PikPok recently announced the latest entry in the Into the Dead series: Our Darkest Days, which is planned to launch on Steam early access sometime in 2024. Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is a sidescrolling zombie survival game set in God’s blessed land of Texas in the glorious year of 1980 (yeah, editorializing a bit). Are you prepared to
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What’s the “key” to his success? (Kill me) Earlier this week, the crowdfunding campaign for Compass Comics’ horror graphic novel Ghosts of Matecumbe Key crossed the blessed six-figure threshold, raising more than $100k while available in-demand. Written by and illustrated by Graham Nolan (Detective Comics, Monster Island), Ghosts of Matecumbe Key is the third book in the loosely connected “NolanVerse”
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No Sleep Press recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for issue 5 of Dirty Work at the Crossroads, a 32-page comic book. The Indiegogo campaign follows a successful run on Kickstarter, so this is a second chance for those missed out the first time around or prefer Indiegogo as a crowdfunding platform. Set in a post apocalyptic future, Dirty Work at
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How are you gentlemen! All your Toaplan shooters are belong to Bitwave. Publisher Bitwave Games recently announced that the first wave of four classic Toaplan shoot ‘em up titles is coming to Windows PC on 14 February 2023 (Yep- St. Valentine’s Day). Here’s the list of the games and Bitwave Games’ official announcement trailer from Steam: Today we’re pumped to
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It’s short for Isabelle, methinks. Publisher Ratalaika Games recently released the retro-inspired 2D platformer Intrepid Izzy for modern consoles.* Developed by Senile Team, Interpid Izzy started its life as a small-scale indie project for the SEGA Dreamcast successfully crowdfunded in 2017. While the game is fairly light on plot, the titular “Intrepid Izzy” seems to be some kind of explorer who happens
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No, it’s not a new ad campaign by Balenciaga… it’s The Continuing Adventures of Pillowman & Blanketboy! On Monday, Shaun Davis launched a crowdfunding campaign for The Continuing Adventures of Pillowman & Blanketboy issue 1, a 28-page superhero story aimed at readers of all ages. Co-written by the father and son team of Shaun and Parker Davis and featuring illustrations
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A totalitarian government has taken control of its people’s lives (not based on actual events)… time to start slashing! Game publisher The Arcade Crew recently announced that action platformer Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is planned to release on 12 January 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and PC. Developed by JoyMasher, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is inspired by the 2D action games of
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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of all dancing sugar plums, fairy type or otherwise. In 1992, “Batmania” was in full effect. The success of Tim Burton’s Batman film in 1989 had reignited mainstream interest in the Dark Knight, what followed was a marketing blitz of toys, school supplies, breakfast cereal, and every other piece of cinematic synergy that
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Independent comic book creator and YouTube personality A. S. Rivera (aka Literature Devil) recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Dr. Alpha: Dead Man’s Lullaby Vol 1, a 70+ page graphic novel intended for mature readers. Written by Rivera and featuring illustrations by Preston Asevedo (aka The “Good” Preston) and colors by Oliver Lee Arce, Dead Man’s Lullaby serves as a
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A “mostly peaceful” rampage across the city. On Friday, publisher Digerati released the retro-inspired monster destruction game Terror of Hemasaurus for Xbox consoles. The game is already available on PlayStation and PC, and a Nintendo Switch version is planned for 12 January. Developed by Loren Lemcke (Super Blood Hockey), Terror of Hemasaurus is inspired by the arcade “smash ‘em ups”
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Braly Image Group recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Private American, a 66+ page graphic novel set against the current US border crisis. The project is fully funded, having raised nearly $38 thousand at the time of this writing and still available in-demand.* Written by Mike Baron (The Punisher, Nexus, Thin Blue Line) and featuring illustrations by Richard Bonk (Superman,
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I don’t know what she’s saying, but she’s speaking my language!
