A quick look at games for June from James
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🆕 On the Shelves
🌺 Tempopo
Witch Beam
A psychedelic soundscape in the sky. Puzzle through the seasons by conducting chaotic Tempopo to rescue musical flowers. Design and populate your melodic garden, then let the music play!
From the makers of Unpacked which was a bit of a social phenomenon when it came out. This new release from them looks like a good mix of the chill/lofi vibes of their previous game, but fused with a puzzle game. A unique combination which I hope pays off!
📡 On the Radar
🐬 Ecco the Dolphin
Limited information on this, but the Mega Drive classic is apparently getting a new release according to this XBOX Wire article.
🔫 Grand Theft Auto 6
Rockstar Games
The official announcement for GTA 6 is now set to May 26, 2026.
Personally, the last GTA game that I played was Vice City on the PS3. What I remember most about the game was the excellent selection of radio stations and just cruising around like a badass. I never played any of the subsequent games, but of course know about them.
GTA 5 has a huge fan base and is the most watched game on Twitch due to its thriving community of role players. I wish I had gotten involved earlier on and participated in this game, as it has clearly had significant staying power over its release 12 years ago! Perhaps GTA 6 is the time for me to get back into the world...?
Returning to talk of GTA 6 however, there is a lot of negative press around the announcement and game development in general. There are rumors it will cost over $100 dollars, and the lack of PC support on launch is disappointing for some. The timing of the announcement comes after a long period of silence, so fans are of course concerned this date is just another placeholder that will eventually be pushed back even further.
🐭 Mouse: P.I. For Hire
PlaySide
FPS that looks like a 1920s cartoon, with oodles of mad weapons and enemies. I wonder how many times the devs have been told, "it reminds me of Cuphead."
🎮 In Rotation
🐴 Pony Island
Daniel Mullins Games
Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself. It is not a game about ponies.
It is not a game about ponies.
I picked this up because it was created by the developer of Inscryption, a game I really enjoyed. Having played both now, I can tell this developer really likes to play with the "meta game" idea of the game being a smaller part of a larger universe.
🛌 CITIZEN SLEEPER: SPINDLEJACK
Jump Over The Age
CITIZEN SLEEPER: SPINDLEJACK is a solo tabletop roleplaying game (set in the universe of Citizen Sleeper and Citizen Sleeper 2), where you use your airbike to courier deliveries across a ramshackle space-station for cryo, reputation and fun. Taking inspiration from the character Kadet from Citizen Sleeper 2, you'll get to live life as a Spindlejack in the Starward Belt. This is a print and play game, where you'll navigate randomly rolled intersections, run deliveries, upgrade your bike and become a legend on the station of the Far Spindle. it was released on May 5th (Citizen Sleeper day!) 2025.
A solo TTRPG add-on by the developers of the original video game series, which you can print out for free.
🐭 Maze Mice
TrampolineTales
Maze Mice is a bullet heaven roguelite where time only moves when you move. Collect dots, level up, choose upgrades, and avoid cats. All at your own pace.
I only played the demo, but it is a wonderful mix of Vampire Survivor, Binding of Isaac, and PacMan...!
🎸 Signed by '89
timknauf
The rumour races through Petra's town: a Fony Music rep will visit at the close of 1988, handing out a record deal to the band with the fans. Meanwhile, if Johnny doesn't "shape up", his dad's gonna send him to military school. So Petra's getting the band back together.
A super cute, ultra cool point-and-click style adventure on PICO-8. The band is cool as hell and the music is totally on point. Approx 30mins to complete. Really well executed and definitely worth a look!
🐛 Kabuto Park
Doot Tiny Games
Enjoy summer in Kabuto Park! Catch the cutest bugs, train them and win the Summer Beetle Battles Championship in this tiny bug collection game! Upgrade your equipment to find rarer, stronger and shinier little friends.
Cute, chill, tons of character, and even informative.
It's like a super refined version of the bug collecting and fighting aspect of Boku no Natsu Yasumi. Catch bugs, level them up with candies, and fight them in teams of 3 against other, local kids. The bug catching starts off simple, but as you unlock new areas the difficulty rises, but it never feels too hard. Same for the battles; it all just feels very low-stakes. No pressure, just fun bug-sumo.
You're free to catch as many bugs as you want each day, sort them, sell them, and level up your favorites. Once you're happy with your team, go battle. If you win, you receive money, which you can use to level up your gear, as the game proceeds by one day.
At the end of 31 days (31 battles with progressively more difficult bug teams) the game is over. You keep your collection though, and get the chance to play a "new game+" where all of the teams have maxed out bugs for you to battle.
Finally, the sound design is worth a mention—the background noise sounds like it wass recorded in Japan (at least for me it sounds exactly like the summer here) with cicadas and other bugs chirping constantly. This sound changes as the game progresses to show the variation of bugs over the summer period. A nice touch indeed, and something that reminds me of Boku Natsu again.
All in all, short, cute, and cosy.
👻 Ghost Snap
Yutrio
Kathy and James have heard rumors there are ghosts around town. They locate a "ghost camera" to capture the proof and when they conquer their anxiety fearfully hold up the camera in a misty cemetery, they discover that the ghosts are really there!
Ghost Snap is a co-operative game for 2 players. Players share cards and play cards. If you don't think about your partner's invisible anxiety, it will be difficult to continue snapping pictures of the ghosts. Keep your courage in mind and take a picture of the ghosts! Your score will be based on the number of successful snaps and difficulty is determined by the number of anxiety cards in the deck.
I picked this up at the Spring 2025 Game Market at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. I was initially drawn to it for the Junji Ito art; I wasn't aware of a game that had officially licensed his art before. Got it home and opened it up to play with my son, and we had a great time.
It's a really solid two-player coop where you have to collect items and work together to take photos of the odd goings-on. One person takes the shot, but the amount of photos you actually take is dependent on the number of film cards that the other person is holding, so there is a nice guessing game of judging whether your partner has any film or not.
You draw a card each round from an item deck, and within the deck is a bunch of anxiety cards. Get 4 anxiety in your hand, and you have a breakdown, losing a precious sanity card (one of two). Lose both sanity cards and its game over. So you are managing your hand, healing each other, and trying to take photos of ghosts all while anxiety is constantly mounting!
I really like the theme, and the way it comes across through the cards. It all fits really well together. You can play this in about 30 mins, and if you lose, it's a quick restart to get going again. Of course, the art on the cards is excellent, and probably one of the reasons many people (like me) picked it up. The game itself is really fun, though, so it's a win-win!
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