Author: Obsidian

Vae Victis! Woe to the Conquered! For over two decades, the Legacy of Kain franchise has languished in agonizing purgatory. Boasting arguably the greatest writing and voice acting in the history of the medium, the saga of the vampire lord Kain and his betrayed, wraith-like lieutenant Raziel ended on a massive cliffhanger in 2003’s Legacy of Kain: Defiance. However, actually going back to play the original Defiance on modern hardware was a nightmare. Between abysmal keyboard controls, zero native gamepad support, and a highly restrictive, cinematic fixed-camera system that made basic platforming an exercise in sheer frustration, the game was…

A Risk Worth Taking In the current AAA gaming landscape, the arcade racing genre has largely been distilled down to a single, hyper-safe formula: the open-world festival. While games like Forza Horizon are undeniably gorgeous, they often lack the bite, mechanical depth, and sheer attitude of mid-2000s classics like Burnout 3: Takedown or Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Enter Screamer. Developed and published by Italian racing veterans Milestone S.r.l., Screamer is a game that practically defies modern market logic. It is a full-priced, $60 linear arcade racer featuring an unabashedly edgy cyberpunk-anime narrative, a brutal difficulty curve, and a completely…

If you have been paying any attention to the Steam storefront over the past few months, you have likely noticed a specific publisher logo popping up on a remarkably wide variety of titles. Indie.io has been on an absolute tear in early 2026, scoping up and publishing some of the most creative, bizarre, and mechanically deep independent games on the market. While the AAA space continues to rely on safe bets and live-service treadmills, the indie scene remains the wild west of game design. Over the last couple of weeks, our team sat down to play through a massive chunk…

The Gravity of the Situation The city-builder and colony-sim genres have experienced a massive boom over the last decade. We have managed freezing survivors in Frostpunk, orchestrated planetary logistics in Dyson Sphere Program, and guided beavers through apocalyptic droughts in Timberborn. But eventually, the core gameplay loop of zoning districts and waiting for progress bars to fill becomes overly familiar. Enter ALL WILL FALL. Developed by All Parts Connected and published by tinyBuild, this post-apocalyptic survival sim drops tomorrow, April 3, 2026. The premise is grim: the world has been overtaken by an endless ocean, and you must lead a…

Why Are Digital Chores So Much Better? Let’s address a fundamental mystery of the human psyche: why is cleaning your actual house a miserable, soul-draining chore, but cleaning a digital house in a video game is one of the most therapeutic experiences on earth? If my landlord saw how much effort I put into meticulously organizing a virtual artist’s workshop this week, he would probably evict me on principle. Released just a few days ago by Come On Studio and published by tinyBuild, Hozy is the latest entry into the rapidly expanding “cozy renovation” genre. The setup is simple: after…

Entering the Domain of the Flame Princess The character action genre is notoriously difficult to break into. For years, giants like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and NieR: Automata have completely dominated the space, setting an incredibly high bar for combat fluidity and visual spectacle. When an indie studio attempts to step into this ring, it usually results in a clunky, overly ambitious mess. Thankfully, the Taiwan-based development team at Crimson Dusk did not get that memo. Released on March 4th, Homura Hime is an anime-inspired 3D action game that has been quietly racking up a “Very Positive” reception on Steam.…