Oct 26, 2023Indie Highlight
Tales of Autumn is an open-ended wild farming RPG with an emphasis on raising animals and managing terrain. Restore the abandoned ranch to create a thriving new home for yourself. Befriend and tame cute wild creatures, as well as adorable farm animals. Each animal has their own specific requirements for living on your ranch. Meet those requirements to have happy, healthy animals! Change the terrain around the ranch to create different biomes. These biomes will allow the growth of specific crops and attract new creatures for you to tame. And don’t forget the fish, either. Grab your fishing pole and lures to catch a variety of fish.
When you’re not working on the ranch, take time to get to know the people of Tales of Autumn. The inviting town will reward your good behavior and ignore you for poor behavior. Receive gifts, discounts, and helping hands for being friendly with the people of your town, or they’ll keep their distance and shutter their doors to you for not being friendly! Talking to the townspeople will let you hear about their lives, though, and involve them in your own. Plus, you can attend town festivals and experience character and animal events.
Tales of Autumn is available now on Steam.
Wish Upon a Llama is another adorable game that has a focus on raising animals!
Oct 25, 2023Indie Highlight
Sticky Business is an adorable and vibrant game where you run your very own sticker business. You pick from a variety of design elements to create thousands of fun possibilities. Then, you can add pretty papers and extras to each package as you hand pack them for customers.
And now Sticky Business added some spooky Halloween elements with a recent update! There are now new stickers to choose from like cute ghosts, fun little bats, and pumpkins. Plus, there’s two new packing papers to celebrate the holiday. Throw in matching treats to each box or use the new glitter material for a pop of fun. Pair that with September’s update and this game is getting better and better. That update added more color varieties, better sticker grabbing, and some other general sticker elements. It’s the ultimate cozy design game!
The developers also improved the auto-save feature to automatically backup game files so you can play without any worries.
You can find Sticky Business on Steam, GOG, and Itch.io!
You can read more about Sticky Business, and some other Steam Next Fest demos I enjoyed playing here.
Oct 25, 2023Indie Highlight
Bloomtown: A Different Story is a narrative JRPG that mixes turn-based combat, monster taming, and social RPG elements into a pleasant 1960s Americana setting. You play as Emily and her younger brother Chester as they spend their summer holiday in their grandpa’s cozy and quiet town. With its cinema, grocery shops, library, and parks, Bloomtown is an idyllic cozy town, but it’s hiding a big secret. Underneath this sleepy little town, a demon world is growing and children are going missing.
Embark on a grand adventure to save the townspeople of Bloomtown: A Different Story from this mysterious demon world. The demons are the fears and vices of the townspeople that have come to life. As Emily, figure out the mysteries and the disappearances and save the souls of everyone! Face off against giant demons and dungeon bosses in the Underside using a turn-based combat system. Fight alongside your friends, who each have their own sets of abilities, as well as summon your own inner demons. Even capture new creatures to use in other battles by weakening them during combat.
When you’re not out with your very own demon-hunting squad, trying to solve the mysteries of the Underside, take some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful little town. Explore the secret areas, visit the gym to strengthen your physical abilities, earn pocket money working at the grocery store, make friends, or even spend time relaxing with gardening. Bloomtown: A Different Story lets you decide what’s the most useful for your adventure!
Bloomtown: A Different Story is coming to Steam Q2 of 2024. It has also been announced for PlayStation!
If you’re looking for some magical fun, check out our list of Best Cute Games for Magic Lovers!
Sep 28, 2023Snack Size News
Embark on an adorable culinary adventure in Fruitbus, where taste is everything. Travel across each island of the Gustum Archipelago to discover new fruits and vegetables. Even learn new customs and how to cook meals the locals will enjoy. You’ll eventually build a following of loyal customers, while getting to hear their unique stories.
Take time to forage your ingredients from the wild plants you find in Fruitbus. Use what you find to inspire new dishes you’ll sell in ancient glades, secret groves, and forgotten grottos. You’ll also get to decorate your food truck with bright colors and fun accessories like racing wings! And of course you get to upgrade your kitchen to make it fit your play-style.
Fruitbus currently has a demo available on Steam. Full release will be sometime in 2024.
Little Bear Chef and Yum Yum Cookstar are two more fun cooking games you should look at!
Sep 13, 2023News
I’ve previously played the cute Everdream Valley, and written a review. At the time, the game was far from a finished product. It was pretty empty and had some other issues. Even as I wrote the review, the devs, Mooneaters, added some features that improved the quality of life of the game. And now, they’ve released a roadmap of new features they intend to work on implementing!
