Sep 18, 2024Indie Highlight
Project Grove, developed by Antler Studios, isn’t your usual cozy game. It doesn’t have the fluffy, cutesy vibe many other casual games possess. Instead, it projects a more mellow, atmospheric vibe. You play as 70 year old alchemist Professor Edric Tayte who is on a mission to find a cure. The Great Rot has ravaged the living and you want to find the way to stop it. Team up with your robot sidekick, L-P1N, as you set out on a journey through a beautiful world in this first-person adventure.
The world of Dacrima is full of weird and wonderful things, but it also holds the secret to curing The Great Rot. Explore the charming wilds in search of resources to collect. You’ll even encounter the weird and absurd animals of Project Grove or even different kinds of minerals. Use your scanner to discover lore, potion details, and even pieces of the mystery that surrounds the forest. Brew powerful potions as you collect ingredients, too. These potions will help in your journey by unlocking new skills or helping you overcome obstacles. Of course, your trusty friend L-P1N can be used as a placeable platform so you can traverse the forest easier. It’s not as easy to get around at your age like it once was, but your determination and knowledge may be the only way to save the world!
You can find Project Grove listed on Steam now and you can add it to your Wishlist. There is a demo available that is listed separately as Project Grove: Prologue. It releases in Beta this year!
DREDGE is another great and atmospheric cozy game to try out!
Sep 18, 2024Indie Highlight
Crossroads Inn 2 welcomes you back to Delcrys, the lovely fantasy realm where you’ll make a name for yourself. This game is an immersive real-time management sim where you play as an innkeeper. That means you’re in charge of all the tasks related to running an inn. Manage your staff members, make menus to satisfy your guests’ cravings, and tackle the general challenges that come with running your own inn.
You get to create your own story through your choices. Want to influence the world around you? Then do that. Get involved with the realm. Or do you prefer to live a tranquil life? Then simply be an innkeeper and don’t worry about changing what’s happening in the world! Crossroads Inn 2 gives you full control to make your own choices. Build the inn how you want. Create the perfect layouts, then decorate with furniture and decor. Even have a vegetable patch outside to source fresh veggies from. Just remember that your choices affect how your guests react to your style and quality of the inn.
Hire, train, and upgrade your staff to serve the needs of the rich and poor alike, too. They’ll be helpful in running your inn as it grows. And of course, get to know the customers who darken your doorway. Each one has a unique story to tell and quests for you to complete! Will you play the simple innkeeper or rise to fame with your establishment?
You can find Crossroads Inn 2 listed on Steam and PlayStation, but there is no release date available. Add it to your Wishlists to be notified of its release!
Tavern Manager Simulator is another fun tavern management sim!
Sep 12, 2024Snack Size News
Play as a young chef in the beautifully designed Chef RPG by developer World 2 Studio. In this exciting cooking journey, you’re in charge of reviving Le Sequoia. It was once a famous restaurant that drew visitors from around the world, but has fallen into disrepair. Even the beautiful seaside town of Whiteash Harbor has seen better days. It used to be a popular tourist town, and now you’ll help it return to popularity through your culinary efforts.
Step into a fantastically designed world and take on this challenge. Explore the area around the town to hunt animals for ingredients, and cultivate a garden to harvest other ingredients. Even go to the local shops to buy ingredients. Cook a variety of delicious dishes in Chef RPG to attract different tourists. Also befriend the locals, a cast of unique people, to not only enrich your life, but to create a network through which to grow your business. The more people who know and enjoy your food, the better! Your reputation can’t ride on your cooking skills alone, though. Be sure to decorate the restaurant and give it an inviting atmosphere. And when you’re not busy with reviving the restaurant, explore the gorgeous town to see what all it has to offer!
Chef RPG is finally releasing on Steam after years of painstaking development. Grab a copy now and begin your exciting cooking adventure!
