PARIS (Oct. 6, 2025) – Piece of Cake studios is excited to announce the full release of its co-op survival horror game, Dark Hours, on Oct. 23 on Steam and Epic Games Store for $14.99. This one-to-four player thriller throws players into a high-stakes heist, soon derailed by a chilling supernatural twist. After selling over 500,000 units in Early Access, Dark Hours now arrives in version 1.0, bringing fresh horrors and polished gameplay. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208570/Dark_Hours/
To mark the occasion, Piece of Cake studios has released a short teaser video revealing the official release date and setting the tone for the horrors to come. Watch it below.
This multiplayer survival horror experience for 1 – 4 players lets you play as thieves pulling off a daring heist inside haunted places. When your break-in is disrupted by a supernatural event, you and your team of robbers are now trapped with an evil entity. Forget your plan, your mission is to survive. Explore and cooperate to find a way out.
For the complete rundown of the features and content in the 1.0 release, see the summary below:
Eight monsters with their exclusive abilities and weaknesses
50+ heist items: heist kits, various hacking and remote-control devices, EMP Holy & Ice grenades, flare gun, entities scanners and GPS trackers, instant cameras and more
60 maps across five environments: Auction Houses, Casinos, Museums, Nuclear Power Plants and Cruise ships
12+ mission objectives to plan your heists around
Three mafia factions to build your reputation across and unlock exclusive items and customizations
Four difficulty levels, including the Nightmare mode
100+ customization items
Various deadly puzzles, traps & minigames
PvPvE mode where two teams of robbers compete against each other
Three fun extra game modes: Golden Rabbit, Curling and Red Light Green Light
Crossplay and friends online system
If you’d like to interact with other Dark Hours fans and speak directly with the development team, please join Piece of Cake studios’ official Discord server here: https://discord.com/invite/pieceofcake
About Piece of Cake Studios
Piece of Cake Studios is an independent French video game development studio based in Paris. Founded by experienced professionals, Piece of Cake creates cooperative and multiplayer video game experiences. In addition, the studio is also diversifying through its label “Piece of Cake Fabulous” to offer new experiences centered on management, simulation and/or strategy games set in imaginary worlds. Piece of Cake Studios on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or on the website.
Use cards and glyphs to rend secrets from silence, but beware – your questions may be your undoing in this card-based narrative-horror adventure
NICOSIA, Cyprus – Oct. 6, 2025 – CRITICAL REFLEX, the publisher of peculiar and enthralling video games, and equally eccentric indie developer Bastinus Rex are enchanted today to bring you CARIMARA: Beneath the Forlorn Limbs, a new narrative-horror experience about ghosts, goblins, and the anxiety of asking too much. Now available for $4.99 plus an additional 10% launch discount on Steam, CARIMARA is short and sweet, beatable in roughly one hour. But this retro-tinted romp has more than a few twists, turns and mysteries lurking in the shadows.
As the Carimara – a small, magical being – your goal seems simple: summon a ghost. But it’s not as easy as shouting incantations – especially because you’re mute. What you do have, however, is the gift of conjuring questions. Use cards adorned with mysterious glyphs to communicate, listen to what characters have to say, and pay attention to the details, but be careful – ask the wrong questions and you may wind up another mystery for the ages…
Inspired by medieval Normandy folk legend and classic cinema alike, CARIMARA’s world and art design are immediately gripping and memorable, with highly detailed low-poly graphics, hand-crafted visuals and stop-motion animations. This short but impactful journey promises plenty of sordid secrets to unravel and sinister forces better left undisturbed. There are no foes to battle here – just riddles wrapped in candlelight.
Features
A unique story-driven horror experience inspired by obscure Norman folklore that can be finished in a single play session
Explore, observe and choose your path forward with point-and-click mechanics and a card-based dialog system
A love letter to nature and old cinema blending low horror and dark fantasy, with distinct retro style, stop-motion animations, and handmade textures and sounds
A solo developer from Normandy, France, where folk tales shape one’s childhood and enhance their imagination to eventually make something like Carimara: Beneath the Forlorn Limbs.
