Hello indie gaming friends!
October was a pretty relaxed gaming month for me. I am part of two monthly gaming clubs, Geeks and Grounds and The Cozy Gaming Club (Discord link), but for October I wasn't playing either of their games. One I wasn't interested in (Signalis - let me know if you think I should play it) and the other I've already played (Night in the Woods), so this meant I was free to play whatever I liked.
As I'm sure you know, sometimes making a decision when you have a huge backlog (and Game Pass) can be a bit overwhelming and you end up spending your time scrolling through titles rather than playing them.
So what did I decide to play?
Recently I've been playing... Creatures of Ava
Creatures of Ava is a beautiful creature capture/collection game. The Withering is taking over and we're here to rescue the animals of Ava before they become extinct. This isn't the first time humans have been on Ava though, and the local people (the Naam) aren't particularly pleased to see us. The previous humans left in a hurry, and didn't clean up after themselves.
To rescue the creatures you'll need to remove the infection and tame them first. This is done with a special song you'll learn on your flute. Once you've tamed them they'll be able to help solve some puzzles and are willing to be rescued. You can pet every species too, which is very cute!
Creatures of Ava is quite a beautiful game and the world of Ava is fun to explore, but the rescuing component didn't really feel right to me. One character called it our abducting creature mission, which felt a bit more accurate.
I haven't finished the game yet, so I'm hoping the lesson is that displacing animals and people is not cool and we work on saving Ava rather than relinquishing it to the withering.
I played Creatures of Ava on Xbox PC Game Pass, but it's also available on Steam and Xbox.
November New Release!
14th November
Grandpaw was once an avid adventurer, but now his memory is failing him.
Take your own adventure to Petit Island to relive Grandpaw's journey but make some memories of your own.
Make sure to take a lot of photos of people, animals, everything! So you have something to share with Grandpaw when you get home.
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21st November
Borgo Marina is the perfect summer getaway spot. Sun, sand and fun!
But, mystery is afoot! Using your trusty magic chronolens, piece together the evidence and help Diana solve the mystery.
Solving crime is tough work! So, make sure to hang out and relax a while too.
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26th November
Cafe management sim with cute critters and magic portals!
Jump through magic portals and solve puzzles to find, and rescue, cute critter friends.
Then customise and manage your cafe how you like and let your critters and customer relax together.
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Less than 10 - Capslock
Did you know that the majority of games released each week have less than 10 reviews? That is hundreds of games with reduced visibility on Steam! Let's change that with this featured game.
Do you love that feeling of building your own mechanical keyboard and finding the perfect keycaps? Now you can have that feeling over and over with Capslock!
Capslock is a mechanical keyboard shop simulator. Decide what you want to build, choose your board colour and switches, even whether it is wireless or not! Then get creative with your keycaps. Once you're finished you can sell your keyboard to earn money to make another!
Capslock is currently in Early Access, so it isn't feature complete yet, but it does have enough to be fun. The main thing it is lacking so far, for me, is a creative/freeplay mode. I asked the devs and they have confirmed creative mode is coming soon!
So, make sure to take a look and wishlist it keep updated with their progress.
Do you know a game with less than 10 reviews? Reply and tell me about it!
One last thing!
I got back into Bluesky again after the most recent exodus from Twitter. Are you over there too? Be sure to follow me for even more indie gaming discussion.
You've made it to the end of the newsletter! Have you found something excellent to play this month? Let me know what it was!
Until next time,
Sarah
