steadily increasing over the years.” However, she also emphasized the ongoing need for industry-wide progress. “The industry can further promote diversity and inclusion by offering training and mentorship programs, fostering open communication, and actively encouraging diverse groups, as we do at Gameforge.”

The rapid pace of technological advancement in gaming necessitates continuous learning and adaptation. Yuka expressed her enthusiasm for embracing new tools and programming languages.

“As a backend developer, I’m most excited that I’ve learned Kubernetes to orchestrate our microservices, which has greatly streamlined our deployment and delivery, allowing us to efficiently manage complex applications with minimal manual intervention.” She also highlighted the collaborative learning environment at Gameforge. “New technology trends have been exchanged inside the company constantly. Recently, we are actively exploring how AI tools can enhance our workflows, while carefully considering any potential security risks.“

This proactive approach to adopting cutting-edge technologies is vital for staying competitive and delivering innovative gaming experiences.

Finally, the conversation shifted to strategies for attracting and retaining more women in software development within the gaming industry. Yuka believes that passion for gaming can be a powerful motivator.

“Firstly, I believe many young women, like myself, have a natural passion for gaming. Converting that enthusiasm into the motivation to work in the gaming industry requires a collaborative, inclusive work environment free from gender bias, where everyone feels valued to contribute, as well as a strong work-life balance to support women’s personal commitments.” She also stressed the importance of visibility. “Additionally, showcasing female role models in software development would be instrumental in fostering a more welcoming and empowering culture.”

Yuka Chen’s insights offer a valuable perspective on the multifaceted world of game development. Her experiences at Gameforge highlight the critical role of technical expertise, creative problem-solving, and a commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, the dedication and passion of developers like Yuka will undoubtedly shape its future, coding not just games, but a more equitable and innovative landscape for all.

Her Vision for Live Games: Allegra Israel at Gameforge on Engagement and Stability

The responsibility of ensuring a smooth and engaging live experience for players comes with a unique set of hurdles. Allegra highlighted the delicate equilibrium required:

“Live Producing comes with a unique set of challenges because we’re not just launching a game; we’re keeping it alive and evolving. One of the biggest challenges is balancing stability with new content. Every update introduces risks, and even minor issues can impact thousands of players.” She also emphasized the constant negotiation between player desires and development realities: “Another key challenge is managing player expectations while working within development constraints. Players want frequent updates and fixes, but resources are limited, and some improvements take longer than others.” The unpredictable nature of live operations adds another layer of complexity. “Lastly, unexpected incidents—server outages, critical bugs, or negative player sentiment—often require immediate attention, which means constantly adjusting priorities.”

Allegra’s approach to navigating these challenges is firmly rooted in a player-centric philosophy.

“When it comes to prioritization, my approach is always player-focused. Anything that impacts game stability, player retention, or monetization takes top priority.” Her decision-making process extends beyond immediate concerns. “Beyond that, I assess issues based on urgency, impact, and the long-term benefits of fixing them. It’s also important to balance quick fixes with sustainable improvements, ensuring that we’re not just patching problems but actually solving them. And, of course, I always keep the team’s workload in mind—Live Producing is fast-paced, so preventing burnout is just as important as meeting deadlines.”

The industry’s significant shift towards “games-as-a-service” models has profoundly reshaped the role of Live Producing. Allegra explained this transformation:

“The shift toward the Games-as-a-Service model has also transformed what it means to be a Live Producer. In the past, maintaining a live game was mostly about stability – keeping servers running and fixing bugs. Today, it’s about engagement, retention, and long-term growth. A live game isn’t a finished product, it’s a constantly evolving experience.” This new paradigm demands a different skillset and approach. “One of the biggest changes is the reliance on data-driven decision-making. Instead of guessing what players want, we track engagement metrics, spending behavior, and player feedback to shape updates. The introduction of seasonal content, battle passes, and live events means we need to plan months ahead while staying flexible for adjustments.”

To thrive in this evolving landscape, Live Producers have had to adapt and acquire new competencies.

“To adapt to this shift, Live Producing had to develop new skills. For example, it followed a more agile, pragmatic approach to project management to handle frequent updates or put emphasis on cross-team coordination to align development, marketing, and community efforts. A strong focus of our daily work lies on crisis management to handle live incidents quickly and effectively. Being adaptable and proactive is key to keeping a live game successful.”

Leading a team in the high-pressure environment of live operations requires a specific leadership style. Allegra emphasizes fostering a collaborative and supportive environment.

“Leading a Live Producing team means juggling tight deadlines, unexpected challenges, and high player expectations while keeping the team motivated. To create a supportive and collaborative environment, I focus on clear communication and transparency. People work best when they understand the bigger picture, so I make sure the team knows not just what we’re doing but why.” Empowerment and a blame-free culture are also crucial. “I also encourage proactive problem-solving—instead of just reporting issues, I want the team to feel empowered to suggest solutions. In a live environment, things will go wrong, so I prioritize a blame-free culture where we focus on fixing the problem rather than pointing fingers. This helps build trust and keeps morale high.” Recognizing the demanding nature of the work, Allegra prioritizes team well-being. “Since Live Ops can be unpredictable, flexibility is key. I always leave room in our plans for adjustments and make sure we’re not overloading the team with unrealistic expectations. And finally, I believe in recognizing hard work. Whether it’s celebrating a successful update or just acknowledging someone’s effort after a tough week, small moments of appreciation go a long way in keeping a team engaged and motivated.”

As a woman in a leadership role within the gaming industry, Allegra offers an empowering message to other women pursuing their careers.

“The gaming industry is constantly evolving, and we need more diverse voices in leadership to help shape its future. My biggest message to women in gaming is: you belong here. You earned your space, so own it.” She encourages self-confidence and advocacy. “Be confident in your expertise – don’t downplay your achievements or hesitate to speak up. Find your allies, whether it’s mentors, colleagues, or industry communities that support you. Advocate for yourself and others; whether it’s pushing for a promotion, negotiating your salary, or calling out bias, your voice matters.” Allegra also highlights the importance of choosing the right work environment. “And lastly, make sure the place where you decide to work is right for you. At Gameforge, we enjoy the kind of work environment that ensures women are treated not just with respect, but also as equals. This may not always be the case in an industry that continues to evolve with a growing number of women joining its workforce, and that is something important to consider when evaluating different career opportunities and job prospects.” Her final words offer encouragement and a sense of collective progress. “Challenges will always exist, but resilience and adaptability will help you push through. The gaming industry is changing, and we are part of that change.“

Allegra Israel’s insights provide a valuable glimpse into the multifaceted world of live game production. Her dedication to player satisfaction, team well-being, and fostering a more inclusive industry underscores the crucial role of leadership in navigating the ever-evolving landscape of online gaming.