Sep 12, 2024Snack Size News
In Garden Witch Life by developer FreetimeStudio, you play as an adorable little witch who hails from the big city. Except you’ve recently lost your job so life isn’t exactly panning out the way you thought it would. Now’s your chance for a much needed change of pace, though! In fact, you move to a tiny island that’s full of possibilities and opportunities. In your new home you’ll get up to all kinds of fun things like gardening, decorating, and more.
Turn your new piece of land in Garden Witch Life from a depressing example of dead monoculture into a thriving, beautiful magical garden. Grow a variety of wonderful crops, and use those fresh ingredients in recipes. Use your magical cauldron to whip up tasty recipes you get your hands on from around the world. Then, share them with the villagers to build friendships. Creating a strong community bond with everyone is important, after all. Or go exploring and uncover all the secrets and mysteries the island has to offer. Plus, your tools have upgrades you can access and your home is your to decorate as you please!
And yes, you can pet ALL the animals. What’s better than that?
Garden Witch Life drops on all your favorite platforms today. Pick it up on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or PlayStation!
Sep 11, 2024Reviews
Alongside your childhood friend, leave your busy city life and mundane 9-5 workday behind as you seek out the adventurous life on Snacko Island in Snacko by developer Bluecurse Studios! Things didn’t quite go as planned, and you find yourself washed up on shore after a storm. Luckily, you and Mikan are safe and have been found by the last local living on the island, Nobu. Everyone else has abandoned the island looking for better opportunities. Except Nobu, who is happy to have a pair of young cats to join him in daily life.
In fact, Nobu shows the two of you the ropes for farming and general living on the island. And together, you’ll restore Snacko Island to the bustling little piece of paradise it once was. Run your farm where you’ll grow 12 different crops and raise cows and chickens. Demolish old buildings and rebuild with various shops and homes to attract newcomers. Hire shopkeepers, create 200+ pieces of decor to liven up the place, and create a peaceful town. Get to know 26 unique characters from shop-keepers to just plain neighbors looking for a slice of relaxing island life. Even explore 4 different biomes where you can collect resources and encounter mysterious shrines for a dose of adventure!
Snacko has been the cutest, most wholesome cozy game I’ve encountered so far. The story is simple, but sets you on a fun adventure to restore a town. The color palette for the environments are gorgeous. The biomes are so pretty and unique. Plus, the character designs are just lovely. I’m glad to see other cat characters appear, but also really enjoy the variety of animals you see. Dogs, a horse, birds, and even a penguin are all possible characters you’ll encounter. Each one possesses their own personality, too, which livens up the island. And they all come with their own personal style so homes across your island will be different, too! It all makes for such a good variety in every aspect of the game.
There is a lot of sass thrown into the game, though. A LOT. Some dialogue between you and the characters is full of sass. Some item descriptions are sassy as all get out and I LOVE it. The jokes and sass are funny without being overbearing or making a character seem rude. It also mixes things up a bit, so nothing is overly saccharine. I’ve really enjoyed discovering the different fish to see their descriptions because of the developers throwing in some incredible lines. I can’t get enough of the writing in the game.
I love farm sims. I’ve played so many already and have so many more on my wishlists that I’m drowning in farm sims. So what makes Snacko different from your standard farm sim? Aside from the great bits of humor, building your town and having full control of that is a start. Not only do you remove existing rundown structures, but you collect resources from them that help in the rebuild. Then, you can place homes and stores and decor where you want within the town region to create your dream space. So, you’re not limited to simply decorating your own home or farm space. You’re free to create your dream town and it’s so much fun!
What I also enjoy that sets the game apart is the use of shrines. They’re fun little challenges you can take on at your leisure and give you a change of pace. Complete a shrine the first time simply to complete it. Then, you can take on the shrine as many times as you want to achieve the fastest completion time. That’s right. The shrines turn into speed run challenges for when you’re looking for a little more challenge and a little less laid back. Even better, though, is that the shrines are totally optional. So, if you’re not interested, or like me and just not great at speed running, then you don’t need to do them! You get rewards for completing and finding chests in the shrines, of course, but there’s no fear of FOMO here as they contain items you can get some other way. It’s a perfect system!
