13 Games (and Other Things) Worth Checking Out From the Itch.io Bundle for Palestinian Aid

Over the last few weeks, if you’re unaware, Itch.io ran a HUGE bundle to support the victims of Israeli violence in Palestine. The bundle contained over 1000 items, from 1,063 creators and only cost five dollars.

I have gone through this entire, entire, list twice and I’ve found there’s more than a few titles in this bundle that I believe deserve your attention. There are plenty of games here that, frankly,  don’t need me to speak for them like Celeste, Baba is You and minit. But you might be a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of games and this list is just my humble appraisal of a few things out of the 1,019 items which caught my eye. 

It is my strong, personal conviction that each item listed below is easily worth five dollars or more on its own and therefore, this bundle was a steal, costing only $0.0049 per item. Even though this bundle is no longer available,  I hope this list will inspire you to give to the charities this bundle was held in aid of and to get excited not only to help reduce harm and bring aid to Palestine but also to support and celebrate smaller creators. So, in no particular order, let’s get started. 

Editor’s note: This book is fantastic but sadly I am still a terrible cook… Would not recommend visiting me for dinner.

1. FEYXUAN RECIPE BOOK Vol. 1

Our first item is a charming, hilarious, and very useful recipe book of Asian-American style dishes by Feyxuan, the creator of the stylish visual novel "OCHITSUBAKI" (also in the bundle!). It begins with a spice mix recipe that doubles as a handy kind of shopping guide and a spicy egg recipe and ends with an involved but very rewarding noodle soup. The author’s voice is warm, funny, and supremely friendly reading like an email sent by an enthusiastic friend. A treasure.

The moon landing was actually filmed at my weekly D&D game and directed by my GM, Craig.

2. MOON’S SHOT

This tabletop RPG adventure module was designed for "Troika!", however, it can easily be adapted for any system. It's a story about faking a moon landing in a strange, magical world. The twist is that it is the astronauts who are the one's being tricked. As the GM you'll be taking your party on a journey to a fake lunar landscape on a fake rocket where the NPCs contrive reasons to leave players believing they really did go to the moon. The sense of brevity and charm in this campaign is top-notch. An easily adaptable adventure that would work as a single adventure in a longer campaign. A must-read if not a must run for RPG enthusiasts.

3. BOMBING: A GRAFFITI SANDBOX

Bombing: A Graffiti Sandbox is a soothing, creative delight. In it you play as a graffiti artist, however, there are no constraints to gameplay like a story or overarching goals. It’s just you, your paints, a boombox, and a set of scenes to choose from. Painting in first person is a wholly unique experience distinct from digital painting using a tablet and Photoshop. Inhabiting these dim streets and seeing your work go up, sometimes with a few mistakes here and there, in the half shadowed light gives the painting and the experience of creating a feeling and sense of reality all its own.

OMG IT’S JOHN SPARTAN. Oh wait… it’s San Undertale.

Ah… I see what you did there Democratic Socialism Simulator… Good ‘un.

4. DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM SIMULATOR

Democratic Socialism Simulator is a colourful minefield of Tinder-esque decision crossroads and the best time I’ve ever had with a piece of edutainment. In it, you play as the newly elected Socialist president of the United States with constant feedback on voter opinion. The heavy subject matter is tempered by the adorable animal characters and the well-aimed jabs at conservative media. It is canny and clever enough to have made me yell "Oh my god" when people started changing their opinions about global politics when we stopped funding the forever war. I started to wonder, "Can people in real life really change?" Anyway, I went with my gut, kept on going further left and was forcibly removed from office in my second term. Five stars.

5. JRNL

I've kept a diary since I was eleven years old, although not always consistently. My biggest gap in entries was six months during my mid-twenties when I quit pursuing fine art painting and was making bank waiting tables at this fancy Italian place and drinking every night. My diaries are a series of fourteen (so far) numbered journals, except volume ten which I recorded on my phone and have on an SD drive somewhere. Anyway, JRNL is a beautiful, minimal piece of journaling software that I fully recommend. It has a little calendar and can be set to remind you to jot down a few thoughts every day, then you can export the whole thing as an HTML file. Highly recommend checking out the manual first though. 