About CRITICAL REFLEX
CRITICAL REFLEX is an indie game publisher obsessed with genre-blending, rule-breaking, brain-melting games. We help devs polish the weird, sharpen the wild, and launch their projects loud. Known for titles like Buckshot Roulette, Lunacid, Mouthwashing, and No, I’m not a Human, we champion the unforgettable experiences. Genre is a prison and we ate the warden.
Sophisticated tools help shop owners to organize and optimize their storage, while a new set of customers is waiting in the wings
Oberhaching, Germany, October 6, 2025 – The trek with fresh supplies was supposed to arrive in September, but a sandstorm in the desert caused some disorientation for the coachman and a little delay. But like Billyboy Shakespeare from the Old Country once said: “All’s well that ends well!” And this trek ends very well. SunDust, a label of German publisher Toplitz Productions, is excited to announce the release of the next major update for Wild West Supermarket Simulator.
While the previous updates were focused on bugfixes and usability improvements, now a heavily requested gameplay feature will be introduced that will change the way you allocate your inventory: Shelf management. Not only can you define the goods that your faithful helpers will restock. Now you are also able to utilize the cupboards and cabinets to their fullest and store items behind the safety of doors, so you have the hottest selling wares always in reach.
Your shop success also made the headlines across statelines and lured a whole new wild bunch of customers in. Get ready to welcome new NPCs entering your shop, looking for great prices, a great selection and even better service. Speaking of selection: If you are missing the occasional licence to sell the most demanded goods, pay a visit to the licence dealer, who just moved into town. And in case you miss the money to pay for his services, you will certainly enjoy the new rewards you can collect for participating in the minigames like the shootout range or the bread baking.
Also included in this update are additional bugfixes, quality-of-life improvements and balance optimizations. The next milestone on the roadmap will give you and your store even more options to set up the perfect shopping emporium, as you will be able to hire more workers, will be able to set up shelves in the storage room and have access to an improved order book.
Wild West Supermarket Simulator is available for PC in Early Access on Steam, GOG.com and Epic Games Store. More information can be found on the respective store pages. Or join us on Discord, so you don’t miss out on anything noteworthy on the game.
About SunDust SunDust, a label of Toplitz Productions, focuses on charming indie games with a lot of heart and soul. The spectrum of casual-oriented titles ranges from user-friendly simulations to exuberant party games as well as other accessible and entertaining game concepts. At SunDust, indie studios with character can find a stage to give free rein to their creative ideas, personal flair and individual style.
Hinako’s home life might not be easy but it gets even worse when she finds out that her small town has been consumed by a strange fog. Now we must contend with puzzles, strange monsters, and even a boss fight all while more questions build-up and a mysterious fox-faced man continue to appear in our first time with Konami’s Silent Hill f.
SILENT HILL f – Gameplay
SILENT HILL f marks a chilling new chapter in the iconic horror franchise, developed by NeoBards Entertainment and published by Konami Digital Entertainment. Set in 1960s Japan, the game transports players to the unsettling fog-shrouded town of Ebisugaoka, inspired by Kanayama in Gifu Prefecture. You step into the shoes of Hinako Shimizu, a high school student who discovers terrifying transformations, sinister memories, and malformed monsters lurking beneath the town’s beauty. Written by acclaimed author Ryukishi07 (Higurashi, Umineko) with creature and character design by kera, the story delves deep into psychological horror rooted in Japanese folklore.
Featuring music from Akira Yamaoka and Kensuke Inage, SILENT HILL f blends eerie soundscapes with atmospheric environments to evoke tension at every turn. Prepare for a heavier focus on melee combat, stamina-based evasion, and counterattacks, alongside classic Silent Hill staples like haunting puzzles and resource scarcity, making survival a tense, nerve-racking experience. Slated for release on September 25, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows (Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store), this standalone installment redefines horror with its uniquely Japanese identity and spine-chilling narrative.
