Itchmas in July #2 (July 2023)

It's back! Let's celebrate the summer with some free and short games from Itch.io. Nominate up to two games and we'll do a poll and play the six games (or more if there are voting ties) that got the most votes, reveiling once new game per day. Rules are the game has to be available for free on Itch.io

Please nominate your games here as I will create a seperate thread for the regular GotM event.

I'll nominate some games I haven't played but look interesting this time...

Battle of Windows (itch, HLTB)
Nonsense at Nightfall (itch, HLTB)

Gonna nominate franken and Devil Express

Here's a collection of the Itchmas games that have won in the past: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/R2D21999/lists/131/Itchmas-Winners

Now as far as my nominations,

Chip-Boi

Baba Files Taxes

I'm gonna go with

Off Day
and
Boat

can't wait for July !

Here are some itch horror games that may or may not be bad that I will nominate

The Roach Apartment
https://dizzyharestudios.itch.io/the-roach-apartment

Sauna2000
https://moyahorror.itch.io/sauna2000

Neko Yume
https://modus-interactive.itch.io/neko-yume

Here are my nominations
W.W.II Operations: Desert Front - https://warlines.itch.io/wwii-operations-desert-front
Mushurt - https://coraline-pinkparty.itch.io/mushurt

Here are some itch horror games that may or may not be bad that I will nominate

The Roach Apartment
https://dizzyharestudios.itch.io/the-roach-apartment

Sauna2000
https://moyahorror.itch.io/sauna2000

Neko Yume
https://modus-interactive.itch.io/neko-yume

Oh, damn. I didn't know someone made a game about my apartment. You know who'll get my vote!

My nominations:
userID - A short, glitchy puzzle game.
Spring Breeze - A 3D birdflight action adventure.

- Matt

I'll Nominate

Hypnagogia (HLTB)
Pin Puck (HLTB)

https://hwilson.itch.io/cleaving-caliber - Breakout style action game, visuals inspired by NES titles.

https://skinner-space.itch.io/lighthouse-of-the-dead - FPS On-Rails shooter; inspired by House of the Dead

Both games are free with donation options.

I'll nominate:

Red Trees
Friendly Fire

Am I allowed to shamelessly nominate my own games?

Snow Bash - Snowball Fight Simulator 2023 - Local PVP, Windows/Mac/Linux/Browser - 2 minute gameplay

yeats - Yeet Earth At The Sun - Single Player, Windows/Mac - 15-30 minute gameplay

Here are some itch horror games that may or may not be bad that I will nominate

The Roach Apartment
https://dizzyharestudios.itch.io/the-roach-apartment

Sauna2000
https://moyahorror.itch.io/sauna2000

Neko Yume
https://modus-interactive.itch.io/neko-yume

Hi, since it's only two nominations per person, is there one title you'd like to drop? If I don't get a reply I'll simply take the first two. Thanks! :)

Current nominations for Itchmas in July #2:

Baba Files Taxes (R2D21999)
Battle of Windows (erictbar)
Boat (Caphral)
Chip-Boi (R2D21999)
Cleaving Caliber (CerosTheSkyPirate)
Devil Express (kyriaki)
Franken (kyriaki)
Friendly Fire (Siver)
Hello Charlotte EP1: Junk Food, Gods and Teddy Bears (brnzen)
Hypnagogia (knalb)
Lighthouse of the Dead (CerosTheSkyPirate)
Liminal Ranger (brnzen)
Mushurt (HyPo)
Nonsense at Nightfall (erictbar)
Off Day (Caphral)
Pin Puck (knalb)
Red Trees (Siver)
Snow Bash (JernauGurgeh)
Spring Breeze (Cock)
userID (Cock)
WWII Operations: Desert Front (HyPo)
Yeet Earth at the Sun (JernauGurgeh)

Like last year, I created a Itch Collection with all the nominations in it :

https://itch.io/c/3437000/itchmas-in-july-2-july-2023

Updated list with Calbon's choices :

Baba Files Taxes (R2D21999)
Battle of Windows (erictbar)
Boat (Caphral)
Chip-Boi (R2D21999)
Cleaving Caliber (CerosTheSkyPirate)
Devil Express (kyriaki)
Franken (kyriaki)
Friendly Fire (Siver)
Hello Charlotte EP1: Junk Food, Gods and Teddy Bears (brnzen)
Hypnagogia (knalb)
Lighthouse of the Dead (CerosTheSkyPirate)
Liminal Ranger (brnzen)
Mushurt (HyPo)
Neko Yume (Calbon)
Nonsense at Nightfall (erictbar)
Off Day (Caphral)
Pin Puck (knalb)
Red Trees (Siver)
Sauna2000 (Calbon)
Snow Bash (JernauGurgeh)
Spring Breeze (Cock)
userID (Cock)
WWII Operations: Desert Front (HyPo)
Yeet Earth at the Sun (JernauGurgeh)

Itch.io Collection : https://itch.io/c/3437000/itchmas-in-july-2-july-2023

Poll for the Itchmas event : https://strawpoll.com/jVyG8VQj9n7

Itch.io collection to easily browse all 24 nominations : https://itch.io/c/3437000/itchmas-in-july-2-july-2023

The results are in! There will be 10 games in the event this time.

The first game is Friendly Fire, available here: https://eduke.itch.io/friendly-fire

So finished Friendly Fire can't say I was all that impressed tbh. The humour didn't hit for me and I found the controls to be rather stiff. The powers ups also were rather weak (only basically powering up your jump). It did have multiple endings but I hit the first and that was enough for me. I'll write up a quick review shortly

The 2nd game is Neko Yume !

I suspect most will not particularly like Neko Yume due to it's abstract and bizarre nature, but I personally have had fun with it. It's quite interesting to do multiple runs of the game an see what changes occur, such as cat pngs littering every square surface of a map, or a cat rocketing into the sky and forming a cat firework. Also, as a heads up for those interested in the game, It's easiest to get around the various dreams by bumping up against a wall for multiple seconds, from where you will be randomly transported to another area with various other changes in store. I have a full write up on the game in one of my recent blog posts about the Haunted Ps1 Demo Disk collection for anyone interested.

..well that was weird is that suppose to be a take on that LSD game from ages ago. Basically that but with cats (Cat spider rising from the sea). Not sure what I think of it as it was more unusal then anything else. Be better if it had mouse functionality though

I was positively surprised by Friendly Fire. The control scheme was a bit annoying to get used to, but I liked a lot of the pixel art/character design and thought some of the writing was pretty funny. There was also more hidden stuff to explore on the map than I expected, which also leads to the multiple endings. Another thing I didn't expect.
I got ending B on my first playthrough, and then I went back to see if the sequence break meta character that's softlocked in a cave would lead to an ending of its own. So, I got ending C as well, which was super quick but actually had me laugh out loud.
I thought this game was neat.

I also put 45 minutes into Neko Yume and the LSD Dream Emulator inspiration is of course undeniable. The psychedelic exploration is pretty fun to me and some of the visuals were pretty cool. There is also apparently a collectible element of hidden things of which I only managed to see one.
It's nice for what it is but not something I'd go back to.

- Matt

I played Friendly Fire and it was decent, though the controls feel a bit stiff. I got ending E because I didn't trust that fire... That took quite a darker turn than I expected. I don't really feel like going back to the other endings but I respect the amount of stuff you can do for such a small game.