October brings a great update that includes fast travel! One of my chief complaints was how big the Everdream Valley map is, making adventuring a little tiresome because running everywhere was the only option. The developers have been listening, though, and fast travel is certainly an exciting new addition that will improve the game. The fun doesn’t stop there, though. You’ll get access to a new lawnmower tool that allows you to tidy up lawns and hedges. Which sounds like a great way to further decorate and personalize your farm. You’ll be getting new plants to decorate with too! Add some charm and vibrancy to your little farm with a riot of natural colors.
Then there’s my favorite part. A Halloween event! Get spooky with fun new items and decorations. Even get dressed up in costumes. I can’t wait for that. There’s nothing like making your home cozy with pumpkins and ghosts. Perhaps the best update, however, if the addition of multiplayer! That’s right, you and your friends will be able to team up to play Everdream Valley together. There’s no word now on how many people can play in multiplayer as the feature is currently in beta, but even just making it two players would be great.
As for the rest of the intended updates, here’s the list straight from Everdream Valley’s Steam page:
Aug 30, 2023Indie Highlight
Meet Mûn, a Junior Ranger from the Interstellar Patrol, long before the events of Deiland: Pocket Planet and Summer in Mara. Play as Mûn in this tale about growing up, making friends, and connecting with nature. You’ve crash landed on the unexplored planet of Ankora and are stranded there. You’ll need to craft your own tools in order to collect resources to survive in this brand new world. Ankora: Lost Days will have you exploring this beautiful new planet and building your very own home.
Ankora is a mysterious planet with a wide variety of unique biomes to explore. Trek through sandy deserts or snowy meadows, frolic in idyllic meadows and cross magnificent rivers while searching for secrets hidden in Ankora: Lost Days. Even settle down somewhere to build your very own home. You can terraform the area, too, to create your ideal living space. Then, learn new recipes and skills as you explore the planet, and make friends with the anks, a group of toothy humanoid creatures.
Ankora: Lost Days is available now on Steam! There’s even a bundle available that includes Ankora, Summer in Mara, and Deiland: Pocket Planet if you wanted to try all three. You can also find it on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation.
You can take a look at Deiland: Pocket Planet and Summer in Mara, too.
Aug 24, 2023Indie Highlight
A terrible storm rages around you and casts your vessel into the rocks of a nearby island. You wake up to your ship in pieces, shipwrecked on an island full of frogs. Discover what there is to find on this strange new island. Mingle with the locals. Also work to repair your ship. You’re in charge of how your adventure unfolds in Time on Frog Island.
Explore the sandbox world at your own pace. Perhaps run around to take in the sights or experiment with items you find. Any item in Time on Frog Island might be useful in your adventures by helping you run faster, jump higher, or fall slower. You never know what will come in handy, so try everything! Get to know the local frog villagers and help them out where you can. Even learn new skills from them, then put those skills to the test around the island!
When you’re not exploring, perhaps try your hand at farming or fishing. You can even brew some potions that will change how you get around the island. And when you’re tired of all that, work on fixing your ship! Ask the residents of Time on Frog Island what items you’ll need for the job. You’ll probably need to complete a quest or do a frog a favor in order to obtain your item, but why not lend a helping hand? You’ll even spend time solving fun puzzles to get your hands on the items you need to repair your ship.
Time on Frog island is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch now!
Looking for more froggy fun? Checkout Frogun, A Frog’s Tale, and Frogsong.
Aug 24, 2023Indie Highlight
Every Hue of You is a gorgeous visual novel that follows Twyla. She recently lost her mother and struggles with keeping her emotions in check. Feeling lonely and confused, Twyla needs to navigate her emotions while quashing them as society in Zenoa city has stigmatized feelings. Those who can’t keep their emotions under control are shamed by the community.
Twyla’s struggling with taking over her late mother’s famed jewelry shop, until one night she discovers she’s a conduit. Because she’s a conduit, Twyla can take on the emotional energy of others and transfer it! You’ll play as Twyla as she discovers her new gift, and uses it to revitalize the jewelry business. Every Hue of You leads you on a journey of exploration as you hold deep conversations with a cast of intriguing customers. Carefully coax out their true feelings through those conversations. Then, help them find the perfect gifts for loved ones, and enchant those pieces of jewelry.
Every Hue of You takes you on an unforgettable adventure full of complex narratives and beautiful visuals.
You can find Every Hue of You on Steam now!