Family recipes, Zach-likes, and cat stickers
Here's a collection of great indies you should check out this weekend
I get it. You’re probably playing Baldur’s Gate 3 this weekend. It feels like my Bluesky feed is filled with nothing but love for BG3, and I have to say, I am feeling a mighty bit jealous. But ¥8,500 just isn’t in the budget this month, so I shall be reading all the finest bear-on-human erotica that is sure to flood my feeds for weeks now.
Thankfully, there are a bunch of super cool indies out this week. I hope you like food, because this week’s releases are making my stomach rumble as I write this out on Friday morning.
What’s out this week?
Thronefall (Early Access)
Developer: GrizzlyGames
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Thronefall was one of those rare occasions that the Steam recommendation algorithm worked in my favor. I blame my recent play through of Dawn of War II, and the countless Warhammer games I have been checking out that put this minimalist strategy game at the top of my recommendation list.
Launched into Early Access just a few days ago, Thronefall employs a super colorful style that is immediately striking. The mission of the game was to strip out all the complexities of strategy games in order to deliver a fun and easy-to-understand experience that has you building up your kingdom, and defending it from an onslaught at night. Balance your economy and growth with the need for defense, and try to make a prosperous place for all. It offers 3-5 hours of core game time in this Early Access release, and the Steam reviews are positively glowing, so if you are into strategy, this could be for you.
Neon Noodles
Developer: Vivid Helix
Steam rating: Positive
What if you took Infinifactory and set it in a dystopian noodle factory? Described as a Zach-like (the legacy of Zachtronics is well and truly here) Neon Noodles asks you to test and optimize a suite of automated culinary machines as the head recipe automation technician for the aristocracy who need good chow. It sounds like the general trapping of downtrodden society may pull you away from feeding the rich and powerful, but those of you who love to create optimized workflows will want to add this one to the wishlist.
Adore
Developer: Cadabra Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Another Brazilian game made its way into the newsletter! Adore is a creature collection game, where you find and build a unique team of creatures to fight on a journey to resurrect a fallen God. Unlike Cassette Beasts or Pokemon, the gameplay is in real-time and more like a typical ARPG, where you are summoning the creatures on your roster to help you take out the enemies. It has a synergy system and promises a huge amount of strategies to play with. It seems this one has been in Early Access for a while, but I had not heard of it before. It looks pretty neat though, and something I want to check out for sure.
Venba
Developer: Visai Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Venba is a narrative adventure told through cooking! You are an Indian mom who immigrated to Canada with her family in the 80’s, and together with your family, you will cool regional dishes, restore lost recipes, and explore conversations as you unravel a story about family, love, and loss.
As soon as this game appeared on my Bluesky feed via one of the artists, I was smitten. It looks incredible, and fits well in that sub-genre of good vibes games like Coffee Talk and VA-11 Hall-A.
Sticky Business
Developer: Spellgarden Games
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Look, I can’t lie to you. As someone who worked on both the Hacknet and Orwell series, I am a mark for fake computer systems in games. Sticky Business has that in spades, as you run a cozy sticker business online. Create stickers, pack those orders, and hear the stories from your eclectic collection of customers. There are a bunch of different assets you can use to create the perfect collection of stickers to sell, and different types of stickers will attract different kinds of customers.
Sticky Business didn’t launch this week, but it landed in my inbox this week so I am going to include because… well… look how cute it is!
Our favorite game we have played this year… so far.
This week I asked the Pixels For Breakfast team what their favorite game was that they had played this year. Not necessarily a game that was released this year, but I think most of us on the team have made a conscious effort to dive into our backlogs this year, and I thought that might have brought around some revelations for some.
Blue
The games that tend to stick with me are generally narrative focused ones. Sadly not many have made that huge of an impact on me this year, so instead I want to share a story about a snowman and copious amounts of guns. A friendly snowman in FFXIV guided me through a bunch of content on and off a while back. At some point we were chatting and both mentioned that we shared a minor obsession with "Big number go brr" in roguelikes.