Her Community, Her Voice: Johanna Gielen at Gameforge on Player Engagement

Maintaining a positive and engaging community for a game with a long history presents unique challenges. Player concerns can be deeply rooted, and negativity can easily take hold. Johanna emphasizes the delicate balance required:

“It is important to understand that, especially with long-standing games, some concerns and wishes of the community can also be long-standing topics. To have an engaging community, one has to understand that not every interaction can actually be positive, and negativity like frustration has its own place within the discourse between players and the company.“

Her strategy for navigating this complexity hinges on transparency and accountability.

“The best way to achieve that is to be as transparent as possible, be accountable, and also make sure that players feel heard and understood, even when they lash out in frustration.” Beyond open communication, moderation plays a vital role. “Furthermore, a quite basic thing to do is to moderate the community of course. We have rules and guidelines for communication on our platform, and those need to be enforced from time to time, so that negativity does not escalate into toxicity. This is quite challenging, because it is proven that the anonymity of the internet does provide easy access to troll and/or spam accounts.”

As a Product Community Manager, Johanna acts as a vital conduit between the player base and the development team. She shared a tangible example of her impact:

“Since I started working at Gameforge, my main interest in my communities has always been improving transparency and answering long-standing questions. After following up with the development team for one of the communities I supervise, I was able to communicate long-awaited answers.” Her role extends to the daily pulse of the community. “On a more ‘daily business’-note, I have communicated bugs that have been fixed or was able to improve situations in the game that players wished to be dealt with.” This highlights the direct influence a PCM can have on shaping the player experience.

Fostering a sense of belonging and inclusivity within diverse gaming communities is paramount. Johanna’s approach is rooted in understanding and adapting to the unique dynamics of each community.

“My first approach to any community is to get a feeling for their way of communicating. Some communities are more serious than others, some like to be more leisure and use a lot of memes for example. To foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity, I like to try to match that energy, but still maintain a professional way of communicating.” She believes in the organic development of community culture. “A community will develop their own way of communicating by itself and form their own diverse ‘vibe’ if different backgrounds are mixed from the beginning. It is however important to figure out which backgrounds/cultures are active in your community, to be able to identify potential hot topics and handle those accordingly.“

The interview also addressed the critical issue of creating welcoming and respectful environments for women in online gaming communities. Johanna emphasized the importance of clear boundaries and consistent enforcement.

“As stated before, anonymity does invite a certain danger of abuse, therefore it is important to set boundaries from the start, which include rules to set a safe space for everyone and to enforce said rules on every platform, which also means directly in the game. Enforcing rules also means educating the community on why certain behavior is not okay and to set an example on how to treat each other better and welcome each other, regardless of gender.” She also suggested proactive measures. “I believe that online gaming communities can foster a more welcoming and more respectful environment for women by shining a spotlight on events like International Women’s Day on their socials, for example. Depending on the game, even in-game events could be a good fit to reach more players.”

Johanna Gielen’s insights underscore the pivotal role of community management in the success of online games. Her dedication to fostering transparency, inclusivity, and respect within Gameforge’s communities demonstrates the vital connection between the game itself and the players who bring it to life. As the gaming world continues to expand, the expertise of professionals like Johanna will be instrumental in building thriving and welcoming spaces for all.

Top News

The Division Resurgence: Big Apple, Tiny Screen

Cramming a massive cover shooter onto a phone usually means terrible controls and cramped thumbs. But Ubisoft actually went and did it with The Division Resurgence. It bridges the story gap between the 2016 original and the D.C. sequel, and honestly? As long-time fans, we’re surprised by how well it actually works.

[Read more]

A Costly Hope: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Expansion Sparks Faction Warfare

GSC Game World just announced the first premium add-on for their survival shooter. Dropping in Summer 2026, “Cost of Hope” isn’t just a quick epilogue—it’s kicking off a massive three-part story arc that’s going to significantly expand the core experience of the Zone.

[Read more]

Review Spotlight

Last Man Sitting

Sooner or later, we all have one of those days where we want to take a twelve-gauge to a Monday morning all-hands meeting. Last Man Sitting actually lets you do it. You slide around a survival arena propelled entirely by weapon recoil while strapped to an ergonomic mesh chair. It’s loud, undeniably stupid, and yet it is easily the most fun office meeting you’ll ever survive.

[Read the full review]

Interview of the Week

“I needed a change of scenery from the towering monoliths of the gaming industry... Station Command is an incredibly personal project born out of a desire to rediscover the simple joy of game creation.”

Context: Daniel Baumann spent his career in the trenches of EA, Blizzard, and Tencent. We sat down with him to talk about his transition from AAA burnout to founding his own indie studio, Respite Games.

[Read the full interview]

Until Next Time...

That’s all for today’s round-up! I’m genuinely curious to hear if any of you are actually going to try playing a massive shooter like The Division on your phones, or if you’re just here for the office chair mayhem. Drop a comment and let me know.

Have a great week, and I’ll catch you in the next one.

This is why we decided to make a list of the most electrifying novels based on video games.

Assassin’s Creed books have dominating the market for a while now and readers can continue the adventures with eight books, written by the talented Oliver Bowden. There’s a book for each key game of the series and you can find them in printed, electronic or audio form.

BioShock games are deeply inspired by Ayn Rand works, especially the book Atlas Shrugged. The moment you devour this book, make sure you shift your focus to BioShock: Rapture. John Shirley has outdone himself and the readers can expect an even more detailed and more ardent world than the one seen in the games. For better insight into the creative process and the choices imposed on Ken Levine, read the novel BioShock Infinite: Mind in Revolt.

