Misthold Welcomes You

Secret Little Haven (2018) is a visual novel (with some puzzles) set in 1999. You play as Alex Cole, a teenage trans girl stuck in an unhappy situation with only her computer for a creative outlet.

If you're a fen who grew up in the late 90s/early 00s then this will hit HARD on the nostalgia feels. Alex and her friends are fans of a Sailor Moon-esque magical girl show and Alex spends most of her time hanging out on a fan forum and chatting in ICQ-style program. There's also a doll maker, a desktop pet, and other early 00s computer stuff that sent me right back to my early teen years.

There's some really clever little things in this game. At one point you have to use terminal commands to do a little hacking past some parental controls! Another puzzle put a text file on my ACTUAL computer (not the game computer), breaking the fourth wall in a neat way.

Gameplay is basically clicking and reading text, centered on interaction between Alex and her friends (and father). You can choose certain dialogue, and depending on how the conversation goes you'll end up with more or less friends at the end of the game-- important because ( spoiler ).

Massive warning for flashing lights/jiggling screen when chatting with Dad. There's an option to turn off the worst of it, but it's till pretty jittery even then. Also, a content warning for parental abuse, gaslighting, emotional abuse, etc.

Took about 3 hours to beat. I very much enjoyed it and recommend it for people who like both visual novels and odes to early Sailor Moon fandom.

Price: $5

Available for Windows, macOS, Linux. I played the Mac version.

Secrets of Rætikon (2017) is an open-world action/adventure game set in the Alps. You play as a bird, exploring the world to find runes, interact with animals, solve puzzles, etc.

I played about 20 minutes before having to give up. It recommends using a controller, and I agree. Using the keyboard to try and navigate my bird over mountains and into the woods was very difficult; a controller would've made it much easier to do ANYTHING.


I actually have a Steam controller, but the buttons don't match up with the keys, and I can't change the bindings. I checked the Itch.io page and apparently it's set to an Xbox controller. If you have one of those, you're set!

Not being able to play this is a bummer, because this has really nice art! And the background sounds of a busy forest are very soothing.

Price: $9.99

Available for Windows, macOS and Linux. I played the Mac version.

Odd Realm (2018) is a settlement simulation game in the vein of Rimworld, where you can choose from a variety of settler types, settlement locations, and other stuff. And then you grow your town! It's set on a fantasy world, so there should be some nifty elements you can add to your settlement.

I really liked the graphics on this so I wanted to try it out-- unfortunately, the screen resolution makes the font WAY too small and I literally can't read it without shoving my face two inches from the screen. I played the Mac OS version, not sure if that has something to do with it. I can't find a way to adjust it except to make it SMALLER, so I'll have to leave this unplayed for now. It's still in development, so maybe they'll fix that issue soon?

Price: $10