Snacko’s character creator is fun, too. I mean, creating your own little cat character? Nothing more fun than that. Plus, the developers implemented a great tutorial phase where you read about the thing and then do it. Nevermind you can always access the tutorial pop-ups from your bookcase so if you forget something, you can relearn it. And the fishing mini game is one of my favorite in any cozy game. It’s simple and easy, but still has a slight challenge. Exploring the different biomes is fun. Taking on shrines for a challenge is great. Raising fuzzy cows and fluffy chickens is my definition of cozy. So, overall, the game is so wonderfully fun that I would recommend it to any and all cozy gamers.
I give it:
You can find Snacko on Steam now. Nintendo Switch and PlayStation releases are planned!
Sep 11, 2024Indie Highlight
Life is simple in Caravan SandWitch, developed by Studio Plane Toast. There’s no combat, no death, and no timer. It’s just you journeying across a beautiful sci-fi world in search of answers. Your sister has gone missing and it’s up to you to figure out what happened. So explore the bright, post-apocalyptic world in search of answers. Drive your van across different terrains. Get to know the people of the settlements you come across, and even help them out with tasks. And use an array of tools to track down clues to where your sister has gone.
Climb to new heights and zipline down ropes as you traverse the ruins and landscapes of Cigalo. Race across bright sandy beaches in your van, too. Upgrade your van to unlock new tools that will help you in your journey. These tools will not only help you find clues, but will open up paths that were previously blocked. As you look around the broken but gorgeous world of Caravan SandWitch, get to know the unique cast of characters you meet along the way. From humans who stayed on the planet after everyone else left to robots that were simply left behind, everyone has an interesting backstory. They may even have tasks for you to complete that will let you contribute to the community in your own way. Regardless of how you play, you can take your time!
Caravan SandWitch releases on Steam and PlayStation September 12th! You can add it to your Steam Wishlist now, too, so you can be notified when it releases.
Sep 5, 2024Indie Highlight
In Shinehill by developer Peach Bite, you play as a spy who has been assigned a tough new job. You arrive on an unfamiliar planet where you suddenly replace one of the residents. The trusting locals mistake you for a new neighbor and treat you with kindness by giving you a house and plot of land. From there, the rest is up to you!
Spend your days on this supposed island paradise becoming a champion fisherman. Or start a farm on your plot of land and tend to a variety of crops. You can even cook up some delicious meals in Shinehill and go exploring abandoned dungeons across the island that hold secrets. The real question is, what made your command turn their eyes toward this planet? Is there something shady going on and it’s up to you to figure out? Perhaps! Get to know your new neighbors. Help them out and learn their stories. Maybe even make friends, or become more. One of your new friends might actually be a threat to everyone else.
You can find Shinehill listed on Steam now. There is a demo available and it’s expected for a full release in September!
Sep 5, 2024Indie Highlight
Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure, developed by Massive Miniteam, blends automation with real-time strategy aspects for a unique adventure set in a beautiful fantasy world. In fact, this game is perfect for players who want to dive into automation games, but also great for automation veterans looking for something fresh. Explore a gorgeous procedurally generated world. Build massive automation networks to enhance productivity. And also get to know your townspeople and helpful little Sparks.
Sparks are the little creatures who follow you and help you out in your adventures. Take them across the unique biomes of Oddsparks to encounter some unusual enemies. Or stay at home and optimize your designs by giving your Sparks logistical instructions. Eventually build a thriving village for yourself and your townspeople to live in. Complete quests from your villagers to unlock new buildings. Also, unlock new customizations for your character to make them unique, too!
You can find Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure on Steam now. It’s also coming to Xbox and PlayStation soon! So, get ready for an exciting adventure full of automation and fun!
Autonauts is another cute game that uses automation!