SILENT HILL f Developer: NeoBards Entertainment Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC Release Date: September 25, 2025 Price: $69.99 USD
Recommended – “Silent Hill f reinvents the series with Japanese folklore, chilling replay value, eerie puzzles, and flawed but fresh survival horror gameplay.”
Forge your enchanted weapons and change the destiny of the entire kingdom! – Steam release on November 18th at $11.99!
Heir to a legendary blacksmith, you take the reins of an astral forge suspended above the conflict-ridden lands of Korendor. Manage your magic forge, fulfill contracts, and influence wars or alliances with your craftsmanship and alchemical spells. Master the resource market, upgrade your workshop, and become the most renowned legendary blacksmith in the kingdom!
Namur, Belgium, October 3, 2025: Clever Trickster is delighted to announce the release date of its second game, Magic Forge Tycoon, a casual fantasy management game. The game will be available in Early Access on Steam this November 18, 2025, for $11.99 with a launch discount of 20%! Version 1.0 is planned for €14.99.
After the vampiric satire of Blood Bar Tycoon, which transformed bloodlust into a biting metaphor for organic capitalism, Clever Trickster returns with a new strategic parody: this time, geopolitical conflicts are at the heart of the gameplay.
No stance is taken, but a subtle and absurd critique is served in a colorful and irreverent universe. True to its trademark, the studio delivers a cartoonish world on the surface, but one traversed by darker mechanics, without ever falling into ideology. The studio offers a strategic playground where humor serves as a mirror to power dynamics and where the player laughs… while wondering if they haven’t crossed a line without realizing it.
In Magic Forge Tycoon, every hammer blow shapes history. Manage your astral forge, craft enchanted weapons, and decide the fate of warring kingdoms. Will you fuel conflicts or forge peace through your creations?
Master the economy, fulfill the demanding contracts of sovereigns, and inscribe your name among the greatest blacksmiths!
Master the art of forging
Select the best weapon schematics, adjust every parameter, and apply perfect enchantments for unparalleled quality.
Find the perfect balance between style and robustness to create exceptional weapons.
Increase productivity to optimize your output and create masterpieces worthy of kings.
Develop and upgrade your workshop
Purchase new technologies to accelerate production and refine your creations.
Upgrade your forge to unlock advanced crafting techniques and increase your production capacity.
Invest in research to discover new weapon designs and alchemical ingredients.
Use exotic ingredients to create philtres and influence the kingdoms to whom you sell your weapons.
Control economy and trade
Buy and sell materials on a dynamic market influenced by wars, alliances, and resource scarcity.
Build up raw material stocks, anticipate price fluctuations and kingdom conflicts to get the best deals.
Manage your resources wisely, as bad investments or shortages can cost you dearly!
Influence wars and politics
Fulfill contracts for rival factions and observe how your weapons reshape the balance of power.
Accumulate Favor Points to unlock better contracts, political advantages, and exclusive forge bonuses.
Establish trading outposts in strategic regions to extend your influence.
Increase your reputation with the kingdoms to gain exclusive advantages.
Become the greatest blacksmith in the kingdom!
Magic Forge Tycoon blends intuitive gameplay with deep management mechanics in a living, reactive world. Develop your forge, master trade, and discover how your creations shape the destiny of nations. Forge your legacy in fire and steel!
Ludovic Mahieu (CEO, Game Director)
Ludovic Mahieu, co-founder of Clever Trickster, enthusiastically commented: “Game Dev Tycoon has always held a special place in the hearts of our team members. It’s brilliantly accessible yet incredibly rich in depth. For my part, I’ve always been deeply inspired by Heroic Fantasy, especially by classics like Dungeons & Dragons and Naheulbeuk, which greatly influenced my art director and me. Combining these shared passions was the driving force behind Magic Forge Tycoon. I sincerely believe that passion is the cornerstone of creating extraordinary games!”