The first Borderlands game was a welcome surprise that blew gamers away by combining Diablo elements from a shooter perspective with a wicked humor and cartoony graphics. The second game took it to the next level and left us wanting to prolong our stay in Pandora for as long as possible. While waiting for Borderlands III, spend some quality time with the trilogy of the books, written by John Shirley. Each of the books does a wonderful job of fleshing out the main characters and forces you to see the residents of Pandora in an unexpected light.

It is unrealistic to hope for Crysis IV, but breathe a new life into this sci-fi universe with two relatively enjoyable books. In addition, while Crysis: Legion covers the events of the second game, Crysis: Escalation is a set of short stories that fill in the gaps from the second as well as the third game.

Darksiders 3 is slowly preparing its comeback, but you can take away some of the pressure by reading about the adventures of the first horseman. The Abomination Vault covers the events between the first and second game.

Dead Island hype was built on an extremely touching trailer that even now, years later, still manages to shake us to the core. The drama we witnessed there, however, is non-existent in the games and it feels like it has been surgically removed from an otherwise immensely fun game. Mark Morris and his book Dead Island try to remedy this and to add more layers of complexity.

The studio responsible for Dead Space survival horror games is long gone, but the terror that dwells in the books is ever-present and it wants, nay, demands your undivided attention. With Dead Space: Martyr and Dead Space: Catalyst, author Brian K. Evenson reviews events before the first game.

The latest Deus Ex game did not go as well as the publisher wanted, so there will be a while until the next game is released. In the meanwhile, those hungry for the dark universe where people are torn between the desire to preserve their humanity and augment their experience can look forward to two exquisite novels by James Swallow. The author braves sensitive topics with unapologetic fervor and promises unforgettable adventure that is only limited by your imagination.

Blizzard are amazing developers and if you are a fan of their games, then, boy, do we have a surprise for you! There is a ton of books on Diablo, Starcraft and World of Warcraft and most of them are refreshingly good. So, grab a book or dozen, cancel everything, crawl into your favorite armchair and dig in!

Doom has managed to climb to the top thanks to its latest iteration but those who would like to go back a spell can seek comfort in six amazing novels. The first four are by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver, but the last two come from the disturbing mind of Matthew Costello.

The Dragon Age novels are an amazing piece of art, thanks to the wonderful talents of David Gaider. After the first three books, however, David had to dedicate himself to other, more pressing projects and the fourth DA novel came from Patrick Weekes. Liane Merciel wrote the fifth one. We wish we knew which one is our favorite. They are that good!

Eve Online is the MMO for epic space simulations and if you want to familiarize yourself with the lore better, then you most certainly have to check the three novels dedicated to the universe. The honor of writing the first and the third book goes to Tony Gonzalez, whereas the second novel is by Hyalti Danielsson.

To say that Guild Wars 2 has a great story would be an understatement of epic proportions, something that is painfully evident in the vanilla game. Things seem to be improving with each expansion, but the underlying fact is that the story is not where Guild Wars 2 shines. The three novels try to change this and, to a certain degree, are successful in pulling you in and making you want for more.

Unless you have been living under a rock, then you must have heard about Halo. Well, Halo has 13 novels. Start with Halo: The Fall of Reach, then slowly transition to Halo: Cryptum and completely lose yourself with Halo: Broken Circle.

Drew Karpyshyn’s novels about the life of young David Anderson are a must for every Mass Effect fan. Sure, William Dietz dropped the ball with the fourth Mass Effect novel and the moment you are done with the first three books we would kindly nudge you towards skipping the fourth novel and reading the two Mass Effect: Andromeda novels. You should definitely go with the audio versions since they are read by the female Pathfinder.

Resident Evil VII breathed new life into an old and stagnated series and if you are one of the many who stared into the face of horror and survived than you should move on to one of the six books which, for better or for worse, are more action oriented.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2 books) и Star Wars: The Old Republic (4 books) are highly recommended for fans of these two completely different games. When it comes to Star Wars: The Old Republic we recommend you stick with the audio books since they are enriched with immersive audio effects and music.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell has six novels, five written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels and one written by Peter Telep. If you are a fan of techno-thrillers with one of the most intriguing operatives, then you should not give Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Fallout a pass.

There are four novels based on Tomb Raider and the only one that we could hesitantly recommend would be the last one. Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent wrote the Tomb Raider: Ten Thousand Immortals but even they failed to keep the readers engaged and what we are left with is an uninspiring run of the mill action.

Those were the novels based on games that we simply had to point out. However, much more are at your disposal, so make sure you continue reading!

Alan Wake

Baldur’s Gate, three novels (Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal)

Battlefield – two novels (Battlefield 3: The Russian, Battlefield 4: Countdown to War)

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway

Dishonored The Corroded Man

Fable – three novels (Fable: The Balverine Order, Fable: Blood Ties, Fable: Edge of the World)

Five Nights at Freddy’s – three novels (Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes, Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Twisted Ones, 3rd Five Nights at Freddy’s)

Gears of War – five novels

God of War – two novels

Hellgate: London – three novels

Hitman – two novels (Hitman: Enemy Within, Hitman: Damnation)

King’s Quest – three novels (The Floating Castle, Kingdom of Sorrow, See No Weevil)

Metal Gear Solid – Three novels (Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriot)

Mortal Kombat

Quantum Break: Zero State

RuneScape – three novels (RuneScape: Betrayal at Falador, RuneScape: Return to Canifis, RuneScape: Legacy of Blood)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – two novels (Southern Comfort, Northern Passage)

Shadow Warrior – two novels (For Dead Eyes Only, You Only Die Twice)

Street Fighter: Dream Never Ends

The Elder Scrolls – The Infernal City, The Lord Of Souls

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon – three novels (Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Combat Ops, Choke Point)

Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage

Watch Dogs: Dark Clouds

X-Com UFO: Defense

Have fun reading!

After the immensely fun demo, which is still available on Steam, IT.MK decided to contact Boyan Vasilev and get all the inside scoop about Studio Mechka’s upcoming game!

IT.MK: What can you tell us about your studio and your previous projects?

Boyan Vasilev: I started Studio Mechka in 2016 as an outsourcing studio with fewer than five people. Since then, we have become a trusted partner in the gaming industry, specializing in boutique game development services. We have contributed to more than 15 game projects, building on our expertise and reputation. This solid foundation enabled us to start development on our first original game, Marko: Beyond Brave, in 2020.

