B-side Gaming

A dark Christmas game about strained relationships and yule spirits.

This is a short Christmas game for Game boy. It's about Embla and how she tries to handle the holidays and her strained relationship with her family. She's drawn into a twilight world of spirits where she undertakes a mysterious year walk, where she might get perspective on things or not.

DESTINY CALLS THE LEAST LIKELY OF HEROES. Reverie is an action adventure game set on a fictional island in New Zealand, inspired by the legend of Maui and the Giant Fish where the demigod himself fishes up the North Island with a powerful fishhook.

GOG
Nintendo

Bake cookies and celebrate the holidays!

Four days until the annual Winter Festival! It sure is a busy time in your bakery, but you will help your fellow citizens, by providing them with bite-sized calm and contemplation: delicious cookies!

Explore the shifting manor of the enigmatic Henri Villemaine and uncover the truth behind his family’s sudden disappearance. Bend reality to recreate the scenes from his diary and expose long-buried secrets. What if your role in this case went beyond that of a simple investigator?

help Santa deliver all the presents

There's a specific format of game that rose up in the Flash era that I've tentatively named "loopers": those that have a simple curve of incremental upgrades that facilitate higher scores and more fruitful runs that in turn provide the currency for more upgrades, presenting in microcosm the sort of gradual "from zero to hero" ascension typically only seen in RPGs and even there usually at a much slower pace. Back then it was mostly those games where you'd yeet something at a specific angle and it would go flying for hundreds of yards, but the less common mining variety was one that picked up speed with Motherload and others that resembled the first SteamWorld Dig and continued to evolve from there. A Game About Digging a Hole simplifies the process even further while adapting it to the lesser seen 3D format, where the whole goal is to dig up your backyard in search of treasure. That is pretty much the entire game: you dig, you occasionally find minerals by way of coal or iron ore, you sell that ore to pay for your electric shovel's fuel and on upgrades to its efficacy, and you keep on digging ever downward.

The Indie Game Awards, also known as the IGAs, is an annual awards-only ceremony dedicated to honoring excellence in indie gaming. Hosted by Six One Indie, this developer-focused awards show spotlights compelling and groundbreaking titles from around the world regardless of popularity.

The second edition of the IGAs saw the inclusion of several new award categories including Community Picks, Southeast Asian Indie Award, Women-Led Indie Game Award, ANZ Indie Game Award, and many more.

Notably, several Southeast Asian titles were also honoured at this year’s award show, with Malaysian-made Artis Impact winning the Southeast Asian Indie Award and nominated for Visual Design, and Indonesian-made Afterlove EP nominated for Emotional Impact.

In today's world of modern home security, Santa's job of delivering presents gets tougher every year!

Angeline Era is a nostalgia-infused retro indie game that serves as a love letter to a very specific era of gaming. Featuring a 3D isometric adventure with ‘bumpslash’ combat (more on that in a bit), the game harkens back to early entries by Japanese developer Nihon Falcom—namely, the early games in the Ys series. As someone who’s played a damn good amount of them at this point, along with titles in their other primary Legend of Heroes series, it’s good news for me.

A mysterious little girl, and a lone traveler.

The two met unexpectedly, seeking shelter from the raging storm outside. Play as each of them to figure out their past and their wishes for the future.

An excellent swashbuckling action-adventure for the C64!

Cardinal Richelieu has betrayed the queen of France!

To blackmail her into giving in to his wicked will, the cardinal has had his heartless agents steal Queen Anne’s diamond studs! Heeding the desperate pleas from the queen’s maid, four brave musketeers have sworn to foil the dastardly deeds of the cardinal and retrieve the royal gems, or die trying!

Alas, disaster has struck! Three of the musketeers have been bested by the cardinal's men, and the diamonds have been hidden in secret locations around and below the streets of Paris. You must rescue the three musketeers, find the diamonds and challenge the cardinal!

You are the last of the loyal Musketeers, the only hope of Queen Anne!

Night Shippers is a co-op horror game developed by Young Buffalo Studio. Rather than chase far-fetched fantasy themes, the team chose to put players in the shoes of nighttime delivery workers. Players must work in groups of 1–4 to complete deliveries while dealing with unexpected encounters and eerie entities lurking in dark alleyways.

A fun Christmas RPG game about a lil girl and her Snowman!

In the high, cold mountains of a green village, Olivia, a little 8-year-old girl, anxiously awaits her brother's arrival for the Christmas Eve celebration. However, the little girl's wait is prolonged when she sees that her brother has not arrived even after 12 o'clock.

As the hours pass, Olivia begins to worry more, and decides to sleep instead of waiting awake for his arrival. The night goes on, suddenly a familiar noise wakes her from her sleep.

The Lich has thrown the world into a timeless loop and plunged its inhabitants into never ending chaos. Wield an expanding deck of mystical cards to place enemies, buildings, and terrain along each unique expedition loop for the brave hero.

Hit the slopes, turn by turn! Play cards, clear gates, and don't crash!

WitchSpring R is a story-driven RPG combining elements of collecting, simulation, and battling. Experience the joy of training a young witch and accompany her on a grand adventure!

Nintendo
Sony
Xbox

The graphics look at bit odd up close, but arguably strategy is a genre where gameplay takes precedence of over visual quality (and the overall aesthetic direction is fine:).

I like how there seems to be a bigger emphasis on RPG mechanics. The setting in the game (and associated gameplay mechanics) does look to fit the "Fantasy X-Com" mold very well.

Discussion about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being an indie game are ongoing leading into The Game Awards. And nobody can agree where to land on it.

A Christmas survival-horror game where the X-Mas Trees are the ones that will cut you down.

A purple monster in a spooky world, searching for his family.

• Conquer 6 scary stages, each with their own sub-areas.
• Defeat 6 different scary bosses.
• Stomp on your enemies! Or… eat a scary spicey or icy snack to torch or freeze your foes.
• When ducking, Mister Scary takes a nap and becomes immune to damage. You will use this often as a tactic.
• Scary tokens are everywhere. Collect 15 and earn an extra life! This will come in quite handy.
• A scary world map guides you through your adventure.
  Scary game soundtrack by Logan E. Schad and Kevin Van Der Burg.

A Halloween-themed platforming game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Directly inspired by a toddler’s imaginary friend, and brought to life by calgames.

Enjoy a quiet walk home from the train station.