Homeplay

You are expected to play at least one of these short games every week and two longer games throughout the semester.

For each game you play you can either write a short report or record a video comment (no editing is necessary, just voice and screen recording). Post them on discord.

The titles are loosely organized around the class topics but there is no imposed order and I’ll will bring them up at different point over the semester. I will also recommend you titles based on your projects.
They are mostly free, or Pay What You Want (PWYW), or under $10. The longer games tend to be around $20.
Most multiplatform games are also available for Linux and Switch.
I give priority to itch.io links but consider many titles are also on Steam.

Control / camera / feel
I AM NOT WHAT REMAINS – web
Hard Lads – PWYW – Win, Mac
Cardiac – PWYW – Win
Like Roots in the Soil – PWYW – Win, Mac
And I made sure to hold your head sideways – web
A way to go – web
The Graveyard – Mac Win (free “trial”)
Thirty Flights of Loving – Win Mac – $4.99
The Fallen – PWYW – Win Mac

Nonfiction
Promesa – $5 – Win Mac
Walden – $10 – Win Mac
Secret of Soil – free – Win
Gameworkers and Guildworkers – PWYW – Win Mac
The Game: The Game – Free – Win Mac
You Are Jeff Bezos – web
The Cat and the Coup – PWYW – Win Mac
Venti Mesi (20 Months) – Free – Win Mac

Writing / Dialogue / narrative design
Astrologaster – $10 – Win Mac
An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs – $19 – Win
Un Pueblo de Nada – (watch the video first , hit refresh if it doesn’t start) – Free – Win Mac
Secret Agent Cinder – Web
Wrestling with Emotions – $3 – Win Mac
Two Interviewees – PWYW – Win Mac
Coming Out Simulator – web
With Those We Love Alive – web
Little Party – PWYW

Level design / landscape / architecture
Neo Brutalism of Tomorrow – PWYW – Win
Bellular Hexatosis – PWYW – Win Mac
Proteus – $10 – Win Mac
Roblox Dream Diaries – free – Win Mac
Mýrdalssandur, Iceland – free – Win
Dépanneur Nocturne – $4.99 – Win, Mac
It’s Winter – $10 – Win, Mac (warning: it’s quite short for the price)
That Night Steeped by Blood River – PWYW – Win Mac
Anatomy – $2.99 – Win, Mac
Dear Esther – $10 – Win, Mac

Style
Even in Arcadia – PWYW – Win, Mac
The Good Time Garden – PWYW – Win, Mac
A Museum of Dubious Splendors – PWYW – Win, Mac
Songs of the Lost – free – Win, Mac
Ocenarium – free – Win, Mac
If We Were Allowed To Visit – web
Art Sqool – $6.99 – Win, Mac
Islands: Nonplaces – $4.99 – Win, Mac
Hylics – $2.99 – Win
Paratopic – $5.49 – Win, Mac

Mechanics
Holovista – iOS – $4.99
Song of Bloom – iOS – $1.99
A Hand With Many Fingers – $5  – Win, Mac
Dys4ia – web
Kids – $2.99 – Win, Mac, Mobile (recommended)
The Yawhg – $10 – Win
2000:1: A Space Felony – PWYW – Win, Mac

Experimental / fine-art-adjacent
Utopia: navigating without coordinates – PWYW – Win
Sonic Dreams Collection – Free – Win, Mac
10 beautiful postcards – $6 – Win, Mac
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK – PWYW – Win, Mac
Pry – $2.99 – iOS
Black Room – Web
The Night Journey – $9.99, Win, Mac
Sometimes to Deal With the Difficulty of Being Alive I Need to Believe There is a Possibility that Life Isn’t Real – $0.99, Win
My Exercise – $2.99 – Win, Mac

Long form / $10+
Oikospiel Book I – $12 – Win Mac
Disco Elysium – $23.99 (currently on sale) – Win, Mac
Kentucky Route Zero – $25 – Win, Mac
Telling Lies – $6-19 – Win, Mac, iOS
80 days – $12 – Win, Mac, Mobile
Genesis Noir – $14.99 – Win, Mac, Consoles
I am Dead – $19.99 – Win, Consoles
Neo Cab – $14.99 – Win, Mac, iOS
Mutazione – $19.99 – Win, Mac, iOS, Consoles
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine – $19.99 – Win, Mac
Elsinore – $19.99 – Win, Mac
1979 Revolution: Black Friday – $9.99 – Win, Mac
Nightmare Temptation Academy – Free – Win, Mac (All content warnings)
Night in the woods – $20 – Win, Mac
The Stanley Parable – $14.99 – Win, Mac
The Beginners Guide – $9.99 – Win, Mac
Machinarium – $4.99 – Win, Mac
Gone Home – $14.99 – Win, Mac
Tacoma – $19.99 – Win, Mac
What Remains of Edith Finch – $19.99 – Win, Mac
Umurangi Generation – 14.99 – Win