What is the one thing that makes Marko: Beyond Brave stand out from other similar games?

First and foremost – Marko is a labor of love. We believe that engaging gameplay is the cornerstone of a successful game and so we spent a lot of time trying to get this part right. As game developers, we believe that the experience of gaming should be, first and foremost, fun. After all, if it’s not fun, why play?

Personally, I cannot claim that our game is the best or groundbreaking in some amazing new way. We have no advanced graphics or amazing new technologies to showcase. We have used tried and tested methods. What is unique is the story we are telling. It is incredibly difficult to stand out in today’s oversaturated media environment, and my only hope is that the energy that we’ve put into this project and how much it means to us will be recognized and perhaps even loved, if not by a lot, then at least some people out there.

Marko: Beyond Brave is out and about on September 17th! The demo itself shows a promise for an amazing game that features interesting exploration mechanics and impressive interaction with legendary heroes. Boyan was happy to tell us that the demo was well received and that they are especially glad that the players had fun it. ‘We try not to live in the creator bubble and be aware of our shortcomings always. The reception to the demo has been overwhelmingly positive and while, sure, there are a couple of bugs here and there, the key takeaway is that people like it!‘

The world in Marko: Beyond Brave is breath-taking and the battles provide numerous opportunities to test your reflexes, especially when a boss comes into play. You have a variety of unique locations and challenging enemies; each with a challenging set of offensive and defensive mechanics. As we’ve mentioned, the stars of the show are the bosses, but also the highly responsive movement and fighting mechanics. Impressed by all this, we asked Boyan to tell us what inspired him to create the world, the bosses, and the soundtrack, which, by the way, we absolutely love!

I think games are a great storytelling medium. They are engaging and universal. If you want to tell someone a story, games are a fantastic way to do that, and in the end, what better story to tell than the one you know and borrow from already existing sources? We draw a lot of inspiration from both Slavic themes and uniquely Balkan fairytales. The figure of Krali Marko / Marko Kraljevic works as a great focus point, first because he is uniquely regional and, secondly, because he is so mystical. The roaster of mythological creatures of South-Eastern Europe is so rich on one hand and so badly presented in modern media that it creates a great opportunity. The majority of the myths and creatures are open to interpretation, just because there are so rarely any written or drawn sources. Most of these traditions are preserved verbally. This was great because we could interpret what sources there are on our own and imbue them with a unique vision without anyone feeling they would be ‘wrong.’

Was there a certain mechanic that you wanted to introduce in the game but then decided against it?

Yes, certainly. There are a couple, actually. As you know, soulslike games are quite popular these days, and a lot of game developers fall prey to the trends. Including us. At first, we were thinking of adding soulslike death mechanics and corpse runs to Marko in order to raise the stakes and create a sense of urgency and potential loss to the game. We tried it, and we hated it. The small group of friends that playtested the game didn’t like it, either. And we wondered why did we even add this in the first place. The answer was not because we thought it would be fun, but just so we could appeal to the masses of soulslike fans in the hopes that they would try out our game. These were the wrong reasons, and so we scrapped it entirely.

At our interview was coming to a close, we asked Boyan about the biggest challenges related to the game, as well as some of the most remarkable moments related to Marko: Beyond Brave.

Since the inception of the project, we knew we wanted to animate the world and its characters in classic frame-by-frame animation. This is very work-intensive, and I did underestimate the amount of work and time it would take, but in the end, it is incredibly rewarding, and I feel it was the right choice.

Attending gamescom with our own product last year was amazing. This wasn’t our first trade show, but the overwhelmingly positive reception we got from the people we met was truly inspiring.

Just like your studio, we have a lot of ambitious developers in North Macedonia. What advice would you give to anyone that’s just starting out?

Attend game jams, visit trade shows if you can, but most importantly, collaborate with each other and help one another when you can. Indie developers are the ones who make the industry go forward, and our region can seriously benefit from more professionals.

Any final words you would like to say about your game, team or anyone who has supported you along the way?

I would like to thank all of our Kickstarter backers for their patience and help along the journey, the supportive team at Digital Dragons who helped us move the project forward, and the amazing online community who are so excited about the game that we’ve made.

Thanks to our friends in JF Games, we were able to connect with Dr. Kucho and chat about his true labor of love. Dr. Kucho spent eight years meticulously crafting the game’s mechanics and visuals. His passion for the project shines through in the game’s detailed environments, charming characters, and engaging gameplay.

How happy are you with the reception of Moons Of Darsalon on Steam, as well as the demo that’s currently available?

I’m not happy, no. After 8 years of development, I’d only be happy if I had achieved sales that compensated for those 8 years of exhaustive and obsessive work and dedication. But, well, after 4 years of development, I already knew it was going to be very hard to break even.

What were the key inspirations behind Moons of Darsalon’s unique blend of run-and-gun action and strategic NPC management? Could you talk a bit about what inspired the story, as well as the soundtrack?

I kept adding elements from games I liked that could fit in. The retro-futuristic theme was clear from the beginning—I’m a big fan of 50s and 60s sci-fi like Forbidden Planet, Barbarella, and Flash Gordon. But the mechanics and gameplay emerged through trial and error, without a set direction. I’d test things out, adjust, delete, and refine missions, etc. Of course, Lemmings was an inspiration, but so were Oddworld and Worms, along with so many classic shooting games, from Jetpac to Metal Slug.

For the music, I knew I wanted it to sound like the Commodore 64, but avoiding some of the polyphony limitations. I worked with three different plugins that emulate the Commodore’s sound chip, as well as with real Commodores, which I connected to my Mac via a MIDI interface to sequence and record their sound for some tracks in the game. I only did this on special occasions when I couldn’t get certain sounds from the emulators because it’s a very tedious process.

I usually approach music the same way—I start without knowing what I’m going to do and just make music. Then I discard tracks that don’t fit. The more rhythmic ones are kept for action levels, and the slower ones for puzzle or exploration levels. One track that was a direct inspiration is “Flower’s Love” by Joël Fajerman, from the album L’aventure des plantes. It served as the basis for creating “Virtual Angels,” though it also has a bassline similar to “To The Unknown Man” by Vangelis.