I invited him to a game of Risk of Rain 2. That led to more than a few hours of showing off the relic modifiers in the game. Always a blast. Then I caught the SGDQ run for Gunfire Reborn (which was the one he was currently hooked on). If you haven't seen this run by Shockwve, I would highly recommend it. Its a great time with some nutty RNG. I bought the game and got power-leveled into the really absurd synergies. Co-op roguelikes are a helluva ride. Truly a series of play sessions that are unique in how they came about. Thank you Mr. Kiwi Snowman.
Rinoa Carmichael
Favorite game I played this year is really tough, I’ve played a lot of classics both old (Muv Luv Alternative) and new (Tears of the Kingdom). But one that’s probably occupied the most headspace this year is Gujian3. Gujian is a Taiwanese action RPG that could be best described as “Taiwanese Witcher 3.” It really is a stunning game to look at. When playing it I just end up constantly taking screenshots.
It’s hard to say if I really like it. At points it uses its engine for platforming which… is not a good time. There was a stealth escort mission that only because of merciful checkpointing I could keep playing. I could list so many issues I had. But the moment to moment stories are really compelling and usually make me forget whatever I had just struggled through. The last main beat I finished was entering the dream of someone who used to perform in the theatre, and it’s done up as a classic paper puppet play, looking just so arresting. The game is full of interesting little moments that make it easy to want to recommend, but a lot of awkward elements that make me hesitate. But ever since I first saw it it’s just something I’ve plugging away on, and every few sessions just has such wonderfully high highs that stick with me. If you’ve been interested in Taiwanese/Chinese RPGs, it’s a great intro.
Eighty
Everyone has already told you how great Yakuza 0 is. That won't stop me from doing the same. I'm not a huge beat 'em up fan, I think out of all of the ones I've played the only one that I've really enjoyed was Castle Crashers which in all fairness isn't really comparable to Yakuza. There are 3 fighting styles per character which I feel like really keeps the game feeling fresh over it's 40+ hour run time. You unlock new moves and upgrades for each style over time, the moves are very well animated and the heat actions feel very brutal.
We've all seen the silly side stories screen caps on Twitter (sorry, I mean "x") but what I didn't really expect was to be so invested in Yakuza 0 that I would play it before bed and wake up excited to play. The story is so much fun, the stakes are always being raised, there are so many plot twists they made a plot pretzel. It is truly amazing and I refuse to give any details beyond that because I believe you should play Yakuza 0 even if you have no intention to play any of the other games.
Andy Smith
I’ve played through v rising start zone 4 times now, and the zone after that twice. I’m a slow gamer and games that evolve over time and wipe progress are generally not my bag but tbh, I’m playing through it all over again ATM and will continue doing so every time I get wiped. I paused to play Diablo (which the similarities in view but very different controls could make life hard) but other than that this is the game I play when I am going to play a game.
V rising hits that perfect mark between great boss battles and crafting style gameplay with lots of good feeling grinding for when you want to game but not think. Being early access it’s nice to see it improving over time but I don’t feel rushed because hey, it’s all just gonna get wiped anyway. The option to have friends jump in once in a while is awesome but still incredibly playable on my lonesome, however the multiplayer experience is second to none.
Steve Heller
I have played a lot of great games this year. As someone who typically does not mesh well with open world game design, and as someone who despite being a massive Legend of Zelda fan, did NOT like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom has thrown me for a loop and become one of my most treasured gaming experiences ever.
But my FAVOURITE game I’ve played this year? XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I played this when it first launched back in 2012. Back then, strategy games and tactics were completely beyond my smooth brain. Actually, the entire genre has been a mystery to me until earlier this year. I don’t know if it’s the interest in tabletop games, or just the fact I have reached that “Dad” game phase of my life, but XCOM completely clicked for me and I was obsessed. My Steam Deck got a healthy workout as I spent 40ish hours completing that campaign, and since then I have been thrust down a strategy and tactics rabbit hole that I have been enjoying immensely. I just finished Dawn of War II last weekend, and that would be a close second to being my favorite game I have played this year so far too!
Well, that’s a wrap on another week of newsletters. We would love to get some feedback! Please drop us some info wherever you can, so we can build this into something that is valuable for you!