2025-05-03: Ob5cure 5tuff I Played Recently

Sometimes I feel quite melancholic wondering whether I'll ever come across what would be my favourite game ever. At least I've come across these six.

Harold's Walk

Remember Automaton Lung? Harold's Walk is an earlier Nintendo 3DS exploration collectathon by the same developer, remade and expanded for its PC release, and, unsurprisingly, it shares quite a few traits with its successor that I really quite like. It's a smaller, shorter, rawer, more arcadey game than Automaton Lung, but the creativity and unorthodox approach to game design are still there, giving it that wonderful indie lo-fi personality.

Grey Area

Grey Area is the best 2D platformer I've played in quite a while. Slick, satisfying, and responsive movement, a well-tuned level of difficulty that's just frustrating enough to push me to keep going but not to quit in anger (ymmv here, of course), a well-executed aesthetic that does justice to both the cute and creepy elements, and plenty of secrets and collectibles tucked away to reward the player who's interested in exploring off the marked path. It's not perfect, mind; I have some issues with how jerky the camera can be sometimes and the inconsistent way saving works, but it's minor stuff. I wish all platformers felt this good to play.

Land of Artificial Jellies

Remember ULTRAFUN? Developer Alex Horatio started off making fairly ordinary-looking arcade games, but as of ULTRAFUN's release in 2023 they seem to be reinventing themselves as a developer of quirky and genre-defying experimental little playthings, with Land of Artificial Jellies being their most recent release. It's... Well. It's not entirely inexplicable, a strange melding of a few different game archetypes you'll easily identify looking at the store page screenshots, but it's unusual in a uniquely low-key sort of way - sort of like Lion Quest Infinity, thinking about it. I don't recommend playing the game for a challenge, or a story, or a mind blowing gameplay experience, but because it's just... Unique.

Tux and Fanny

I spent days trying to come up with a summary of this game that captured how I felt about it, and, to be honest, I'm drawing blanks. It's a unique hauntological exploration adventure that feels like it's an adaptation of a long lost children's cartoon, comfy and eager to share the beauty it sees in the world, without feeling overly saccharine or infantilising. You'll walk around, interact with things, play various minigames of varying lengths and aesthetics and gameplay styles, and then eventually the game will end. There are no real stakes, there is no real pressure. It's the most earnest slice of life mood piece I've ever played.

Deios I // Director's Cut

It's not often a game comes with a manifesto included, and even less often does it credit legendary schizophrenic developer Terry Davis (creator of the divinely-inspired TempleOS) as inspiring their own philosophy on the intersection between the digital and the spiritual. It wouldn't be incorrect to describe Deios as a boss rush 2D arena shooter, but it is predominantly an esoteric and experimental art piece which eschews game design orthodoxy in favour of very very potent vibes. It's abrasive, it's unusual, and through its offbeat prose and unique (and sometimes stunning) visuals, it comes across as, true to the manifesto, an oddly TempleOS-like work of personal expression influenced by faith.

Tempus Bound

Tempus Bound is a somewhat enigmatic 2D... platformer, I suppose? It's not much of a test of skill, but the audio and visuals are atmospheric and very striking, delivering a wordless, interpretive narrative in a distinctly dreamlike fashion. Secrets, multiple endings, and some unorthodox design choices that sometimes make it hard to tell when the game is janky on purpose or by accident.


In these tumultuous times of new console releases and industry-wide price hikes, remember to support your local indie devs. They make cooler games than your Bethesdas and your Nintendos I tell you what!!