Why did you use AI in the game production pipeline?“The use of AI tools to help us develop the game faster was not unanimous within the team. Unfortunately, given the current economic situation, we had to finance the game from the studio’s own funds. AI allowed us to generate initial drafts that could then be reworked by the team, thus optimizing our time and development costs. My conviction as studio manager is that these tools are here to stay and that we must integrate them intelligently into our pipelines so as not to be left behind, while maintaining a strong artistic identity. The challenge is therefore to optimize without betraying our creative vision. Keeping a studio afloat financially is not easy and it’s a daily struggle.”
Virginie Maréchal (COO, Producer)
Virginie Maréchal, co-founder of the studio, adds: “At Clever Trickster, we like to create accessible games, light in appearance, but which always hide a deeper meaning. It’s not our role to be standard-bearers or to take a stand, but we find it important to address themes that echo our reality. We like the idea that games can serve as a mirror of the world, especially today.”
“Magic Forge Tycoon is a joyful, colorful, frankly funny and light game… and yet, we almost forget that we are managing an arms trade, with very real consequences for the warring kingdoms. Do we support peace? Perhaps. But at what cost on the ground? Who really benefits from our decisions?”
“This kind of discrepancy, between tone and substance, is something that greatly amuses us as a studio. And for this project, we also wanted to go further in how it was built: the entire team was involved very early on, both in design choices and narrative directions. It’s a deeply collective project, and that’s reflected in the game. We are proud of the result… and very happy to have achieved it together.”
About Clever Trickster Studio
Clever Trickster is a video game development studio founded in 2022 by game veterans passionate about strategy and management games. These genres have influenced the principles that guide the team: efficiency and innovation. The studio’s ethos values equality, collaboration, and autonomy, creating an inclusive and supportive environment. The team constantly strives to improve to offer enriching gaming experiences, while keeping fun at the heart of the work.
Closed Beta Test 1 Participants can Automatically Participate; Inquisitive Guests can Sign Up Now
SYDNEY (Oct. 6, 2025)– Today, daring Lambs and cunning Wolves can dive into the second Closed Beta Test for the thrilling murder mystery action game, KILLER INN. Developed by Tactic Studios and in collaboration with TBS GAMES, in KILLER INN, players will put their social deduction skills to the ultimate test as they engage in a life-or-death battle of deception and survive the night.
The second Closed Beta Test, conducted through Steam®, is available from now through to Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025 at 8:59 a.m. AEDT. Players who participated in the first Closed Beta Test held earlier this year can automatically participate, while new users can register via the game’s official Steam page.
Various updates and improvements have been implemented into the game based on feedback from the first Closed Beta Test, including addition of custom lobbies, adjustments to Safe Zones and various balance adjustments. Players are invited to continue to share their feedback via the KILLER INN social channels and Discord.
View the “Welcome to KILLER INN” video to learn more about the game mechanics below:
About KILLER INN
KILLER INN is a murder mystery action game, fought between the minority team of wolves and the majority team of lambs. Set in a mysterious old castle, 24 players engage in a life-or-death battle of deception. Wolves must disguise themselves amongst the lambs, taking them down one by one. The lambs collect clues (hair, fingerprints, clothing, etc.) left behind at the murder scenes to narrow down the wolves and eliminate them. Enjoy a battle between detectives and murderers as if you have wandered into the world of a mystery drama.
KILLER INN is a collaborative project between TBS GAMES, the game business brand of TBS Television, and Square Enix. Combining the entertainment field know-how of both companies, we will bring a new experience to customers inside and outside Japan with this brand-new IP.
About Square Enix, Inc.
Square Enix, Inc. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses SQUARE ENIX® and TAITO® branded entertainment content throughout the Americas as part of the Square Enix group of companies. The Square Enix group of companies boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: FINAL FANTASY™, which has sold over 195 million units worldwide; DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 91 million units worldwide; and the legendary SPACE INVADERS®. Square Enix, Inc. is a U.S.-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
Leamington Spa, UK – October 3, 2025: Leading UK games publisher Kwalee and independent Swedish developer BlueGooGames are pleased to announce that the cooking adventure game Space Chef is releasing on PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on October 28, 2025.
