Experimental Games
Ongoing coverage on Experimental Games.
Latest coverage
Surreal Physics-Based Game “Balance: Umbilical Wake” Revealed with Announcement Trailer and Steam Page
Solo developer ItsTheEm has revealed Balance: Umbilical Wake, a surreal physics-based game about a fisherman trapped in a recurring nightmare. Players will manipulate an umbilical cord to control a mechanical box, solve dream-logic puzzles, and catch fish, with the nightmare world being reshaped by the impending birth of a child. The game is available on PC via Steam.
Well, Professor Pippin Barr, you've done it again: you've ruined chess
Experimental game developer Pippin Barr has released another set of eight browser-based chess variants, continuing his trend of playfully subverting the classic strategy game. These new variations include concepts like 'chess but on a travelator' and 'chess but also Candy Crush Saga,' challenging players to adapt to absurd rule changes. The article expresses mock outrage at these 'grievous injuries' to chess, suggesting Barr should instead target games like Monopoly.
Watch paint dry. Wait for the right moment. Touch it too soon and start all over.
Indie developer Seedborne has announced CAUTION WET PAINT, an absurdist comedy simulator where players watch paint dry in real-time. The game, launching on Steam for PC on July 15th, 2026, requires players to guess when the paint is dry, with sessions lasting two to five hours. Hidden achievements can be unlocked by clicking on a randomly appearing piñata.
Éalú - Winner of Irish Game Awards Best Expirimental Game Runner Up
Limerick-based indie studio Beyond the Bark received the Best Experimental Game Runner Up award for their debut title, Éalú, at the 2026 FÍS Games Summit. This hand-animated stop-motion point-and-click adventure game features a clockwork mouse navigating a labyrinth and explores themes of algorithmic behavioral loops. The game includes a score composed by musician Will Wood.
Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami partners with Stellar Blade devs Shift Up to make "smaller, experimental titles alongside a large-scale flagship"
Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami has partnered with Korean studio Shift Up, the developers of Stellar Blade. Mikami's new company, Unbound, will focus on developing smaller, experimental titles alongside a large-scale flagship game. Shift Up has acquired Unbound, and Mikami expressed a sense of synergy with Shift Up's CEO, Hyung-Tae Kim.
PULMO Review | TheXboxHub
PULMO is an experimental art game that serves as the second installment in a planned trilogy, following ALVEOLE. It explores themes of the human spirit and societal navigation through ten abstract chapters with varied puzzle mechanics. The game features a monochrome, hand-drawn visual style and superb music, offering a unique and thought-provoking experience that can be completed in under an hour.
This horror game where you're a conscious nuclear missile boasts 'one handed mouse only controls', leaving me with assumptions that proved incorrect when I had to saw my own limbs off
The horror game Brainshell, developed by the four-person Finnish Brainshell Team, features a unique premise where players control a conscious nuclear missile in a 1963 alternate reality. The game utilizes one-handed mouse controls and incorporates experimental elements, including a disturbing mechanic where the player must saw off their own limbs. The demo showcases a chilling atmosphere with warped sound design and a narrative that delves into the protagonist's indoctrination.
WarioWare series director Goro Abe has left Nintendo, but he won't stop making "experimental games with unconventional mechanics"
WarioWare series director Goro Abe has departed from Nintendo after a long tenure, having started as a programmer on Wario Land 4 in 2001 and most recently directing WarioWare: Move It! in 2023. Abe will be joining Osaka Electro-Communication University as a professor, where he plans to continue developing small, experimental games with unconventional mechanics outside of traditional commerce, and explore industry-academia collaborations.
