Indie Highlight
Aug 16, 2023
Assemble with Care is a charming puzzle game with a rich, evocative story. You play as Maria, a world-traveling antiques restorer. She’s recently arrived in Bellariva, a sun-soaked town full of problems. Maria doesn’t know just how broken the town is until she dives into the lives of the inhabitants.
It’s Maria’s job to repair the broken items the townsfolk bring her, but she can’t help but delve into their personal lives too. Assemble with Care is all about fixing what’s broken, and you and Maria will do just that. Not only will you work to repair the sentimental items of the townsfolk, but you’ll learn about their emotional lives and come to love their quirks. Fix their beloved items as well as their relationships with each other!Available Now!
Assemble with Care is now available on Steam and Apple Arcade!
If you want another charming, relaxing game with similar vibes, check out A Little to the Left!
- Aug 10, 2023
Alpaca Rancher is a sweet 2D game where you raise alpacas! This casual life sim lets you explore the world where you’ll meet fun new characters. They’ll even assign you quests. Discover helpful items that make traveling easier, and even find some zen locations perfect for relaxing in.
While you explore Alpaca Rancher, you’ll come across all sorts of stylish alpacas. Help them find a cozy home by taming them and taking them to your ranch. Take care of them by feeding, brushing, and shearing them. You can then sell their wool so you can buy upgrades to your farm buildings.
Also spend time foraging for food, seeds, and other resources while you explore Alpaca Rancher. You’ll be able to plant those seeds on your farm to grow a variety of crops. Water them and use fertilizer to help them grow into the highest quality food. Feed those crops to your alpacas to help them grow higher quality wool, which will earn you more money.
Create a cozy and prosperous little ranch where your alpacas will be happy!
Coming Soon
Alpaca Rancher does not have a release date listed. However, you can find it on Steam, where you can add it to your Wishlist.
Want another creature collection game? Check out Bug & Seek, a bug catching game.
- Aug 10, 2023
Welcome to the planet of Utopia No 8, where your dreams come to life! This adorable sci-fi style MMORPG with toy-like characters has a ton of features. Team up with friends to create a social circle. Gather resources together, even communicate via audio chat. Or if you’re not a chatty person, you can befriend people through the mini-game rooms.
Start by customizing yourself by choosing from thousands of clothing options, plus dyes to create the perfect look. Get a hold of the design script, and you can even design your own styles! Utilize your gathered resources to make clothing, as well as furniture, and food. Then, open a shop of your own to sell your creations or build an entertaining amusement park instead. Utopia No 8 lets your creative ideas come to life, whatever they may be.
You’ll also be able to pick a piece of land to build your own home on. Then, design it and decorate it however you want! Go for a warm, inviting space, a cozy gamer’s paradise, or anything else! Utopia No 8’s decorations are functional, too, so don’t forget to interact with them to find out what they do. Don’t forget to decorate the garden, either. You’ll be able to craft a lush outdoor space for you to enjoy, as well. You’ll also be able to engage in farming and animal husbandry, as well as caring for an orchard and greenhouse plants.
As for players who don’t want to be social, Utopia No 8 has you covered. You can befriend and raise your very own pet called PIYA. This pet is a reliable resource collector, as well as the perfect social companion. You and PIYA can even go to the Arena to have a friendly match against others!
Coming Soon
Utopia No 8 is coming to Steam soon. Early Access is supposed to start in November 2023, followed by a release in 2024, and a full release in 2025. You can find the roadmap here on the Utopia No 8 website!
Check out Palia, in the mean time!
- Aug 9, 2023
Slothtopia is a charming family-friendly life simulator where you play as a sloth! Start by customizing your very own character. You’re in control of the colors, hair, gender (with a pronoun write-in available), name, and more! Customization options don’t stop there, though. You can dress your sloth, as well as beautify the island and your home by placing decorative items around town or in your house. Create the perfect place for you.
You’ll farm, fish, build relationships, and even catch monsters in Slothtopia. Natural resources are abundant, and the sea is where you’ll find fish and adventure. Grab your trusty boat and spend the day on beautiful ocean waters fishing up tuna to serve for dinner, or feed the island’s monsters. You can even fish the island’s lakes! The villagers rely on farming to survive, too. Sow your fields, plant seeds, water the plants, and harvest your crops.
As for the monster’s, the island of Slothtopia has a bunch of them. Don’t worry, they’re friendly and more like service animals once you tame them. You’ll need to feed them fish to keep them happy, but you can also pet and train them. Training them will level up your relationship and its abilities. Once they’re trained, you can send your monsters on tasks to catch fish, farm, or even romance that special someone.
Speaking of romances, Slothtopia has many friendly villagers that are your friends and family. They’ll assign many of the tasks you’ll complete, as well as help you with completing them. They’re powered by intelligent AI to give you immersive and dynamic conversations. Spend time getting to know them, level up your friendships, and even start a romantic relationship!
Coming Soon
This adorable game will be available in 2024 on Steam! You can add it to your Wishlist now to keep up with it.
- Aug 3, 2023
Aquarium Designer is a realistic-looking fish tank crafting game. In it, you’ll receive orders from customers like restaurants, hotels, or rich businessmen and you’ll need to create a fish tank based on their preferences. Of course, you’ll need to meet the requirements for the fish, too! As you complete orders, you’ll earn money you can use to buy new elements to upgrade your designs. Pick from a variety of plants, rocks, other decor, and fish. You’ll have access to angelfish, bettas, goldfish, and many more.
