Architect Life puts you in charge of your own architectural firm, designing and building homes from 3D blueprints to final construction. It offers two main modes:

• Free Mode: Unrestricted creativity across 60 terrain types. Design homes without client demands or budget limits.
• Career Mode: Manage your firm through 60 unique missions. Design homes based on client needs, terrain, and budget.

Here’s the thing: NACON’s recent simulators have been questionable, and this one is no exception. I played the demo during Steam Next Fest and was disappointed by the poor tutorial and clumsy controls. While this is a subjective opinion, the Steam reviews from recent full release already tell the whole story.

It is supposed to let you design rooms, roofs, and balconies with precise measurements, choosing from various materials, coatings, and furniture. However, players are already noting that while the base game has solid foundations, it’s missing a lot of content. One review even stated: “I bought it to experiment some changes in my own home but it’s nearly impossible to do so.”

The most questionable thing is that Architect Life already has DLCs. The Supporter Edition includes the base game plus two content packs: the Sketch House Pack (for artistic 2D/3D illusions) and the Hobbies Pack (for leisure-themed rooms). You can also buy these DLCs separately. This game is part of NACON’s “Life” series, which has generally received mixed reviews.

In the end, it’s worth trying if you enjoy creative, relaxing building games like The Sims and love designing homes with extensive customization. But, if you’re sensitive to bugs, prefer deeper mechanics, or want more from a game, this one might not be for you. As one reviewer put it: “Good game for making floorplans, general layouts and and somewhat measurements.”

The post Should You Give Architect Life: A House Design Simulator a Try? first appeared on IndieGames.

In Bambas!, the streets of a lively coastal town become your playground, just like when you were a kid and every sidewalk or puddle sparked an adventure. The game’s unique controls let you move each sneaker on its own using your gamepad’s sticks and triggers. But it’s not just about strolling. You’ll need to dodge crosswalks, kick cans, balance on curbs, and nail tricky jumps to complete hundreds of challenges.

Each success unlocks a wardrobe of customizable sneakers, letting you style your kicks with flair as you leave your mark on the town. The game’s story unfolds naturally through environmental storytelling: graffiti, forgotten objects, and meetings with characters.

The post Unique walking simulator Bambas! launches next week on PC and consoles first appeared on IndieGames.

The action in Bullets & Brains never stops, constantly forcing you to dodge zombies while wielding a variety of weapons. As you defeat enemies, they drop resources like brains and energy. You collect these to unlock upgrades, improve your gear, or unleash powerful special attacks. With unique characters offering different abilities and starting weapons, you can choose diverse playstyles and build strategic teams.

Cooperative gameplay is a big deal in Bullets & Brains, making it great for playing with friends. It supports two-player local co-op and sharing resources and using defensive tools together is crucial for survival when enemies overwhelm the screen. Teamwork does indeed add the needed depth, encouraging planning and communication to tackle the hardest challenges.

The post Kooperativna pucačina sa zombijima Bullets & Brains izlazi sljedeći tjedan za PC i konzole first appeared on IndieGames.

Date Everything! is the dating sim I never knew was possible. It features 100 unique characters, each with their own personality and voice. Imagine trying to befriend, make an enemy of, or fall in love with 100 individuals. But here’s the twist: these aren’t real people. They’re actually anthropomorphic objects in your house. From your dishwasher and soap to a shadow or even the air in your vent, there’s a huge variety of “things” to talk with.

While the story in Date Everything! is somewhat forgettable, it’s always present, centered around trying to understand the Dateviator glasses you wear, who made them, and their history. Eventually, you’ll discover how to turn objects into real humans, but I won’t spoil that part. My biggest issue, however, is that the game is tedious. It’s made worse by a lack of proper accessibility options, and its user interface and menus are difficult to navigate. Much more on that later.

Simple gameplay, but interactions can sometimes feel a bit shallow

The game’s point-and-click exploration involves navigating a 3D home. Moving between rooms is straightforward, but some objects are hard to spot due to cluttered areas or unclear prompts. Also, the game doesn’t clearly tell you how important interacting with objects without the glasses is. For example, you can clog the bathroom sink to talk to the water, or use the thermostat to talk to the air, but the game never hints that these actions are possible.

The first few hours of Date Everything! are spent simply finding all the dateable objects, even the hidden ones. After that, you’re free to explore every dialogue option. Everything is up to you: if a character doesn’t suit you, be rude; if you like them, try to romance them. However, Date Everything! keeps things quite simple. Your choices don’t significantly affect the ending dialogue, and it often feels like what you say doesn’t matter much.