If all video games were just either Picross or Tetris the world would be a way better place.

6. PIXCROSS

Why is it so hard to find good picross? Well, I should say "Why was it so hard to find good picross?" I intended to just dip my toe into Pixcross for the sake of researching this list but suddenly an hour had passed. I doubled down just to make sure it wasn't a fluke and suddenly it was dark outside. This is it, folks, put a shortcut to this bad boy on your desktop and you'll never fidget during online meetings again.

This is unrealistic. You’re telling me a couple lives here, together, during the pandemic and there isn’t a pile of laundry being quietly ignored?

7. WHEN IT’S SAFE AGAIN

When It's Safe Again is a lovely and “low-impact” play experience. You just explore the character’s apartment examining different items and learning about their life. It takes all of ten minutes to “finish” and can be played in a browser. For anyone living with a partner in quarantine, it will feel strangely familiar but soothing. It's a love story that perfectly sets a tone of wistfulness and anticipated nostalgia. And the music is perfect. Pro Tip: some objects have multiple things to say!

8. LONG GONE DAYS

Long Gone Days is an absolutely top-notch full-size JRPG just sitting here for you to pick up. It follows the experiences of young soldiers in a fictional, sort of sci-fi setting growing disillusioned with their government and the war they're being forced into. The battle system is unique and is well suited to the world of snipers and medics. This fully-fledged game is an excellent time and a generous addition to this bundle.

Long Gone Days really is a game that speaks for itself.

So you’re telling me this is some Metroidvania-like? Huh, that pretty crowded genre. Well, I wish those kids well.

9. HG101 CASTLEVANIA

It’s a full book about the history of Castlevania for goodness sake. I’ve read it. It’s great. Seriously, if you’ve never checked out Hardcore Gaming 101 they have some stellar publications on the subject of games and deep dives into lengthy series like this. 

10. GLITCH DUNGEON

This title is short, fun and clever. It’s a straightforward platformer with fascinating abilities and restrained, thoughtful level design. The puzzles are good but there are no major roadblocks. 

1t’5 DVNGer0uS 2 g0 a1oN3! TVk3 th1!.

It made me feel like I was very smart for overcoming a few of its puzzle rooms. Visually, it centralises the aesthetic of glitched-out old consoles complete with some familiar floating sprites, changing transparencies and some unconventional colour schemes. The music also is fantastic and carries the experience. 

11. THIS DISCORD HAS GHOSTS IN IT

This game is a tabletop roleplay experience played entirely in a custom Discord server. Different players will roleplay as either ghosts or explorers. I have run this game with a group of roleplayers and can say with confidence that it’s the most unique roleplaying experience I’ve ever had digitally. It’s a horror story you control as everyone explores a haunted house together. 

12. BOOK OF COMMON GAMES

If you are a big, screaming, red-faced “Games Are Art” baby like me and you’re not reading experiment roleplaying books you better pack up your rattle and go home. Written in the style of Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit, Kyle Latino’s Book of Common Games presents the reader with page after page of short game instructions which read more like poems or performance art than any Dungeon Master’s Guide. This is a sweet, sincere, and charismatic contribution to the artform and as far as I’m concerned, required reading.

*extremely Beavis or Butthead voice*: Heheheheheerrrrrererrreheherr…

13. BOY’S WORK

My last item is a special RPG Maker creation. An honest to god piece of gay art. Boy’s Work is an exploration, puzzle title where you explore abstract worlds from a cafe where you work. Each world is reached through the ghostly figure of a customer and each provides the player with a unique item or ability which lets them alter parts of themself to explore further and collect different menu items. It’s short, a little bemusing, and definitely unique. 

My list is small. It would be impossible to truly examine them all in a format like this. But exploring the trove of stories, ideas, solo journaling games, art, novels is dream-like, peaceful and a meaningful, weighty reminder that you’re not alone. There’s so much colour out there.