I got the itchio bundle but i'm at a bit of a loss to what to play. Do you have any specific pc/singleplayer games from there that you would heartily recommend?
Sure thing. The Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality actually contains a fair number of games I already owned, so itâs easy to point out a few worth checking out.
(Iâm also tagging @moosh101 here because they submitted a similar request for character-driven, âfeelsyâ games at around the same time; the ones that specifically meet their criteria are marked with an asterisk.)
Some personal favourites:
2064: Read Only Memories* - An investigative point-and-click adventure game in the mode of Snatcher. All the content warnings youâd expect for a murder mystery.
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Anodyne* - A Zelda-alike crossed with a Yumi Nikki-style dream exploration game. Not quite as clever as it thinks it is, but very solid gameplay-wise. Content warning for implied self harm.
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Beglitched* - A self-described âcyberpinkâ puzzle game that plays like a cross between Match Three and Minesweeper. Content warning for discussion of mental illness. (You may notice that this is a theme.)
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Bleed 2 - A bullet time, bullet hell twin-stick shooter about a girl with a gun and a sword. The first game in the series is also included, but the sequel is probably the better introduction if youâre new to the genre.
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Celeste* - Probably one of the best precision puzzle-platformers out ther, and an excellent introduction for newcomers to the genre in spite of being hard as balls. Content warning for discussion of mental illness.
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cityglitch - Basically a chess puzzle game with a very slick visual presentation; manoeuvre on a grid versus enemies with strictly defined movement patterns who will always make the worst possible move.
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Corinne Crossâs Dead and Breakfast* - A visual novel where the titular protagonist accepts a job house-sitting a bed and breakfast in the off season and ends up playing life coach to the resident ghosts.
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Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor - A life sim about being a minimum wage service worker in a spaceport. Gender dysphoria is a core game mechanic, reflected by various UI distortions if you canât afford your HRT.
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Dreaming Sarah - Another game that wears its Yume Nikki inspirations on its sleeve, this one a side-scrolling platformer. Content warnings for self harm and body horror.
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flux - Sort of a cross between a visual novel and a typing tutor, I guess you could call it? No real game-mechanical goals, beyond following up on the various story threads -- very chill.
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Four Sided Fantasy - A puzzle platformer where you can manipulate the gameâs screen-wrapping behaviour to get around obstacles. One of the shorter games listed here.
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The Kingâs Bird - Another puzzle platformer, this one focusing on momentum rather than precision. Plays fast, and the learning curve isnât super friendly, but itâs not as scary as it looks.
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The Last Word - A bottle-episode RPG set in a world where winning a battle of wits gives you power over your opponent. No conventional content warnings, but loss of autonomy is a squick for you, fair warning!
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Lennaâs Inception - One of those glitchy brainfuck RPGs, this one in the mould of Legend of Zelda. All the usual content warnings for the genre, plus a surprising amount of (pixel-art) gore.
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Micro Mages - A cute little NES game developed last year. No, I donât mean NES style -- I mean you can actually buy it on an NES cart and run it on original NES hardware!
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Minit - A low-bit Zelda-alike where your cursed sword means you have only sixty seconds to live. The challenge is 100% routing, since you can never be more than 60 seconds away from the nearest save point.
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Night in the Woods* - A cute visual novel with light platforming elements about post-industrial desolation in small-town America. Content warnings for self harm and discussion of mental illness.
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NO THING - The literal apotheosis of the whole âthereâs not much to the gameplay, so letâs set it to vapourwave and call it Artâ school of game design. I like it anyway!
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OneShot* - Anon-violent top down RPG where the protagonist is aware of and can talk to the player. Numerous fourth-wall breaking puzzles;Â content warning for on-screen suicide in one of the routes.
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Oxenfree* - A horror VN whose real-time dialogue mechanics manage to make simulated conversations as awkward as they are in real life. Content warnings for self harm and discussion of mental illness.
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Planet Diver - Sort of like an endless runner, except in this one you fall. Arcade-style base jumping on a planetary scale with light upgrade grinding and the occasional freefall boss fight.
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Pyre* - Danteâs Inferno meets Space Jam; a visual novel about escaping an underground purgatory by participating in special rituals that just happen to resemble basketball. Plays that premise 100% straight.
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The Rainsdowne Players - A minigame-centric RPG about running a community theatre troupe. Sort of a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, depending on how you feel about the minigame gimmick.
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Semblance - One of those puzzle platformers where you play as a ball of goo, with the twist that the terrain is just as squishable as the player character.
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A Short Hike* - A low-fi walking sim about climbing a mountain in order to find cell phone service. Very short if you go straight for the goal, but thereâs a lot to explore.
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Signs of the Sojourner* - A deckbuilding game that -- like The Last Word, above -- gamifies conversations rather than fights. Very cute for a game thatâs technically post-apocalyptic.
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They Bleed Pixels - A melee-focused precision platformer thatâs just unbelievably gory for being a low-res pixel art title. Iâm not usually a fan of gorn, but something about this one charms me.
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Verdant Skies - A sci-fi farming sim that really dials up the dating sim elements. Like, it could almost be described as a dating sim with farming sim elements, rather than vice versa!
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Vision Soft Reset - A metroidvania where the gimmick is that you can fast travel in time as well as space: warping to a save point warps you back to when as well as where you saved. Has a built-in timeline tracker.
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WitchWay - A short block-pushing puzzle game starring a telekinetic witch. Not terribly challenging, but youâll have to do some lateral thinking in the later levels.
Iâm going to somewhat arbitrarily cut it off at the thirty-game mark just so this post doesnât go on forever. Seriously, if even one of the listed games has caught your eye, the bundle is totally worth the minimum five-dollar buy in. Check it out!
