Author: Flare

Clocking In to the Abyss There is a universal, inherent creepiness to working the graveyard shift. When the rest of the world is asleep, the environments we usually consider safe—office buildings, gas stations, and empty parking lots—transform into liminal, hostile spaces. Developer Arzolath® understands this deeply. Released late last month for the incredibly accessible price of $4.99, Night Clerk is a first-person psychological horror experience that weaponizes the mundane. You play as Daniel Mercer, a young man working the night shift at a failing roadside motel in the spring of 1970. Currently sitting at a “Mixed” rating on Steam, the…

Congratulations, You Are Expendable In the crowded landscape of indie gaming, finding a truly addictive gameplay loop is like striking a vein of pure gold. In 2022, Dome Keeper perfected a very specific, high-stress formula: dig down for resources, rush back to the surface, and defend your base from waves of alien horrors. Now, developer fluckyMachine and publisher Fireshine Games have flipped that formula on its head—literally. Released earlier this week, ITER-8 tasks players with drilling up instead of down. Set in a bleak, satirical corporate sci-fi universe, you play as Operator #8, an entirely expendable employee of the ITER…

The Ultimate Dopamine Trap Incremental “clicker” games and psychological mascot horror are two genres that, on paper, should mix like oil and water. One is designed to lull your brain into a state of deep, satisfying automation, while the other exists solely to keep you on edge. Yet, independent studio Get(Color) Games has managed to perfectly synthesize both into Berry Bury Berry. Released in late January 2026, this bizarre, first-person adventure drops you into a walled-off, highly saturated low-poly garden with a simple directive: grow berries, and throw them into a giant, ominous hole. With an “Overwhelmingly Positive” consensus across…

A Pit Stop for the Brain At 27, living with my parents definitely has its perks, but spending my entire Tuesday morning drafting up a formal $8,000 annual rental agreement to present to them has left my brain completely fried. When the logistics of adulting become too much of a headache, all I want is a low-stakes, pick-up-and-play arcade racer to decompress. Enter iRacing Arcade, released today on Steam. Developed by Original Fire Games—the brilliant minds behind the top-down indie darling Circuit Superstars—and published by the undisputed titans of competitive sim racing, iRacing, this title seemed like a slam dunk.…

A Bloody Good Travel Companion Before I pack my bags for San Francisco later this week, I need to lock in a solid game for the flight. Between the long hours walking the floor at the Game Developers Conference and eventually winding down in my room at the Westin St. Francis, an engaging, pick-up-and-play handheld title is practically mandatory. Seeing that Carmageddon: Rogue Shift recently snagged its official Steam Deck Verified badge, it felt like the perfect candidate for some mindless, hyper-violent stress relief on the go. Released last month by Italian developer 34BigThings srl (the team behind the blistering…

I Want to Believe For the past few years, the cooperative horror genre has been entirely dominated by the paranormal. We have hunted demons, identified poltergeists, and hid in closets from revenants. But what if the thing bumping in the night isn’t a restless spirit, but an extraterrestrial visitor? Enter UFOPHILIA, a first-person psychological horror game released in January 2026 by k148 Game Studio. It asks a simple question: what if Phasmophobia, but aliens? You play as an investigator obsessed with UFO phenomena, traveling to remote locations to track, identify, and photograph extraterrestrials. When the game fires on all cylinders,…