Attract Mode Issue 1

17 May, 2024

Welcome to the first spot of Attract Mode! I’ll highlight old, new and upcoming, lesser known (hopefully) indie games that I’ve come across. Notably I have not played them (most I plan to or in some cases have dabbled in the demo for); it's a collection of games that have caught my eye and look interesting to me!

A gif from the game Agujero. The UI is segmented into 3 columns, leftmost featuring a HP bar, a diagram of the character and their inventory; while the middlemost features a first person view of the character sliding down a churning, dark hole. Underneath is a portrait of the character and the arrow controls. On the right is a depth meter showing the player's position underground.

Image via Agujero Itch.io Page

Agujero

A very entertaining, roughly five minute long jam game about going down a hole. There’s some real freaks down there. Every aspect of it, the UI, general appearance of the art and music, as well as writing all come together to make for a very punchy, snappy experience. Surprisingly funny too.
Attraction: Visually caught my eye with it’s thumbnail on itch.io and seeing that it is a very concentrated jam game where you only really need to input one button did interest me further (technically you use the mouse to choose ‘dialogue options’ too but for the most part it is down, down, down ya go).

A screenshot of the game Saturnalia. A low camera angle looking up at a eerie Italian castle. One of the playable characters is walking up to the gates of it with a light in their hands illuminating the surrounding area.

Image via Saturnalia Presskit

Saturnalia

Set in regional 1980s Italy, you play as a cast of characters in this mystery-horror game navigating your way through a labyrinthine city that shifts its own layout upon death of the party. Strong focus on the characters and the setting, keeps you clued into the puzzles and mysteries of the place with a chart that evolves and updates as you discover pathways, shortcuts and answers to mysteries, almost similar to Outer Wild’s Rumour Map. Seems a little ambitious if janky but otherwise a fairly interesting time by opting to focus on the navigation and being chased parts of horror games.
Attraction:The predominately two-toned, stop motion and rotor-scoped look of the game really helps it stand out, while the multiple player characters further intrigues. Somewhat initially reminiscent of Illbleed but not so much at the same time.

A gif from Isle of Sea and Sky. The main character is pushing a block, which has a mirrored version of it opposite the character that reflects the movement. They are shown solving the puzzle and collecting a star as they complete it.

Image via Isle of Sea and Sky Presskit

Isle of Sea and Sky

Isle of Sea and Sky is an open world, non-linear puzzle-focused adventure game (yay!) which is all about pushing blocks. That’s right folks it’s a “sokoban” type game! Otherwise seems to be a fairly chill, more contemplative and approachable puzzle game with a neat oceanic setting. I’m intrigued by how the non-linearity will work with the story and keeping the puzzles feeling fresh too.
Attraction:Initially saw it in the IGF 2024 finalists earlier this year, which usually means it’s pretty damn good stuff. Also, if you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know how sokobrained I became while deep in Void Stranger so of course something that also is of a similar vein is going to attract me.

These were originally posted onto my tumblr blog and are mirrored here.
Some editions may differ due to editing.