To mark the announcement, a new gameplay trailer has been released, highlighting the game’s diverse planets filled with bizarre alien creatures, strange flora, and the many ingredients players can discover.
In Space Chef, players can cook over 140 unique dishes using 100+ alien ingredients while exploring five exotic planets, encountering more than 180 strange creatures and plants, and crafting 100+ items to upgrade their character, ship, and kitchen. Players can also get a taste of the action before launch as the Space Chef demo is now playable on Steam.
Space Chef is coming to PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on October 28, 2025
About Space Chef
A three-course meal of an adventure: restaurant manager, light survival RPG, and life sim, all set in the zany universe of the Horseshoe Nebula. As the galaxy’s (soon to be) premiere chef, it’s up to you to seek out the finest ingredients from alien planets, cook delicious dishes, and serve them to customers in the comfort of your fully-customisable space trailer.
Explore Alien Worlds
There’s a whole universe of ingredients out there… if they don’t eat you first. Explore distant planets, derelict space stations, and your own basement for plants, critters, and other tasty morsels.
Along the way, you’ll come across space pirates, ancient ruins, and a suspiciously high number of recently abandoned restaurants. Keep an eye out for rare resources (and bits of random junk) that you can use to upgrade your gear, kitchen equipment, and spaceship.
Cook Up Cosmic Creations
Once your fridge is stocked with ingredients that have (mostly) stopped wriggling, it’s time to flip the sign and start serving!
Craft over 140 different dishes, from simple homestyle Beefle Skewers to the legendarily tricky Octoegg Surprise. Wow your customers with delicious food and speedy service, and you’ll earn the Astronomical Culinary Excellence Stars that mark your path to intergalactic culinary success.
As your reputation grows, the customers start coming to you! Keep it flexible by continuing your delivery service or open up a sit-in restaurant with a constant flow of patrons. You’re free to close the kitchen whenever adventure calls.
Set a Stellar Ambiance
Your space-trailer might not look too sharp from the outside, but she’s got it where it counts. Take complete control of your interior with freely placeable decorations and an in-depth coloring system to create the restaurant of your dreams. Add new floors, create themed zones, and fill it with the furniture and props you find on your travels!
Serve the Nebula
The citizens of the Horseshoe Nebula are more than just hungry bellies (most of them, anyway). Get to know Zoe the scrap dealer, faded Space Ace Jack Bronzon, the definitely-not-alien barman Zlurka, and many more characters on your journey to interstellar culinary stardom. Unique recipes, side quests, and even romance awaits if you can satisfy your loyal customers.
With your new-found friends, you’ll uncover the truth about your missing grandma and take on the might of Galactic Burger as they try to muscle in on your space-turf.
Space Chef features:
Over 140 delectable dishes to create from 100+ alien ingredients
5 alien planets to explore, from the jungle-filled Lush to aquatic Bluegoonia
180+ creatures and plants to hunt, harvest, and run away from
100+ craftable items for your character, ship, and kitchen
150+ furnishings and decorations to personalize your restaurant
Freedom to create your own menu, opening times, and service style – vegetarian and vegan included!
A zany cast of characters, including romanceable NPCs with their own favorite recipes and questlines
A thrilling story of adventure, betrayal, and mass-produced burgers
About Kwalee
Kwalee is a multi-award-winning games publisher and developer based in Leamington Spa, UK. The company has built a growing catalogue of PC and console titles, including Wildmender, ROBOBEAT, Voidwrought, In Sink, Hordes of Hunger, The Precinct, and Town to City alongside upcoming releases such as Don’t Stop Girlypop!, Hark the Ghoul, Call of the Elder Gods, Grime II, Ground Zero, Retro Space, Lost Hellden, BPM Bitcrushed, Shift at Midnight, Welcome to Elderfield and Lily’s World XD.
Founded by games industry icon and Codemasters co-founder David Darling CBE, Kwalee is supported by a global team of games experts, with studios in the UK, India, and remote locations worldwide. The company is actively seeking high-quality games to publish across all platforms and welcomes developers to get in touch.