How did the game’s development evolve over the 8-year period? Were there any major changes in direction or gameplay mechanics?

Like I mentioned, I was just trying things out with no clear direction. There was a water gun mechanic that I left out, but it had potential—you could collect water from puddles and shoot it later to create puddles in other places. I removed it because I couldn’t manage to shape everything properly. There were also grenades; in fact, the grenade button is still in the control configuration screen, but no one has noticed that it’s not used in the game, haha. Grenades worked, but aiming was very tricky. It required some kind of on-screen trajectory preview, and… well, at some point, I decided it might be better to leave them out of the game or I’d never finish it.

The custom terrain system and pixel perfect solution you developed for the game are quite innovative. Could you elaborate on the challenges you faced? Was there a certain mechanic that you wanted to introduce but later decided against it?

Destructible terrain is a nightmare to make work well. I mean, not just the destruction itself, but ensuring characters can navigate through it. It requires highly sophisticated AI, which would have been 10,000 times easier in a tile-based game. And that’s not all—it also complicates things to make sure the main character doesn’t get stuck in weird spots. You need bombproof physics to avoid frustrating terrain-related issues, as well as a semi-elegant system to detect when the character is irreparably stuck and pull them out. Think about how dynamic terrain can create cracks and spikes of all shapes and sizes, making it impossible to ensure perfectly smooth gameplay. When I was testing it, I thought it was normal—after all, it’s a destructible world, and odd terrain shapes are just part of it. It’s up to the player to consider that and avoid getting stuck. But players don’t think that way; they never see the full picture. They just see that they’re stuck, and it’s never their fault—the game is always to blame. This didn’t use to be the case, but nowadays, everyone expects a seamless, difficulty-free experience. Everyone wants to beat the game, even those who don’t put in any effort… I find it disturbing. It’s supposed to be a challenge, not a walk in the park.

What do you hope players will take away from their experience with Moons of Darsalon?

Fun and freshness—above all, freshness. Moons of Darsalon don’t resemble anything else out there. I know this sounds pretentious, but at this point, I don’t care if I come across as an arrogant jerk—it’s the truth. There’s nothing like Moons of Darsalon. In fact, this actually works against the game because, these days, if you want to sell, you need to make a game that fits neatly into a genre. Then you can add a touch of originality—but only a touch. If you stand out too much, it becomes hard to find an audience, which seems obvious now, but sadly, I realized it 8 years too late, haha.

Just like your studio, we have a lot of ambitious developers in North Macedonia. What advice would you give to anyone that’s just starting out?

Make small games, stick to a niche, sell them cheap, test concepts, and learn from them for the next one. Oh, and don’t make a platformer! They’re the worst-selling games on Steam, haha. Thankfully, they’re better received on consoles (fingers crossed).

Any final words that you would like to say about your game, team or anyone who has supported you along the way? What’s next for you and your development studio? Are there any plans for future content or projects?

I want to thank the few people who supported me during development—unfortunately, there weren’t many colleagues. In Spain, we’re more into fighting and competing for government grants, haha. But there are some good colleagues who helped me despite everything; they know who they are, and I’m very grateful to them. What’s next? We’ll see… Suns of Darsalon (joke)?

A bit about the game

IDUN Interactive’s IDUN – Frontline Survival boldly delivers a thrilling fusion of real-time action and strategic tower defense. The game pits you against relentless alien hordes, arming you with a diverse arsenal including deployable turrets and devastating orbital cannons. However, it’s the game’s execution that truly sets it apart, offering a refreshingly innovative experience.

IDUN – Frontline Survival presents a variety of dynamic game modes, from resource base defense and nuclear convoy escorts to mining cart protection. Players strategically deploy tanks, turrets, barriers, and more to stem the tide of enemies. Resource gathering fuels upgrades to your units and base, empowering you to withstand the ever-growing alien swarms.

But ‘IDUN – Frontline Survival’ is far more than a simple tower defense. It’s an intense, strategic challenge that demands rapid decision-making. As you accumulate resources, the alien swarms evolve, becoming more diverse and aggressive, forcing constant tactical adaptation. A standout feature is the ability to reposition turrets across the map, allowing for dynamic battlefield control.

This fresh tactical approach is further enhanced by a robust skill tree, gradually transforming you into an unstoppable force. Meanwhile, upgrading your space station unlocks access to powerful new turrets, elite units, and tactical tools.

Heroes, like turrets, boast unique stats and weaponry, adding depth and variety to the gameplay. Mission designs are equally diverse, frequently introducing varied objectives to maintain a consistently engaging campaign.

All these elements are seamlessly woven into a humorous narrative, bolstered by witty dialogue that’s sure to elicit a few laughs.

At its core, IDUN – Frontline Survival’ features roguelite mechanics that ensure each playthrough is unique and challenging. The randomized upgrades and abilities acquired during combat are a particular highlight.

Finally, the game’s exceptional value cannot be overstated. Priced under €15, it offers remarkable replayability, especially for fans of innovative strategy and engaging defense mechanics. And of course, a solid demo is readily available in case you’re wary and unwilling to commit to the whole experience.

And now, the interview!

IDUN – Frontline Survival is generating buzz on Steam. How thrilled are you with the reception, and how did the prologue contribute to the game’s development?

Honestly, I’m blown away. Seeing players dive into IDUN and really get what makes it special has been amazing. The review score is climbing with each patch released. (76% positive at the time of writing)
The Prologue was a huge gamble that thankfully paid off. Some people said I was crazy making a standalone experience mid production of the main game. But players loved it, some even more than the main game. : )

What inspired the unique blend of RTS and tower defense mechanics in “IDUN”? Could you talk a bit about what inspired the story, as well as the soundtrack?

It’s actually a fun story. I was working on this amazing survival of the fittest simulation internally called “Dino Island 2”. It was super fun to code random genetics and how they were passed on to offsprings. But it was a terrible game, like watching paint dry, watching a simulation play out. But while working on it I realized these mechanics, like the pathfinding and destructible terrain, can be used for a better game. An RTS game!