You get to choose from two different creation modes in Aquarium Designer, too. Realistic mode is perfect for those looking for a bit of a challenge. Fish and plants can die, plus water quality deteriorates with time, even when the game isn’t active. Casual mode lets you design without the worries of losing fish, plants, or water quality. It’s perfect for when you just want to relax and craft beautiful aquascapes.
Aquarium Designer is available now on Steam!
For more relaxing games where you build or create, check out Garden Life or even Tiny Glade, where you create architectural beauty!
- Aug 2, 2023
Desktop Virtual Pets
Remember back when desktop computers were chunky, took up a whole desk, and ran Windows ‘95? I do. In fact, my family kept that computer for decades longer than we should have. It still ran, but mostly sat and collected dust as we moved on to sleeker laptop options. There’s a lot of nostalgia surrounding that giant computer, though. From the screaming dial-up internet tones, to using the AOL browser, and all the fun that machine brought, I remember it fondly.
My favorite part, though, was the desktop pets and companions you could download. There were tons to choose from, too. There was Catz and Dogz for those who wanted a real pet, but couldn’t. You fed, watered, and played with your canine or feline fiends. There was even an adorable little sheep. Or, if you were the working type, perhaps you even used Bonzi Buddy who could talk to you, send emails for you, search the web, tell fun facts, and more!
Werydlets Brings The Nostalgia
Now, there’s Werydlets! While not quite the same as that cute little sheep who would run around your desktop, or Neko who would chase your mouse wherever you moved it, Werydlets does exist on your desktop. Choose from Wagyu, a cute little dinosaur, Mochi, who looks like a jackalope, and Gyoza, a sweet little cat. One of them is all yours to care for. You’ll feed and take care of your new little pet by collecting food, toys, and grooming tools. Even pet, tickle, and throw your pet around their habitat!
When you idle, your pet will dig around its island to gather resources like Shinies and Prisms, which can be used to buy more items to enrich their life. Werydlets also lets you dress up your pet, as well as decorate a home! Use stickers, accessories, and ornaments to make your pet even cuter. Then, collect furniture and decor to customize your house.
Coming Soon
You can find Werydlets on Steam. The roadmap lists July as the early release, and August as the first live event. Steam lists it as “coming soon”, so hopefully we do get it in August!
Speaking of virtual pets, have you seen that Neopets is making a grand comeback? You can check out the news here.
- Jul 27, 2023
Create the City of Your Dreams
Heard of the Story? is all about forging your very own medieval town. With the help of your townspeople, you’ll embark on an adventure to transform a few sticks and pebbles into a beautiful, flourishing city. Or, you can sit back and watch as the townspeople live and thrive on their own!
All of the villagers in Heard of the Story? are highly intelligent AI who really feel alive and self-aware. Not only will they help you build your city into the perfect cottagecore village or bustling castle town, but you can watch as they discover their own passions, spread rumors, and even tell some interesting stories to each other. You can even form friendships with them.
In order to build up your dream city, you’ll need to cooperate with your villagers in gathering resources. Explore the mountains and forests beyond the city to find fruits and treasures, as well as other profitable items. Heard of the Story? even lets you discover and nurture your own craft! Discover new recipes through some creative genius or learn from the villagers. Specializing into a role, such as blacksmith, opens up new necessary items for you and your city. Once you’ve mastered the trade, perhaps start your own guild, too!Coming Soon!
Heard of the Story? is coming to Steam and will be available August 17th.
The Wandering Village and Gourdlets are a couple of other great city-builders!
- Jul 27, 2023
Was wandering around your island and traveling to other islands in search of all the different bugs in Animal Crossing your favorite things? Did you take joy in collecting each one to turn into the museum for the living bug display? Then Bug & Seek might be for you!
Catch Bugs and Revitalize the Museum
You’ve just sunk your life savings into buying the rundown, abandoned insectarium with the lofty dream of restoring it and refilling it with varieties of local bugs. The museum in Bug & Seek was once the lifeblood of the town, but someone stole the bugs in the dead of night. Now it’s up to you to hone your bug catching skills and breathe life back into the place.
Bug & Seek has over 175 different real-life bugs for you to capture. Ranging from super common, to some of the most rare bugs to exist, you’ll have a long list of exciting species to look for. You’ll find them throughout the cozy world of Buggburg. Visit the sandy beaches, dark caves, lush forests, saturated wetlands, and even the local university. Each bug comes with a humorous tagline and informational description so you can learn about them, too. Once you’ve captured a bug, take it to your museum to put it on display.
At the museum, you have total control over everything. You can choose from different wallpaper, flooring options, even the tanks you’ll display bugs in come in a variety of options. Expand the museum and build new wings as your collection grows. Bug & Seek even allows you to change your wardrobe and upgrade your tools to make bug catching even easier.
While you’re running around Buggburg, get to know the locals, as well. Bug & Seek has over 17 townspeople for you to meet. They’ll give you missions to complete, and reward you with new gear, items, secrets and gossip, and maybe even haiku. Maybe you can even solve the mystery of the Great Bug Heist!
Coming Soon!
Bug & Seek is coming to Steam sometime this year! There is currently a demo available, and you can add the game to your Wishlist to keep an eye on it.
For more creature collection games, check out Cassette Beasts, Alekon, and Monster Harvest.