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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of everything frankincense and myrrh. Today we’re going to torture ourselves yet again with another disappointing Christmas comic book: The Thirteen Days of Christmas: A Tale of the Lost Lunar Bestiary. Published by DOGSTAR Press in 1998, The Thirteen Days of Christmas is written by David Quinn and illustrated by Kristen
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Independent comic book creator and The Fourth Age founder R.J. Shaw recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for The Valiant Heroes, an 82-page action adventure anthology. The project is already fully funded, having raised more than $7 thousand at the time of this writing. Written by R.J. Shaw and featuring illustrations by multiple artists, The Valiant Heroes is a part of
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“Dodge his punch, then counter punch!” Vanilla Gaming Company has developed a free demo for their upcoming boxing parody game VanillaBeast: Retro Knock-Out! To get access, you need to join the VanillaBeast Discord Channel here and type the command “!BetaKey” and a demo key will be dropped in your Discord DMs. Inspired by Nintendo’s 80s classic Punch-Out! (or Mike Tyson’s
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Why does Santa always need saving? #TropesVsSanta Indie game developer and publisher Dionous Games recently released their 2D adventure game Watch Over Christmas for Xbone, SeXbox, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. The game was released on Steam PC last holiday season. Inspired by classic PC adventure games, Watch Over Christmas features point-and-click controls, a colorful, 2D art style, and fully
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Deus Vult! On Monday, the development team at Hell Yeah! released their strategy game Voyna: Virtual Holy Wars via Steam Early Access. A turn-based PvP strategy game at heart, Voyna’s most unique selling point is an original gameplay mechanic called “Contrarium.” Here’s the official breakdown of Voyna: VHW from Hell Yeah! Voyna is set in a distant future where fragments
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Death by a thousand paper cuts! On Monday, publisher Thunderful has joined forces with the developers at Space Lizard Studios to release Paper Cut Mansion for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation consoles. The game released on PC and Xbox this past October. all of the well-kept secrets in this roguelite horror puzzler. In Paper Cut Mansion, players must use their wits
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Grappling. Hook. On Monday, publisher Playism released the final demo for Rusted Moss, a “grappling hook based metroidvania game” (or “grapplevania” – kill me). Developed by faxdoc, happysquared, and sunnydaze, the full game is expected to release in February 2023. Despite the wait, the good news is that your save file for the Rusted Moss demo is fully transferable to
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Cute & Shute! Game publisher JanduSoft recently announced that the upcoming horde shooter Kawaii Slime Arena is slated to release on Nintendo Switch in North America on 22 December. The Japanese version for PS4, PS5 and Switch will release a week earlier on 15 December. Developed by Mitsuki Game Studio, Kawaii Slime Arena puts players behind the trigger finger of
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On Monday, publisher XSEED Games revealed a new trailer and additional screenshots for upcoming RPG, Loop8: Summer of Gods, which is planned to release in spring 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbone and Steam PC. Developed by SIEG Games with Marvelous Inc., Loop8 is a narrative-driven RPG with turn-based mechanics and a time-travel backdrop. Here’s the official breakdown of Loop8
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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s festive holiday extravaganza that celebrates all things Yule. But you want to know what won’t be celebrating the season along with us? The Sun Runners Christmas Special by Amazing Comics. Not only did it mark the end of the Sun Runners series in 1987, but it had absolutely zero to do with Christmas or the Holiday Season
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Over the weekend, publisher MUTAN released the 3 vs. 1 party game Goonya Monster for Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Steam PC. It was also revealed at INDIE Live Expo Winter 2022 that there is a special 10% launch discount for a limited time. Nothing says party like grabbing a few friends to separate the heads of the undead from their
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Capybaras in a spaceship… RODENT POWER! Nah, that doesn’t sound quite right. Anyway… Independent comic creator Gilbert “Gilly” Deltrez* recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Galactic Rodents of Mayhem – Rat-Trap, a 32-page, oversized comic book (with 8.5” x 11” dimensions) starring a badass group of anthropomorphic capybaras. Written by Deltrez and featuring illustrations by Sebastian Navas, Galactic Rodents of
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Jesus Christ… video game star… Game publisher PlayWay has released a free prologue for the upcoming first-person adventure game, I Am Jesus Christ. The full game is expected to launch on Steam Early Access sometime in 2023. Originally announced in 2019 and developed by SimulaM, I Am Jesus Christ is an interactive first-person game that virtually leads players through the
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Publisher Hamster has announced that Tetris: The Grand Master is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Arika in 1998, this is the first time that Tetris: The Grand Master will be available on a home console (though a later version – Tetris: The Grand Master Ace
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As distinct from “The Autumn of Man” A.G.E. Comics recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Fall of Man issue 1, a 25-page sci-fi book set in a post-apocalyptic world. The project is already fully funded, having raised more than $900 at the time of this writing. Written by Paul Byrd and featuring illustrations by Benjamin Worrell and colors by Jimmy
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Never thought I’d write a headline quite like that… Microids Indie has announced the release date for Scrap Riders on Nintendo Switch and Steam PC. It’s 9 January. Developed by Games for Tutti, Scrap Riders features both point ‘n click and arcade brawler mechanics, all wrapped up in a pixel art visual aesthetic. You can check out the full breakdown
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Gesundheit. ININ Games has announced that the retro-inspired brawler Jitsu Squad will be available on 9 December for PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. A digital-only release for Xbox is planned for a later date. Developed by Tanuki Creative Studio, Jitsu Squad is a 2D beat ‘em up featuring unique character designs, a hand-drawn 2D visual aesthetic, online and local co-op
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But who is creating the book? Zade Studios recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Beckoned: Recourse, a 32-page fantasy comic book intended for a Teen (and up) audience. Written by… erm, and illustrated by… well, the campaign doesn’t say, but after a heads up in the comments, it looks like Jeremy Thevenot is both writer and artist.* In any case,
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