I love RTS games, but I wanted something that puts you right in the action without drowning you in micromanagement. Focusing on static defenses instead of unit management was a key to reducing micromanagement and letting the player focus on the macro.

For the story, it is actually based on the Norse story about the goddess Iðunn. But the goddess is a celestial body and the apples are a resource like “Spice Melange” in Dune. On the topic of Dune, I was also inspired by Starcraft and Starship Troopers. The feeling I wanted to capture in the gameplay is actually that awesome scene in Starship Troopers when they are trying to hold Outpost 29 until extraction.
As for the soundtrack, I wanted something to match the action, so obviously I landed on Power Metal. : ) The selection method was simple but effective: Add a bunch of music and one after one remove songs that started to irritate me.

What challenges did you face in designing the overwhelming enemy swarms? Was there a certain mechanic that you wanted to introduce but later decided against it?

Simulation and Rendering of these many enemies and even more projectiles at a steady 60 fps on low end machines came with some pretty strong restrictions. But I thrived in these restrictions, it forced creative solutions to problems. Things like buffs, armor and damage types were thrown out the window immediately. But not having those things made everything so much clearer and easier to understand.

As for cut mechanics… I actually implemented standard unit control that you see in most RTS games. So the player would be able to select and control armies of soldiers. But it went against my goal of making the game accessible and having as little micro management as possible. Maybe something to save for a future project.

What do you hope players will take away from their experience with IDUN – Frontline Survival?

That feeling of holding the line against impossible odds. And that moment where everything is falling apart around you, but you somehow scrape through. Like in that Starship Troopers scene.

Just like your studio, we have a lot of ambitious developers in North Macedonia. What advice would you give to anyone that’s just starting out?

Start small. Seriously. IDUN was supposed to take 6 months, the scope was really small, it still took me 4 years. My last piece of advice is that ALL feedback is a gift, even when it is harsh. Don’t be afraid to show what you have made with strangers, listen to what they say and later you can make informed decisions.

Any final words that you would like to say about your game, team or anyone who has supported you along the way? What’s next for you and your development studio? Are there any plans for future content or projects?

I love making games so much I forget to breathe. It is a harsh industry with a lot of competition. But it is so much fun! I have been in it for close to 18 years and making this game together with some fantastic people across the world and with an amazing supportive community have really cemented that love. As for plans, I will keep supporting IDUN, add new content and address players feedback. After that, well, what would you say about a game where you play as an endless horde trying to take down those pesky static defenses? ; )

Grind Survivors is a post-apocalyptic, action-heavy roguelike released on March 16, 2026. Stepping away from the traditional pixel-art aesthetic that dominates the genre, this title leverages Unreal Engine to deliver a brutal, dark, and highly addictive bullet-hell experience. And it’s made by a super cool studio! Transitioning from years of behind-the-scenes co-development and technical porting, Pushka Studios has stepped into the spotlight with their very first original IP. Which simply begs the question: does their technical pedigree translate into a compelling core gameplay loop?

Core Features

• Unending Waves: Survive ever-growing swarms of demonic enemies in a bullet-hell environment.

• Loot-Driven Combat: Procedurally generated weapons with randomized Diablo-style traits, origins, and affixes.

• Risk & Reward Crafting: Use “The Forge” to infuse, improve, and reforge weapons to build custom arsenals.

• Skill Progression: Spend “Ashe” across three distinct skill branches (Pride, Greed, Wraith) and equip modifying Runes.

• Endless Mode: An infinitely scaling survival mode to test your ultimate, synergized builds.

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What is Grind Survivors?

Grind Survivors is a fast-paced action roguelike where you play as a towering demon hunter navigating a scorched, post-apocalyptic Earth. You are dropped into an arena—ranging from burning forests to corrupted cities—and tasked with surviving ever-growing swarms of demons until a boss arrives.

Heavy emphasis on loot-driven combat

Instead of relying solely on passive power-ups, you are constantly looting procedurally generated weapons that feature Diablo-esque randomized affixes, unique stats, and specific Origins (such as Doomforged, Abyss, Infernal, Bloodied, and Warborn). The arsenal is diverse, featuring everything from revolvers and shotguns to powerful Teslaguns and Sawguns.

Four distinct characters to unlock

Between runs, progression revolves around a currency called “Ashe.” You can spend skill points in a three-branch skill tree (Pride, Greed, and Wraith) for permanent stat boosts and equip up to two active Runes for unique modifiers. The centerpiece of the game’s meta-progression, however, is The Forge, a risk-and-reward crafting system. Here, you can infuse four weapons of similar rarities to upgrade their class, improve specific stats, or gamble by reforging—which carries the risk of losing your weapon entirely if you fail. Once the standard progression is conquered, an infinitely scaling Endless Mode awaits those looking to push their custom builds to the absolute limit.

Who are Pushka Studios?

Pushka Studios is an independent Ukrainian game developer founded by passionate gamers. Before stepping into the ring with their own original title, the studio built a robust, years-long resume in the B2B gaming sector.

They are highly experienced in providing extensive co-development and porting services for PC and consoles, working on titles ranging from indie to AAA. Grind Survivors represents a massive milestone for the team: after years of bringing other publishers’ visions to life and optimizing games for modern hardware, this is their official debut as a primary developer of an original IP, published by Assemble Entertainment.

Discounts on Steam atm! :)

What is the world saying?

On Steam, the game currently boasts a “Mostly Positive” user rating (sitting at roughly 72% positive). Players have highly praised the game’s addictive nature, explosive firepower, and the deep, Path of Exile-style meta-progression crafting system.

A grind to be loved or hated

Veteran players in the Steam community have noted that while the weapon variety is impressive, the game suffers from repetitiveness. To progress, you are forced to replay the same biomes on higher difficulties, and many have pointed out that later levels and bosses often feel like repainted versions of early-game assets rather than entirely new encounters. Furthermore, there are active discussions around weapon balancing; for instance, the Teslagun is currently considered vastly superior to later unlocks like the Sawgun, making high-difficulty runs heavily reliant on specific meta builds.

Visual clarity can be a genuine issue

When the screen is completely filled with high-fidelity gore and bullet-hell projectiles, parsing the action can become visually overwhelming.