Officially recognised as ‘Best Publisher’ at the TIGA Awards 2022, Kwalee is also a committed industry advocate—serving as an ambassador for the non-profit organisation Women in Games and regularly supporting charities such as Safe In Our World, GamesAid, and SpecialEffect.
About BlueGooGames
BlueGooGames was founded in 2019 by two childhood friends, Niclas and Tobias, and is based in Helsingborg, Sweden. They have been working on their first title, Space Chef, since then. The game raised $45,000 USD on Kickstarter in 2021 and signed with Kwalee in 2022.
There’s no clowning around in the demo for this retro-inspired beat ‘em up, available now.
[October 3, 2025] – You can’t spell slaughter without laughter. Hack, slash, and guffaw as you leave a trail of mayhem in your wake during Terrifier: The ARTcade Game’s Steam Next Fest demo, available today! Play as Art the Clown in this glorious and gory beat ‘em up sidescroller where carnage and chaos are your best friend.
In Terrifier: The ARTcade Game, you can go solo or team up with friends across a variety of stages. Each one is a movie set where a film about Art’s past horrors is being produced. The imitation isn’t flattering to our titular clown, as he’s hellbent on disrupting and dismembering everything in his path. From blunt objects to powerful finishing executions, get the creativity, and blood, flowing with your brutality.
Features to Die For:
Gorgeous Pixel Art & Animation: The game captures the essence of the Terrifier films with bright, cartoonish pixel art and fluid animations that vividly depict the gruesome action. Multiplayer Mayhem: Team up with up to 4 players for a chaotic local co-op experience. Work together—or against each other—in various game modes, each offering its own unique challenges.
Bloody Arsenal of Weapons: From chainsaws to cleavers, pick up a variety of weapons to turn your enemies into a bloody pulp. Power-ups scattered throughout the stages give you an extra edge in combat.
Diverse Stages & Boss Battles: Travel through multiple stages, each with different paths to explore and enemies to defeat. At the end of each stage, prepare for intense boss battles that will test your skills.
Chiptune Soundtrack: Relive the golden age of gaming with a glorious chiptune soundtrack that perfectly complements the retro aesthetic and adds to the chaotic atmosphere.
Over-the-Top Attacks & Finishers: Enjoy hilarious and gory attacks that make every fight as entertaining as it is brutal. The finishing moves are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression! Multiple Game Modes: Dive into six game modes, offering quick beat ’em up sessions or extended challenges, each with unique twists and obstacles to keep the gameplay fresh and exciting.
About Selecta Play Selecta Play is Selecta Visión’s video games publishing branch. The company works with talented studios on unique video games and helps them publish their titles in both physical and digital formats in Europe and worldwide.
About Relevo We have been developing video games for various platforms since 2009, be it consoles, PC, mobile, arcades, or even vintage microcomputers. We commit to creating well-designed video games that offer fresh and creative gameplay, lots of depth, great characters, high replay value, and loads of fun retro gaming influences.
October 3rd, 2025 – Gamers’ charity SpecialEffect are inviting gamers to buy and play selected mobile games from some of the biggest names from the industry on Friday 3 October as part of their annual One Special Day fundraising campaign. Titles include Subway Surfers, Hay Day, Golf Clash, 8 Ball Pool and Angry Birds 2.
Gamers can raise vital funds for the charity by purchasing and playing games from One Special Day industry partners including Supercell, Rovio, SYBO, First Touch Games, Playdemic, Miniclip, Outplay, MAG Interactive, Exient, New Star Games, Fingersoft and Supersolid.
In addition, games industry partners such as Electronic Arts are supporting the charity’s inaugural One Special Walk, a 16-mile fundraising walk in London that stretches from the Olympic Park to Wembley Stadium. Over 350 walkers have signed up for the event, which takes place alongside One Special Day on Friday 3 October and features a number of en-route activations from the gaming industry. The walk is on course to raise £100,000.
