Full from leftovers and bored out of my feeble mind, I did what I always do: scoured the Internet for free, no-nonsense videogames. You know, substance over style. Indie games and the like. That sort of thing.

Thankfully, the hunt was off to a great start once I remembered thatIGF’s student entrieswere still relatively fresh, and just begged to be lovingly inspected. Many of the more intriguing games aren’t available in a playable form yet, which is admirable.

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One game in particular,Cave, both scratched my “hmm, that looks interesting” itch and offered itself up as a download.Score! It’s an exploration game in which you play as a boy and a girl, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. There’s more to it than that, obviously, but the less I reveal, the better.

Since your sight is extremely limited, andCaveis presented in such a minimalistic way, you often have no idea where you’re headed, or how to get back to where you came from and risk trying a different path; I say that as a compliment.Caveknows it’s a game about exploring, and it embraces that fact.

John and Molly sitting on the park bench

Without spoiling anything, I’ll say this: damn. More specifically: unless there is only a single ending, and it’s an unpleasant one at that, I need to run through the game a second time. Here’s thedownload pageagain (PC and Mac). Try it out.

Close up shot of Marissa Marcel starring in Ambrosio

Kukrushka sitting in a meadow

Lightkeeper pointing his firearm overlapped against the lighthouse background

Overseer looking over the balcony in opening cutscene of Funeralopolis

Edited image of Super Imposter looking through window in No I’m not a Human demo cutscene with thin man and FEMA inside the house

Indie game collage of Blue Prince, KARMA, and The Midnight Walk

Close up shot of Jackie in the Box

Silhouette of a man getting shot as Mick Carter stands behind cover