Fun Fact Sheet

• A Strong Launch: The game had a highly successful debut, peaking at nearly 3,000 concurrent players on Steam, making it publisher Assemble Entertainment’s second-best launch to date.

• Support for the Cause: Pushka Studios actively engages in charitable activities to support the Ukrainian armed forces, and the game is available with a dedicated “Ukraine Supporter Pack” on digital storefronts, which donates proceeds to the Ukraine Help Foundation.

• Deck Verified, With a Catch: While Grind Survivors plays great on the Steam Deck using default graphics configurations, Valve’s official compatibility notes warn that some in-game text is unusually small and requires squinting.

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What is our verdict?

Grind Survivors is a remarkably confident debut from Pushka Studios. The team has successfully leveraged their technical expertise to create a visually striking, mechanically satisfying loop that elevates the traditional survivors-like formula with engaging, ARPG-style loot mechanics. The Forge system, in particular, adds a layer of build-crafting depth that will keep min-maxers hooked for hours.

However, there are some minor growing pains. The visual clutter during late-game waves needs to be addressed for better readability, and the overarching balance could use a patch or two to ensure that niche weapon builds remain viable. The lack of map and enemy variety also means the grind can set in faster than expected.

Despite these hurdles, the sheer thrill of dropping into a demonic horde with a newly fused, high-tier weapon is undeniably fun. If Pushka Studios continues to refine the balancing and add more varied content through post-launch updates, Grind Survivors has the potential to be a long-term staple in the genre.

ID Card

• Developer: Pushka Studios

• Publisher: Assemble Entertainment

• Engine: Unreal Engine

• Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

• Release Date: March 16, 2026

• Genre: Action / Indie / Roguelike / Bullet Hell

Have you had the chance to test your luck at The Forge yet? Drop into the comments below and let us know your most overpowered weapon synergies!

Core Features:

• Narrative-driven match-three merge gameplay.

• Dual gameplay loop: daytime town-building and nighttime arcade-style minigames.

• Deep relationship-building mechanics with the mortal women of Ithaca.

• Anti-capitalist storyline rooted in a reinterpretation of Greek Mythology.

• Unique minigame challenges ranging from auto-battlers to resource management.

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What is Mythmatch?

Mythmatch is a town-building simulation and narrative adventure driven entirely by merge and match-three puzzle mechanics. You take on the role of Artemis, the immortal daughter of Zeus, who has been passed over for the role of Goddess of the Hunt in favor of her “tech-bro” brother, Apollo. Cast down from Mount Olympus, Artemis finds herself in the mortal town of Ithaca, populated entirely by women and children while the men are famously delayed returning from the Trojan War.

Distinct day and night cycle that balances two different mechanical ecosystems!

In Daytime, or the Mortal Realm, the game functions as a community-building sim. You are free to explore Ithaca, combining three identical items to evolve them into higher-tier resources (e.g., three twigs become a wooden plank). These resources are used to rebuild the town, complete fetch quests, and solve the villagers’ socio-economic problems. When night comes around, Artemis returns to the godly realm to earn the favor of four Olympian elders through high-intensity minigames. These challenges introduce variety by borrowing elements from other genres, including clear-the-board puzzles, turn-based auto-battlers, and even frantic resource-management tasks reminiscent of Overcooked and Plants vs. Zombies.

Anti-capitalist critique

The Olympians are depicted as out-of-touch billionaires hoarding wealth and demanding worship—complete with jabs at modern tech culture, such as Apollo’s collection of chimp soft toys acting as an analog for NFTs. Rather than fighting for a seat at the elitist table, the game tasks Artemis with finding her true family among the mortals through community resilience and shared labor.

Who are Team Artichoke?

Mythmatch is the debut title from Team Artichoke, a UK-based microstudio comprised of around 10 staff members, many of whom worked on the project part-time over its four-year development cycle. Despite being a new studio, the team is built on a foundation of significant industry pedigree.

The studio was founded and is led by Moo Yu, an IGF and BAFTA-winning creator. Yu’s extensive resume includes co-developing the critically acclaimed indie darling Knights and Bikes, as well as serving as Lead Gameplay Programmer on Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank and Senior Gameplay Programmer on Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet.

Team Artichoke’s roster also features other notable indie veterans, including Albertine Watson (Moonglow Bay) and Beidi Guo (LUNA The Shadow Dust). The development of Mythmatch was heavily inspired by Yu’s personal experiences with rejection and the search for belonging, but interestingly, the team cited films like Kung Fu Panda, Amelie, and Legally Blonde as major structural inspirations—using a lighthearted, visually bright aesthetic as a Trojan horse to explore serious themes like systemic misogyny and corporate greed.

What is the world saying?

Global gaming media outlets have been overwhelmingly positive since the game’s launch on March 13, 2026. Mythmatch currently holds an impressive aggregate score hovering around 96 on Metacritic, with publications praising its ability to elevate a traditionally casual genre. The Guardian awarded it a glowing review, calling it a “match-three game made in heaven” and highlighting the “hypnotic” interlocking systems that seamlessly blend the pleasant busywork of a farming sim with compulsive mental challenges.

On Steam, user reviews reflect the critical consensus. The community frequently cites the “just one more in-game day” loop, comparing its addictive pacing to titans of the genre like Stardew Valley. People seem to really love this game and the chances are that you will too, especially if you’re a fan of the above-mentioned titles!

Fun Fact Sheet:

• The Overlooked God: Artemis’s brother Apollo is portrayed as a tech-bro who collects chimp soft toys—a direct satirical nod to real-world NFT “Bored Ape” collections.

• Mac First: Because the primary development team operated on Mac hardware, rigorous testing on the Steam Deck was essential, leading to its “Verified” status days before launch.

• Cinematic Roots: Despite being a game about Greek Gods, the developers cited the Reese Witherspoon comedy Legally Blonde as a core inspiration for how to hide deep critiques of systemic misogyny inside a bright, colorful package.

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What is our verdict?

Mythmatch represents a masterclass in game design synergy, successfully balancing creative thematic design with flawless technical execution. Team Artichoke has taken the skeleton of a mobile-friendly match-three game and injected it with the heart of a deep, sociopolitical RPG.

