obscure game of the month
dev..: Freshly Baked Games LLC
genre: music, surreal, walking sim
links: itch.io / steam
price: free/pwyw
Screenshot from The New Flesh. It depict a vast field covered in green and black stripes, reminiscent of the album cover for Another Light. A white sun floats in the distance.

The New Flesh is an atmospheric exploration game based on the music by alternative / psychedelic rock band Red Vox (you may know them from their vocalist and guitarist, vinny vinesauce). It's kinda like a collection of interactive music videos, which you can explore via beautiful surrealistic locations. Apart from the music the game itself is also just really good, definitely check it out if you like weird walking sims with many secrets and collectibles. Plus the game is free to play :^)

Red Vox is probably my favorite band of all time (or at least my favorite non-metal band), so it goes without saying that this game means a lot to me. If anything i highly recommend checking out their music - it's fucking phenomenal.

dev..: mrdrnose (EternityDev)
genre: simulation, horror, atmospheric
links: itch.io
price: free/pwyw
Title image from Voices of the Void; it depicts a large satellite dish in front of a starry sky, overlaid with the game title.

Now, i know this game it's that obscure, but it is one of my all-time favorites so i can't not recommend it. For those who're unfamilliar, votv is a game where you collect signals from outer space in an isolated lab in Switzerland. The more days you spend researching, the weirder things get; ranging from something leaving grafitti on your base, to the fucking sun disappearing.

The thing that makes votv so excellent imo is that it is really, really good at building suspense. Most of the time you're just chilling on your own collecting signals and going about your day, but then every once in a while you catch glimpse of some alien horror beyond our human comprehension. Suddenly you know you're not alone, there is Something out there watching you, but you can't even begin to understand what it is - and worst of all, no-one else believes you. Basically it feels like those low quality alien/cryptid sighting videos, expect now you're the one experiencing them and slowly going insane.

Also it has cute aliens :3

dev..: Scrib-dev
genre: walking sim, atmospheric, dreams
links: itch.io
price: free/pwyw
Screenshot from Clockwork Dreams. It depicts a dream world of islands floating in space.

This month's game is Clockwork Dreams, a game originally made for LSDJAM 2020, and reworked for LSDJAM 2024. It's a walking simulator where you explore 30+ of the developer's personal dreams, inspired by Yume Nikki and LSD: Dream Emulator. Now, i'm a bit biased because i really love dream exploration games, but imo this game is genuinely really fun and well made! The environments are all very pretty & interesting, and each time you come back to a world it is never quite the same, since they change with multiple modifiers. The only critiques i have is that sometimes it's hard to tell which objects link you, and the orbs are a bit too difficult to find. Still, Clockwork Dreams is a very unique and detailed game that i highly recommend checking out!