For instance, no matter what I said to a character named Airyn (who is literally air), she seemed to find everything incredibly rude. I was then given only three response options, each pushing me further down a “Hate” path regardless of my choice. I’m still not even sure how we ended up hating each other, or if she just generally despises humans. This “Hate” can essentially be a “lose” condition if you upset a character too much, stopping you from reaching their ending. Thankfully, a limited candy resource found later can help turn hatred back into friendship.

You’re not meant to like every character; the game is about finding your favorites based on your own personality. You can choose from male, female, and queer options. However, you will be “forced” to meet every single character to finish the story. Each dialogue offers its own drama, unique plot, and special way of interacting, so there’s genuinely a lot to see. But looking back at the interactions, they can sometimes feel a bit shallow.

“Little Crapper the rapper he knows how to go! Plumbing and drumming are both about flow!”

There’s so much content to dive into

Each object in Date Everything! offers roughly 15–30 minutes of dialogue, meaning the 100 objects combine for about 20–40 hours of content. Finishing a route unlocks a “Date Scrapbook” entry, giving you more lore and replayable cutscenes. Some characters feel fully developed, while others don’t. Similarly, some relationships unfold over many interactions, while others quickly lead to “friends or lovers” questions. You’ll find yourself skipping conversations with characters you simply don’t want to engage with, which is fine, but highlights the uneven quality.

It also features S.P.E.C.S. (Smarts, Poised, Empathy, Charm, and Sass). These attributes add up when you complete a character’s story and are used to unlock special dialogues. However, I find this system very flawed. For example, you might enter a conversation early in the game only to find a character requires 65 Sass. How are you ever supposed to get that so early? Perhaps the game expects you to finish one dating arc before moving to the next.

The game lacks basic visual novel features like text logs or auto-play. Navigating through roomers (quests or tasks) is incredibly tedious too. There are also only few sliders to sort by newest, name or by number (1-100), and there’s no clear indicator of your relationship level beyond “hated”, “loved”, or “just friends”. While I can’t blame the developers given the sheer amount of content, the experience isn’t fully satisfying. Plus, the movement controls are wonky and not as smooth as they should be.

“I did it becuase you’re hot, Luna.”

Totally worth your time (you can finally date a toilet)

My biggest positive is the game’s content warning mechanic. If you’re not comfortable with sexual content, trauma, or health issues, you can skip those character arcs. This probably covers about 15% of the game, so you won’t miss much by doing so. Another huge bonus is the spectacular voice acting. It’s brilliant, without a doubt, and probably the best part of the game. With talents like Mela Lee (who voices the bed) and Allegra Clark (who voices Lamp) bringing emotional depth, even absurd characters like Toilet feel relatable. Every character is just visually unique and distinct.

This is one of the few dating sims that will actually keep you hooked. It’s not just the dialogue, but how interesting each character is. Who knew a toilet could rap so well? Or a treadmill could be so aggressive? Or even a pirate ship in a bottle could be so funny and unique? This game truly has it all, and you likely won’t be disappointed by diving into its details. I believe its strength lies in the sheer number of characters, which keeps it from ever getting boring.

In the end, Date Everything! is a fun, lighthearted fun for players who enjoy absurdity, but it’s likely not for those seeking a much more deeper narrative. It’s slightly disappointing that there isn’t much to do once you complete the dating phases with each character, nonetheless, I wholeheartedly recommend this dating sim game.

“With the bedroom voice… it suddenly feels like you’re in a dating sim.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

4

The post Date Everything! – Voice acting masterpiece with a light narrative first appeared on IndieGames.

Sandfall Interactive recently shared on their social media, saying: “We’re currently exploring a wide range of future improvements.” The hint at “new content” suggests possible DLC to expand the game’s universe. They’re also considering broader localization options to reach more players, though they noted no timelines or details are set yet.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 follows the volunteers of Expedition 33, a group racing against time to stop the Paintress, a mysterious entity who awakens yearly to paint a cursed number on a monolith, wiping out everyone of that age. With a mix of turn-based combat and real-time moves like dodging and parrying, it offers a fresh RPG twist, drawing inspiration from classics like Final Fantasy and Persona. It earned a 92% critic score on OpenCritic and a 9.7/10 user rating on Metacritic, marking it as one of 2025’s top games.

One possibility is exploring the war between the Painters and the Writers, a conflict teased in the main story but left mostly unexplored. Fans are also eager to learn more about the Dessendre family, whose connection to the Paintress could spark a new tale. New content could uncover the fates of past expeditions, building on the notes and journals scattered throughout that hint at their tragic stories.