While the anti-capitalist and anti-elitist narrative might seem heavy on paper, the game’s execution is consistently charming, funny, and deeply humane. The transition between the relaxing daytime community-building and the frantic nighttime godly trials keeps the pacing sharp and prevents the merge mechanics from ever feeling stale. Add in a bug-free PC launch and native Steam Deck support, and Team Artichoke has delivered one of the most compelling indie experiences of the year. It successfully answers the question of how to make puzzle games feel meaningful.

ID Card

• Developer: Team Artichoke

• Publisher: Team Artichoke

• Engine: Unity

• Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS), Steam Deck

• Release Date: March 13, 2026

• Genre: Simulation / Puzzle / Narrative Adventure

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Do you agree with our verdict? Have you been sucked into the “just one more day” loop of rebuilding Ithaca? Let us know your thoughts and share your strategies for the Olympian minigames in the comments below!

Core Features:

• Environmental Redirection: Uses the proprietary Director Graph System to procedurally generate non-euclidean levels that fit your real-world play space.

• Physical Stealth Mechanics: Requires actual physical crouching, crawling, and dodging to bypass lasers and security.

• Spymaster Mode: Tactical agency management layered over first-person infiltration.

• Mixed Reality Integration: Exclusive mode for Meta Quest 3 devices turning real living spaces into spy missions.

• Extensive Accessibility: Includes seated modes, optional joystick locomotion, tremor-calming settings, and single-handed play.

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What is Unseen Diplomacy 2?

Unseen Diplomacy 2 is a virtual reality stealth and espionage simulator that tasks you with infiltrating enemy bases, bypassing security systems, and stealing top-secret intel. But, that’s far from everything the game is!

Locomotion and level generation

The game utilizes a proprietary mechanic developed by the studio called the “Director Graph System.” This is an environmental redirection system that dynamically generates procedural levels tailored specifically to the exact physical dimensions of your real-world play area. Instead of relying heavily on joystick movement or teleportation (though those accessibility options do exist), the game subtly manipulates the virtual geometry when you aren’t looking. This creates a “holodeck-like” experience where you can continuously walk, crouch, crawl through vents, and dodge lasers within a seemingly massive enemy compound while simply doing laps around your living room.

In UD2 you can manipulate physical gadgets, such as screwdrivers to unscrew vent grates, wire cutters to disable alarms, and blow dart guns to neutralize enemy robots. You act as both the operative on the ground and the spymaster, deploying agents to gather intel on a strategic board before diving into the high-stakes, first-person missions. Furthermore, Meta Quest 3 and 3S users are treated to a Mixed Reality (MR) integration that projects these spy scenarios directly into your physical homes.

Who are Triangular Pixels?

Triangular Pixels is an independent, BAFTA-nominated games studio based in Cornwall, UK, founded more than a decade ago by former Sony London Studio developers. Their pedigree is rooted in pushing hardware to its limits, often venturing into niche and experimental territories.

The studio first caught the industry’s attention with the original Unseen Diplomacy in 2016, which served as one of the premier room-scale tech demos during the launch window of the HTC Vive. Following that, they released the multiplayer VR game Smash Hit Plunder. Beyond full game releases, Triangular Pixels is deeply embedded in the technical side of the XR industry. They have collaborated with notable studios like XR Games, Ramen VR, and Vive.

Lesser known to the general public is the studio’s background in custom engine tooling and experimental software. Facing development challenges with Unity’s native physics and collision detection for VR, they engineered and released their own middleware, such as the Technie Collider Creator, Technie Virtual Console, and Technie Scene Palette, which are used by other developers today. Additionally, the studio has tackled experimental projects outside of traditional gaming, such as developing a tranquil VR Japanese garden designed as a safe space for individuals dealing with mental health challenges.

Fun Fact Sheet:

• A Cornish First: Due to the studio’s heritage, Unseen Diplomacy 2 holds the incredibly rare distinction of being fully localized and playable in the Cornish language (ISO 639-2 ‘cor’).

• Tool Builders: The development team actually created and sells the collision software (Technie Collider Creator) used in other games to solve the very physics issues they faced making VR titles.

• From Tech Demo to Sequel: The franchise started as a 2016 HTC Vive launch-window tech demo designed to prove that room-scale VR was a viable concept before most consumers even owned a headset.

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What is the world saying?

On the positive end of the spectrum, Android Central delivered a glowing appraisal, explicitly calling it “the best spy game I’ve played since GoldenEye 007,” praising the game’s bold cel-shaded art style and incredibly addictive procedural gameplay loop.

However, specialized gaming outlets and PC players have been far more critical regarding the game’s optimization and polish. Outlets like UploadVR (which awarded the game a 70/100) and COGconnected highlighted severe inconsistencies. The primary grievance across the board is a frustrating, janky inventory system. Tools attached to the your chest, wrists, and shoulders are difficult to grab and holster, often resulting in dropped items during critical stealth moments.

Unseen Diplomacy 2 runs on the Unity engine, and despite being a visually stylized game rather than a photorealistic one, PC performance is uneven. Steam curators and user reviews report that even on top-tier enthusiast hardware—such as rigs equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and an Nvidia RTX 5090—players are experiencing severe frame rate drops during procedural scene transitions. Furthermore, the PC version suffers from engine boundary issues; if a procedural room generates slightly outside the player’s physical boundary, stepping out of bounds triggers a completely black screen that is incredibly difficult to recover from without a hard reset. As a result, many Steam users have noted that despite the 1.0 label, the game still largely feels like an Early Access title in need of substantial patching.

What is our verdict?

From a purely conceptual and creative standpoint, it seems like Triangular Pixels has achieved something remarkable. The Director Graph System is a triumph of spatial computing, successfully tricking the human brain into feeling like it’s navigating a massive villainous lair within the confines of a 2x2 meter bedroom. When the game works, it delivers an unparalleled, heart-pounding espionage fantasy that genuinely gets you sweating.

What has your experience been with room-scale VR games, and do technical bugs ruin the immersion for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

ID Card

• Developer: Triangular Pixels

• Publisher: Triangular Pixels

• Engine: Unity

• Platforms: Meta Quest (2, 3, 3S, Pro), Steam VR (PC)

• Release Date: March 16, 2026 (1.0 Release)

• Genre: VR Stealth / Action Adventure