The support of the all the One Special Day partners – and their communities – will help the thousands of disabled people every year who ask for the charity’s assistance. SpecialEffect’s teams of therapists and technical specialists provide assessments and customised technology loans to help bring joy into the lives of people with disabilities. In turn, the charity pass on what they learn to help hardware and software developers make their products and games easier to use for as many people as possible all over the world.
Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, said: ‘We are seeing an ever-increasing demand for our services, all of which are provided without charge. The support the event receives from the games industry is absolutely vital in making sure we can continue to reach every disabled person that needs our help. Without One Special Day we simply couldn’t bring a better quality of life to so many people across the world, and we’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone involved in the event – industry, gamers and donors.’
This year’s One Special Day this year has already featured an extensive Steam Sale with over 90 titles and a current charity bundle from Green Man Gaming that runs until 15 October. A range of other supporting activities and studio events will also be taking place, with the charity hoping to raise in excess of £500K through this ninth edition of their flagship campaign.
About SpecialEffect SpecialEffect is an award-winning UK charity helping to improve the lives of disabled people across the globe through the innovative use of technology. At the core of this mission is providing greater inclusion through the opportunity to play video games to the best of their abilities.
KYOTO, JAPAN — October 1, 2025 —I Mother, a prehistoric action-adventure told without spoken or written language, created by solo development studio Hell Yeah! and published by indie.io, launches on PC via Steam on Wednesday, October 22, 2025.
In a time before words, players will step into the role of a Neanderthal woman, alone and far from her tribe. Her story unfolds as players navigate a prehistoric world in search of a way home, guided by symbols drawn from archaeological discoveries— believed to be among the first expressions of human communication.
The use of these symbols is inspired by the work of paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, whose TED Talk on the origins of symbolic communication highlights humanity’s earliest attempts to record and share meaning. In I Mother, solo developer Adam Buczek transforms these symbols into the foundation of interaction, gradually building significance through association and interpretation.
“After stumbling upon Genevieve’s research, I realised I wasn’t just making a game about a Neanderthal woman,” said Adam Buczek, solo-developer at HellYeah!. “I had, in my hands, the raw materials of a symbolic language that could become her way of speaking to the player—not through dialogue or subtitles, but through shared experience and association. The whole point was to let go and respect the player’s intelligence, letting symbols mean what they mean, not what I say they do.”
This vision shapes the heart of I Mother: an artistic journey of experience and discovery. Players explore the world alongside the Neanderthal woman, learning as she does—with no map, no language, and no certainty. Meaning emerges through careful observation: her sounds and gestures reveal emotions, while the symbols offer guidance and purpose. The game’s unique navigation mimics real mind-mapping techniques, with memory and perception replacing traditional maps to guide the way forward.
Every moment becomes part of the lived experience. Drinking from puddles, hiding from predators, or fleeing into the unknown are not systems to master but moments to inhabit, shaped only by instinct and perception.
Even dreams carry the journey forward. At times, they unfold as shadowed visions that share fragments of knowledge; at others, they become playable trials that echo the day’s events. These moments expand the symbolic journey, deepening the player’s role as interpreter.
The atmosphere is further enriched by a dark ambient soundtrack from Paleowolf, blending tribal drums, ancient instruments, and ritualistic vocals to evoke the raw emotional power of early human existence, capturing the primal rhythms and silent intensity of a time before words.
I Mothernavigates a world with primal senses on PC via Steam on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, for $14.99 USD with a 20% launch discount.
Hell Yeah! is the label of Adam Buczek, a solo developer and game designer working out of Kyoto, Japan. After stints as European Creative Lead at Xbox and running Skeleton Crew Studio, Adam decided to go fully indie and make the kind of games only one slightly unhinged human would. His work has already picked up awards along the way—Voyna snagged Gold for Best Strategy at the NYX Awards, and I Mother took home Gold at the INDIGO Design Awards.
About indie.io
indie.io is a publishing team composed of passionate gamers, developers, and media specialists dedicated to accelerating the reception and consumption of indie games. They represent a handful of titles that span across many genres, made by talented creators from across the globe. With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, they offer tools, technical prowess, and strategic vision to elevate games to eyes all around the globe.