Clair Obscur already features the Endless Tower, a challenge mode testing combat skills, so new content will likely focus on story-driven additions. Sandfall’s lead writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, last month in an Instagram Q&A also said: “If players really want it, we’d love to add more, and with the reactions so far, the chances look good.” While the studio has focused on polishing the base game, their openness to DLC mirrors the strong fan demand, with over 95% positive Steam reviews from 83,623 players as of June 2025.

The post Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 could soon get new content first appeared on IndieGames.

Echoes of the End follows Ryn, a young woman with unstable magical powers, on a desperate quest to save her brother as an empire teeters on the brink of war. Alongside Abram Finlay, a troubled scholar, Ryn uncovers a conspiracy that risks unleashing an ancient conflict and plunging Aema into chaos. The story, driven with themes of trust, sacrifice, and redemption, unfolds across ten hand-crafted chapters filled with cinematic moments, memorable characters, and choices.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5 and full performance motion capture, Echoes of the End comes to life with a talented cast, including Aldís Amah Hamilton as Ryn and Karl Ágúst Úlfsson as Abram. Combat blends magic and steel, letting you master fast-paced swordplay with Ryn’s powerful magical abilities to face human enemies and monstrous foes.

Epic boss battles call for strategy and skill, while Ryn’s powers also help solve puzzles and overcome environmental challenges by manipulating gravity, casting illusions, and reshaping the world around her.

The post Cinematic Adventure Echoes of the End Brings Iceland’s Magic to Life, Launching This Summer on PC and Consoles first appeared on IndieGames.

Rescue Ops: Wildfire places you in control of an authentic fleet of firefighting vehicles, including fire engines, helicopters, and water bombers. You’ll navigate to incident sites, rescue trapped civilians, clear forests with specialized equipment, and tackle flames head-on using immersive water hose systems. Every decision matters as you coordinate tactical support, such as calling in aerial water drops or setting up defense lines to contain the fire’s spread.

The game features two modes: campaign and sandbox. The campaign mode drops you into fire season with diverse wildfire scenarios across vast, real-world-inspired locations. In sandbox mode, you can test your skills against bigger, unscripted wildfires. Exkee has big plans for the Rescue Ops franchise. Wildfire is just the beginning, with the studio looking to expand into urban fire operations and other emergency rescue jobs.

Rescue Ops: Wildfire is set to release in late 2025 for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, and Xbox consoles.

The post Rescue Ops: Wildfire might just be the game to ignite a new era of firefighting sims first appeared on IndieGames.

In Pathologic 3, you play as Daniil Dankovsky, a doctor called The Bachelor, who arrives in a remote steppe town hit by a deadly plague. With just 12 days to stop the disease, Dankovsky must diagnose patients, issue decrees to guide the town’s future, and uncover dark secrets. The surreal time management system, explained by Ice-Pick Lodge’s Nikolay Dybowski, brings a fresh twist to the series, letting you reshape the story where every choice matters.

Unlike Pathologic 2, which focused on the Haruspex, Pathologic 3 highlights The Bachelor’s intellectual approach, emphasizing medical strategy over combat, though the trailer teases tense moments with a pistol in infected zones.

The post Pathologic 3 Time-Bending Mystery Shines in New Trailer at MIX Summer Showcase first appeared on IndieGames.

Video games, alongside sci-fi films, are finally exploring themes of clones, or your alternate selves. 11 bit studios has delivered a truly unique game, The Alters, opting for a realistic yet diverse mix of elements to make the gameplay loop meaningful. This blend includes survival, base building, resource management, exploration, and interpersonal relationships, all supported by a compelling narrative with a dash of adventure. The core premise involves moving a mobile base while fleeing a deadly sun, creating a constant sense of urgency. Meanwhile, you strive to understand and calm your Alters, adding necessary emotional depth to otherwise mechanical tasks.

Once you start playing, you’ll simply get lost in that world. Whether it’s due to the stunning graphics (notably, the game has been delayed several times), the abundance of content awaiting you, a love for surviving on harsh planets, or the fact that it’s a more open game that doesn’t hold your hand, offering tasks but leaving the solutions up to you, there’s plenty to draw you in. Moreover, it feels like you’re “role-playing” as the story keeps pushing you forward. The narrative unfolds through several interconnected layers, from uncovering the planet’s mysteries and the element Rapidium, to deciphering the motivations and plans of various side characters, and ultimately learning more about yourself through your relationships with your Alters.

Base management and resource gathering

As can be inferred, since the base occasionally relocates, your survival is key, which involves gathering resources on the planet. Initially, you collect metals, fuel, rare materials, and food yourself, but over time, you’ll gain the ability to cultivate certain items. It’s crucial to locate deposits, build mining facilities, and connect them to the base via transport pylons, creating engaging environmental puzzles. You can then assign these tasks to your Alters, each bringing their own skill sets, for example, they can quickly craft tools, build rooms, research new technologies, or even argue and influence each other.

However, a challenge arises here. The base’s modular design allows for room reconfiguration, but this can become disorienting as the base grows. Key rooms, like the communication center, are hard to find without memorizing the layout, especially when your screen is cluttered with countless items and you’re unsure of the ideal base design. Additionally, there’s a lot of micromanagement involved, it’s not simple; you must initiate certain processes for tasks to repeat. The constant scarcity of resources and ticking clock create high-pressure scenarios, especially during magnetic storms that halt exploration and damage the base, or when you’re still figuring out how to combat anomalies reminiscent of those in Stalker.

Managing Alters and social dynamics

Clones like Jan the Technician, Jan the Scientist, Jan the Miner, or Jan the Botanist aren’t just workers, they’re fully developed characters with unique backstories, skills, and emotional needs. Each Alter’s personality stems from a key life choice, such as standing up to an abusive father, directly affecting their work ethic, mood, and interactions with others. You’ll even see mood bubbles pop up to instantly show if you’ve picked the right dialogue. Instead of good communication, you can also tease or argue with them.

You can manage their moods through conversations, gifts, or activities like beer pong, which unlocks new dialogue options or reduces the chance of rebellion. Ignoring their needs leads to conflicts, impacting productivity and survival. On the other hand, the “branching screen” feature stands out, visually mapping key decision points where Alter personalities diverge, as well as defining moments in each Alter’s life that shaped them. It’s fascinating how each character has a detailed story to explore, despite being the same person.

Of course, the story won’t focus solely on the Alters but also on the actors who brought you to this unknown planet. You’ll communicate with Earth characters, dive deeper into the narrative, understand why you’re the sole survivor of your team, and grasp the importance of the metal Rapidium. Expect plenty of intrigue and humor, along with the chance to ask yourself rhetorical questions.

Planet exploration and technology

Exploration occurs from a third-person perspective, with Jan navigating alien landscapes using tools like a grappling hook or a makeshift gun to combat radioactive anomaly clusters that cause radiation damage. These encounters are simplified, requiring you to aim a torch-like weapon at the anomalies until they disperse, serving more as environmental obstacles than complex battles.

Movement includes light platforming, such as descending cliffs, but Jan’s controls can feel clunky at times. I’m unsure why his movement isn’t smoother, or at least feels like we’re on a planet with different gravity or no oxygen, leading to awkward turns and stumbles. Invisible walls prevent falls but limit jumping and reduce exploration freedom. While visually impressive, the planet can feel empty depending on the perspective, with repetitive ores and shapes. Though biome variety is limited, what’s available is aesthetically appealing. The Alters lacks true combat; it focuses on management, survival, and your skill in handling these aspects.

What personally captivated me are the technologies and the ability to craft various items. It’s not just one thing to build, everything is interconnected. Want a device to destroy obstacles? You’ll need to gather resources. Want to mine metal faster? You must research that technology, looping through various tech levels. The tech trees are well-designed, logical, and offer plenty without distracting from the core experience: uncovering mysteries and building relationships with Alters. The refinery system and gradual unlocking of new prototypes and blueprints are engaging, ensuring things don’t stay the same.

Does the game run smoothly?

Given that the game is built on Unreal Engine 5, it’s surprising it runs smoothly at all, though there are moments where optimization falters. For instance, returning to the base or unlocking a new planetary area can cause brief stutters. It’s clear the game performs well on high-end machines, but how it fares on other platforms is hard to say. There were no major issues, and it’s impressive how well everything is crafted considering the vastness of the world, possibly because the planet feels quite empty, making such optimization less surprising.

Beyond that, the voice acting by Alex Jordan deserves praise for delivering an outstanding performance across all versions of Jan, convincingly bringing each iteration to life with unique personalities and attitudes. Portraying ten variations of the same character is no easy feat, but he nailed it. On the other hand, Jan’s character models and his Alters are expressive, with subtle differences in appearance (hair, posture) and animations reflecting their personalities. However, some scenes use static storyboards with voice narration, which feels low-budget compared to the game’s in-world visuals and detracts from the overall impression.

Well-written story that won’t disappoint

To wrap up, I’d highlight a few key points. The survival elements in the game don’t feel like a grind, thanks to accelerated time during resource extraction, making it all about efficient time and team management. If you’re expecting a classic survival sandbox, this isn’t it. The game is primarily driven by a strong narrative, constantly giving you goals to achieve with some freedom in how you approach them. At the same time, it’s not just about moving from one end of the planet to the other, you need to prepare well for upcoming threats.

You won’t lose anything by trying it; in fact, you can play it via Game Pass, so there’s no need to second-guess its value. After 20 to 30 hours of gameplay, you’ll realize how special The Alters is and how, after the weaker impressions of Frostpunk 2, 11 bit studios can truly create something commendable when they’re motivated and free to experiment.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4.3

The post The Alters – An Unconventional Adventure with Narrative and Survival at Its Core first appeared on IndieGames.

As someone new to the series, I dove into Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark with no expectations. This sequel changes from a straight-line “Classicvania” to a full Metroidvania with a bigger, connected world. It’s a 2D action title with great pixel graphics and voice acting that matches the detailed characters. In this game, you play as demon maid sisters Kirika and Masha. They must travel through the Demon Realm to bring back their master, Demon Lord Maxim, by finding his bones and beating the rival Demon Lord Lyzenorg.

The combat is solid, but it doesn’t stand out in any special way

The combat system is cleverly built around the interplay between Kirika and Masha. Kirika, a ranged fighter, uses a submachine gun for distant attacks and a shotgun-like blast while dodging, but she needs to reload her ammo. Masha, a melee specialist, wields a thorny vine whip with a satisfying three-hit combo, alongside magical sub-weapons like summoned spiders. You can swap between the sisters instantly in solo play, or control one each in co-op mode.

Sub-weapons, which are found in chests or dropped by enemies, consume Demon Points (DP) and offer diverse effects, from grenades to auto-targeting swords. Additionally, the “Sister Rescue” mechanic lets you revive a fallen sister by reaching her corpse. However, combat pacing suffers on normal difficulty due to repetitive enemy types and overly easy encounters; some sub-weapons also feel unbalanced. It doesn’t help that enemies are easily stunned out of their attack patterns. Once you learn their moves, like the Grim Reaper teleporting behind you, encounters become very simple.

Each boss fight has many stages. For example, a spider boss might first use web traps, then call small helpers, and finally fill the room with poison. The game has over a dozen bosses, from rival Demon Lord Lyzenorg’s helpers to creepy, gothic-looking creatures like dragon maidens, and moving statues. These fights happen in special areas made for each boss, often with environmental dangers that make battles harder.

Some bosses have shields that only Masha’s whip can break, while others need Kirika’s precise shots to hit weak spots from far away. As mentioend, in co-op mode, you and a friend each control one sister. This lets you attack at the same time, making fights quicker, but it needs good teamwork. Bosses also often need special sub-weapons to stop their attacks or do extra damage. For example, you might use ice grenades to freeze a lava-spitting dragon or homing swords for enemies in the air.

“The combat system is cleverly built around the interplay between Kirika and Masha.”

Exploration is really confusing

Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark has a big, connected map with different areas like castles, forests, and lava zones. You explore to find Maxim’s bones, hidden chests, and Demon Relics. These relics unlock new areas and abilities, like double jumps or air dashes. The map is also easy to use even while moving, showing rooms you’ve explored, chests, and save points.

However, moving around can be confusing. The game doesn’t tell you much about where to go or how to use sub-weapons to get past obstacles. This lack of guidance often means frustratingly going back, and there aren’t many fast-travel points. Some areas feel plain or same too, with confusing paths and dead ends that slow down your exploration.

Maxim bones can be traded at the throne room for stat boosts and new abilities, encouraging more in-depth exploring, but it’s often slowed down by needing to go back to the castle, usually without easy fast-travel. While Demon Relics and sub-weapons offer some ways to customize, the upgrade system feels too simple. The game also has three difficulty modes: Casual, Veteran, Legend.

The visuals are a bigger strength here than the gameplay. Kirika and Masha look great, with distinct designs: Kirika has a cool, crimson look, while Masha shows off green, playful energy. Enemies are diverse and detailed, blending gothic and anime styles, and the art style echoes Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with its colorful, sometimes suggestive touches. Additionally, excellent Japanese voice acting really stands out here, adding a lot of charm to the characters.

“The visuals are a bigger strength here than the gameplay.”

Solid Metroidvania that doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking

I didn’t run into any bugs or issues with the game; it felt like a pretty average Metroidvania to me. The biggest selling points are probably the graphics and voice acting. However, with odd fast-travel options and combat that’s just okay (even if the characters themselves are fun), this game might not be for everyone. Since I haven’t played the first game, I can’t compare them, but this sequel was neither disappointing nor amazing.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.3

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